ã€ŠUnfathomable Patriarchã€‹


 1 Chapter 1

    Sounds of fingers vigorously tapping on a mechanical keyboard along with clicking noises filled the dimly lit room.A certain 30 something so male was concentrating on his game of choice while enjoying the company of his fellow gaming comrades.

    "F*king noobs, what are you aiming at!"

    "God damn shitty team."

    After giving them some more words of praise and affection the male exited the game and gave his desk a good thump with his palm, which made it shake in response. Well maybe he was a little bit angry, but if you had to play with teammates like he got, you would probably react in a similar way.

    He leaned back in his overpriced gamin chair and looked at his small apartment in which he lived alone. His posture wasn''t that great and his eyes had bags under his eyes kind of giving him that tired easily irritated look.

    "Might as well check out my gmail..."

    After scrolling through some advertisements which he promptly deleted, he spotted a strange message at the top which he clicked.

    "Is this some kind of scam?"

    ''Congratulations on getting chosen as an alpha tester for our new Xianxia themed game, immerse yourself in our faction based narrative, build your sect or clan up and become the number one under the heavens.''

    "Sect building? is this some kind of strategy game? sounds a bit like and rpg too..."

    After reading the colorful email, Matthew decided to give the whole thing a try though it looked like he could fill in a lot of stuff and create his own character right here and now for some reason.

    "So I get one main character? guess it''s more an rpg then strategy game, maybe you can upgrade stuff in your base or something."

    After clicking a big button that said ''Get started'' he was taken to a character creator that had a lot of options to choose from, Mat took his time in shaping his characters face, giving him manly facial features and long silver hair, his eyes were blue. For the build, he gave him a robust body type, quite muscular but not an overly beefcake look. 6''2'''' as the height which was 190 cm.

    "Well that took a bit longer than expected, there are way too many choices in this thing... let''s see ..."

    He was able to choose clothes for his character, it ranged from all sorts of robes through which he started clicking through and tried to match them to make his creation look nice and badass. He ended with a white one, the character ended up in white clothes. He as wearing mostly functional ones that wouldn''t get in the way of a fight, none of those baggy type robes that those sword immortals liked to wear while zooming along with their over sized swords, though that was something he wouldn''t be opposed if he got one to fly around. The model had a smaller robe over his body that covered the head part with his long silver locks peeking out for other people to see his abs were also visible as he decided to put a form-fitting shirt, would be a waste to have a muscular body and not show it off right?

    "Okay, what''s next... starting point?"

    You start off as a young Qi Condensation inner disciple of a prominent sect.

    You start off as the last Nascent Soul elder of a mostly destroyed sect.

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    You start off as a Core Formation young senior of a declining family clan.

    ( Character will be aged to fill the role)

    "Wait... what does that even mean, you make me spend so much time on designing and then you want to turn my perfect boy to an old raisin or a little kid?"

    The male grumbled and then looked at the choices that he was giving, he might as well finish it up not like it really mattered to him as he as just killing some time between gaming and before going to sleep.

    "Ah whatever, guess choice 3 sounds close enough I''ll go with that."

    The screen changed to a short backstory that he didn''t really want to go through as he started quickly scrolling down, the explanations to the game and world were also mostly skipped as it sounded like gibberish to Mat that was already confused with the Chinese sounding names and terms. Finally after some skillful clicking, he found himself at the skills menu.

    "Ah, guess I get to chose some starting stuff, let''s see..."

    There weren''t that many skills to choose from, but he ended up going for the elemental type packet, with some premade skills that looked the coolest from the descriptions and pictures that were next to them, plus he thought that if he as going with the pure white look, he should add some nice lighting to the mix to fit his character.

    "Guess that''s it for now... just need to add the name and I''m done... Zhang... is that the first name or last name... hehe"

    It didn''t take him long to put in Dong as his name, in his mind this being the only obvious choice for a name in this kind of setting. His childish grin didn''t last for long as he suddenly heard a strange robotic sounding voice.

    [Core Formation beginner package selected]

    [Beginning transfer in 3...2...1...]

    "Wait what, that''s not coming from the PC..."

    His vision started going hazy as he heard the voice that sounded like it was speaking directly into his mind. He didn''t know what happened afterward as he drifted off to sleep and the last thing he saw was the blinking screen of his computer.

 2 Chapter 2

    His ears were ringing and he felt drowsy as he finally came too, Matthew rubbed his glabella while slowly opening his eyes and he was greeted with green. He found himself leaning up against a big tree in an open field, a lot of grass around him with more trees after that as he was apparently in a clearing with no one around him.

    "God damn, what happe..."

    98%....99%....100%... Ding.

    [Downloading of the package finished.]

    [Initiating tutorial]

    "What the..."

    After waking up he was greeted by the sound of the similar robotic voice followed by a dinging sound similar to a microwave being done cooking. As the so called tutorial started he could see some screens pop up in front of him with a lot of words and prompts and something that looked it could fit into a mmorpg game. Matt flailed at the sudden semi-transparent screens in front of him with his hands but they just went through it, though this made him realize that his hands looked a lot rougher then what he was used to.

    "Wait what is this..."

    He looked at his hands, they looked rough and callused and looked like he could snap some bones with those. He then stood up and started feeling up his body only to realize that he changed into the character he was previously designing along with the same getup that he chose for it. He couldn''t see his face but it was just like he made it, just in super high definition as this was a real-life person.

    "D-did I just get wished away into another world? or a video game? or both?"

    He started frantically looking around the place, not really seeing anyone in the vicinity besides a few hopping bunnies, though they looked a bit strange with those horns sticking out from their foreheads. The square screens in front of his face kept following him around whenever he turned his head to the sides which made him stop and read what was written in them.

    [Welcome to ''Immortals R Us'' the best cultivation system in all the realms]

    [Earn spirit points through various ways and increase your cultivation]

    [Increase your faction''s reputation to earn rewards, it''s always more fun in a group!]

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    "Uh... what kind of name is that... is this some kind of scam... "

    After reading through some introduction gibberish Mat, that was now called Zhang Dong could see his character''s status screen though it didn''t have much to it besides showing his name and cultivation realm and some more stuffs.

    Name: Zhang Dong

    Affiliation: Zhang Clan

    Cultivation Base Qi: Core Formation(Pending)

    Cultivation Base Body: Foundation Establishment(Pending)

    Techniques : (Pending)

    Dao: (Pending)

    While looking through the screen he spotted a flashing button in the top right corner which drew his attention, it read ''Unload starter package'' which didn''t really mean anything to him at the moment as he found himself pointing with his finger at the button and pressing it in mid-air. He was greeted with the robotic sounding voice after he did that and a countdown. As it counted down he started getting stressed not really knowing if he did the right thing or not but he couldn''t really do anything about it now.

    [Uploading starter package, prepare to receive the information]

    He suddenly felt a sharp pain, his head started throbbing while he collapsed to his knees tightly grasping his head as he squirmed around the grassy ground. His legs twitching around and kicking to the sides as he rolled side to side while holding his head with both his hands and screaming in pain. He could feel information being injected directly into his brain as he received the knowledge about techniques which he previously selected while in the character creator but not like he remembered what he clicked at that point.

    Zhang Dong also felt a sharp pain inside of his body in his dantian area, his core was changing. It started crackling with lightning, spinning around as it transformed into an elemental lightning core making his whole body release static energy as it discharged some of it into the surrounding area.

    [Transformation of the core finished, lightning core established]

    [Beginning body refining...]

    The animals in the vicinity could see the grown man squirming on the ground in a weird way, just trashing about while vomiting black blood which made most of them flee out into the forest. He could feel his body tensing up, muscles expanding and bones shifting around as he got stronger and his body got accustomed to the changes, but that wasn''t the end of it as knowledge of martial art techniques started flooding his mind, the ways of dao and how to use his cultivation along with the techniques that came with it.

    [....DING... starter package uploaded... have a nice day and don''t forget to check out your inventory, you will find a couple of goodies!]

    "S-shit god almighty...ughhh"

    After some projectile vomiting of some black blood and rolling onto his back to pass out for a good 15 minutes Dong finally woke up while still twitching. After wiping the tears and snot from his face and checking out if he didn''t pee himself during the whole debacle he rolled to his knees and while supporting himself on the tree, he stood up and took in a deep breath while trying to calm himself down.

    "Woah... guess I know kung fu?... they made it look way easier in the movies..."

 3 Chapter 3

    Took a while for him to stop hearing a buzzing sound in his ears, his eyes were hurting and his whole body as aching. Matt felt like he had run a marathon, his muscles were sore and twitching while blue and white lightning energy crackled from them. The pain started to subside after a while after which he noticed that his fingers were digging into the tree that he was leaning on, bending the hard wooden bark on it like he was pushing into some soft cardboard. He pulled his hand away to examine it, everything felt surreal at the moment all of his senses felt like they were enhanced as he had a problem in focusing his vision on it.

    "Okay let''s calm down..."

    Matt had a habit of talking to himself, probably because he never had many people to talk to back in his previous world, spending most of his time at the computer screen and just surviving through his workday without interacting with his coworkers all that much. He was a classic introvert, nothing special.

    He felt the information insert itself into his brain, which was a lot of gibberish at first but after a while, he managed to piece it together as it was mostly information about the world he was in right now. He found out that he was in isekai of sorts, the planet was similar to earth but a lot bigger, closer to the size of the sun, quite huge. There were quite a few moons surrounding this planet, which he could even see now in daylight as they were quite close by, some looking green some gray and others red.

    After shaking off the sweat and snot, surprisingly his clothes weren''t covered in the black blood sludge that was covering the ground, guess they had some self cleaning enchantment on it or something, which he would probably confirm after checking out is equipment screen and so he did.

    *Um... status?*

    He thought to himself as the screen popped up in front of him, he tried playing around with it managing to enlarge it with his fingers if he wanted it swiping at it as you would on a tablet screen, though he noticed that if he thought about it the screens and prompts would change to suit his needs without any hand movement.

    *Oh neat, will take some time to get used to.*

    Name : Zhang Dong

    Affiliation : Zhang Clan

    Spirit Points : 9999

    Cultivation Base Qi : Core Formation [Early Stage 0%] (Lightning Core)

    Cultivation Base Body : Foundation Establishment [Middle Stage 0%] (Silver Body)

    Techniques : Lightning Qi cultivation art, Silver Body Arts, Thunderlight Sword, Thunder Movement Art...

    Dao : Dao of Heavenly Lightning, Dao of Smithing and Crafting

    Other : Senior Aura

    Matt read through the status screen, it had a lot more entries now than it previously had which piqued his interest a bit. He was mostly a gaming guy but in his off time he did read a couple of Xianxia and Wuxia type novels, though he was more of a western than eastern fantasy type of guy as he always got confused with the naming sense in those novels and had to reread it to actually know who was interacting with who, plus the tragedy of coming back to an old novel and not knowing what the hell was even going on anymore was a real thing.

    *Okay guess we are going with a cultivation system, the stage kind of one...*

    The status screen showed him basic stats but nothing too specific, so he hovered his finger over the cultivation base which made it go into a bit more detail.

    Cultivation Base Qi : Core Formation

    Cultivation Realm: Early Stage 0%

    Foundation type: Heavenly Lightning Foundation(Immortal Grade)

    Core type: Lightning Core (Immortal Grade)

    *Immortal grade huh?*

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    He somehow knew what that meant as the information was dumped into his head just a few moments ago so he knew about the grading system, it went on from Common, Mortal, Earth, Heaven, Immortal, Celestial Immortal and then finally Eternal. Though from what he could tell on this planet Immortal grade was the cream of the crop, also those ranks had sub ranks ranging from low grade to perfect grade.

    He also tapped the spirit point tab, finding out in the description that it was the name of this systems point system and he could spend them in various ways to increase his level, he could increase his cultivation base directly but he could also spend it on his support skills and techniques plus the system gave him a tip that he could increase all of his skills the old fashioned way as he gained said points if he did it himself.

    He tabbed out of that screen and noticed a colorful blinding icon, that had a glowing sword and shield and a sack with hat looked like to be spirit stones.

    *God damn, does this thing have a cash shop?*

    He clicked the icon and it brought him to a cash shop screen, it looked like your regular free to play, mmorpg kind of cash shop with a search bar, on the left side he could see all the tabs like ''Magic Treasures'' ''Spirit Herbs'' ''Items'' ''Weapons'' ''Cultivation Techniques'' and the sorts, while on the right side he could see the descriptions and the costs, they all had various costs ranging from 10 SP for some low grade common pills to millions and billions for some Immortal and beyond ones.

    *God damn it, what kind of scam is this running, how am I supposed to get a million Spirit Points? Do they grow on trees? Can I suck them from some voluptuous babes bosom? wait... I hope you can do that..."

    But soon he would find out one way of getting them as he suddenly felt a jolt run through his spine which made him turn around. He saw the unsuspecting bunny with the horn staring at him, his eyes red and out for blood. As he was staring at the creature he noticed that it wasn''t just a regular-sized rabbit it was more wolf sized. Which to him was quite huge and as he blinked the creature decided to charge at him, horn first after giving out a high pitched scream.

    "Wait... Mr. Rabbit lets talk about this like civilized people..."

    Matt gulped as he wasn''t much of a fighter, going through his life without having actually fought anyone, at most he got into shouting matches with some people but that didn''t really count for much. So being the heavenly god of destruction that he was, the Senior that all his juniors look up to... he just froze in place like a brick. The monster rabbit didn''t stop as it gained speed and momentum but our godly senior just stood there while sweating profusely.

    *Is this it... am I going to get done in by Bugs Bunny here... I''m still a virgin for Christ sake...*

    As the impending doom in the shape of a sharp horn was flying at his face he finally mustered up some courage to push his legs to try to dodge, but he wasn''t dodging to the side, he was far to untrained for that to happen as he propelled himself backward. Though not being used to his new bodies enhanced stats he lost his balance the ground caved in and he did a back flip hitting the demon spawn of a rabbit right in the body promptly turning the creature into meat paste while he himself flew 50 meters back and hitting the tree on his way which broke in half as his face hit it, he tumbled a ways back before coming to a stop, he was on his back with his legs back while his butt was showing and his knees were resting on the ground next to his shoulders, if you didn''t know what was going on you might think he was presenting his rear end to his lover or something.

    [Frenzied Rabbit Slain ( Qi Condensation 6th stage ) Earned 50 Spirit Points]

 4 Chapter 4

    There wasn''t much pain as Matt found out that his new body was a lot more sturdy than his old one was, something probably to do with the silver body thing and how it was at the foundation establishment stage. He rolled to the side and pushed himself off the ground a bit surprised at what just happened. His foot was quite bloody and his hair had some tree bark in it as he looked at the area where he ''kicked'' the creature while trying to fell for his dire life.

    "I-is it dead?"

    He looked at the destroyed tree in the distance, he couldn''t see if the horned rabbit was dead or not as the tree was in the way but he felt somehow that it was not among the living anymore after the robotic voice announced that he had slain the creature. But being the true hero that he was, Matt grasped a branch from the side and slowly crept up to the spot that the ''battle'' took place.

    "Hey, there Mr. Bunny... you''re not going to pounce at me again are you?"

    Gulping sounds could be heard as the over six-foot tall man crept to the now tree stump, he peeked behind it slowly and could see the red trail and entrails of the monster spread on the grassy field. It looked dead, not even twitching or anything as he slowly tippty toed closer and closer. His hand grasped the wide branch as he finally was at the head part, his kick having parted the weaker creature in two. After a few pokes to the head with his trusted ''weapon'' he sighed in relief, then a vein could be seen appearing on his forehead as he gave the dead thing a wack with the branch putting it in an even more miserable state than it previously as.

    "Damn rabbit! Who''s your daddy now you little shit!"

    The rabbit didn''t reply but Matt started venting his emotions while poking and hitting it with the stick which broke in two after a while. He tossed to the side and calmed down, looking at the monster and then to his spirit points which now counted up to 10049.

    *Guess that''s one way to do it... why did it have to be this kind of setting...*

    The novel protagonists made it look easy, get an op system? Learn some badass skills? Slay some monsters and court some ladies. Reality as a bit different as he didn''t really know how to react as the monster run towards him, even though it was a trash mob that he could fart to death at this point.

    *I have to get my shit together, these cultivation worlds are always so bloodthirsty, everything will stab you in the back if you look weird in their general direction*

    Matt wasn''t much of a fighter and if he could choose he would rather take the pacifist route and talk it out, the whole ''Kill them if they besmirch your honor'' thing didn''t really go with his life philosophy. But this was a nice wake-up call as he scanned through his list of skills and abilities. He had to test them out to see if he had any way of defending himself if anything bigger then the rabbit would attack him. What if some huge black duck was next? Or a yellow grizzly bear... wait wasn''t that in that other franchise... well never mind.

    *Okay I''m sure I had some skills in there...Lightning Qi cultivation art, Silver Body Arts, Thunderlight Sword, Thunder Movement Art*

    He mumbled to himself while focusing on some skills, not really knowing what to do. He focused on the Thunderlight Sword one, did he need to get a sword to test it out? He had a feeling that he didn''t need one for it. Matt focused on the name and then on his hand, he kind of knew what to do as he started gathering spirit energy into his right hand. He closed it into a fist, its electricity crackled around it and then with a loud boom of thunder a saber of light expanded from his fist being 1,5 m long.

    "Woah... is this a lightsaber..."

    It looked similar to it, but looked more unstable with the lightning energy buzzing and jolting out of the blade''s shaft. He swung it around and it made familiar noises that you would expect a lightsaber to make. Matt looked to the side at the half-collapsed tree and then back to his light weapon. He took aim and swung to cut at the part that was still standing and with one swipe managed to slice it in half, the poor tree just falling apart even more and probably cursing him and his ancestors to a life of misery as it faded away.

    "...okay... this could work...what else do we have"

    He went through his skills a bit, somehow managing to throw some lightning-induced punches and kicks that made thundering sounds in the process and scaring the wildlife around but probably alerting some potential baddies in the process. Matt slowly got used to his new body finding it quite more robust than his old one, even after running around and flailing his hands and legs in all directions while ''training'' he didn''t feel all that tired, he was also strong, like really really strong. He could lift up large boulders with ease, and crush rock into dust with those big burly hands of his which gave him quite the confidence boost.

    During the whole training montage that took about an hour he finally noticed that he had something stuck to his belt, it looked like a ring with some Chinese characters on it. Weirdly enough he could understand what was written on it ''Spatial Storage Ring'' and he already knew what it was for. He focused his mind on it, injecting his spiritual qi into it, the ring had some items in it. He slowly started playing around with it and after fiddling for some time managed to remove all the objects and place them on the ground in front of him to examine.

    "Hm... is that a flying sword or something? Some strange pills... a golden hammer... some scrolls and some books ..."

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    He glanced at the things but didn''t really know what to do with them as he only had a rudimentary knowledge of the world around him, the gaming system didn''t give him anything specific but he knew that those were probably some starting items that he received along with his package.

    "Could really use something to identify stuff with... I have no idea what this is used for...wait a second..."

    He remembered about the item store that he previously saw and pulled up the window with it.

    "Hm, let''s see..."

    He poked the search field and was able to input words into it, he wrote ''Analyze'' but then changed it to ''Appraisal'' as that gave more coherent choices.

    #Glasses of the Sage: Big glasses that give you that nerdy look, insert some spiritual qi into them to appraise items. 5000 Spirit Points#

    #Eye of Appraisal (Skill, Evolving type) : Look at an item to appraise it, appraisal stats vary by skill rank (You are able to appraise items 1 cultivation realm below your current cultivation at the start) 9000 Spirit Points#

    #Pill of Appraisal: Swallow it to temporarily gain the Appraisal skill and identify items. 500 Spirit Points per pill.#

    There were more choices in the store but those were the options that piqued his interests.

    *Hm... the Glasses sound okay... but it doesn''t say if there is a limit at what they can identify... also not really keen on wearing those. The pills look like a scam to just dump points into so the middle chose looks the best... but uhh... that almost all my points...*

    After contemplating for a bit more he went with the skill choice, it looked like the best deal at the time and it was an evolving skill so he could probably level it up. After pressing the buy button he looked at this spirit point number go down into the gutter.

    [Uploading skill, prepare to receive the information]

    "Oh shit, not this again..."

 5 Chapter 5

    His eyes got extremely itchy, it was like a bunch of mosquitoes decided to have a crazy party right inside his eye sockets. It was uncomfortable, to say the least, plus his forehead was also throbbing as the information on how to use the new skill was shoved in there as well. Matt wanted to strangle the person who made the information distribution in this strange system and also give him a couple of slaps, but this time around it didn''t take that long till he felt a release from the itching and pain, probably something to do with it only being one skill this time around and not a full information dump.

    Matt rubbed his teary eyes and straightened out his posture as he blinked a couple of times, his vision going from hazy to sharp as time passed. He looked down at the items on the ground, focusing on the sword and as he did he could see some words popping up.

    [Crystalline Flying Sword: Earth high grade, perfect condition]

    The sword was bluish-green and looked like it was made from crystals, it wasn''t pointed at the end but was flatter. It was quite a lot bigger than regular swords making Matt think of a peculiar one-eyed, one-armed manga protag that had a rage problem. He figured that it was this big so that he could stand on it as he flew about and he kind of knew how he should do it, thanks to the previous information dump that he received.

    *Okay moving on...*

    He started scanning the rest of the items, managing to identify everything some the pills were used for restoring spirit qi, while others were used to restore health they were all in the earth grade which made him think that''s probably what would be around his level, maybe a bit below. The books and scrolls were just cultivation manuals of the skills that he already knew, he wasn''t sure what they were for as he already knew them, maybe he could sell them? Then he turned his attention to the map which he took and started to examine, it didn''t come together with a gps though as he didn''t have any idea where on the map he actually was.

    *Well... this doesn''t help at all... just some strange continents that I don''t know, At least there is a name... Hm ...Heavenly Spirit Realm? Well, that sounds quite generic as you can get... can the system help with this somehow?*

    Not much on the map could be discerned beside that so while grasping the map he opened up the system window wondering if he could find some help there. He was pleasantly surprised as the system did give him a new prompt which he clicked and selected.

    [World map item identified, absorb? Yes. No.]

    After a little jolt to the skull which he was now getting used to he noticed that he got a map option in his system screen, he could even bring up a mini-map that spread through a couple of kilometers around him. He could see a lot of dots some red, some green, some blue. Which he deducted that the red ones were probably monsters or beasts like the horned rabbit he just killed, green ones probably friendlies and blue ones maybe unknowns? He would have to confirm his theory later but now he went back to examining his stuff as he was mostly done.

    He looked at his clothes, checked his pockets and scanned the ring once more to check if he didn''t miss anything important and found some shiny gold coins tucked away in a sack by his belt with some shiny crystals to boot. After identifying them as plain gold coins and spirit stones he got a prompt once more as he was identifying the stones while his system window was out.

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    [Spirit source detected, absorb lower grade spirit stone? Yes. No.]

    Matt raised an eyebrow and selected yes, and watched as the spirit stone dissolved into lights which then entered his body through his skin.

    [Spirit source absorbed, you gained 10 spirit points.]

    "I guess it works like that too? Neat."

    He placed the pouch of coins and spirit stone into his storage ring along with the rest of the items he wouldn''t really be using at the moment. He didn''t absorb any more of the spirit stones as he didn''t know if he would need those for something later and from what the info dump in his brain was telling him there were many uses for those, ranging from crafting to just plain old trading with others for other treasures and items.

    The golden hammer was identified as a crafting tool with some nice bonuses, but he would need to get his hands on some crafting manuals to go with his crafting skills that he already had gained in the starter package. He tossed the shiny thing into his spatial ring and looked as it just vanished into thin air still a bit baffled by the whole sight.

    *Well I guess I should get this thing to work now."

    He looked at the huge person-sized sword on the ground and picked it up with his hand, surprisingly it wasn''t all that heavy though as he gave it a few practice swings it had a nice ring to it and generated a nice gust, you wouldn''t want to get hit by this thing. Matt looked at the flying sword and concentrated his Qi, he was starting to get the hang of this whole cultivation thing as he could feel the sword absorb his spirit. The sword started to shake and gently vibrate hovering upwards as he let go of the grip.

    *This is getting even neater with each passing moment...*

    He forgot about the dangers around him as the flying sword started swishing about, wobbling at start but then it swished back and forth like a drone, though he noticed that he couldn''t control it too well if it got more than 10 meters away from his body, might have just been his inexperience or maybe that it wasn''t a sword meant for fighting that much and more as a way of transport. Matt hopped on the wide blade and ordered the weapon to move upwards firstly just letting it move him up and down as he tried to balance himself on it without falling over. Luckily he came equipped with the sword flying technique which let him move around on it, while maybe a bit slow at first but with time he would probably get a bit more comfortable. After moving in circles while staying close to the ground a smile was plastered all over his face, as who wouldn''t like to zoom around the area on a kick-ass looking sword like this? Though after a moment of bad judgment he jumped off while the sword punctured the tree stump in the middle of the field. He placed it in his ring afterward and placed the ring on his finger as he relaxed a gathered his thoughts.

    *What am I supposed to do now, this is all nice and fine but I can''t just run around in this field or forest without a place to go... wait wasn''t there some setting to this...*

    He opened up his system menu again and quickly moved over to his stat page and he clearly cloud see that he was affiliated with the Zhang clan, he clicked on that to bring up if there was any explanation for it.

    [Zhang Clan :

    Once a prominent family clan but now it''s in decline, it''s patriarch had failed in advancing his cultivation and suffered for it with early death. The clan is in dire need in higher cultivation elders so it has reached out to side families for help.

    The clan is situated in the Spirit Spring City with a population of 10 million.]

    "Guess that would be a good place to start, now how do I get to Spirit Spring City..."

 6 Chapter 6

    Matt who was named Zhang Dong, which he still thought sounded hilarious in his mind clicked on his system screen and took a peek at his own name, wondering if it would bring out anything about his new persona and it did.

    Zhang Dong :

    Age : 30 , Mother Zhang Biyu (Deceased) , Father Zhang Peng (Deceased)

    You were the child of two clan members of the Zhang Clan, your mother died while giving birth, your father a regular elder member of the clan brought you up till he also died after a beast attack, you were 12 years old at the time. Swearing vengeance on the beast you dedicated your life to slaying the evil monster. You didn''t interact with the rest of the clan giving them the impression of a stoic type. You left the clan after reaching the age of 20 and ventured the world. Your cultivation level exceeds your peers, your cultivation choice of heavenly dao makes you give of a noble aura. After reaching the core formation realm you managed to slay the evil beast that took your parents in a ferocious battle. Afterward, you heard the rumors that your old clan was in decline and decided to see if you could help them out with anything.

    *Well that''s a nice little story, well at least I don''t have any family members that know me, that would make it weird if they started acting all familiar with me. Guess going with lightning wasn''t such a bad idea if it will give me a popularity boost like that.*

    Matt smirked while reading through his short bio, that didn''t tell him much about his situation, he was more or less a blank slate to the people of the Zhang clan as it said that he didn''t interact with them all that much from a young age, so it wouldn''t be weird if he couldn''t identify anyone if he showed up, he didn''t really look forward to any awkward situations that could come from that.

    *Okay spirit spring city, where is that and how do I get there...*

    He fumbled around his map system and found a handy GPS like option that let him search for things and after writing in the name of the city it showed him the direction that he should be heading in. Matt opened up his eyes wide as he looked at just how far away the city was, it was in the hundreds of thousands of kilometers, which was more than the whole circumference of planet earth that he lived on. Guess he would have to figure out this flying sword thing otherwise he would probably spend his whole life just walking there.

    *Why do they have to make everything so big in here, is someone overcompensating with something here?*

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    His brows were furrowed as he looked at his destination, though he could see that there were other smaller landmarks on his way, plus he had some gold coins and spirit stones so he would probably have a place that he could stay in while traveling. Matt''s train of thought got interrupted as he spotted a lot of red dots moving in his direction, the thunder sounds were quite loud that he was producing with most of his skills so more trouble was heading his way, this made him sweat a bit.

    *Okay... calm down, they are just weak little creatures, my power level should be way above them, they shouldn''t even be able to scratch me if they are below the early stage of the foundation level.*

    Z.D. tried to pump himself up while looking in the direction of the red dots and as they appeared he noticed that it was the same wolf sized bunny creature type as before. He had his appraisal skill this time around so as he focused on the fuzzy balls he could see their cultivation realm, safe to say they were all in the Qi Condensation realm, which made him a bit less tense but he was still uncomfortable. The horny bunnies looked at him with their red eyes that were filled with rage and madness and gave out high pitched sounds before charging at him.

    *Why are these things even attacking me, shouldn''t they run when they meet someone of a higher cultivation level, thought magical beast should be somewhat intelligent... Maybe it has something to do with the Frenzied prefix in their name? *

    He focused on the charging creatures while feeling tense, but as he did so he noticed that they were moving really slow, like as if they were in bullet time. He could clearly see them charging at him all 5 of the little buggers, crooked teeth in their mouths and pointy horns ready to penetrate him in various ways. He was quite a distance away from then so he decided to test out the waters, he quickly grasped a larger rock from the ground and then promptly chugged it at the closes one of the buggers. The round object just flew through the air with momentum and hit the creature right on the mouth. The monster hare gave out a strange sound before his head exploded along with the rock that hit him.

    [ Frenzied Rabbit Slain ( Qi Condensation 5th stage ) Earned 40 Spirit Points ]

    *One down...*

    After the first kill Matt decided to keep it safe and started running around and chugging rocks at the fuzzy buggers, sometimes he hit on the first try, sometimes he had to run away while the monster bunnies chased him around the field but he was much faster than them so after a while, all the creatures were slain and covered the grassy field in their blood.

    *Geez... what''s up with these shitty rabbits...*

    They all laid dead before his mighty rock chucking skills, he felt a sense of accomplishment even though he bested the beasts in a cowardly way, it was better to be safe then sorry though if people from this world saw a core formation senior running away from Qi Condensation creatures while chugging rocks at them they would probably think that they had a bit too much to drink. He would probably have to grow some balls before he started interacting with the people of this world or else they would see him as quite the oddball.

    *Damn, after a hard-fought battle I sure could use something to drink, I didn''t see anything back there in the spatial ring though.*

    His belly rumbled a bit as well as he was getting hungry, he rubbed his belly as he felt the hunger, he stopped a minute as he noticed the abs that he was now, long gone was his flabby belly that he was used to now he too had a nice beach body. After some self-encouragement in the form of patting his muscles he decided to check the item shop if it had any food and it did, it even had hamburgers and soft drinks but there were various other foods around ones that made his eye bulge out, but mostly because they have astronomical costs to them so he went with the cheap junk food, for now, guess old habits die hard.

    After his burping from his soft drink, he decided to take a look at that flying blade of his but before he could do that he noticed that even more red dots were approaching him and one from them was looking a lot bigger than the rest which gave him a bad premonition.

 7 Chapter 7

    He started wondering if he should move from this open spot as he was in the same damn area for the past couple of hours, no wonder some bloodthirsty creatures were just emerging one after another if he just hung around the same spot all the time for no reason whatsoever.

    But using the help of his ''radar'' he picked up some rocks and decided to use the same tactic, hey why fix it if it''s not broken? He took aim and fired off his rock bullets hitting some of the rabbit mobs right on the head, his aim getting better and better with each of his throws. Though after he managed to take care of a couple of the raging monsters he could hear some trees fall down in the direction that the monsters were coming from. He could hear the trunks snapping and the birds flying away as something got closer and closer and then he saw it. It was a giant rabbit monster, about as big as a polar bear, it had black fur that was kind of shiny, it''s build was a bit lankier and lean then the what the smaller rabbits had and instead of a horn sticking out of its forehead, it looked like it had a bladed weapon stuck there instead.

    Matt threw the rocks at it, but they shattered against the monster''s fur that seemed to be metallic in nature so his tactic of kiting around the mobs went out of the window. He focused his eyes on the large monster that was roaring at him in a much lower-pitched voice then the rest of its kin.

    [ Enraged Obsidian Hare Foundation Establishment Middle Stage ]

    *Guess throwing rocks at that thing won''t work... should I try with a boulder?*

    The creature didn''t give our hero much time to think as it charged at him while its eyes glowed a deep crimson, it didn''t really care about its kin either as it just plowed through them as it was much faster than the low-level rabbit monsters. It tried skewering the man dressed in white, though it missed the mark by a hair as Matt managed to dodge to the side now without losing it''s cool, the creature was a lot faster then the other ones but not as fast as he was, though he barely managed the maneuver still not being used to this combat thing but he was slowly getting used to it, adrenaline was pumping through his veins as he also managed to dodge a swipe from the thing''s large paw that had huge claws on it, though he lost some of his long locks to it as he backed away, even more, trying to formulate a plan in his mind while the Hare kept swiping and trying to headbutt him.

    *D-damn... this thing isn''t stopping... what the hell can I do, the rocks aren''t doing anything... should I try hitting it without of those strange skills that I have...*

    He didn''t think about just running away as probably running into the forest where more of these things could get him wouldn''t be such a good idea, either way, so he used the skill that he previously played around the most and summoned the sparkling light sword that he had. Matt was still a bit scared to get too close to that thing, what if this lightsaber of his doesn''t do anything and he ends up getting mauled by the thing, so he waited for the thing to do another large swipe at him with its paw which he dodged to the side and after finally maning up he delivered a sideswipe, the aim was the large arm of the creature. As the flashing sword came in contact with the black metal like fur of the monster it discharged electricity directly into its body, who would have thought that the metal in the creature''s fur would be good at conducting, right?

    The sword of light dug into the flesh of the monster but it didn''t sever it in one clean swipe as out Zhang Dong didn''t have that much practice in swinging a sword of light just yet, but it did some damage as he stepped back even using his movement technique that made thunderous sounds.

    "...Huff... Gasp... I-i can do this..."

    He could see that the creature wasn''t looking so great as the loss of its front paw made it limp quite a bit, making it lose a lot of speed and quickness in the process. While holding his sword he managed to cleave one of the grunts of the larger monsters in half as it tried to attack him from the side. He didn''t charge at the injured thing as it was still going at him for some reason, it was clearly mad with rage not really caring for it''s well being as a normal animal would have probably fled by now. He danced around it some more, poking and cutting it here and there mostly aiming at the limbs and after a while, the Hare couldn''t really move as all of its limbs had huge gashes in them. Before going for the last hit he made sure to back away from it so that the smaller mobs would follow and so that he could clear them out as well and after that he delivered the finishing blow, separating the creatures head from its body in one clean swipe. Of course, after he did that, he collapsed on the ground onto his knees and continued panting.

    [ Enraged Obsidian Hare Slain, gained 6100 Spirit Points ]

    *I did it...*

    It wasn''t the cleanest fight and he was fighting something much below his level, but being a normal person on the inside it was tough to get used to slaying huge monsters on his first day. He stood up and examined the body of the thing in front of him, Matt started to think that he should probably get out of this place as soon as possible because these berserk mobs would probably be appearing more often and what will he do if the big boss decides to great him and he ends up in its belly.

    As he looked at the cleaved head he noticed something shiny and round sticking out from the neck, he moved in close and picked up the orb that was dark in color and about the size of a golf ball.

    [ Obsidian Hare Core discovered, absorb spiritual energy? ]

    "Oh? guess I can use this... think this thing can also be used for crafting things... I think I''ll save it for later."

    He pocketed the monster core and looked at it, using his light sword to cut of the blade looking horn of the creature, thinking that he might be able to sell it somewhere later, this giving him the vibe of looting a monster mob after you killed it in a video game. He also wondered if he could find any cores on the lesser rabbits, but he gave up on that after looking at the gory bunny bits all over the place, he didn''t really want to go through all those animal entrails, though he did take the horns, maybe he could use those as throwing knives or something. And just as he did that he noticed more red dots coming this way.

    "Okay, screw this..."

    He tossed out his flying sword and jumped on it, making it slowly move upwards and into the air and would you know it as he was in the air he could see more of the same creatures down below walking out of the bushes, he could probably grind quite a bit of points on those things but he wanted to get to some town and just lie down and take a warm shower.

    *Wait, do they even have showers in this world?*

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    Guess a hot bath would do too, so he moved the sword forward, it wasn''t moving fast for now as it wobbled around in the air in the direction of the first settlement which looked like a small village, it was still quite far but as he picked up the speed and got used to flying he would probably reach it before the sun went down, he didn''t even want to think about the weird creatures that came out at night in this world.

    "Next stop, a warm bath!"

 8 Chapter 7

    -Schwing-

    Sounds of a sword cutting through the air could be heard as Matt flew through the air, at first he had to go down to his knees and hold on for his dear life as he was wooshing through the air a bit too fast, but after a while he started getting used to it now looking like a bro surfing around in the sky with his hands on the sides as he balanced it out. He didn''t have to do that though but he just liked how it looked, the flying sword technique kind of made his feet stick to the sword blade so he wouldn''t fall down it also generated a little spiritual forcefield around his body, covering it in a thin membrane so that the winds wouldn''t get to him, though his long silver locks flopped around all over the place which was a bit annoying if he tried doing anything besides flying in one direction while facing it.

    He was getting close and close to his destination, his speed was picking up as he hovered above the large forest of the beasties and there were many of them there, he could see the monsters duking it out as he was above them, he was lucky that most of the flying beasts left him alone as he discovered that he could release his aura that was of the core formation level and if he did that the non frenzied beasts would quickly turn around and flee from him. He also learned that he could more or less judge the power of the beasts around him even without his appraisal skill, but he could probably use it for other things later on and he felt that 9000 points weren''t all that much as he got over 6000 points for slaying a monster that wasn''t all that strong.

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    He started whistling to himself as he flew around, trying out various cool poses. He crossed his arms in front of himself and struck a haughty pose, then he moved his arms behind his back and straightened out his back to look like a seasoned master, the fluttering of his hair and robe made him give off a refined aura. He thought that the last one was probably the proper one to use if he met other people, as the other ones made him look either a bit goofy or eccentric, this was a good middle ground of a mysterious expert.

    As he flew longer and longer he noticed that the magical beasts were kind of getting weaker and weaker, that was probably the indication that he was getting closer to some human settlements as the weaker the mobs the safer it would be in the vicinity of any village. The thought of some rest and relaxation made him release more of his spiritual power which he had loads to spare the flying technique wasn''t that hard on his cultivation, maybe because he had it cultivated to a high level. Though as the village on the map starting getting closer and closer he started to worry a bit.

    *Will they be friendly? don''t think they''ll attack me like these monsters right?*

    He wasn''t sure about the people around this world, he hoped they weren''t that bloodthirsty but this was a world ruled by the laws of the jungle it was a lot less organized as his old one plus he wasn''t part of it that much. His introverted character trait made him a bit reclusive around other people, but if he found someone he hit it off he was able to keep up a conversation. Though he probably wouldn''t need to interact that much with others, he would probably just find himself some food and a place to stay for the night his spatial ring didn''t have any magical hotels in it, though the cash shop did, the pricing on those was horrendous.

    Matt gave off a sight and continued with his trajectory, now even being able to detect some humans on the way , they weren''t that far from him and he stopped and looked at the map of his and as he calculated with his big brain that he was just a couple of kilometers away from them, he might have just read it from the map, but no one would ever know that. The small habitat which he presumed would be a village wasn''t far from those people, he hoped there wouldn''t be any problem when he arrived but he slowed down a bit to see if his clothes were in order as he didn''t want to look scuffed when he arrived or make a fool out of himself, he also hoped that his choice of clothes wouldn''t be considered strange he did look like a martial artist and all.

    As he got closer and closer to the blue dots and noticed that there were 5 of them and they were moving in the direction of a red dot. They were probably a hunting party going for some beast meat. He slowed down and increased his altitude a bit as he didn''t really want to alert anyone to his position, he hoped that they wouldn''t see him from so high up while he himself with his enhanced vision could see what was going on.

    After getting to a good spot he stopped and focused his eyes below him, his vision zooming up to the desired spot as he could see 5 men encircling what seemed to look like a deer, or maybe it was a moose? He couldn''t really tell though it was quite big for a deer more of the size of a large horse with huge antlers that looked like they could do a lot of damage, the tail that it had looked also a bit strange it had a strange pattern to it and looked like crocodile skin which didn''t match the rest of the big deer which had brown fur on it. It wasn''t very strong he could feel it even without his appraisal skill as it was even weaker than the monster rabbits that he previously met.

    *Interesting... I''ll just wait and see how these people hunt I guess...*

    Matt wasn''t all that in a hurry as he was close to his destination and with the help of his flying sword he wouldn''t take long, plus he could follow these people back there if there were problems with the map. He could see some arrows poking out of the beasts hide as it ran and tried to evade the attackers, the men were getting closer and closer though slowly tiring the deer out while plunging more sharp arrows into it and it didn''t take long before it fell to the side and the people had some meat to transport, it was quite uneventful as he watched the people tend to the dead creature, slicing off its tail and horns and putting those away, probably to sell it or use it for something else.

    *Hm, well I guess it would look strange if I popped out now and asked them for directions... I''ll just keep it low key and follow them for now, maybe I''ll learn something while at it.*

    He rubbed his chin while the men dug into the deer''s flesh, taking out a round object that was probably a beast core, but it was really small compared to the one that he got. Then he heard a howl and could see the men become alert as they got in a defensive stance. He glanced at his minimap and could see a lot of red dots moving closer and closer to where the men where and soon enough he could see a big pack of what seemed to look like wolves but they were red in color and quite scary looking.

    *Gulp... they can take those out, right?*

    He wasn''t very keen on interfering and if the people survived in this environment the probably were capable fighters, right? He apprised the wolves and they had the obvious ''Crimson Wolf'' Name to them, but there was another thing, the just like the ones that attacked him had the ''Frenzied'' and some had the ''Enraged'' prefix as well. Judging by that fact they would probably throw themselves on the people, plus the natives didn''t look that confident as Matt could see them shouting to each other while backing away. They even abandoned their hunted deer while backing away, probably hoping that the wolfs would go for it instead of them but the beasts ignored the fresh dead meat and threw themselves at the hunters that weren''t too keen on a fight.

    *Hey watch out!*

 9 Chapter 9

    Hunter point of view :

    Cheng Yun was a member of the Tatar Tribe, he just reached the age of 15. This was a special occasion in his tribe, at this age you were considered an adult and you had to start real work for your tribe. The males were obligated to hunt or if they weren''t cut out for that gather food or take care of the livestock. Most of them preferred hunting though, it was the most honorable type of work in the tribe, hunting down beasts and protecting your family was an honor for these people.

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    The men from the tribe formed smaller hunting parties of five people, this was his first time out in the deep forest, children were forbidden in going in too deep as dangers lurked at every corner. Lately, the creatures in the forest became more and more unruly as his fellow tribesmen came back injured more and more, even a few deaths happened. They reported about how the beasts were acting strange, eyes going red while they lost their mind, they charged at the humans and other beasts without any sense of self, just throwing at anything that moved and ripping it apart, they even went after their own kin from time to time.

    Though the village he was part of couldn''t support themselves on only farmed food and gathered fruits and vegetables from the forest, they needed meat dense in calories and also Qi. After a mortal began their cultivation and went their first step into the Qi Condensation stage, even if it was the lowest one they started to need food high in spiritual Qi, the stronger the person became the more they needed, there were all kind of spirit foods around but they were hard to produce out in a small village as they had , the seeds were hard to come by and you needed special qi rich soil to grow them, so the best way to circumvent that was hunting what most people called spirit beasts.

    A spirit beast of the same cultivation as a human mostly came out on top, because of the larger size but it was possible to win. That was why they formed small or large hunting parties to hunt, mostly targeting the herbivore types of creatures as they weren''t as ferocious attitude like the carnivores and were less craft than the omnivores. But lately, the beasts started acting up, getting violent and attacking people that were clearly of a higher caliber then them. The people didn''t know what was driving them crazy but they would have to get to the bottom of this if they didn''t want to have a hard winter without any stored meat.

    They managed to find a nice adult Serpent Tailed Deer, it would bring quite a lot of meat for the people in the tribe, he was more or less in a support role on this hunt, using his bow skills that he was quite proud of as he was the best at his age group. He managed to hit the beast in a couple of spots but the damage wasn''t that great, but after a while, it added up and with the help of the more experienced hunters they managed to bring the spirit beast down without any loses on their part.

    He was in charge of the field dressing, meaning it was the removal of the animal''s internal organs, also known as the entrails, which was necessary to preserve its meat. While he was doing the dirty work the others used their time to pluck out any arrows from the deer and any that they could salvage from the vicinity. They fished out the core and were ready to move, they didn''t want to wait for that much and the smell of blood would probably attract the other beasts. They were quite unlucky though as a pack of crimson wolves suddenly appeared around them.

    The cultivation levels of the tribe members weren''t all that high, the highest was at the Qi Condensation 6th level, they were poor and it was hard to cultivate without any resources. The condensation stage ranged from 1 to 12 but every three levels you would reach a bottleneck, so between the 3/4, 6/7, 9/10 stages and then at the 12th stage the biggest one as you had to form your foundation. Every bottleneck was harder than the last one, so without resources being them guidance from a seasoned master, spirit herbs, cultivation manuals it was impossible to advance.

    The wolves were between the 4th and 6th levels, but there were over a dozen of them and they were only five. This was quite the predicament as the only option was to flee, they didn''t stand a chance against those beasts that also didn''t care much for their own safety and didn''t feel any pain when attacked. They abandoned the deer in the hopes that the wolves would go for it and started backing away, but they just howled and looked at them with a ferocious glint in their eyes, more interested in the moving humans than the ready to devour dead beast in front of them.

    The hunters fired off a couple of arrows that did some surface damage and then bolted out of there with haste as the chase started, they knew the forest quite well so even though the wolves would be faster than them in an open field as they run through the forest while having to go through bushes and trees they could somehow flee. Though that was the case for the four experienced older hunters, the boy was panicking and tripped over a root that sealed his fate. He soon felt sharp teeth going into his thigh as one of the red beasts caught up to him as he was trying to get up. The pain was unbearable and he screamed, his fellow tribesmen looked at him in fear but they knew that the couldn''t do much for the youth.

    But at this moment something strange happened, as another wolf was about to go for a neck bite while the other one was chewing the kid''s thigh a sudden explosion happened kicking up dust and debris into the area. The hunters covered their eyes as the smoke flew into their eyes trying to make out what was going on, was it another horrendous beast that came to wreck more chaos? But to their surprise, after the dust had cleared they could see a huge sword in the spot that the charging wolf was in, sliced in half. They saw a man standing on the hilt of the large sword, hands behind his back and standing straight up with an otherworldly aura to him

    He looked like an immortal in that pure white robe, the top of his face was covered with his robe and his back was facing the four hunters while the scared bitten boy was a couple of meters from the huge sword. They could see lightning crackling from him as he looked at the crimson wolf that was next to the boy, it wasn''t biting his leg any more as it growled and flung itself at the new enemy only to be bisected by a strange glowing sword that the stranger formed in his hand.

    If they could they would have cheered on but they were too shocked to say anything and just gulped while watching as all the wolves charged at the robust-looking cultivator. They stood no chance as with every swipe of his light sword a beast fell. Soon they were all dead in a gory puddle around the white-robed man. He stood there for a moment as he looked at the slain monsters and then looked down at the youth that was still in need of medical attention.

    Cheng Yun looked up while grasping his leg, he was bleeding out as the wolf had mangled up his artery. He would probably die soon if nothing was done. Then he heard the man speak, he had a domineering voice. "Here, eat this." He placed a pill in his mouth which the boy swallowed with haste. After the pill went down his throat he could feel it''s healing properties getting released and his leg started patching itself up at a visible rate and within a minute it was all healed up, he could even stand up while looking at his torn pants and blood that they were soaked in.

    The man was also surprised about the healing speed, though the boy and hunters didn''t see that as he was hiding his face behind his hood...

 10 Chapter 10

    *Holy fucking shit... they are going to die...*

    Matt looked on as the shit hit the fan and the wolves started chasing after the human hunters, he was still hovering above the crowd as it all happened , it looked at first that they would be able to escape as they were quite agile and moving through the forest quickly while the beasts were a bit less used to running there. But one of them tripped and fell right on his face, Matt did a mental facepalm at the sprawled out kid that was right below him, he looked quite comedic. Though this was no laughing matter as he knew that a wolf could catch up to the fallen teenager.

    *Damn... I have to help them... but... *

    If you had to assign an alignment to Matt he was probably in the neutral good category, if he played any rpg games he always went for the good guy options, not really liking to replay them with the evil path options. But having a good personality and acting out on it were two different things as he froze while the kid was close to getting attacked by one of the monsters. He wanted to act, he wanted to be the hero of the story and whatnot, but that was harder than expected. While he was looking down at the scene, the wolf finally chomped down on the hunter''s leg, ferociously shaking its head to damage it more and more as it tore into the flesh. He could see the fear in the kid''s eyes, he screamed out in pain the other people around him didn''t go to help him as they only stopped for a moment before turning around wanting to flee once more.

    *Fuck... move you damn coward!*

    He gave himself a slap to the face and gritted his teeth, finally getting a hold of some courage and finally forcing himself to charge directly down while on his sword. He used quite a bit of his spiritual power to fling himself downward hopped up on adrenaline as he charged. The sword slammed into the ground and luckily killed the second wolf that was going for the boy''s neck, he finally arrived. He managed to keep his balance on the sword, his eyes looked around while the dust was settling he didn''t even notice that he was still holding his flying sword pose from all the stress but after the other wolf that was at the boy let him go to charge in his direction he used his sword skill to quickly take care of him.

    These crimson wolves were about the same levels as the trash mob rabbits that he fought, maybe a bit more agile. He took care of them quite fast just hopping down from the sword and swiping at each one once as the stupid mutts just blindly charged at him without any strategy whatsoever. He cleaned up quite fast, thinking to himself that he shouldn''t be scared of creatures of this level down the road. He glanced at the boy that was bleeding out, he noticed the spot that he was bitten and there was a lot of blood and he knew they the artery was probably severed, the kid would bleed out in a short while.

    Matt remembered that he did have some healing pills on him, so he fumbled around with his storage ring and brought out one of them not really sure if it would work but that was the only thing that he could do at this point, he didn''t have any healing skills whatsoever. He didn''t wait long as he moved closer and just popped the pill into the young male''s mouth while hoping for the best. Luckily it worked, he could see the leg glowing a bit as it healed itself up which made him stare at the phenomenon. He sighed in relief and then he looked back at the dead wolfs.

    Now he was in a bit of a predicament, he managed to save the kid but now he had five people stare at his back. He wasn''t good at speaking with others as he was very reclusive in his old life. The hunters themselves were shocked down to the core, they never saw a cultivator of this caliber in their entire life and didn''t know how to react. They thought it would be rude to speak up first in front of someone of this immense strength so they kept quiet, the boy below him also turned around and started bowing his head down after examining his now healed leg.

    "I-it''s fine you don''t need to do that... I was just passing by and saw you having some trouble... no biggy..."

    *No biggy? do people even talk like that here... wait can they even understand me in this world... please don''t speak in mandarin...*

    "Honorable Senior!"

    They all fell down to their knees and started hitting their foreheads on the floor, while not looking up which gave Matt a funny feeling. Though he did understand them, he wondered if English was normal around these parts or of there was some kind of translation thingy helping out.

    "Uh... you don''t need to do that, stand up"

    All of them shoot up to their feet as if it would be rude not to follow his instructions and doing it slowly would be rude. He rubbed his neck a bit finding the whole thing uncomfortable but people in this kind of setting tended to be this way always revering the strong cultivators. One of the men that were previously running away moved forward over to the boy, he had a large build being even taller than Matt, he looked like the leader of the bunch.

    "We of the Tatar Tribe greet honorable senior and thank him for giving aid."

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    He bowed some more while the other three moved behind him and helped the previously injured boy up Matt didn''t know if the pills accounted for blood loss but the other three were tending to the kid so he would probably be okay.

    "Do these uh... beasts often do that, they seemed to be... enraged?"

    He was now interested a bit why the creatures were so violent and he also wanted to move the conversation along, he found the whole bowing thing to be quite awkward to say the least.

    "Yes, Senior! the magic beasts have been acting up for the past months, it started off small. Mostly it was a one or two of them that we came across but after a while more and more started getting violent, we believe that they are getting affected by something, maybe by another stronger beast or some treasure, but we can''t go check as it''s far too dangerous now, we have lost a lot of brothers to the beasts, we don''t want to lose more."

    He rubbed his chin while hearing the explanation while trying to think about his next move. The burly man in front of him seemed to be stressed out a bit as he stood at attention like he was talking to his superior. He looked even more stressed as after the explanation Matt kept staring at him without saying anything. Matt noticed that the man didn''t look like any particular race of humans that he knew of, their skin had a darker tint to it but looked more to be a deep tan.

    *I wonder if there are any other races besides humans in this world, there are magical beasts here... maybe there are some elves around?*

    He wouldn''t be against meeting some curvy elf girls, to be honest, or maybe some cute catgirls? Though he preferred the more humanoid looking ones plus he liked them quite curvy... in his old world those girls were referred to as thicc, but thick in the right areas not overweight this and that were two different things. He remained with his poker face while his mind drifted to pervy thoughts. The men that were looking at this overpowered senior in front of them gulped down as they didn''t know if this was a good thing that he came here to save them or if he would be worse than the wolves.

 11 Chapter 11

    "Uh... aren''t you going to take those? Think you were out here to hunt."

    Matt coughed into his hand as he finally noticed the uncomfortable atmosphere around him as the men were frozen while staring at him. He pointed with his finger at the dead creatures that laid down on the ground, he didn''t really want them as he already gained the spirit points for killing them, he was tempted to see how many he had now but he wasn''t sure if the others could see his system screen and either way if he started waving his finger around in a weird way they would probably think that he had a few screws loose.

    "Oh but if you find any cores, could you hand those over?"

    He stood to the side a bit moving away from the bloody scene as he inserted his spiritual energy into his flying sword that was still stuck to the ground. As it hovered upwards the blood and gore pieces fell down from the corpse of the crimson wolf that it parted in two. It was dripping and had pieces of flesh on it, the tip was kind of flat and looked more like it was better for bashing than skewering things on it. Matt grimaced at the gory sight. The flying sword didn''t seem to have a cleaning function like his clothes and the light sword as just a skill and it just evaporated all the blood anyway so he would need to clean that otherwise it would probably start to stink in a bit.

    "Um... do you guys maybe have some water and a rag?"

    He looked at the men that were moving over to the animal corpses who froze and looked at him as he was speaking. He had a strange way of talking in their opinion, but they thought that experts of that level were probably a bit quirky. He looked at them while asking and then to the sword that was hovering a bit of the ground and then placed down on it, then back to them. They spotted the blood on the tip and blade and then quickly spunk into action. The hunter in charge gave one of the other men a bottle of water and told him something and then that man started tearing off his sleeves he quickly run up to the blade and started cleaning it with a ferocious dedication like his life depended on it which made Matt rub his neck as things got even more awkward.

    "W-wait you don''t need to do that..."

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    "Dignified Senior! it''s an honor for us to clean your blade!"

    The leader replied while cupping his fists and doing his bowing show of respect while Matt just looked at the thing a bit perplexed, but this was kind of how the world worked so he probably had to get used to it, or maybe he could change that world view of those natives if he wanted later on. His sword was nice and shiny within moments, the blood and guts were still warm so it was a lot easier to get them out than if they were dried. The male that cleaned it bowed to him and then moved to the other tribe members while they gathered up the spoils.

    "Ah yes, thank''s."

    He moved the big sword closer to himself and just let it hover next to him, the hunters kept looking at the huge thing and the animal that it parted in one go and gulped. They were on their guard a bit, but kind of knew that they couldn''t do anything about the situation and hoped that this immortal cultivator was of a gentler kind, but that went a bit against their popular belief as most of what the rumors said, was that when someone reached a high enough level of strength they became quite haughty. But this person wasn''t giving off those vibes, so maybe the rumors were false.

    "Ah, Also is there a hotel or something like that around here? Would be nice to take a bath.

    The men looked at each other a bit surprised that this person was even here, most of high level cultivators wouldn''t really interact with low level ones if they didn''t have too. He was even asking about bathing and staying for the night at their crummy little backwater tribe village. This wasn''t really a problem for them as having someone of this caliber come to their land would just make the other tribes shake in envy, maybe he would even fancy one of the tribe girls or pick up a disciple? That would elevate the entire tribe to new levels. This was a big opportunity and they were quite lucky because they even had a nice hot spring in their village, that being mostly the only good thing about it.

    "Yes Senior, we have hot springs in our village also you can use any hose you deem worthy to stay in it, it would be an honor!"

    The hunting party leader replied while his eyes were sparkling for some reason, Matt wasn''t sure why the person was looking at him like that but he shrugged and nodded back.

    "Okay then, how about you pack those beasts up, I''ll just follow behind you, also would be a waste to not take that deer beast too."

    The men went back to work, quickly cleaning up and removing the beast cores that they handed over to Matt as he told them too. Though there was a little problem there were 14 dead wolves and 1 dead deer beast, they were a bit bigger then their Earthy counterparts and the men weren''t really prepared to drag so much game back home, they were mostly just prepared for maybe getting smaller animals and maybe one or two larger ones at most.

    Matt wasn''t really too keen on dragging the dead animals on his own and he wasn''t interested in their meat whatsoever if he could just get food from his game like system instead. Though at that moment he almost facepalmed as he remembered that he had something he could transport the dead beasts with.

    "Hey, just gather all of those together in one spot, I''ll just take them."

    Two of the men came back with the larger deer in tow and placed it together with the dead wolfs, and then looked as the man waved his hand around the corpses vanishing from the spot afterward. The beast corpses vanished into Matt''s storage ring, of course, the hunters opened up her eyes wide as they never saw spatial manipulation before. They just bowed some more while the man dressed in white moved back onto his large sword.

    "Venerable Senior, we thank you for the aid! Would you honor us with your name."

    Their eyes were sparkling even more than before, and Matt rubbed his neck as he felt a cold sweat taking over.

    "Um... you can call me Zhang D-dong I guess..."

    He regretted getting a silly last name like that, the man having a juvenile sense of humor but in this word that wasn''t such a strange-sounding name. But he would probably have to get used to hearing dong this dong that around this place now.

    "Well, I''ll just follow you from up above then..."

    He hovered back up while the hunters nodded to each other and started running towards their village, hoping that they could get this Senior to show some interest in their Tribe, they were a bit of an opportunistic lot but the times were tough so that was normal around these parts.

 12 Chapter 12

    Matt flew above them as he didn''t really want to move along with the strange men, and sighted to himself as he looked down on them just running in one direction. He was stuck in this world, everything seemed so surreal, he didn''t know if he was in some other world, or if he was comatose and stuck in a game world. The people looked real enough and he couldn''t see any lag or the sort of thing, though the game like interface plus the appraisal skill made him see numbers, names and cultivation bases of the people that he was looking at.

    Cheng Yun, Human, Qi Condensation 2nd level

    *Hm, that''s quite low or is that high for that age?*

    The youth looked between 15 and 16 years of age, he was a bit on the thinner side but it was lean muscle. He probably had a hard life, the clothes all of these men were wearing weren''t too extravagant. It was all plain clothes, brown colors it was more functional but looked a bit shabby compared to his own white robe.

    *Well, looks like with those guys speed it''s going to take a bit longer till we get to that village of theirs, they said I could have any house they had, heh wonder if the town chief or is it mayor will give me his if I wanted to, he probably will judging by the strength of these hunters and how they look at me. Well I guess I''ll look at my points, should have gained a few now...*

    Name : Zhang Dong

    Affiliation : Zhang Clan

    Spirit Points : 8084

    Cultivation Base Qi : Core Formation [Early Stage 0%] (Lightning Core)

    Cultivation Base Body : Foundation Establishment [Middle Stage 0%] (Silver Body)

    Techniques : Lightning Qi cultivation art, Silver Body Arts, Thunderlight Sword, Thunder Movement Art...

    Dao : Dao of Heavenly Lightning , Dao of Smithing and Crafting

    Other : Senior Aura

    *Hey, almost got all my spent points back, not bad should I stock up on them or go buy some stuff? Well, no need to rush guess I should check out my skills a bit more, I really could use some range attacks though, Maybe some spear throwing lightning attack? But first, what''s this Dao thing...*

    He tapped the Dao of Heavenly Lightning and looked at the explanation.

    Dao of Heavenly Lightning: The Dao is the way that every cultivator strives for, you have chosen the way of the heavens, the Heavens are the beginning and lightning is the end. By cultivating this dao the user gains bonuses to all lightning-related skills as well as a 30% discount in the store.

    *Oh that''s good to know, makes it easier to specialize if I stick to lightning stuff. I recon the other Dao will give me a discount to crafting skills? Hm... I guess it would be best to get these Dao abilities and then get the responding skills, but I bet those cost a lot...

    Being curious he decided to look up the Dao skills and he could even order them from the cheapest to the most costly one.

    Dao of Gourmet [30000000 Spirit Points] : You dedicate your life to food, there is nothing your taste buds won''t be able to taste if you go on the path of a foodie!

    Dao of Tea [32500000 Spirit Points] : Making tea is an extremely meticulous and labour-intensive procedure, you dedicate your life to it gain bonuses from brewing tea!

    Dao of Painting [33000000 Spirit Points] : Painting is an art in itself, create new worlds inside your paintings if you peruse this dao!

    * 30 million? ... Tea?... Gourmet ... why would you even want that... are there battle skills related to tea making and eating food?*

    His eyes bulged out as he looked at the prices of some of those Daos that looks a bit useless for him... unless he wanted to make a restaurant. Or some tea shop with nice paintings hanging on the walls that would give of a nice atmosphere. Guess there are or sorts of those, he was mostly interested in the battle ones but after looking at the prices he gave up on getting any at the moment, he would probably need to kill like a million of those trash mobs to even have enough spirit stones to get one, guess the prices were so high due to the skill discounts, he was glad that he had two already...

    *Think I''ll stick to the lightning related skills... hope I won''t find anything with lightning resistance here. Guess I''ll just use the Jojo secret technique if that happens.*

    (For people that don''t know what that is, google will answer all your questions)

    He fiddled around his status screen some more and found out that he could spend his spirit points to further his cultivation, but he also knew of normal ways other people did it in this world that would work, he did have the core formation manual for it so he could cultivate it without the help, guess he could save that option if he was in need of a power up. Should I get a lightning bolt spell then? Chugging lightning bolts at people was a cool thing, he could just hang out in the back and pelt them into nice fried corpses.

    Lightning Javelin (Earth mid grade) : 11500(8050) - Throw a javelin made of elemental lightning at your enemy, power of the skill is dependent on cultivation base and other stats.

    Lightning Bow (Earth high grade) : 15000(10500) - Form a bow of lightning and fire of arrows formed from your Qi, power of the skill is dependent on cultivation base and other stats.

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    Thunder Strike (Earth low grade) : 8000(5600) - Summon a lightning bolt from the sky to strike down your enemies, power of the skill is dependent on cultivation base and other stats.

    *The Thunder strike sounds kind of meh, how would I even aim that, the bow one sounds nice but I never used one before, plus I don''t really have the points, the Javelin looks nice too... and with the discount I will just have enough points, should I get it or not, maybe I should have farmed more of those beasts back there...*

    He furrowed his brows but finally selected the new skill , he really needed some range attacks and not like anyone around here would have any skill manuals he could learn, could he even read those if he wanted to? He felt a buzzing sensation in his head and felt a little migraine as the skill information rushed in. After it subsided he started closing his hand and Qi gathered around his fist, it looked similar to his other sword technique but the light was equal in length on both sides, the lightning javelin was about 2 meters in length. He looked at it, waving it around before chucking into a faraway tree looking at it collide with it and obligating it to pieces while scaring the poor hunter tribe members as they heard a loud boom in the distance.

    "Oops sorry about that, nice penetrating power though."

    He got back into his sword flying pose and looked as they sky started becoming red, the sun or the star that this world had was going down in the horizon, the sight was quite captivating as the many moons in the sky added to the whole spectacle.

    "I''m really far away from home, aren''t I? Hope mom and dad are doing okay..."

    He got a bit sad as even though he was a loner he still had a family back home, he didn''t talk to them much and lived alone but they were still his parents. He wondered if they would miss him much after they found out that he was gone or not, but he soon tossed his worries to the back of his head as he saw a village in the distance, they had finally arrived at the Tribe settlement.

 13 Chapter 13

    Matt looked down at the village that was bathed in the color red of the setting sun. The small town was covered with trees from one side, while from the other side you could see farmlands stretching out. It was built at the edge of the forest, probably for easier access to the beasts in there. There was a big wall around the settlement, it was at least 4 meters high and build from thick logs. It looked sturdy and hard to break down by old earth standards, but he wasn''t sure about the standards of this world, he felt like it wouldn''t last that well if he gave it a good punch or kick.

    He was hovering quite a bit above the hunters that he was following at a slow pace, the others probably couldn''t see him that well from the ground while he himself could use his heightened senses too zoom in and focus on the desired area and he could hear and see everything like he was there, all thanks to the previous data dump directly into his brain, it sure hurt a lot but was quite handy.

    Matt saw as the people shouted someone to the people inside the village that was fenced of with the tree wall. They were standing in front of a large gate now and after they made there presence known people on the other side reacted. They opened the gate and while the hunters looked back behind them, then looked upwards while scratching their heads a bit probably looking for Matt who was hovering above them and hiding within the clouds and just stalking them instead. They went inside and were greeted by some other people, one person moved over to the party of five and started shouting at them while a group that was behind him just looked on.

    "Why are you coming back so late? Did you bring anything back with you? Even the other teams managed to nab some small critters."

    What was surprising that the one that was shouting was a boy not much older-looking then the one that was in the hunting party, but all the burly men were hanging their heads down as if the youth-owned the place. He started berating the men, while they sweated bullets and sometimes look behind themselves and up into the air, the youth noticed this of course and a big vein could be seen bulging on his forehead.

    "What are you idiots doing, you dare look away when I Yang Rong am speaking to you, you seem to have forgotten that I am the tribe leaders son and the next in line!"

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    The men were probably searching for Matt, not being sure where he was now, did he just get bored with them and leave? He was the one that was carrying all the animal meat, the hunters didn''t know how to explain this. The youngest from the bunch decided to speak up though, showing a bit more guts than the elders or maybe it was a bit of bravado that young warriors tended to have.

    "W-we were attacked by a big pack of crimson wolves, there were 14 of them as we were trying to hunt a serpent tailed deer, one of them even bit me in the leg"

    Cheng Yun said quickly while Yang Rong showed some disdain towards him, mostly at the fact that he was interrupted in his speech. He pointed to his bloody pants that were ripped, though the lack of a wound and how he was walking just fine was suspicious.

    "What nonsense are you spewing, if you meet so many wolves you would be in more sorry states, you all look fine, you think those torn pants are fooling anyone, you probably did that yourself, did you smear some squirrels blood on there"

    "Well... we were suddenly rescued by a powerful cultivator, he went by the distinguished name Zhang Dong, he took care of the beasts in a flash, they were dead before we could even blink! He also gave me a pill that healed my leg in a flash!"

    The brow of the village chief''s son rose up high as he was listening to the younger male babble on, this sounded like total hogwash. Why would some powerful elder come in and save some insignificant cultivators, what would he gain from that? Also, why would he give precious pills and resources to a useless bum like Cheng Yun, he was having none of this, he would have to show what happens to people that can''t pull their own weight and that lie so blatantly. He started it off by walking over to the younger male that was talking nonsense and gave him a rough slap to the face, his cultivation base was higher so Cheng Yun fell down to his knees while spitting out blood from the full force smack to the face.

    While this was going on, Matt was hovering above the group not really sure what to do, having a bit of a stage fright of his own while meeting new people. He just looked on as everything was happening and the youth he previously saved was giving them the rundown. He also was interested in the walking talking trope that was Yang Rong, he was playing the stereotypical silky pants, son of the leader type of character quite well, he even had his own entourage behind him, they all had mocking expressions on their face as he was berating the hunters. His cultivation wasn''t all that high, just on the Qi condensation 3rd level, so not much more from the kid he saved and he was even 1 year older.

    "Man, didn''t think I would find a silky-pants character right off the bat... I bet he gets all the best resources that this poor tribe has and comes running to his daddy whenever something wrong happens, well... guess I did help those people out so they are kind of my responsibility now... plus it looks like it''s going to get violent."

    As he presumed the slap to the face came soon afterward, the cronies of the tribal silky-pants closed in, they outnumbered the hunting party two to one, but they probably wouldn''t really fight back worried that if the village chief found out he would punish them even more.

    "Uhh... going to have a migraine..."

    Matt moved his hands behind his back and stood up straight, he put on a poker face as he slowly descended down into the village after sighting a bit. He learned how to hide his aura and how to use it so that other people would feel it''s weight on them. His eyes began to gleam in blue color and lightning crackled from his body as he slowly flew down to where the fight was about to start. He made sure to give off a frighting aura that could be felt all around the settlement as people began looking in his direction with fear in their eyes.

    *Guess it''s time to face slap some little shits.*

    Yang Rong and his group were feeling good about themselves, they all knew that they could do anything they wanted around here, if they threw the Chief''s name around, all the tribe members cowered in fear and all the girls came running. It was a nice life that most of the tribe people envied. This was just an everyday occurrence to them, just another time to take care of some trash. But then something strange happened, their body hair began standing up for some reason and they suddenly felt an oppressive force slamming into their bodies which made them go down to their knees. They all looked up, their eyes went wide and their jaws dropped as they saw an otherworldly looking cultivator descending from the heavens. His eyes were glowing and his body was covered in lightning that gave off thundering sounds. He was descending on a huge sword made from some strange crystals, they just realized that the hunting party was telling the truth and that they made a blunder, they might have offended this cultivator as he was looking quite stern. A unanimous gulping sound was heard as their bodies tensed up and they began sweating profusely.

 14 Chapter 14

    Cheng Yun rubbed his cheek as he spit blood on the ground, he felt a stinging pain where he got smacked but he couldn''t resist the son of the chief, he didn''t want to trouble his family as Rong was a known trouble maker. He would have to take this beating, the senior that supposed to be following them behind probably had better things to do than, it was odd that he saved them, to begin with. He was ready to cover his head to ease the blows but then he suddenly felt it, he felt the weight of a powerful cultivation aura, the senior didn''t leave and he was coming down.

    Everyone looked up and the people from the tribe were shitting bricks right now as Zhang Dong was descending down from the sky while being lit up like a Christmas tree. He had an impeccable posture, he was straight as a pillar, his hands were behind his back and his hood was covering his head. The people could see his bright glowing eyes as he let his aura run free. Matt took his time, thinking to himself that he might be overdoing it a little bit as everyone around here looked like they were shitting bricks.

    He came to a halt in front of the cowering Yang Rong and his band of bodyguards, he looked down at them the kid was too scared to raise his head upwards and look him in the eyes, as he knew well that this man in front of him was a lot stronger than his father that was the strongest fighter in the whole tribe. After a moment of silence, the cultivator finally decided to speak.

    "Sorry to break up your welcoming party, but I think these belong to those guys."

    He said while moving his arm in the direction that youth was in, this motion made Yang Rong almost scream out in shock but before he could do that he could see multiple dead beast bodies drop from thin air, with a larger beast deer body landing at the end and covering him in gory guts. Matt had dropped the monster beasts that he was storing in his storage ring and placed them directly on the silkypants that was now squirming under a pile of dead animal carcasses, he would be smelling mighty fine indeed.

    "You don''t mind me dropping them right here, right?"

    He pulled back his overbearing aura and stopped glowing like a neon light and looked back at the hunters that were behind him. They eyed him back with a dumbfounded look on their faces and didn''t know if they should laugh and cry. The person under that bloody pile was the oldest son of the Chief who would probably be enraged if he saw that. On the other hand, he probably wouldn''t be able to do anything anyway as this monster of a cultivator had an unfathomable cultivation base, he had to at least be in foundation establishment but could he be in the rare core formation realm? The shook their heads side to side along with her hand''s while awkwardly smiling.

    "N-no it''s fine, it''s fine Senior Dong!"

    "Oh? Well glad to hear that."

    He replied and then looked at the still shocked bully bunch.

    "Think you should help your little friend out of there, he''ll probably need a throughout bath afterward though."

    The tribe members that he was talking to, looked at themselves and moved up from their kneeling positions and just nodded sheepishly at the male in white words and began pulling the dead wolf bodies off of him, Rong climbed out of the pile covered in some gory bits, the wolfs weren''t processed and Matt did cut them up into pieces with his sword skill, so there were various ''juices'' flowing in that pile, better not to know where they came from.

    Cheng Yun had to cover his mouth to stop laughing, turning away after seeing in what of a sorry state the silkypants was in. He was glad that the bully got some instant karma, even though it wasn''t that much but it was quite a hit to his face. His eyes sparkled as he looked at the man in white that was hovering on his sword in front of them, hands behind his back and looking like a mountain, those were the sort of people young men alike looked up to.

    Matt nodded his head a bit, thinking that was enough for now. He didn''t feel like beating up the brat, even though he looked like he needed a good trashing. He thought that some public humiliation would bring the overconfident youth down a peg or at least he hoped so.

    The hunters sighted in relief as all of the animal bodies were removed, they could go back to their original work now and deliver those to other tribesmen for processing. They cupped their fists at Matt and started helping the others with the bloody mess, everything got cleaned up in a jiffy. Afterward you could hear more footsteps coming closer as more and more people arrived, they all looked in the prime of their life, everyone was built like a brick house while one bearded man stood out as he was the largest one of them, being half a head taller than the next largest man from the loot, this was the tribe Chief.

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    The burly bearded man looked around, he saw his son that was drenched in what looked like blood and some unidentified bodily fluids. He looked to the floating man that was looking in his direction. He couldn''t measure the degree of this man''s strength, plus he was hovering on a treasure with no problem he was clearly above the Qi condensation realm that everyone in this village was in, this man could not be messed with or everyone in here could lose his life.

    "A pleasure to meet such a master, my name is Yang Shan I''m the Chief of this village, what brings you to our humble home."

    He ignored his son''s predicament as he probably was up to no good as always, he already had a headache as he always had to cover up his son''s stupid escapees and he sure hoped that his stupid son didn''t offend this type of cultivator or they all were done for.

    "Ah yes, greetings. Sorry about that little friend over there, just wanted to drop off those beast bodies and I didn''t see him there."

    He shrugged while every person that was here before sweatdropped as they clearly saw him fly up to the Chief''s kid and wave his hand in his direction before the pile of gore appeared. Not like they would tell that in this situation though.

    "I met some of your people back in the forest, they said that you had a hot spring in here, was wondering if I could stay here for the night and use that hot spring of yours."

    The tribe chief glanced over at the hunters that Matt helped out, they just rubbed their necks and gave the chief a little nod. He wasn''t sure why the cultivator wanted to use that, as it was just a plain old hot water pool, there was no spiritual qi in it or anything. But cultivators were always an odd bunch.

    "Ah yes! We will prepare the springs and bring you some refreshments as well, you can stay in our humble village as long as you want!"

    He barked some orders at the nearby people that quickly started running from where they came from, while the Chief moved over to Matt that was still hovering on his sword and tried to beckon him in the direction of the hot springs.

    "Just follow me, Senior, I''ll guide you here, you can also ask me any questions that you may have."

    Matt nodded while jumping off his sword, the sword then vanished into thin air after a wave of his hand which made the surrounding people go wide-eyed once more and whisper among themselves. Spatial storage techniques were a rarity and most people didn''t have storage rings like what he had, if they did the storage capacity wasn''t much bigger than a cubic meter. Matt had an almost infinite amount of space in there.

    "Okay chief, lead the way."

    He replied and followed after the burly man, a lot of people followed after him while a lot of them were also in front as they shooed other tribe members away so that the cultivator behind them wouldn''t need to wait, rule one of this kind of world was not to anger people stronger than them.

 15 Chapter 15

    Matt kept his hands behind his back while walking straight, he kind of didn''t want to keep this position anymore buy he wanted to at least look like a Master even though he was a total noob on the inside. He looked around checking out the wooden buildings. The buildings were mostly made from wood, with straw like roofs though for all he knew they might have been made out of some fantasy spirit straw and spirit wood, for some reason a lot of things had that prefix in them.

    He glanced left and right, people were curiously looking out of their homes wondering what all the fuss was about, but they quickly ducked back in after they noticed the tribe elders in the front with solemn faces that were kicking everyone to the side that they came across.Matt didn''t really notice the rude behavior as it was a bit in front and he had a wall of muscular men from each side to block his view.

    *What''s with this beef cake parade¡­ couldn''t you bring out some curvy amazon ladies to do that instead¡­*

    He lamented to himself as they walked through the village, the pace wasn''t too fast or too slow. They moved closer to the middle of the small town and Matt could see the marketplace that even this place had, though there wasn''t much what the people were selling besides animal pelts, meat, fruits and vegetables.

    The whole thing got more awkward with each passing moment, he was surrounded by people and looked like some big shot with way too many body guards around him. The moved along the normal villagers kept their distance but also sneaked in glances while holding on to their kids, it would have been really unfortunate if one of them bumped into the tribe members that were on edge and sweating bullets not knowing if this strange cultivator would go berserk on them for any little thing they would do.

    Of course a little ball rolled in the direction of the meat shield around Matt and one little kid was chasing after it, while the parents had their hands full with other kids, quite normal from the size of families that were around here. The ball fell right in front of the marching of the burly uncles and the child run up to them to grab it, this making them stop in their tracks and glare at the kid in front of them.

    "How dare you block the way of this honorable senior!"

    One of the men barked while the child looked up in fear, starting to cry in response. It was a little girl about the age of 5, her mother quickly arrived at the scene and grasped the little thing trying to protect her from the rage of the burly overbearing men. Matt did a mental facepalm as he saw the whole thing.

    *What''s wrong with these people, it''s just a little kid, she''s just being a little oblivious to her surroundings like any kid that age. T-they aren''t going to do anything to her and the mother... right?*

    He looked on with concern while keeping his indifferent looking poker face, he was at lest good at showing no emotions. He looked at the pleading mother and the crying child while the angry uncles were looking awfully angry, he gave out a sight as he would probably have to diffuse this awkward situation. Just as one of the big men was about to go towards the mother and child duo, he stepped forward. He was a lot faster then the other man, he grasped his shoulder stopping as he was stretching his burly hand out towards the other two.

    "That''s enough, you''re scaring the poor thing"

    Everyone stopped in their tracks as the cultivator moved forward to stop the tribe member from moving the child out of the way, the man in question did a bow while moving to the side while Matt moved over to the child and mother. He still had his poker face on, he picked the ball up from the ground and presented it towards the little girl.

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    "It''s okay you little rascal, the angry looking uncle won''t do anything to you if I''m around."

    He tried smiling a bit, but it looked more like a smirk, but thanks to being quite handsome and maybe thanks to the aura that he exuded the small child stopped crying as she took her ball back. The mother looked at the handsome man in front and blushed a bit, nodding her head at him as she backed away with her daughter in toe.

    *Well, think that went well... I think.*

    "Hey dude, no need to be so rough with kids, you lot have to chill out a bit."

    The tribe members looked at Matt, not really knowing what he meant with ''dude'' or ''chill out'' , did he want them to go under a waterfall? Or into the icy mountains?

    "S-so... where was that hot spring again?"

    He coughed into his hand as he could tell that the men were giving him odd looks, soon they resumed the walking towards Matt''s next destination. After they were away from the spot that they bumped into the child a lot of the villagers showed up, leaving their houses now when the coast was clear.

    "Did you see that? He defended the child."

    "Yeah, he was also really handsome!"

    "Think he is looking for a wife?"

    "Who would want your ugly ass as a wife."

    The man that said that to the lady got socked in the face right afterwards and the people began laughing at him. The tribe members got lively after seeing the wandering cultivator in white, they got a good first impression as he seamed like a righteous person. They wondered what he wanted around here, they sure hoped that this was a sign that something good was about to happen to their village.

    Matt was oblivious to the good impression that he made on the villagers as he just wanted to get to the damn bath and be left alone for the rest of the day, this was a bit too much human interaction for one day for him and he just wanted to wind down.He was lead to a wooden building after a while, after coming inside he noticed that this looked like a bath house that you would see in Asian countries, he could see the side for men and the side for females as also what looked like to be the innkeeper lady that bowing to him accordingly and greeting him while the tribe chief was giving her the stare down.

    He was finally left alone in the changing room while the other men all left to wait outside, the surrounded the whole building making sure that no one else would come in. They also forced any people that were doing anything in the hot spring to leave. This made Matt sight a bit more as he still wasn''t used to the special treatment that everyone was giving him. He started removing his clothes, but he didn''t really need to place them in the changing room as he just placed them in his storage ring that he kept on his finger, he was sure that storage rings were water proof.

    There was a big mirror in the changing room, which made him look at his new body and face. He didn''t get a good look at it yet, he placed his fingers on his chin and moved his head left and right while examining his new found handsome man face. He had a mature charm to himself, he wasn''t a bishonen or anything, his age made him look something between 25 and 30 , but he knew that people lived longer here and your aging started to slow down if your cultivation increased.

    "Hm, not bad... but the most important thing..."

    He looked to the left and then he looked to the right, shifting his gaze all over the closed of changing room before slowly moving his hands towards his undies. He had regular boxer briefs all in white like the rest of his clothes, he didn''t know if these type of clothing was the norm as he thought people in this kind of setting wore a loincloth or something. But he had more important things to think about now as he had to know the size of his little brother down there and with one quick push he revealed him.

    *Woah, well this is an improvement over the old model*

    The villagers provided some warm water and soap to wash of before going into the hot spring, you didn''t want dirty people going in there right of the bat without soaping up and rinsing themselves, so he did just that. After cleaning up he headed to the hot spring with a towel wrapped around his mid section, finally having some time to wind down as he lowered his body into the water and close his eyes while sighting. He gazed up at the sky, it was turning dark and he could see the stars and the unfamiliar moon above his head.

 16 Chapter 16

    The villagers left the cultivator at the hot spring inn of their village, the Chief ordered his people to block it off so that no one would bother the peculiar acting expert while he himself left to tend to his idiot of a son. He hoped that he didn''t say anything foolish to the cultivator he wanted to be on friendly terms with anyone of this caliber, he couldn''t really offer him anything as they were just a poor tribe in the middle of nowhere. Most people just dreamed of getting picked up by a prominent sect or clan and being a disciple of a renowned master. He wished he could help his son do that, but he seemed to have offended this Senior so that went out of the window, but the man didn''t look angry probably not caring about a junior doing silly things, which was good.

    After getting Yang Rong over here along with the team of hunters that knew the most about this enigmatic man, he started asking questions finding out about him saving the team, fending off a pack of wolves on his own and doing it without batting an eye. He then looked at his son that was holding his head down as he told that he started berating the hunters that the man helped, this ending with him having a pile of dead beasts dumped on his head, he still had a peculiar smell coming from his body even though he had already changed his clothes by this point.

    It seemed to the Chief that the man wasn''t hostile towards them as he saved his villagers and also didn''t do much to his son besides embarrassing him slightly. Yang Shan was glad at the later part, as this experience might get his useless son to think before acting first. There were far more powerful people out there, he couldn''t have his son just parading around and throwing his weight around if he didn''t really have anything to back that up besides his old man. He nodded and gave a good fatherly smack to the head with a closed fist, reprimanding him for being an idiot. Yang Rong went down to his knees and rubbed his poor noggin, now he had a bump in the middle of it.

    "B-but father..."

    He sent the boy home, he couldn''t have his antics offending Zhang Dong so he wanted his son to keep it low, he''d invite the man to his home later for dinner, or maybe breakfast if he didn''t want to eat anything at the moment. He told the men around the hot springs to inform him when the cultivator was about to leave and then walked away to prepare the feast.

    About half an hour passed as Matt was soaking in the springs just relaxing with his eyes closed, his body wasn''t tired though he did feel stressed. It hasn''t been long since he was wished away into this world, did some bored god do this to him, as he passed out in a coma in a hospital and this was just a dream? He had no way of knowing, he could clearly feel pain, everything looked like it was real and the people were acting normally, well normally for cultivator type of people with the bowing and respecting things.

    He opened up his eyes and realized something, something really ,really bad. This was a hard truth of this world... there was no internet around... he was getting bored ... He couldn''t play any games, he couldn''t watch any new tv shows, read any comics or manga or read any fantasy novels like he liked to do back at home. He didn''t know how the entertainment industry looked around in this world, but what he could tell cultivators spent most of their time hold up in some abodes meditating and contemplating their dao. Dread filled his mind as the thought of meditating in one spot for years at a time just gathering spirit energy? How did that even work... he brought up his screen and clicked at his cultivation method.

    Lightning Qi cultivation art : Immortal grade cultivation art, can be cultivated up to the great circle of the core formation realm. The cultivator gathers the surrounding Qi into his body transforming it into lightning Qi, works best if cultivated at high altitudes, closer to the heavens or in a storm where the lightning elements are abundant.

    *Well that doesn''t explain much, let me see, also it has a cap on it...*

    He got out of the spring and wrapped the towel around his waist to cover his little brother. There was a large boulder in the middle of the spring onto which he got up and sat down in a meditation pose. He gathered his thoughts on the cultivation technique as he had the information about it in his brain. Matt sat in a lotus position with his legs crossed in an uncomfortable-looking way. He brought his hands together with his right palm going under his left one while his right thumb went above his left thumb as they connected. He closed his eyes and tried to feel the spiritual Qi around his surroundings.

    Matt remained in the cultivation position for a bit and started absorbing the Qi around him. The spiritual force felt like little droplets around him, hovering in the air that he needed to pull in and towards his lower dantian that was in his abdomen. The droplets of Qi were guided to his hands and then towards his belly as he started absorbing the water-like substance, slowly gathering more and more. The spiritual power was thin around these parts so it was taking him a while to do this, but he was getting the hang of it. After the droplets turned into liquid and entered his body, it started getting rowdy in there. He needed to transform the spiritual energy into lightning Qi now, this was one of the hardest types that a cultivator could cultivate as it was quite unstable. But with the knowledge that he already had and the formed lightning core he managed it do that without fumbling all too much. He didn''t even notice that a good couple of hours had passed by now and that it was midnight.

    The tribe people noticed it though as they could feel a disturbance in the Qi force. They could feel the spiritual force from the surroundings getting sucked in one general direction which was, of course, the hot spring that Matt was sitting in almost naked. He was absorbing most of the spirit essence from the air which didn''t leave much for the others, so everyone that was trying to cultivate peeked out in protest wondering who had the audacity to suck up their resources. They quickly found out that it was the wondering man dressed in white that was doing it. About this time they also noticed that the sky was void of stars as it was got really cloudy. Thunder could be heard up in the sky as it rumbled and in a shocking turn of events, lightning bolts started crashing down into the hot spring that the cultivator was in, this making everyone go wide-eyed at the spectacle.

    Matt was really in the zone right now, just taking in the Spiritual force and turning it into his own special kind of Qi. The sudden jolt of electricity that hit him just propelled his cultivation further and further. The little storm wasn''t much as it didn''t generate that much force, this as the reason why it was advised to cultivate in stormy areas at a high altitude, the practitioner could then gather many more lightning bolts into his body and further his cultivation at a higher pace. You could also use special herbs, magical treasures or pills that had a similar effect as well.

    He opened up his eyes that were now glowing and looked upwards as the last thunderous strike was delivered onto his body before the stormy clouds subsided. Matt looked around the hot spring that was now sparkling with lightning energy that sipped into the water and supercharged it. Due to his forceful cultivation method, he managed to turn this spring into one that gathered lightning qi energy now, it was a gathering spot of the lowest of low grades, but for the people in this Tribe, it would be quite the treasured spot now. After finishing up he brought up his screen to check if his cultivation had advanced in any way and he was pleasantly surprised.

    Cultivation Base Qi : Core Formation [Early Stage 5%] (Lightning Core)

    *Heyyyy, that''s pretty goood.*

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    *Now I only need to figure out the body cultivation thing*

    Silver Body : Silver Body is the next advanced form of the Copper Body refining technique, instead of hard psychical training that is mostly attributed to body refining techniques, the cultivator absorbs weapons/treasures that are metallic in nature to refine his body into a treasure in it''s own. The higher grade the treasure is the stronger the body gets. Common grade weapons and treasures have no effect on this technique. The technique can be trained up to the Nascent Soul great circle realm.

    *Ah, so it''s one of those... glad that I have a discount to crafting skills... guess I''ll have to get some crafting materials and some crafting skills next.*

 17 Chapter 17

    *Wait, how long was I sitting on this rock...*

    Matt noticed that it was really dark outside, some lanterns lit up the place around but he knew that it was quite late now.

    *Those guys are probably still waiting for me outside...*

    He moved off the boulder and found himself a towel to dry his body off. He put his clothes back on finding the self cleaning function of them quite handy, as he wouldn''t be stinking up the place like some of the other dudes that he saw in this village. The hygiene around here was just so so, but at least they did have this hot spring to wash of. He put on his boot and fixed his wrist protectors as he got ready, he stood up and looked behind him at the spring what felt a bit different than before he sure hoped that the people still could use it with the mild lightning Qi now floating around in there.

    He noticed that the moment that he walked out to get dressed someone outside the changing room walked away, guess they were keeping tabs on him or something.Matt went out feeling refreshed and even a bit stronger thanks to his slight cultivation progress, he also didn''t feel all that hungry even though he didn''t eat much the whole day, besides the junk food he got from his store. This was also attributed to his high cultivation levels as people of that level could sustain their bodies on spiritual energy for a very long time without having to eat or drink. The same thing applied to holding their breath and living longer, a core formation expert had a 400-500 year life expectancy and considering that his body was about 30 years of age, he had a long way ahead of him.

    *Maybe they''ll invent the internet till my life runs out if it''s that long -sight-*

    Matt was greeted by the burly men outside that were still standing there, they gave him a bow of respect like they always did. He moved out while nodding his head at them and going back to his stoic poker face look. The Chief of the village soon came up running with some other people in tow once more.

    "Hope you enjoyed your stay at the hot-springs, but those lightning strikes..."

    "Ah, sorry I just had an epiphany and cultivated for a while, but don''t worry the springs are still intact.Though they are a bit different now than before, shouldn''t be much of a problem though." *Well, don''t really know though*

    He interrupted the Chief''s questioning as it was getting late and while not needing that much sleep he wanted to turn in for the night.

    "Do you think I could stay here for the night, I can also pay you if you want."

    The town leader perked up at the mention of a reward, but he couldn''t just ask a monstrous cultivator for any cultivation resources all willy nilly. So he decided to decline the offer, at least for now...

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    "No need Senior Dong, we have prepared accommodations for you at our guest house, I''m sure it will be to your satisfaction. It''s right next to my own home, so if you have anything you need you just need to ask. I''m hoping that you''ll join me for a morning meal tomorrow after you rest."

    Yang Shan asked while declining the payment, though Matt just wanted to give him some gold coins, thought that those were probably enough.

    "Ah sure, I''ll see you in the morning then, hope it''s not a bother."

    They both nodded at each other and Matt was lead away by some other warriors and women that were prepared to serve him for the night, yes the girls were supposed to serve the cultivator in any way possible, plus they agreed out of their own free will as this looked like a free meal ticket out of this dump. But they also were there to clean and cook if he decided to stay for longer or needed any servants.

    He was led to a nice log cabin looking building that you would see at lake resorts, there was a fireplace inside and it was quite spacious. He was soon left in there with three females, there were all cute looking ladies and also quite young. Two of them looked like they were between the ages of 16 and 18 while the third one looked to be in her twenties. The girls gave him a bow and just stood there with sparkles in their eyes as they looked at Matt who was removing the hooded rope part of his clothes, he didn''t need it now and he placed it in his storage ring.

    Our hero found himself in the company of three pretty ladies, now you might think that being the manly man that he was he would just woo all of them at once, while using his sensual skills. But Matt just found himself frozen in place, not really being able to muster the courage to speak to the female trio that kept looking at his face. He had almost no experience what to speak of, he had one or two encounters here and there but they didn''t count for much. He found himself staring at the girls with his passive resting bitch face so after a while the women started getting uncomfortable as they thought that he wasn''t pleased with them being around here.

    "Uh... I''ll be in my room, g-goodnight..."

    He didn''t want to be in this awkward situation anymore so he decided to head over to the bedroom alone, the females felt a bit dejected but they bowed at his words and left the building, reporting to the people outside that the cultivator didn''t seem interested in them that much and gave them an unimpressed look. The three girls were one of the best looking ones from the entire village. Guess after a while you lose interest in those sorts of things? The girls lamented their fate as the cultivator was sure their type of man, strong and good looking and probably loaded with cash, the clothes that he was wearing were a sign of how well off he was as they didn''t compare to anything they had in this village.

    The girls pouted at each other and just went away for now while Matt himself gave out a sigh and flopped onto the bed, the mattress was a bit hard but he could deal with it. He lamented to himself at the blunder with the girls but not really that much, thinking that after he got acclimated in this world and got the hang of it, then he could start pursuing the whamen.

    He glanced at the map of his and could see dots surrounding his abode, probably being the tribe villages that were guarding or just spying on him for the night. He mentally shrugged at the whole thing and thought that he had a couple of options now. He could either stay here, for the time being, there were a lot of beasts around here that weren''t a problem for him. He could earn spirit points by slaying those quite easy. Though the odd prefix before their names was strange, something must be making them go berserk and if he stayed he would probably have to face that as well. The second option would be to leave and head over to Spirit Spring City where his so called Clan was in, he could get acclimated in there as well, but would he have a place to grind like here? Were there more powerful cultivators in the city that he wouldn''t be able to defend himself against? Or go with option three and just ignore that City and just explore some more.

    *Think I''ll stay here a bit longer, the people seem friendly enough. This thing isn''t giving me any quests, so I guess this is more of an open setting, the rage monsters seem like a quest to clear though...Well, guess it''s time to sleep.*

    He put his thoughts to the back of his mind and turned to his side as he closed his eyes, the first day had finally finished, but on the next time new adventures and opportunities awaited.

 18 Chapter 18

    Morning came and the sun was up once more, the small town was buzzing with noise as everyone was gossiping about the person that was resting in the cottage next to the Chief''s home. The man in question didn''t sleep all that well as he tossed and turned in the unfamiliar bed most of the time, getting in like 3 to 4 hours of sleep. He wasn''t that tired thanks to his new constitution though, but he swore to himself to get a better bed in the future, he even pulled up his cash shop and could see some furniture that had plus stats to resting and relaxation. But he had less than 100 points at the moment so first came the grinding.

    He washed his face and brushed his teeth, he got a nice deal in the form of 1 SP for a toothbrush and toothpaste set at least the non magical things were cheap in the store. But there was nothing in the form of electronics in the item store, guess they limited it to non technological items from his old world, guess they didn''t want him selling smartphones around here. People in this world used some strange jade slips that had limited range and the world was huge so you couldn''t just contact everyone you wanted.

    *I guess food and furniture will have to do. Well I can turn spirit stones to SP, so I should see if I can sell stuff at one of those action houses, if I grind here enough I''ll probably have a lot of beast cores to spare, think those should sell well.*

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    Matt whistled to himself as he exited his bedroom and as he opened the door he twitched a bit as one of the serving ladies from the previous night was standing right there. She gave him a little bow and informed Matt about breakfast that he was invited to by the Chief.

    "Ah yes, the big guy did say something about eating in the morning yesterday, I guess you''ll guide me there, little miss?"

    The girl smiled at him and nodded moving in front of him as they left the house, there were the guards around as yesterday but this time around they didn''t follow after him but remained in place. They were right at the Chief''s place, so there was no use in doing that as there were more burly uncles at his house anyway.

    The Chief''s house was also made from logs and wood, it was a lot more spacious then the cabin he was sleeping in. He could see that there were a lot of people living in there as they were buzzing around and everyone was doing something. The Chief had one wife, but he had many children the oldest one being the kid that was berating his fellow tribesmen yesterday. It wasn''t odd to have many wives if the male was of higher status and could support them. His whole family was ready and waiting at a long table filled with many various dishes that Matt wasn''t all too familiar with, but there was a whole lot of meat there.

    "Good morning Senior Dong, come sit with."

    He was lead to a spot next to the village leader, he nodded at the people around the table which varied from old elderly people to kids in about their teens, guess they spared him of having children there. He was feeling a bit guilty as the people were making a really big deal of him being here and he didn''t really do much to deserve it besides being the person with the biggest cultivation in the room. The man of the house started prattling on while Matt examined the food on the table, there was something to drink, the cups were dark so he didn''t know if it was water or something else. Most of the dishes were meat based, there was some brown bread in there too though but no butter.

    "And this is second uncle Li and his wife Lei"

    He nodded at the people not really being able to remember the names as they all sounded a bit similar to him. But he decided to suck it up and just nodded while not showing much emotion on his face, but it twitched here and there as he could swear he heard the same names getting repeated several times.

    "Does the honorable Senior Dong want to say something before we eat?"

    *Could you stop calling me honorable, you don''t even know me.*

    He grimaced a bit while everyone in the room looked at him, their facial expressions ranged from fearful, curious all up to stern as they waited for him to speak. Matt just coughed into his hand and tried replying in a way that wouldn''t make him look stupid.

    "Ah, the Tartat Tribe was it, you have my thanks for the lodging and the food, um don''t worry I''ll be sure to repay you, later on, Oh also, could I have a word with you, Chief Shan, after we have eaten?"

    The Chief showed a glint in his eye and nodded while laughing, he also ignored that the man got the tribe name wrong. A big smile on his face as he heard that the cultivator would repay them later on and that he wanted to speak with him in private.

    "Sure sure, Senior just eat as much as you want and we will speak afterward."

    He mostly wanted to discuss the grinding session that he wanted to do, there were a lot of beasts in that huge forest that was the size of a country on its own. There were a lot of frenzied monsters in there but they weren''t strong or anything. He wanted to strike a deal with the Tribe members, he would provide them with the animal corpses and they would process them for him. The tribe would get all the meat from the beasts as they wanted and the pelts but he would anything that could be used for crafting, like horns, claws, scales and also the beast cores that were also used for that, but could also be used for other things like pills and potions and even for some cultivation techniques.

    He took some bread and gave it a bite, it was the brown kind of bread with seeds in them so it had a lot of nutrients, it wasn''t all that fluffy but it had a good taste to it. He was worried about the meat on the table as after killing the wolves yesterday he was afraid that they would cook and serve those to him, he didn''t really want to eat dog or wolf meat. He just asked and was told that it was made from the deer monster instead as herbivore meat was a lot better to consume than carnivore meat. So he took the plunge and started eating the meat, it tasted a bit bland without seasoning but was fine to eat so he chomped and nommed to his heart content and after some time they were done with eating.

    Well at least he was done, but everyone else was kind of forced to stop after he was done with his share. They later stood up and he went away with Yang Shan to a separate room to talk. Matt told him about the deal and he was ready to even let them have some of the crafting materials if they wanted them, he was mostly aiming for the cores and the spirit points to further his power level. But the Chief was more than happy to agree to his terms as they were having a bit of a food crisis now, with all the beasts killing each other at an increased pace and the hunters having a hard time procuring meat without casualties. He also had another agenda as he thought that maybe if the cultivator was going to go to the forest to hunt beasts, he might get to the bottom of why the beasts are going mad. He didn''t think that the man was there just for the beast cores though, but he didn''t want to pry further.

    "Great, well then I''ll be heading out not sure when I''ll be back, but you don''t need to have people follow me all around this place next time when I return... okay?"

    He asked while scratching the back of his neck, the Yang Shan just nodded and opened the door for him while letting Matt out of the room, seeing him off as the large crystal sword was revealed and Zhang Dong jump onto it to fly away towards the forest area while other people just watched him with wonder and envy in their eyes.

 19 Chapter 19

    He flew into the air, his sword glistering in the sun as he zoomed around the area already feeling better after he left that village and was now alone. He always disliked crowded places and he didn''t have his trusty headphones to block out the noise around him anymore. So he was finally out in the open and decided to go in a different direction than he came from, wondering if the same problem was happening in other parts of the forest. He could see where he was on the map, he marked a waypoint on his spirit maps and flew off at a high speed. He didn''t worry about losing his way as the map was pretty accurate, he did find this settlement and all.

    Didn''t take him long to spot a couple of angry looking beasties, they were attacking some other creature that was running away. It had an elongated frame split into segments, with one pair of legs per that body segment. It looked like it was made from a hard shell and the head had large antennae sticking out, a pair of elongated mandibles along with more claw like appendages that made it look quite ferocious. Size wise it was about 4 to 5 meters long. It was more or less a giant version of a centipede, Matt grimaced as he saw those monsters moving about and just wanted to ignore them as they were quite gruesome looking.

    But he had to toughen up, plus he had a way to take them out without moving in too close. He gathered up his spirit energy into his hand to form a long spear and took aim at the creepy crawlies that were chasing something that looked like a big boar? He focused on his target and chucked the javelin at it, hitting one of the monsters closer to its hind area than in the head. This didn''t kill the big centipede, but it did slow it down. It stopped in its tracks to see what attacked gnashing its mandibles at the surroundings in a menacing way. But this only gave Matt the chance to charge up one more bolt of lightning and as he got closer he chucked it right at its head that promptly exploded into gory bits.

    [ Giant Centipede Slain ( Qi Condensation 4th stage ) Earned 35 Spirit Points. ]

    The second monster didn''t stop in its chase after the large boar and continued on without helping its kin. He decided to forget about the body of this horror as he chased after the other one, missing with his aim here and there before finally landing a killing hit, the trees were getting in the way and he wasn''t really used to throwing lightning bolts at things that moved, but this whole thing sure made him feel like Zeus.

    The other beast got away but he didn''t chase after it, he flew down to check if the monster was dead. The guts and bodily fluids were all over the place, Matt covered his nose as the big bug had quite the smell to it.

    *Uh... will those villagers even want to eat this thing...*

    He shrugged for now and placed the dead body in his storage ring and then backtracked to the spot that he killed the other one, only to find more giant bugs of the same kind eating the corpse that he had slain. This was a good thing and a bad thing in a way, good that he had more monsters that he could practice his skills on, bad that the other beasts body was wasted now. Well, he rained down lightning laced javelins on the monsters, getting better and better at aiming them as practice did indeed make perfect and soon a pile of remains was filling the ground. He was glad that he had his ring on him, it would really be annoying if he had to fly with those stinky corpses around, he waved his hand and they vanished into thin air.

    *Well this is going well... should I see where these monsters come from and clear out the nest, or just check out the area some more.*

    These monsters weren''t enraged or anything so they were just regular insect beasties, but they gave similar amount of points that he could farm. He left one corps outside to examine it, he could tell that the armor was kind of sturdy as knocking made robust sounds, maybe the people in the village could make things from this?

    He got the smart idea of leaving one of the creature bodies out in the open, in the hopes of attracting it''s kind. He thought that there should be a pace where they were coming from as the other ones appeared quite fast after he slew the first one. He hovered above them while checking his points, he had some now but still far from having enough to buy better skills or gear. He heard the sounds of insectoid feet on rummaging on the ground as another group of giant centipede monsters emerged. He smirked and cleared them out as well, soon being able to precisely aim his lightning spear at the heads which brought the beasts down with one hit.

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    "I''m sure am a bit overpowered, aren''t I? Or at least haven''t found anything that could hurt me yet... better not get cocky. Think those monsters came from that way."

    He flew in the direction the large insects came from and after spotting more of them, clearing them out, gathering all the remains he wooshed further and further and finally came up to a hill. The hill had many holes in the side of it and he could see the insect monsters crawling out of them. Sometimes they moved some food inside, sometimes they bit each other but mostly they were just being creepy.

    "Hm... wished I had some grand skills so I could take this hill out ... It looks like there are hundreds of them there..."

    Matt checked his map and the amount of red dots on it was huge, he couldn''t tell how many of those creatures were stuck in that hill but it was a lot. He could more or less distinguish the power level of these monsters by now, there weren''t any strong ones around them as all of them were at the Qi Condensation stage, there was one a bit stronger than the other ones but it wouldn''t be a problem.

    "Question is... do I have enough spirit qi to fling so many javelins at them... guess this will be a good training exercise."

    He wasn''t tired from using his throwing skill that much at the moment, but he didn''t use it that much and he had downtimes to gather up more spirit qi from the surroundings, which his lightning core was kind of doing on its own passively.

    "I''m cheating a bit as they have no way of getting up here to where I am... oh well... "

    Matt started throwing javelin after javelin at the creepy crawling giant centipede monsters, doing it faster and faster as they emerged from the hillside to see what was going on. They knew that they were in danger but they couldn''t see with their limited senses, not really having good eyes and mostly using their huge antennas and changes in the surroundings to get a read on their opponents. They weren''t really ready for a shameless cultivator that just bombarded them from a safe distance with bolts of lightning. Matt started getting really good at this, managing to fire off multiple javelins at once, he learned that he could produce multiple spears of lightning in his hand and throw them with an added devastating effect, or he could charge up longer and fling a huge one that could take out multiple centipedes if they piled up in one spot.

    After using this skill to take out most of the insect beasts, he started feeling tired, he felt weird as his body as getting deprived of spiritual energy after prolonged usage.

    "I guess that I do have a cap to this power, but luckily there aren''t many left and I think the leader is coming out."

    The hill burst open and a centipede that was about twice the size of the other ones emerged, but it also wasn''t much for him to handle as it also just took one supercharged javelin to the face before crumbling down, dead on the ground.

    [ Giant Centipede Slain ( Qi Condensation 12th stage ) Earned 100 Spirit Points. ]

    "Oh, guess it was close to advancing, maybe I''d have gotten more points if I had waited a bit?"

    He cleared out the entire nest within a couple of hours, his throwing abilities were at a higher level now plus he finally had some SP to spend.

    "Let''s see...think I killed close to 200 of those bugs."

    Name : Zhang Dong

    Affiliation : Zhang Clan

    Spirit Points : 5584

    Cultivation Base Qi : Core Formation [Early Stage 5%] (Lightning Core)

    Cultivation Base Body : Foundation Establishment [Middle Stage 0%] (Silver Body)

    Techniques : Lightning Qi cultivation art, Silver Body Arts, Thunderlight Sword, Thunder Movement Art...

    Dao : Dao of Heavenly Lightning, Dao of Smithing and Crafting

    Other : Senior Aura

 20 Chapter 20

    He was quite satisfied with himself, he was gaining points and learning to better use his skills in actual battle situations. If he could he would buy himself some sort of high tech training chamber to train instead of in a safe environment.

    He stretched a bit and looked around his surroundings, it looked gruesome. There were dead bugs everywhere and they gave off a pungent smell. The centipedes were monsters with a poison attribute to them. The whole place was covered with various liquids besides blood and they ranged from yellow to purple.

    Matt grimaced as he started to place the corpses in his storage ring. He sure hoped that those tribespeople would find a use for these giant bug remains. He was a bit disturbed while walking around the remains at least he didn''t need to directly touch the remains just get close enough so he used his sword to hover slightly above ground level. This took him some time as he also started checking out the surroundings wondering if these types of bugs hoarded any items. He thought that maybe he could get some added treasure, but he didn''t find anything and the openings in the hill were kind of narrow. Matt didn''t want to crawl into the dark an unknown even though the minimap didn''t show anything living inside, what if there was something blocking the signal and some creepy thing pounces on his face?

    *Okay, I have some points now. But that skill sure does use a lot of energy if I have to spam it for an hour.*

    His core was working in overdrive as it naturally sucked in spiritual energy from the surroundings to replenish his used up tank. He felt like he lost about half his Qi while going berserk with the javelin skill. He focused to bring out his lightning sword now with one hand, while summoning the spear with the other hand. He held both of them in the same way and concentrated.

    *Hm... even though these two skills look similar and have a similar length to it, the javelin drains a bit more... maybe because it has to have enough punch to it, so when I throw it, it doesn''t dissipate. The sword is always close to my body so I can sustain it better.*

    He started to learn about managing his Qi reserves while engaging in battle. But he also wanted to test out some close-range combat and incorporate his other skills. He had the basic fighting knowledge to use punches and kicks, plus he had that flashy movement art that made him very hard to hit, but it was a bit hard to hit anything while moving as well. He sure could use a sparring partner or something for this, was kind of hard to learn much on your own, guess he would need to find himself, someone, to train with...

    However, he did not see any old Asian grandpas that would teach him the way of the Dao while he cleaned their fence anywhere within the area he was in. For the time being the monsters around this area would be used to test out his plethora of skills which he didn''t have an awful lot of. For the remainder of the day, he flew around the area taking it easy. He helped the members of the saucy tribe here and there if he spotted anyone in danger but he didn''t find any more infested breeding grounds of monsters like the poison insects.

    Matt managed to find a nice elevated spot as well, it was a larger hill, maybe it could be considered a small mountain but he didn''t really know. He sat down in the lotus position as he did the previous day and started cultivating. The clouds soon gathered around him as he sucked in the spiritual Qi from around the area, the beasts and animals fleeing the spot that he was in as they noticed someone of a higher cultivation level. The beasts were somewhat intelligent and unless they had that strange berserk status they would not bring themselves in harm''s way.

    He spent the remainder of the day there, managing to go from 5% to 12% in his cultivation. Matt was a bit surprised that he was advancing so fast but that was probably because this was just the early stage, plus his body cultivation didn''t budge at all as he needed to get some weapons to absorb.

    He saw the sun starting to go down on the horizon, so it was time to return. He probably could handle himself during the night, but due to his old habits, he decided to head to his temporary home in the village. People could see him wooshing about in the sky, clasping their hands in respect as they saw him. Matt headed to the Chief''s house, for now, he wanted to get rid of the giant centipede monster corpses as soon as he could, it didn''t feel right to carry those things around with him.

    "Greetings Senior Dong."

    Said Yang Shan as he saw the cultivator in white who was standing outside his abode, he tried to beckon him over to his home for a chat and maybe some tea but Matt just waved him over instead. The Chief walked over and looked at the man who was scratching the back of his neck and thinking about something.

    "So, uh... remember the deal from yesterday? I did hunt some monsters, so uh could you guys take care of the bodies?"

    Yang Shan smiled in response as the deal didn''t sound bad at all, they didn''t really need to do much on their own, just process the goods and earn a bit of spare change while getting food and resources.

    "Oh yes! Sure, sure just let us handle it."

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    The Chief looked ecstatic as this would aid his tribe a lot.

    "So... where can I unload the bu... the beasts... Probably going to need a large area..."

    He asked while scratching the back of his neck even more.

    "Oh, you don''t need to trouble yourself, Senior, just drop the beasts off anywhere you want, our Tribesmen will begin processing them immediately!"

    "Are you sure? ... right here in front of your house? "

    Matt looked at the burly man that just nodding with a smile on his face and shrugged, looking at his ring as he took a few steps back. He took out his flying sword first which made the tribe chief a bit puzzled. He then flew up so that he could begin the dumping procedure. Yang Shan then looked in bewilderment as a mountain of dead giant centipede monsters quickly piled up in front of his home, blocking the main gate fully from one side. There were a couple of other monsters in there but the dead bug parts were the things you mostly saw.

    "Well then... I''m going to turn in for the night... you guys have fun."

    Matt quickly zoomed out of there on his sword while the Tribe Chief''s face started twitching. From all the monsters this Senior could hunt he had to go for the dreaded Giant centipedes, this kind of monster wasn''t edible for humans at they were poisonous and their bodies were hard to process. They could kind of fashion crude armors and weapons from the insect shell and their sharp mandibles, the cores were the most lucrative part as they could be sold. He barked some orders at his retainers that moved out to gather more people, this mountain of dead bugs would be a chore to clean out as the poison from the bodies was dripping down into the soil already.

    "I''ll have to designate a special building for this... that senior is an odd one... "

    While the other people were slaving... happily working through the night to clean up the graciously gifted animal remains, Matt brought up his status screen of his gains. He managed to rack up more points after the bug wars.

    Name : Zhang Dong

    Affiliation : Zhang Clan

    Spirit Points : 6084

    Cultivation Base Qi : Core Formation [Early Stage 12%] (Lightning Core)

    Cultivation Base Body : Foundation Establishment [Middle Stage 0%] (Silver Body)

    Techniques : Lightning Qi cultivation art, Silver Body Arts, Thunderlight Sword, Thunder Movement Art...

    Dao : Dao of Heavenly Lightning, Dao of Smithing and Crafting

    Other : Senior Aura

    "Not bad for the first day ... feel a bit sorry for those guys, but there were a couple of edible looking beasts in that pile... sure hope dropping them in that bug pile wasn''t a bad idea..."

    It, of course, was a bad idea as the poison from the centipedes soaked into the other creatures remains but it could be eaten as the tribe people did have some cleansing and cleaning measures. They, of course, coursed him out at night as they found out that there would be even more work for them due to this. Matt just flopped onto his bed and rested while thinking about the things that he should do tomorrow.

 21 Chapter 21

    The next day, Matt brought up his cash shop and checked out some of the crafting manuals, there was a lot of stuff in there it ranged from single weapon crafting recipes to full collections of everything in a bundle, that would be cheaper than buying everything one by one. There were many weapons and armor categories, he did have that golden hammer that he got so he probably should get some weapon crafting skills first, but wouldn''t he need something to sharpen the blade, was that hammer enough?

    [ Novice Crafting Bundle : 8000 (5600) SP - Lets the user craft basic gear, the bundle includes recipes for common grade items, the grade of the items depends on the crafters skill, Novice starter crafting abode included in the bundle. ]

    *What''s a crafting abode?*

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    He searched for the term in the store and raised his eyebrow at what he got.

    [ Novice crafting abode : 4000(2800) SP - Creates a manufacturing abode for the user, can not be opened if enemies are around. It can only be used only for crafting common grade equipment. ]

    [ Apprentice crafting abode (Can only be purchased if Novice abode is present. ) : 40000(28000) - Creates a manufacturing abode for the user, can not be opened if enemies are around. It can only be used only for crafting Mortal grade equipment. ]

    [ Adept crafting abode(Can only be purchased if Apprentice abode is present. ) : 400000(280000) SP - Creates a manufacturing abode for the user, can not be opened if enemies are around. It can only be used only for crafting earth grade equipment. ]

    *Well this doesn''t explain much, the abode can be opened? Does it put me in some kind of pocket dimension so I can craft in there? ... well, that would be neat! Or does it spit out some kind of house out in the open instead?*

    Matt wasn''t sure about the opening part of the explanation, he sure wanted to get that noobie bundle though even though he could only make the lowest of low items. Being curious he decided to buy it not like he had to use it right away. He looked as his points dwindled once more, spending points on skills was one of the more exciting things that a gamer could do, but it also was a chore to choose if you had limited points for it.

    He waited for the crafting knowledge to invade his brain and give him a migraine once more, he closed his eyes and tried to focus on good things but the pain didn''t come and he didn''t feel any knowledge of smithing.

    *Did I get scammed?*

    He poked on his status screen and he soon spotted a new icon there, it looked like tongs and a hammer, crossed with each other. He hovered his finger over the new prompt being uncertain if he should click it or not. He looked outside the window, the night was dark and he couldn''t see much outside. The place didn''t have any electricity so there were no street lights around, people in this world used either fire or special magical treasures that produced light. But this village had none of that, besides simple candles and fireplaces.

    Matt gulped and went for it clicking the icon and was greeted by a clung of a hammer on an anvil before a bright light filled the whole place. People could see a bright flash in his window that vanished as soon as it appeared. He felt a buzzing sound in his ears as he got momentary blinded, after rubbing his eyes he opened to find himself in another room. The walls looked like medieval castle walls, there was a giant furnace that was bubbling with liquid metal. There was a big anvil in the middle of the room with the furnace next to it, he spotted all the classical blacksmith utensils around, but they all looked kind of shabby.

    *Okay, so I have my own pocked dimension to smith stuff, neat.*

    There were no windows around and the room was lit by torches that were attached to the walls, plus a lot of candles here and there, the whole place had that middle-age vibe to it. He pulled his golden hammer that was supposed to have some crafting related bonuses, he swung it around hitting the anvil in the middle just to hear a nice ding sound.

    *Well... shit, what am I supposed to do in here, I didn''t learn any crafting skills*

    He could see some iron ingots lying around the place, but not much besides that. Matt scratched his head and brought up his window, which was a bit different as it looked like the crafting space had its own window. He could see the list of recipes that he probably previously got in the bundle listed there, it was mostly for regular weapons like daggers, swords, maces. But there were other things like fans, robes and some tools. Guess it included all the basic craftable items that were in the bundle, though they were in there and not in his head for some reason.

    Matt selected a regular looking iron dagger, wondering if it would do anything and as he clicked he saw that there was an iron ingot next to the dagger picture now. As he was looking at that a little clip played of a caricature of a blacksmith picking up an ingot and placing it in the large smelting furnace and then hammering on the anvil.

    *Is it showing me to place one of those ingots in the furnace? Well, not like I have anything to lose at this point.*

    He shrugged and picked up an iron ingot from the pile by the wall, and slowly placed it in the furnace. After this something weird started to happen, the smelting furnace began glowing and music began playing. He then looked at the anvil in the middle of the room as an enthusiastic voice could be heard coming from it.

    "Get Ready! 3...2....1...GO!"

    He was bewildered as a slab of red glowing metal appeared on the large anvil, a catchy tune began playing and some glowing green prompts started appearing on the slab.

    *God damn... this is a rhythm game!?*

    He had the golden hammer in his hand and started hitting the glowing green spots that turned red if they were out of sync, the whole thing took about 2 - 3 minutes and as he kept hitting the hot block of iron it started turning into the shape of a dagger.

    "Congratulations, you created a common Iron Dagger middle grade"

    He looked at the dagger on the anvil while some confetti got tossed in the air and then vanish soon after, he picked it up and swung it around and sure enough it was a real dagger and it was quite sharp too. Matt was a bit surprised by the whole thing but that explained why he didn''t get any direct knowledge about crafting, it just put it in the game like system and depending on how well he did in the rhythm game, the quality of the item would be decided.

    *Uh... I''m not good at rhythm games..."

    He sighted while tossing the dagger into his inventory, he decided to chug another ingot into the furnace and now being prepared he run up to the anvil before the countdown started. A different tune than before started playing which made him frown but he was more ready than the last time as he started hitting the spots with his golden hammer, the slab of iron glowed quite a bit as he managed to land a perfectly timed hit but this was just his second time and all things considered he did quite well though he missed here and there.

    "Congratulations, you created a common Iron Dagger high grade"

    He took out the first dagger and compared it to the other one, the high grade one was shinier and it looked sharper than the first one he made. He poked at the tip with his finder wondering how sharp the thing was, but the dagger wasn''t able to inflict any damage on his superior body, that had a high body refining technique and common grade items couldn''t damage him.

    "Well, I guess this is an interesting way to do it... at least It''s fast I just need to gather materials and the rest thing is automatic. I wonder if I can add some special effects to these items..."

    He started playing with the crafting interface and he figured out that he could add other items to the ones that were required, the prompt only showed him the minimum required items needed.

    "Wonder what will happen if I add one of those beast cores...

    He had the big rabbit core on him and also the smaller crimson wolf cores that the villagers gave him previously. So he decided to test it once more, going for a regular sword now, it used up one more iron ingot then the dagger. After adding one of the cores he started hammering the now bigger slab of metal in the middle of the anvil. He started getting better and better at the game but he wasn''t perfect at it quite yet, but after getting the finished product he got surprised.

    "Congratulations, you created a common Crimson Long Sword perfect grade"

    "Hm, don''t need to get a perfect score to get the highest grade item? Maybe if you add high grade materials it lowers the requirements for the items."

    Afterward he went on a weapon creation frenzy and used up all the iron ingots and cores to create perfect grade common weapons, he made a Spear, a two-handed Hammer, a Greatsword, an Axe and a Jian Sword there were all in the crimson series and looked nice and menacing as the added cores gave them a style upgrade as well.

    "I need cotton fiber or leather for clothes, so I guess I''ll try those later... don''t think the hammer game will play for those though."

    He didn''t see any tailoring equipment, it looked like a forge mostly for weapons and maybe metal armor, though people in this world didn''t really wear those as they used a plethora of colorful robes and clothes. Guess you don''t need iron armor if you can make your body as hard as a diamond.

 22 Chapter 22

    He found himself back in his cabin, nothing looked out of place as he was standing in the same spot as if he never left. He felt a bit spent, but more mentally than physically. He had a high cultivation base so after he focused his senses he could more or less hit all the glowing spots, he reckoned that due to this he would be able to have an easy time crafting things below his level that were the common and mortal grade items but when getting into the earth and heaven graded ones there would be a spike in difficulty.

    Matt was curious about making the cultivator robes, there was a couple of cool ones in there though the one he was wearing felt like it was quite the high spec as well. He soon would find out the horror that was tailoring...

    He turned in for the night. After a good night''s rest, he left his cabin only to get greeted with many busy villagers that looked like they were still clearing out the gory pile of centipedes that he left for them. He kind of turned his head in the opposite direction as he spotted the mess hoping that people wouldn''t see him, but he was kind of sticking out like a sore thumb.

    Well not like anyone would complain to him even though they were mad, Mad just b-lined towards the market as he wanted to get some clothing materials. His appearance was met with bows as always and with smiles from some of the villagers and with frowns from others. He headed over to what looked like a stand, it had various beast hides in it and other things.

    "W-welcome sir, how can I help you?"

    The shop owner that was a middle-aged lady greeted him as he moved closer, he nodded at her and replied with a casual hello. He looked at the wares and then back to the shop owner. He rubbed his chin while looking at the wares while the lady got more and more nervous.

    "How much can you give me for this..."

    Matt didn''t really know the value of those clothes as well he didn''t know the value of his gold coins or spirit stones. The shiny coin was placed at the wooden table and the woman looked at it with open eyes. She grasped it with a shaking hand and examined it. Matt looked on as the lady shook, bit and then licked the coin for some reason before trying to return it to him.

    "S-sir, I cannot accept this... it''s too much"

    The woman was troubled as she did indeed want the golden coin, but this coin, if you translated it to the modern world rate, would go for about 10k dollars or Euro. The things the villagers sold weren''t worth that much, they were mostly simple cotton cloth and beast leather, a common thing around these parts.

    "Well... just give me all of your leather and cloth, uh don''t need finished clothes just the fabric though. You can just give me more if you have some later."

    After some pushing, he managed to give the bewildered woman the gold coin and left with a bunch of leather pelts and rough cotton fabrics. He sneaked back into his wooden cabin and closed the blinds in his room before heading out into the crafting abode once more. He now had the raw materials needed for the procedure and he was curious about what the game system had cooked up for him next.

    He looked at the items that he could craft and selected a leather tunic that looked kind of sturdy. After he selected the crafting item a prompt appeared if he really wanted to change to crafting clothes, which he found strange as the prompt didn''t appear when he was selecting the weapon recipes. After he selected yes the room started shaking and the anvil started getting lowered to the floor, till it was gone. In its place, a handlebar started moving up along with a white platform. After it appeared it started glowing in a pattern that he was familiar with.

    *I-is this a dance dance revolution pad...*

    It had two arrows pointing left and right and two pointing up and down, but also had some going into each corner as well. The handlebar was there to hold onto it while tap-dancing around as it was in these kinds of games. He put in the required leather pieces for the tunic and looked at the dreaded dance game. He could see which arrows he needed to step on as an out of place screen moved down from the ceiling and it showed him the steps he needed to take while showing a seizure-inducing animation on it as well.

    Matt awkwardly moved his legs hitting the arrows more or less, he never had the pleasure of trying this in real life and the experience was new so he didn''t get a good score as he fumbled around. In the end, the got a middle grade one which wasn''t really an achievement as he would have to really mess up to get a common low grade.

    *I think I''ll stick to this robe in the future...*

    He looked at the dancing game which was flashing in the colors of the rainbow and looked super out of place in the gloomy blacksmith looking room. But he did get a whole lot of crafting resources, it would be a drag to let them go to waste.

    *Well, no one can see me in here... so no one will know... still better than sewing the stuff myself.*

    He slapped his cheeks to pump himself up, he moved his feet to the beat fumbling here and there but after a while he figured out the gist of it, but he didn''t get anything above the Common high grade, now he had a lot of tunics and cotton robes that he didn''t know what to do with. The clothing didn''t really have any special attributes to them, besides being a bit more sturdy due to the high grade. He would have to add the beast cores and other resources to make them more special.

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    *Think I had enough for today ... *

    He rubbed his chin and looked at his system screen, after going through the crafting window he also figured out that he could access a creative mode where he could design his own weapons and armor, but it was severely limited at the moment and he couldn''t add much besides symbols or letters. Maybe later he could design a gunblade ... or maybe a chain blade?

    He got a little bit sweaty after the jumping and wiggling his posterior about, if someone saw him dance around with that awkward expression on his face he would probably crawl under a big mountain in shame. For now, he exited the pocket crafting dimension and gave out a sight.

    *Well, not if you don''t take the fact that I have to do silly games to craft items, this isn''t a bad thing at all, though I''ll have to experiment with the recipes and see what I can use to make things like the crimson weapons, maybe I can use something besides the beast cores as well.*

    He had somewhat an idea what to do now, gather more points, make more weapons and maybe more robes. Though he didn''t want to spend a super long amount of time in this region, he did remember the city that he was supposed to go to, but he wanted to stock up on things he could sell there as well.

    *Well, don''t think it will be a problem if I stick around here a bit longer, there must be more insect nopes to slay!*

    So the decision was made and Matt continued with his routine, he mostly hunted monsters in the day gathering them for the townspeople which were a lot gladder as he started bringing in some huge lizards and snakes as well. He tended to go for the nonmammal looking beasts as those reminded him of cats and dogs a bit too much. This was hypocritical, but he mostly defeated those in self-defense or while protecting other people thus, the poor tribe received quite a bit of insect monsters to work on instead. A week had passed like this.

 23 Chapter 23

    [ Name : Zhang Dong

    Affiliation : Zhang Clan

    Spirit Points : 21034

    Cultivation Base Qi : Core Formation [Early Stage 42%] (Lightning Core)

    Cultivation Base Body : Foundation Establishment [Middle Stage 0%] (Silver Body)

    Techniques : Lightning Qi cultivation art, Silver Body Arts, Thunderlight Sword, Thunder Movement Art, Lightning Javelin, Lightning Punching and kicking arts, Basic and Advanced Fighting Techniques.]

    A handsome man was standing out in the wilderness, he was looking at a house-sized boulder. He had his fist tightly clenches as he was focusing on the huge rock in front of him. The space around the man started crackling and tiny bolts of electricity started appearing. They were guided to his closed fist filling it with spiritual energy and making it glow in the process. The man pulled his fist back while looking at the big boulder in front of him and then delivered a punch. The hit produced a thunderous sound and as his fist collided with the side of the large rock it exploded into pieces. It now had a huge hole in the middle of it, collapsing right afterward as the man looked and nodded.

    Matt was getting used to this cultivator lifestyle a bit, the gaming system made things easy as he spent his day''s training in his previously gotten techniques. He had quite a bit of points now, though not enough to buy the better crafting abode just yet. Even less if he wanted to get the entire bundle that cost over twice that plus not like he really needed all of the crafting recipes in the system. His cultivation was increasing at a rapid pace as well, he wondered if his body was just gifted or if the cultivation method was special as he didn''t think cultivating would be this fast, he should hit the next stage within two to three weeks like this.

    *Okay, I''m getting the hang of it now. Guess it wasn''t such a bad idea to stick around here for a while. Guess the next step would be to test things out.*

    He mostly used kiting abilities, which in gamer terms were using his range skills to fight the enemies off while being at a safe distance. He didn''t want to rely on only those though. He wanted to spend some time getting used to the hand to hand combat skills that he had. He wanted to find himself someone or something to test his skills on. Matt glided up into the air and flew around the forest. But as he flew around he couldn''t really see any beasts that were worth his time. So he decided to go deeper into the forest than he usually did in the direction that he previously arrived in it was about half a day''s time away. He got really good at zooming around now so it might take even less. Luckily after a while, he found a fitting one, this one had red eyes as the other crazy beasts and looked like a silverback gorilla, but it had sharper teeth, long claws on its hands and a horn coming out of the forehead, plus it had four arms.

    *Well, that''s one ugly looking unicorn.*

    [ Frenzied Horned Tetra Ape (Foundation Establishment early stage ) ]

    *It has that prefix, well... now to approach that without pooping my pants...*

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    The monster was scary looking, it was drooling and just standing there. It had a big bone in one of its hands, it placed the bone in its mouth, the sharp teeth just crushing the hard bone in one big chomp as it munched on it. Matt gulped as he was watching, but he had decided that he needed to get stronger and this gorilla unicorn looking thing would be a good start. He was slightly paranoid and he knew how these cultivator worlds worked, so he needed to get in some practice for the future to come.

    *Okay, I got my healing and spirit energy recovering pills right here, shouldn''t be a problem...*

    He jumped down from his flying sword and placed it in his storage ring, for now, he wanted to face this creature in close range combat. He started slowly going up to it, the large ape noticed him coming and gave out a huge roar. This making Matt stop in his track as he focused on the monster that began charging at him in an enraged bull charge.

    Matt went into a defensive position and took in a good breath of air to relax. He focused on the charging behemoth that was making the ground thump each time in brought it''s meaty fists onto it as it pushed itself forward at him. The creature was quite scary looking and twice his size as well as bulky. His mind was telling him to run away at this moment as the gorilla choo choo train was barreling towards him. But he wanted to get used to this, he couldn''t avoid all of his problems plus the creature was more visually scary but when it came to its abilities it paled in comparison to his.

    He used his movement technique right before the monster was about to deliver an overhead strike, leaving an afterimage that was sparkling with static energy. When the creature smacked his after image it felt electricity run through its body, shocking it and making it stop in its tracks for a brief moment while also delivering moderate damage. Matt had learned that he could use his movement technique in this way, so as he dodged he left afterimages of himself that had residual lightning qi that if they got touched discharged a shock to the assailant.

    He appeared behind the Tetra Ape in a blur, giving it a good kick to it''s back which sent it flying. The creature flew face-first into a tree that collapsed under the strain and shattered into many splinters. The monster roared in madness as it shook, it got kicked quite hard and it was feeling a sharp pain in its rear. Though as if not caring or just mad it turned back after gathering itself back up, it roared once more and charged yet again.

    Matt didn''t punt it with all his might, he didn''t even infuse his foot with lightning Qi this time around just using his body as he tested out the waters. He danced around with the monkey monster, the creature was easy to dodge and predict as it only came at him with berserk charges and large swings which he could dodge at ease. He finally managed to get used to the intimidating look of the thing and had no problem delivering a nice hard punch to the creature''s ugly mug, which just made it tumble backward hitting even more trees.

    *Hm, guess I''m getting desensitized to battling a bit...*

    He looked at his fist that had blood stuck to it, he grimaced and shook the red liquid off. Then he looked at the creature in front of him that he was kind of bullying at this point.

    *Or maybe now, now I''m feeling bad about this whole thing...*

    He didn''t feel so good about himself as he used the creature as a punching bag, just testing out his skills while the thing looked more haggard with each passing moment, though if things were reversed he was sure that the monster would have torn all his limbs and eaten him like a snack. But as he was contemplating his skewed moral compass something strange started happening, the Ape started convulsing after his last hit, it started exuding strange red energy. After a while, he could see tentacles coming out of its ears and even bursting out of it''s back the name above its head also had changed including its cultivation level.

    [ Corrupted Horned Tetra Ape (Foundation Establishment middle stage ) ]

    It started looking like a tentacle monster and as if revitalized it let out a different kind of scream than before and charged at Matt again.

 24 Chapter 24

    *Corrupted? It went up a level?*

    Matt looked at the strange-looking gorilla that had tentacles protruding out of it now. The tentacle monster charged at him once more trying to overwhelm him with it''s added speed and power. This, of course, wasn''t enough to give Matt a run for his money, the only thing holding him back from beating this thing up once more was the disgusting way that it looked so instead of attacking it he backed away.

    *Eww, that thing looks gross...*

    "Hey, I''m not an anime girl, you tentacle monster!"

    He shouted as he used his movement technique to zap the tentacle mass while he evaded, the creature looked like it took less damage than before. The creature kept up with its charge, destroying the trees and boulders along the way, smashing into anything in its path while Matt tried to keep his cool. Finally, he got fed up with the constant running away and charged up a lightning javelin after dodging and letting the monster attack his after image as it dumbly did all the time. The thrown bolt of lightning smacked the creature in the upper arm shoulder, which was now gone.

    The man could see a big gaping hole in the corrupted creature''s right shoulder, but along with blood more tentacles started squiggling around from it. The tentacles thrashed as if they were mad and he could see that most of the creature''s insides were composed of those tentacles and weird tendrils. This, of course, made him grimace in disgust even more.

    "If one won''t do the job... then how about ten?"

    He didn''t give the monster time to recover as he started choking his energy spears at it, putting more holes into its large frame. But each hole was just getting filled up by more and more tentacles and the ugly thing wasn''t going down and still tried to charge at the cultivator in white. He was too fast for it but didn''t really want to get too close to the thing but his range attacks didn''t seem to be working. He kept on hitting it, taking out the legs from range and finally landing a blow on the head that just burst open with more squiggly things.

    "Why... won''t ... you ... DIE!"

    The creature didn''t have regular legs now and was just a pile of tentacles attached to the creature''s torso, it was a lot slower than before but by some strange rage-filled will it still wiggled its way towards Matt. He at this point started charging up the javelin attack once again, but this time he really focused all of his spiritual energy to pump it up to an enormous spear of light. The huge lightning spear crackled around as he held it above his head, he looked at the disgusting pile of tentacles that was inching slowly in his direction and flung it at the creature.

    What followed was a resounding boom, the monster exploded along with the ground that it was slithering on. A huge dust cloud was kicked up and the wind pressure from the explosion was immense, making the large trees in the vicinity shake violently. The creature was finally dead but it also delivered its last blow against its opponent as the massive amount of tentacles flew in all directions and one of them hit Matt straight in the face.

    [ Corrupted Horned Tetra Ape Slain (Foundation Establishment middle stage ) Earned 6000 Spirit points ]

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    The slimy appendage slid down his face and to the ground while his eye twitched. After the dust had settled he could see the squirming tentacles all over the place. Something strange started happening afterward though, the squirming appendages started giving out smoke or steam and after a while, they just crumbled into dust. The only thing that was left was the creature''s core that was in the spot that the monster was slain. Matt wiped his face with his sleeve and moved over to the spot that the creature''s core was and examined it, the core was described as a Tetra Ape core, guess the corruption didn''t affect the cores that the monsters dropped, it was even of the lower early-stage level.

    Matt looked around the forest that seamed eerier than it usually did, this creature gave him the creeps. It was one of the strange monsters that were always berserk and enraged, he guessed that it was those tentacles that were the cause of the disease but when the host died they just turned to dust leaving the core intact.

    *Is it some kind of parasite? Or did something infect it for some reason... You can''t detect if the creature is corrupt after you kill it as the tentacle things inside just vanish and the core remains intact. Hm, should I ask the village chief about it? Maybe he''ll know something about it*

    The man was feeling a bit creeped out, hoping that it wasn''t anything that he could get infected with as the tentacle did hit him in the face and all, so the first thing that he did was to find the river and vigorously wash his face in it. He checked his status screen if it would show something clicking his name but nothing out of place came up. He decided to head to his temporary base of operations in the village hoping to get some answers from the village chief.

    It was the middle of the day and he was a bit far out but he managed to return before the sun went down. He didn''t get in any trouble while returning so he gave out a relieved sigh, he didn''t want to fight any more tentacle monsters on the way. Matt didn''t have anything to give to the villagers today as he spent most of the day ''sparing'' with the ape monster and the trips back and forth took up the rest. He went to his cabin first as he thought about what he should ask the village Chief and after that, he gave him a visit while the sun was going down.

    People greeted him as always on the way there, he already knew his way here and the villagers kind of accepted the quirky Senior. He was giving him a lot of resources to sell and bargain with other tribes, even though the bug monsters were a bit of a hassle.

    "Greetings, could I have a word with you, Yang Shan?"

    The other man nodded and led him to his room, Matt noticed that he looked a bit different today as if he had some things on his mind also there were fewer guards around for some reason. After the got to the room he started explaining about his encounter with the strange monster, of course, he didn''t say about how he just spent most of the fight just running away and throwing his attacks at the monster.

    "I came across a strange beast today after it took some damage it started changing, its cultivation realm expanded while various tentacle-like appendages started protruding from its hulking form. Of course, it''s dead, but the tentacles vanished without a trace afterward, it seems that that''s what is causing the beasts to go mad in this forest."

    The Chief had a stern look on his face while Matt tried to explain what had happened in a more formal way for a change. The burly man rubbed his chin while looking distressed.

    "It can''t be ... it has to be the Corrupt one ... it corrupts other creatures to elevate its cultivation, consuming their bodies. But if one of the beasts has already turned, it must be close for it to feed... it''s probably going to come out of its hiding place to consume the other monsters."

    Matt didn''t like where this was going, there was some kind of strange monster out there, probably one with even more strange appendages. Maybe now would be a good time to leave this place? He wasn''t that keen on fighting the thing, but as he was thinking about his next move the burly man dropped to his knees and started kowtowing furiously.

    "Distinguished, honorable, illustrious and respectable Senior!"

    *Aren''t you overdoing it with the honorifics dude...*

    "Please hear me out, my stupid son has gone missing for a few days, he probably went to the forest to prove himself after offending you, but he hasn''t returned with his men, now I fear that the Corrupted One could have something to do with it, please find it in your upright and just heart to aid this old man in finding his stupid son!"

    Matt looked at the burly man that was hitting the floor with his forehead, making thumping sounds that just made more people show up and see the Chief prostrating himself in front of him. But instead of stopping the man they did the exact thing as they also knew that his son was missing putting Matt in an awkward position.

    "Ugh..."

 25 Chapter 25

    The thumping in the house continued as Matt was looking at the people down, there were burly men and women even children prostrating themselves in front of him, probably most of them were the relatives of the silky-pants that was giving him a migraine right now. He scratched the back of his neck and then held out his hand out.

    "Ok... Stop, that''s enough."

    All of the people stopped in their tracks but their heads remained planted to the ground, not daring to move an inch unless the honorable Senior told them too. They were praying that he would help them out, if he didn''t the Chief''s son was as good as dead and they would probably have to relocate their tribe as well due to the corrupted monsters and the even more dangerous beast that was behind them.

    Matt felt a headache coming along as looked at the silent people in the room. He contemplated what he should do for a moment, the moral thing to do would be to help the people out. The smart thing to do would be to just get out of there or wait to see how strong that so-called corrupted one was otherwise he might find himself munched on by some creepy thing. Though Matt was one of the sorts of people that broke under increased social pressure so even though he didn''t think it was such a good idea, he decided to help the people out plus this also aligned more with his morals, plus deep down inside he was a big softy. He also was feeling bad for the prostrating people in front of him and he reckoned that he should be able to handle the creatures in the forest as he didn''t come across anything too dangerous for the time he has been here.

    He gave out a big sigh as he spoke.

    "Okay, stand up. In what direction did that silk... uh in what direction did your son go?"

    Yang Shan was the first one to raise his head as a glint appeared in his eye, or it might have been a tear. He stood up and bowed once more, the rest of the tribe members did the same while backing away a bit.

    "I can''t promise you anything though, this forest is gigantic it''s like looking for a needle in a haystack."

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    As Matt was talking, the Chief took out some kind of circular medallion with a stag engraved on it and handed it over to the cultivator in white.

    "This is?"

    "Senior, this is a treasure that was handed down to me by the previous Tribe''s head. It has a second part in the form of the ring if you focus your energy into it you can feel in what direction the other part is. It has a limited range though so we can''t use it from here."

    The chief replied while Matt was looking at the stag medallion.

    "I didn''t use it as I thought the boy would just be away for a couple of days while hunting, he does these things from time to time... but with the appearance of the corrupted one, I''m afraid that he has a slim chance of coming back."

    Matt tried putting his spiritual energy into the magical treasure and as it absorbed it, it started to give out a dinging sound as it glowed slightly. After a few moments, the dinging stopped as the treasure couldn''t find its counterpart. He nodded and was lead out of the Chief''s house and pointed in the direction that the silky paints and his crew had left. The other problem was that it was getting dark outside, but the other people looked quite concerned and were giving him those puppy dog eyes as they pleaded.

    "W-well, I''ll be off then."

    He said awkwardly as he didn''t take the expectations of these people all that well, his shiny Crystalline Sword was tossed out onto the ground, he jumped onto it and as he took his flying stance it took off while the concerned tribe people looked at each other with worry in their eyes. They didn''t doubt that this Senior was strong, but they didn''t know if he could handle the evil beast in the forest they had to keep the well being of the village in mind so they decided to inform every important person in the village. They had to prepare for the situation of the Senior not coming back, or abandoning the Chief''s son and coming back empty-handed. If it came to that they would have to relocate deeper into the mainland while seeking help from the stronger clans that were in the cities.

    The Crystalline Sword produced a faint light as it drifted through the air with the muscular cultivator on top, that was scratching his head while flying forward.

    *Why does it always have to be started by the young bratty masters, every damn time. Do they have some kind of troublemaker gene in them to cause trouble for others if you interact with them?*

    He had been flying for a good hour by now, the sun was down but he still couldn''t get anything from this treasure. Matt had no tracking skills besides his map, but it had a limited range of showing living organisms in the vicinity as well. The boy and his entourage had a couple of days head start on him, but they couldn''t have gotten that far into the forest and he was a lot faster on his flying sword than people on the ground that could only run. He only had a vague idea where they could have gone, the people of the tribe told him a couple of places that Yang Rong could have gone to.

    He was hovering above one of those places right about now, but he couldn''t see anything but he found out that he could see a lot more in the dark than he thought he would be able to. Guess the cultivator''s body came with various enhancements, plus the moons in the sky were also illuminating the silent night.

    Why was it so silent though, Matt stopped in his tracks and tried to listen. He thought he would hear wolves howling in the night or various creepy beasts just crawling around the place. But it was really silent as if they had gone into hiding or escaped in a different direction. This gave of many red flags in his mind when he thought about it.

    *Did they run away due to the corrupted one?*

    He gulped and resumed with his flying. Going further and further as he flew for a good couple of hours now being close to the spot that he had arrived in where it all started. He grasped the medallion and inserted his Qi into it, it started dinging and dinging just as it always did, but this time around it gave out a louder sound than before. Matt could feel that the magical treasure was somehow guiding it to a certain spot in the forest, this must have been the area that the kid was in and would you know it, it was right dab in the same spot that Matt was spirited away to this place.

    He scratched his neck and wondered if it was just a coincidence as he sped up towards that area, he still remembered hitting that tree and kicking that poor rabbit into meat paste by mistake. He just wanted to get there and get the kid and his idiotic posse and would you know it, there were all there but looked haggard and in a bad state, he was still a bit from their position but with his enhanced vision he could see some beasts surrounding the group. The beasts in question had squiggly tentacles protruding from their bodies as the ape that Matt battled previously.

    Matt brought out his trusted lightning javelin and was ready to give them air support before they got the hentai girl treatment there, he really didn''t want to see burly men getting tentacled if he could do something about it. But before he could come to their rescue the broken tree in the middle of the field that he crushed previously started shaking and with a resounding boom, a creature emerged from within, kicking up a crowd of dust in the process. It was big and ugly and when Matt squinted his eyes to take a closer look his jaw dropped.

    "I-is that... Is that god damned Cthulhu!?"

    The creature wasn''t as big as the great old one from the stories, it was given or take 6 meters tall, but it was the spitting image of peoples favorite monster, it had the octopus-like head whose with a mass of feelers on them, plus the scaly humanoid body, claws on both hands and legs as well as a fitting name...the name made Matt feel like he was getting trolled by someone.

    [ Mini''thulhu The Corrupted One ( Foundation Establishment Great Circle ) ]

 26 Chapter 26

    The creature gave out a roar and the other tentacle beasts around it started squiggling as if they were having a dance party. The Tribe members were hugging each other tightly with the silky pants in the middle. The kid''s face was filled with tears and snot at this point and he probably had some more liquids filling out his pants as he looked terrible.

    Matt got a hold of himself as the creature was looking around, it had wings on it''s back just like Cthulhu. It spread its wings and generated a lot of wind that sent the poor tribe people flying, slamming into each other, the ground and trees while the other tentacle monsters got closer. Just as the group of tribe people made peace with the world as they knew that they would be devoured any second now they saw some light in the distance and it was getting here really fast.

    The closes tentacle thing next to them exploded into gorry bits as Matt''s lightning strike hit it, then more and more of the creatures started exploding from the hits while the people looked on in astonishment in their eyes. The big baddie turned in the direction that the attacks were flying from and gave out a roar, but it was met a light spear to the side as well. It staggered from the hit and a big wound appeared but it started healing at a rapid pace.

    Matt appeared in a flash and kept zooming around on his sword while looking down at the creatures below, the Tribe members cheered as they saw who it was. They were glad that the Senior that they were familiar with somehow appeared out of the blue and was attacking the monsters. The group was a band of misfits but they weren''t dumb, they saw their chance as they noticed that the creatures stopped paying attention to them and slithered closer to the man standing on the flying sword. So they used this chance and run into the forest from the open field, Matt did clear out a path for them to escape and all.

    So they grabbed their sobbing and shocked silkypants master and bolted for their dear life while not looking back at what was happening behind them, they could see some tentacle creatures moving to the clearing where the biggest monster was. For some reason, they didn''t seem that interested in them anymore. It was an eerie sight of the tencale wiggling things just converging into one location it was better viewed from up in the sky which Matt could see happening.

    The cultivator dressed in white looked as the other people escaped on their own and then looked down at the squiggly spectacle below him. The big baddy was roaring up at him, this for some reason made his flying sword buzz. He had to focus on it so that it wouldn''t drop down to the ground, guess the monster was trying to bring him down below but its cultivation wasn''t strong enough for that.

    *Hm, still in foundation establishment realm, guess I can still handle this one. Was this thing placed as the tutorial boss or something, or was I summoned here knowing that it was hiding below that tree and gathering its forces?"

    The monster got angry as it couldn''t get the person down to the ground and found itself covering its head with those massive muscular arms. The lightning bolts started raining down on it as Matt was testing out the waters, the creature was taking a lot of damage and all but it was healing quite fast as well. But it didn''t look like the thing would be a problem for him at his current level. He didn''t feel like jumping down and engaging in fisticuffs with the huge thing, what if it spit some strange goop on him or if he got covered in tentacles?

    While he was doing this he kind of ignored the smaller corrupted monsters that were slithering towards the big guy, but if he had some combat experience he might have been able to figure out what was about to happen. Why was the monster infecting the other beasts? What was the purpose of turning them into tangled up tentacle monsters? Also, the Chief mentioned that it used the monsters to elevate its cultivation in some way. But by the time the cogs in Matt''s head started turning you could see a massive ball of squiggling tentacles in the open field that was giving of an eerie red light.

    What happened next would act as a wake-up call for Matt, as the huge humanoid-shaped, squid faced monster bolted away with huge strides and jumped at that mass of tentacles. The cultivator stopped pelting it with his lightning bolt spam and looked bewildered not sure what the creature was doing, was it trying to hide from him in that? Did it want to shield itself with the tentacles? But no, seconds after the whole area began glowing in a crimson hue, Matt could feel the mass of tentacles giving off bursts of spiritual energy and he could have sworn that he heard a heartbeat-like tune that went along with those bursts of Qi.

    What happened next was a low witch shriek that made the man hold his palms to his ears. He could feel a sharp pain in his ears as he lost control of his flying sword and crashed to the ground. He landed a bit away from the mass of tentacles, but the screen kept him back from it. The creepy ball started shrinking and shrinking, it looked like the energy was getting absorbed from it and the tendrils crumpled into dust. Afterward, you could see the monster emerging, its eyes glowing red and it looking a bit taller than before all the injuries that it had sustained also couldn''t be seen.

    [ Mini''thulhu The Corrupted One ( Core Formation Early Stage ) ]

    It as at this moment that he knew, he fucked up. He probably should have taken out the smaller creatures first before they could gather up to give the ugly looking boss a power-up, he also felt that something was now blocking his flying skill as he couldn''t make the sword hover upwards well enough to escape.

    This was the first time he came across anything at the same cultivation realm as he was, he wasn''t sure what that meant but it wasn''t anything good. His first thought was to flee but would he be able, if he fled what would happen to the people that were in the forest not so far away, would this behemoth turn on them instead? He mustered up all his bravery and took a fighting stance, he sure hoped that he could handle this beast as but it looked really intimidating.

    The monster-filled the area with its core formation aura which gave Matt goosebumps then charged at him. It was a lot faster than the gorrila monster that he sparred previously and a lot bigger as well. Matt misjudged how fast the creature would get to him and was a bit slow with his dodging. He could see a huge fist getting thrown right at his face, he imagined he would be turned to paste if that thing cleanly hit him. Dodging to the side he could feel the creature''s limb just barely passing, the wind pressure throwing him off balance as he fumbled to the side a slight pain hitting his shoulder as the giant fist''s knuckle grazed it. This was the first time that he actually felt pain, the previous beasts were below his body strengthening technique so they weren''t able to even hurt him even if they gave him a full-powered hit.

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    He instinctively grasped his shoulder as he felt pain, but this only gave the monster the opportunity to extend one of its wings which landed a direct hit to his chest. He was sent flying into some trees, kicking up a storm of broken bark and splinters. The creature roared again while stretching out its muscular arms in a show of might, taunting its enemy that it just landed a hit on. Matt got off the ground and spit out some leaves from his mouth while his hair looked scuffled. The creature looked like it was feeling good about itself as it managed to bash this cultivator good and thought he wouldn''t be a problem. What happened next was a barrage of attacks that the monster unleashed on the human, which the human mostly managed to doge but not precisely. Each time he tried to evade he got scratched, poked and prodded and the damage on his clothes was a testament to that as after a while you could see a big scratch on his chest. Matt panted while he was trying to not die from the enraged monsters continues attacks.

    Matt wasn''t really looking where he was dodging the monster as the fight had switched locations into the deep forest, the two were kicking up a storm as the huge behemoth just stomped its way through the trees while charging at the cultivator. Being the lucky bastards as they were, the tribe cultivators found themselves escaping in the same direction that the fight was happening. They looked behind them and they saw the hulking monster moving towards them while the Senior that they knew was dodging its attacks, he was dodging right towards them. Matt stopped in his tracks and looked behind, seeing the people right there they had stupid expressions on their faces as they collapsed from the monsters pressure. The beast didn''t care about them all that much it was focused on Matt, so it delivered another huge swing in his direction while the people were behind him, if he dodged they would surely turn into pancakes...

 27 Chapter 27

    Time looked like it had slowed down for Matt, the giant was slowly coming towards him while the people were right behind where he was standing. They were all weak cultivators a snort from this creature could turn them into gory bits. He had a decision to make, does he prioritize his own well being and move away or does he take the hit and hope that those people will getaway. There was another option though that he was running away for all this time, it was the option to fight back.

    Matt was only a regular person, his life was mundane, to say the least before he was thrown into this world. He mostly cruised by his life unnoticed never really interacting with others and just doing enough to pass his days. Never doing more than was required of him and never having any ambitions, he was okay with his video games and slow boring lifestyle. But somewhere deep down inside he knew that he wanted to change, but he never could bring himself always putting it off for another day. Sometimes he wondered how he ended up with this sort of pessimistic outlook on the world but that was soon forgotten as soon as he got a new game or tv show to enjoy. Always looking at others as they led fun lives while he himself gave up on it.

    He clenched his fist, anger appearing on his face as his brows furrowed, he wanted to change himself, he needed to change himself not for the people behind him, but for himself. An oppressive aura exploded from within his body as his fist started shimmering and crackling with electricity. He met the giant fist of the monster with his own attack, he just mustered up all his courage and anger into this one hit. His hand looked tiny compared to the corrupted ones, but as the two fists met and collided the one feeling most of the pain was the huge monster instead.

    Lots of spiritual energy exploded, the monster could feel its fist hit something hard it expected to squash the little human in front of it but instead it felt immense pain in its upper limb. You could see the huge muscular hand''s veins bursting and the muscles convulsing as the lightning fist strike run through it. The beast got pushed back as it roared in pain, its knuckles broken to mush after it got hit by the cultivator''s own fist that was infused with lightning Qi.

    The man didn''t stop at that though, no. He stepped forward acting and as the monster was momentarily stunned by its arm getting mangled in the exchange he delivered a high kick right to the monster''s chest. The monster had a humanoid body and it also had various humanoid-like organs so as the lightning infused kick landed on the chest area it could feel the air getting sucked out of it. The ribs or rib-like bones in there broke apart as the beast got sent flying in the opposite direction crushing into many trees as it just flew in an arc.

    Matt stood there, panting a bit. He looked at the creature that just flew over a hundred meters away from him and crashed into the bushes and trees. The people behind him opened their eyes in bewilderment, their pants were a lot warmer than before as they might have gotten a bit scared. They saw the white-dressed cultivator from the back, he was holding up his fist, lightning sparks coming from it. The creature was gone but it didn''t take long for them to count two and two together.

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    *You fucking piece of shit!*

    He ignored the people behind them and looked at the monster that was in pain, his eyes started glowing as he focused and took his first step forward, it was payback time. The monster stood up after a moment, it had self-healing properties so the damage was slowly regenerating. It couldn''t keep it up the whole time as it did train its energy. The red eyes glowed with madness as it looked in the direction of the cultivator that it was fighting with, but he wasn''t in that spot it only saw some pesky humans there instead. The creature soon saw a foot instead of in its field of vision as it landed right between the eyes, sending the hulking behemoth backward yet again.

    The sound of thunder and thumping soon filled the forest along with a lot of trees getting destroyed as the creature got knocked around the whole place. The previously weak cultivator that was only dodging the attacks started wailing on the large thing, they were of the same cultivation level and all but the cultivation ranks that they had were a lot different. The monster reached its level by doping and absorbing other creatures, while the cultivator had a cultivation technique miles ahead of it.

    "You like that you overgrown Squidward!"

    Matt landed a palm strike to the creatures back after using his movement technique to dodge its attack, he was hopped up on adrenaline while fighting the thing but he was finally doing something. The creature might have been weaker than him, but it was still in the core formation realm and was regenerating from every hit he inflicted on it. After a while the creature started backing away while protecting itself from the hits, wings spreading apart as it tried to flee.

    He could have let it flee at this point, he had won the fight. He still felt rage and was in battle mode at this point, not thinking all that straight and not being able to calm down. He used his range skills to charge up and aimed for the thing''s wings which brought the monster down after a couple of hits. The corrupted one screamed out in agony as it glared at the small human in front if it had known that the ant-like existence was that strong it would have run from the start.

    The monster gathered up all its energy and started glowing in a crimson hue, its muscles bulged and the tentacles on its face started thrashing about. The cultivator saw that and started charging up his own energy as well, his eyes started glowing with bright blue energy, his whole body looked like it was covered by a sheet of lightning glowing the brightest in the spot where his hands were. The two stared at each other before they ground under their feet trembled and showed cracks. The two collided with each other as they unleashed their strikes, the two started pummeling each other but this time around the cultivator didn''t back away.

    You could see that the creature wasn''t looking too great, its regenerative powers not kicking in anymore as it had drained itself during the fight. Matt didn''t look that well either, he had many scratches and bruises on his body but was still in better shape than the giant octopus. A huge arm was severed and flew up into the air as the cultivator held his light sword in one hand, the monster didn''t have much time to react as it tried backing away but got one of its lower limbs severed instead then collapsed onto the ground.

    It roared in protest as the small human cultivator got closer and closer. Matt saw everything in bullet time, the eerie atmosphere filled the place, you could see the damaged trees everywhere and leaves were slowly falling down. The cultivator brought both his hands together, fist placed over the other as the energy sword expanded in length and girth. He then charged at the beast that was kneeling down on the ground. The monster let out one last roar as it tried to defend itself from the attack, but its large tentacle filled head got severed right at the neck. It flopped next to the large body that went down with it, but this creature wasn''t dead yet. The severed head started squiggling around and moving towards the severed neck, wanting to reattach itself.

    At this moment the tribe people stood up wondering if the Senior killed the beast or not as they could hear less and less of the sounds of fighting. But then they saw the man in question fly up into the sky, he hovered there while raising both his hands above his head. He started forming what looked to be a spear of lightning, but it was growing in size every second, soon it was wider and longer than the human below it and thundering about.

    Matt gave forced as much energy into the javelin attack as he could muster. He looked at the creature that was below him, the head was slowly using its tentacles to attach itself back to the body. He didn''t give it enough time though as he chucked the jumbo lightning spear down on it, a resounding boom could be heard right after as the corrupted one exploded along with everything in a 500-meter radius around it, leaving a gaping hole in the ground.

    Mini''thulhu The Corrupted One Slain ( Core Formation Early Stage ) Earned 90000 SP

 28 Chapter 28

    The cultivator was panting as he looked on at the big hole in the ground, the damage was immense. He could see water slowly filling up the hole as a river was close by to it. He slowly descended to the ground going to the impact zone, he grasped the only thing that remained of the beast which was its core. He looked at the thing that caused him so much trouble and smiled to himself a bit, he did it, he won. He was a bit happy that he managed to fight the beast, but a bit mad at himself for being such a coward for so long. He gave out a chuckle and then placed the tennis ball-sized core into his storage ring, he should be able to get some nice rewards for it or use it to craft some good stuff.

    He looked a bit dirty due to having been battling the monster in the forest, his clothes weren''t super sturdy or anything, but they had some strange self-regeneration ability to them. So with a bit of time they looked brand new, he himself didn''t feel all that great, he didn''t think that he fought well. He used up too much energy and relied on his superior cultivation prowess to win while running away for the first half of the battle. But it was his first fight with someone close to his level, he was happy that he actually managed to win but he had a lot of things to work on.

    He popped one of the healing pills into his mouth and felt a refreshing sensation wash over him, he kind of forgot that he even had those in the middle of the fight. Matt could feel that the creature''s evil Qi was subsiding and the forest would go back to how it was previously, the berserk monsters would also vanish without having its host around. He smirked at the number of points that he received for the fight which was a whooping 90k points, he would be able to get the next level of the crafting abode, or maybe some new kick-ass skill.

    At this moment he remembered why he even came to this place in the first place. He looked in the direction the scared Tribe members were and hopped onto his flying sword, slowly drifting towards them while the tension from the fight subsides. His legs felt a bit wobbly at the moment , but he didn''t show it the healing pills having refreshed him somehow.

    Yang Rong stood up with the help of his buddies and looked in the direction of where the fighting noises were previously coming from, but now it was silent, too silent.

    "D-did that man win?"

    His cronies looked at him a bit awkwardly when he referred to the Senior that just saved them with ''that man'' and not with a more honorable title, but they kind of gave up on their master as they knew his character well. Suddenly they heard a strange sound and in the distance, they could see a faint glow that was moving slowly towards them, at first they thought it was some monster again but after a while, they noticed that it was Zhang Dong slowly hovering towards them on his sword. There was a path of broken down tries that he made by kicking the creature away, so he had a clear path towards them.

    "Everyone alive?"

    The man asked the group that stood up, clasped their hands and took a bow, well everyone besides the kid they were protecting who just did a half-baked bow. This made the others sweat bullets as they didn''t want to anger the person that just slaughtered a huge monster on his own. The cultivator hopped down from his sword and slowly walked over to the silkypants in question, the others already afraid of what was about to happen.

    "Hey kid, you should fix that attitude problem, you''ll get yourself killed one day if you continue like that."

    He flicked the youth''s forehead with pointing finger, which with his increased strength left a bruise behind making Yang Rong yelp out.

    "Let''s go back to the village, your father and family are worried sick about you."

    The youth moved his head down as the cultivator mentioned his family that was worried about him, they soon moved back towards the village but it would take them a bit to get there plus it was late at night. They abandoned their temporary camp along the way, they had all of their gear in there. They mentioned this to Matt that decided that they should go see if it''s still there, he didn''t really want to fly at a slow pace for the entire night plus he felt tired, more psychologically than physically.

    Luckily after a couple of hours, they found the old camping site that was mostly intact, didn''t take the tribesmen to bring it back in order. It wasn''t much but just light tents though. Matt, of course, took up the tent that the kid previously had to himself, so he had to sleep with the rest of his men in the other one. The tension lessened in the morning as they moved on, Matt decided to place all the equipment into his storage ring so that the men could move faster and ordered them to run back to the village with all their might, he wanted to reach it before the day ended.

    All of the people were cultivators so they had a lot of stamina, but not that much as they were all in the Qi Condensation stage, ranging from 3 to 6. Surprisingly the beasts didn''t attack them anymore, probably the disappearance of the corrupted one and the Qi that was corrupting the animals and making them violent was the cause of that. Also, the beasts weren''t that stupid, they could feel the overbearing aura of the cultivator in white so they made sure to stay far away from him.

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    The tribe people collapsed as they were in the close vicinity of the village, other members came to help them as they spotted the whole group. They were surprised and happy that all of them were still alive and breathing, they sometimes didn''t see eye to eye with these silkypants bodyguards. They were of the same tribe though and they still felt a sense of unity.

    A huge commotion was then heard as everyone rushed to the town gates, the Chief showed his love to his son by giving him a good punch in the face that broke the kid''s nose and sent him flying into a nearby wall. Matt scratched his neck and smiled a little bit as he saw the father ''disciplining'' his no good offspring. After Yang Rong went down, he was picked up by some family members and carried away to get some medical help. Yang Shan gave Matt another bow of respect but got waved of too cut that out by the man in question.

    "You don''t need to do that, you''ll get some knee disease if you keep kneeling to me every time we see each other..."

    The burly man blushed a bit as he knew that he was overdoing it a bit, but he couldn''t give the Senior much for helping his son. They left the town entrance and Matt got a small reward in the form of a feast, then he heard of his manly fighting form as the others started recounting how he had slain the beast. They didn''t see him flee from the thing plus they didn''t see much besides the one time he exchanged a blow with the monster and sent it flying, so they kind of put in a few good words for him making him look like a lofty battle-hardened cultivator that feared no one. After coughing a couple of times as the tribe members were praising him too much, he drunk and watched as the people danced and had a merry good time before he turned in for the day to wind down, it was about to leave this place but he would remember this place fondly. He remembered to return the camping equipment and the tracking medallion before turning in for the night. He had a lot of points to spend tomorrow.

    [ Name: Zhang Dong

    Affiliation: Zhang Clan

    Spirit Points: 118234

    Cultivation Base Qi: Core Formation [Early Stage 42%] (Lightning Core)

    Cultivation Base Body: Foundation Establishment [Middle Stage 0%] (Silver Body)

    Techniques: Lightning Qi cultivation art, Silver Body Arts, Thunderlight Sword, Thunder Movement Art, Lightning Javelin, Lightning Punching and kicking arts, Basic and Advanced Fighting Techniques.]

 29 Chapter 29

    Tapping could be heard as the cultivator sipped on some tea and looked up into what seemed to be empty space, but he could see something there.

    * Close to 120k points huh... what should I get... think I''ll get the apprentice crafting abode, I''ll be able to craft mortal grade weapons, those are mostly used by people in Foundation Establishment realm.*

    When it came to weapon grades it went from Common then Mortal then Earth and Heaven, Common grade was used by people from the Qi Condensation realm, while mortal grade was used mostly by people from Foundation Establishment, then you head Earth grade for the core formation experts, then the Heaven graded for the Nescent Soul masters. The latter was a cultivation realm associated with the top experts on this planet, there was a very small amount of those and they were mostly the patriarchs and Grand-masters of their respected sects. Core formation experts mostly occupied the middle standing and were leaders of various top standing clans, but if you wanted to be in the highest position you needed to have at least one Nescent Soul cultivator on your side.

    There was a minuscule amount of Nescent Soul cultivators around, but there also was a small amount of Core Formation cultivators around as well. Most people were in the first two stages, forming the core demographic of cultivators. This meant that he would probably have a lot of people to sell his weapons too. He could trade the spirit stones that he earned for points, he wouldn''t have to fight beasts anymore. Then he could expand into the Earth grade and even make fitting weapons and gear for himself!

    That was the plan so he spent the 28k points for the crafting abode, his points fell to about 90k in a second. He then spent another 10k to get some basic weapon schematics along with crafting materials required to make a couple of swords and spears that he could sell. He was in a good mood so he decided to see how well he would do in the crafting abode. After popping into the closed of dimension he noticed that the room looked a bit bigger than before and the anvil and every tool looked better than it previously did. It was still in the castle-like room but looked better. He selected the classical Jian Sword, it was one of the most popular weapon types around together with the spear.

    He got ready and waited for the tune to start, it was a new song this time around as well, hit started hitting and hitting and ended up with a high grade weapon this time. He resumed the bonking, choosing the same weapon once more but this time around he put in a couple of the Qi Condensation creature cores into the mix, he also produced a high grade sword with that but it had a different appearance and patterns than the first one.

    He reckoned that the weaker beast cores didn''t work that well with the mortal grade weapons and he would need to use up the foundation establishment realm ones to get a similar effect that he got with the common grade weapons. But he didn''t have enough of those around to blow he just had a handful and wasn''t sure if he should use them up just yet. Though using one to test things wouldn''t hurt so this time he selected a Guan Dao Helbard for creation and started bonking those glowing bits on the slab of metal. The metal was higher grade then what he was using on the common weapons and after he was finished he did indeed end up with a perfect grade weapon that gave out a radiant aura. He had used the first core that he got in this world, which came from the monster bunny, maybe this thing would have better penetrating power like the horn rabbits had with this?

    He used up all the materials he had bought after creating 6 mortal grade weapons, these things cost a lot to make. He needed about 1k points to have enough resources to produce one, he would need to sell it for at least 100 spirit stones to break even, he wasn''t sure for how much weapons went in this world so he would have to visit one of those auction hoses.

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    There was one more thing that he did while crafting, he was able to engrave a little logo on his weapons so he went for a lightning bolt logo, the bolt of lightning was going through the circle that was crackling with energy. It looked a bit similar to a certain superhero speedster from the previous world he lived in, be he was sure there would be no copyright problems in this world. Branding was an important thing and if he could make high grade and perfect grade weapons he was sure that his logo would be associated with quality. Due to that, he didn''t engrave any logos if he made an inferior product below the high grade.

    He had still 80 k points to spend, but he wasn''t sure about what, he could upgrade his skills but he wasn''t sure what he should go for, should he go for more power in general? More defense? He didn''t really have any type of defensive skills besides the one used for evading, maybe his body refining technique could be considered a defensive skill?

    As he thought about his body remembered his body strengthening technique.

    [ Silver Body: Silver Body is the next advanced form of the Copper Body refining technique, instead of hard psychical training that is mostly attributed to body refining techniques, the cultivator absorbs weapons/treasures that are metallic in nature to refine his body into a treasure in its own. The higher-grade the treasure is the stronger the body gets. Common grade weapons and treasures have no effect on this technique. The technique can be trained up to the Nascent Soul great circle realm. ]

    He took out one of the weapons that he made and held the sword in his hand. He closed his eyes and started concentrating on the weapon, his body started glowing in a silvery hue and the sword started vibrating. It was a slow process taking about 10 minutes, the weapon started dissolving as time past and the metallic substance that it produced seeped into his pores and he could feel his physique getting stronger and stronger as it gave out a silvery sheen.

    [ Cultivation Base Body: Foundation Establishment [Middle Stage 20%] (Silver Body) ]

    *Oh, 20% eh? So need 4 more high grade weapons to get up a realm...*

    He had 4 more of the high graded weapons while the 5th one was a perfect grade, he didn''t want to use that one just yet. So after an hour of absorbing the previously created weapons, he found his Silver Body breaking into the Late Stage. He got a bit crafting crazy now and spent another 1k points to make another weapon, getting it up to high grade as well. But after absorbing it this time around his cultivation budged only by 5 %.

    *5%... I''d need 19 more of those weapons...That will put me at 60k points sill...*

    He spent the rest of the day just crafting and absorbing the high grade weapons, he couldn''t get them to be perfect, the only way was adding beast cores to do that. After he absorbed 19 of those high grade weapons like a madman he broke through into the Great circle and his silvery sheen was even more prominent. But after he tried taking in one last hard grade of those weapons he ended up with a 0,5% boost it would take a bit for him to get it past the Great Circle and into the core formation.

    Matt ended up at 50k points after he crafted more high grade weapons to sell the next time he was in a city, having 9 high grade ones and 1 perfect grade.

    Then he left to appear in a flash to see that he spend the whole day crafting around, he still wanted to see if he could get some handy dandy skills to help him out in the future. He went through the store, Earth grade skills were the ones used by core formation cultivators so he decided to focus on those, trying to go for the higher grade ones and after going through the lists he decided on some.

 30 Chapter 30

    [ Lightning Forcefield. (Earth high grade) - 17000(11900) : The cultivator is able to generate a forcefield around his body to block attacks, he can also create a sturdier field in the desired spot for more protection or widen the area depending on their cultivation. ]

    [ Storm Dragon (Earth high grade ) - 18000( 12600) : Cultivator summons a dragon made from lightning, it has a mind of its own and will fallow the user''s orders, after it dies it discharges all stored energy. ]

    [ Lightning Dao Avatar Transformation (Earth peak grade) - 30000(21000) : The cultivator transforms his body into a Lightning Dao Avatar, the size increase is dependant on the cultivation base. The cultivator gains destructive power without having to sacrifice speed while still having an increased size. ]

    Matt felt the skill info get injected into his brain one more, the pain wasn''t as bad as before, maybe his body skill upped his resistances to this. He was left with 4734, it didn''t take long to spend the points but it was a hassle go get them. The best way at the moment would be fighting more beasts at his level, but things at that cultivation level were rare plus he got lucky and fought one that had just leveled up and wasn''t used to the elevated cultivation.

    He had more skills in his arsenal that he needed to test out, but it was also time to leave this village. The problem with the rage monsters was solved so he had fewer monsters to hunt, also he wanted to see the world a bit more as well. He was a bit more confident in himself now, he pulled up his map and looked at his destination that the system was kind of guiding him towards. Spirit Spring City was located in the Azure Dragon Empire, the map didn''t really go into much detail as it only showed him the locations and the names without explaining much.

    He looked at the map and the Spirit Spring city was quite a bit away from his location, he was at the edge of the empire that had mostly small tribes and villages around. The next big city that was about halfway towards his destination was called Moonlight City. It was quite large just slightly smaller than the other City that he knew off. He decided to make a stop there on his way as he didn''t want to just blindly fly all the time and maybe he could sell and but some stuff in there.

    He had asked the tribe people about the structure of this empire with the pretext that he was a traveler from another country. They were happy to tell him about the power structures and how the world worked, that they knew of. He learned the Qi Condensation cultivators filled up the majority of the population, most never getting through the 3rd level bottleneck. Everyone hid their cultivation methods and resources so it was hard for regular people to cultivate. That''s why Qi cultivators up below the 4th level were called commoners. After a cultivator reached the foundation establishment-level he or she could create their own family clan, passing down their teachings to elevate it. There was no rule to the size of the clan so they came in various shapes and sizes. After that came the Sects, those mostly required someone to be at least of the Foundation Establishment level but near the top of that. The sect scouted disciples to their location to grow and expand their influence not requiring one to be from the same family lineage. Sects were the biggest fishes around in the empire but it wasn''t ruled by a sect in particular but had an Emperor instead.

    The Emperor belonged to the Long Clan and kept the Sects in check, but no one knew who would come out on top if the two factions fought. The tribe people weren''t informed enough about the prominent sects and clans as any one of them was out of their league. There were many new ones being created while old ones were crushed in a constant struggle for power.

    *Guess The Azure Dragon emperor would be one of the top cultivators around here then? But those people like to hide their true power so there might be a bigger boss behind him.*

    He gathered some info before heading out along with some supplies that he got from the villagers for helping them out with their beast crisis. He could see the silkypants that he saved all bandaged up but mostly from the beating, his father gave him and not from the beasts. His followers looked at him with a gleam in their eyes while smiling, this made Matt feel a bit uncomfortable on the inside. He would rather have some cute girls look at him like that, but instead he had some hairy burly men do that instead which sent a shiver down his spine.

    Matt moved in front of the larger brown-skinned man and gave him a smile, he then stretched out his hand going for a handshake which Yang Shan didn''t understand at first.

    "This is a way how people from where I come from greet or say their farewells."

    He said while grasping the burly man''s large hand and giving it a firm handshake, the man looked down but then shook it right back looking like he liked this new way of greeting people.

    "Cuth... The corrupted one is dead so you shouldn''t have any more beast problems. If you have any troubles you can search for me in Spirit Spring City, that''s where I''m heading for now, I''ll probably be there for a while..." *Or so I hope...*

    He shook some more hands as everyone seemed to like this new sign of respect, was a bit more personal than the bowing.

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    "Well, I''ll be heading out then. You guys take care."

    A lot of people were gathered to send him off, cheering and clapping at him as he started floating up into the air.

    "Well be sure to recount your deeds for generations to come, Senior. Everyone will know the name, Zhang Dong!"

    *Well, at least I didn''t use the name Long Dong...*

    He nodded to the people and wooshed into the air, his cultivation making the crystal-like sword shine in a bright hue as he was propelled forward to his next destination. The scenery changed to a more open one, it wasn''t just trees anymore as he could see people tending to their crops on their farmlands. When they looked up the could see the cultivator dressed in a white robe, his long hair fluttering in the wind along with it. He checked his map as he looked for Moonlight city that he was heading first, but also he spotted a certain spot he wanted to make a pitstop before even going there. It looked like a really tall mountain with a high elevation and that meant a better place to cultivate, he was already halfway done by this point even when doing it in this village, so he should be able to bust through to the middle stage in no time and a few days here and there wouldn''t be a problem.

    Nothing much happened on the way there, but he did not make it there through the day. He stopped and descended in an unpopulated area, there was not much around besides grass some trees and bushes. He kind of prepared for this type of occasion as he wondered where he should sleep when he was on the move. The cultivators from the stories always dug out some caves and then squatted in there during the night or when they were injured but he was used to sleeping on a bed.

    He pulled up his screen and clicked the crafting abode icon that transported him to the candle and fire-lit space.

    *Who needs to buy another pricy base if I have this already!*

    The store had big and small houses, rooms and even pocket dimensions with gardens where he could reside but they all cost a huge amount. He took out a bed from his ring that he nabbed from the tribe and placed it on the ground, this crafting area was quite large and he could even dim the light in the setting, so why couldn''t he use it as a sleeping space? So he turned in for the night and dreamed about marshmallow clouds.

 31 Chapter 31

    The crafting abode didn''t collapse upon itself and didn''t boot him out or anything so he had a good night''s rest. It was super silent in there, no soul to bother him. He stretched while yawning and jumped up to his feet, what this place was missing though was a shower and he didn''t think that he could install plumbing. It worked for now though, maybe he could find a lake or a waterfall to wash up later, not like he had anybody odor, though he found that a bit odd because even if he did sweat he didn''t end up smelling with sweat, guess it was something about this cultivator body of his.

    He appeared out in the open in a flash of light, scaring some of the wildlife in the area. Matt chuckled to himself and while munching on a chicken leg, well it was more of an unidentified bird leg, but he told himself that it was chicken. He stretched a bit, the sun already up as the crafting room didn''t have any natural, so there was no rising sun to wake him up. He tossed his flying sword out again and took flight, going towards the mountain peak.

    The mountain as huge, it looked a lot smaller on the map but it just went on and on till the clouds, guess everything on this continent was bigger than back on earth. He pushed more spiritual energy into his sword and flew up into the air, ascending upwards while the skill shielded him from the heavy winds and cold air.

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    As he broke through the soft blanket of clouds he could see the mountain peak. To his surprise it was quite green up here, he didn''t see any snow around that he expected from a place at this altitude. He looked at the map and then tried to sense the aura of others around here, but it was nice and peaceful. There were a couple of beasts up here, most of the bird variety but they scattered the moment they felt his overbearing aura as he was scanning them.

    There was a layer of clouds just below the tip of the mountain he was standing on, the view was just breathtaking. Matt just took a moment to look around the place, there were vegetation and a little spring in the middle. He slowly walked around while the birds flew about, the place felt peaceful, he couldn''t feel any dangers around a perfect spot to spend some time to test his skills and cultivate.

    He hopped up to the highest point on the mountain top, which wasn''t that wide. He had just enough space to sit down in the lotus position on the almost pointy boulder sticking out of the mountain top. He started concentrating, the wind started picking up as he resumed his cultivation. The Qi in the area was a lot thicker than what it was back in that forest village, so sucking it up was a lot easier this time around. He sucked up the water like Qi into his body, nourishing his meridians and pumping his cultivation up more and more.

    The storm clouds soon gathered up above him and the ones that were below the mountain peak looking like a blanket turned dark. The animals around the peak started hiding and running away from the incoming storm. The lightning strikes soon filed the entire peak, you could hear booming sounds of thunder hitting against the human cultivator that remained seated in the lotus position. The electric strikes kept connecting with his body periodically, infusing him with more and more Qi. Due to the storm, the cultivation process was a lot faster than before but it was a lot harder as well, Matt had to focus diligently as to not let the spirit energy run wild in his body and not to overflow. Because if that happened he could suffer a backlash to his cultivation, injure himself or even lose some of his progress.

    He remained in that one spot, letting the bolts sculpt his body into a better shape he could feel his core expanding slightly more and more as it took the spiritual power in. He was almost in a trance, this was normal for cultivators as when they got the ball of cultivation rolling it was hard to stop. That as also the reason while most of them remained hidden from others, doing it in seclusion not wanting to be disturbed as a lapse in judgment could be very detrimental to their well being.

    He was cultivating at least twice the speed than he was previously, but he didn''t stop at just doing that. Matt also had some new skills that he needed to figure out. After he got his fill of absorbing spiritual energy that pushed his cultivation past 50% he decided to take a break. First came the forcefield or barrier technique. He clasped his hands, forming a seal as a semi-transparent coating started appearing around him. It looked like a regular circular barrier around a person but looked a bit more unstable with the lightning energies crackling around it. At this moment some dust got kicked up and as it came up to the barrier and blocked its approach, crackling in response. He could tell that inside he was safe from harm but outside the forcefield would discharge electricity at anything that came in contact with the barrier.

    He started playing around with this skill managing to make it bigger and bigger covering about an area of 10 meters before he started having problems in keeping it together. He could also shrink it and focus in front of himself, this made the barrier thicker in that spot and it would probably defend against more damage.

    Matt nodded and moved on to the Storm dragon skill, he concentrated while waving his hands around in various patterns. This skill couldn''t be formed instantly which would be its weakness. After a moment electricity escaped from his body and shoot above his head, the energy concentrated into one spot and started forming a Dragon, it wasn''t the western type of dragon that most people were familiar with, it was the more serpentine looking one from Eastern stories. The creature looked like a construct of blue and white light as it gave out electricity, it roared about and circled around his body as if going into a defensive position.

    He could feel some kind of strange mental connection with the creature, he could also see through its eyes as it flew around. He tried giving it some basic orders like ''go over here'', ''hit that rock'' and ''defend this position''. It followed all the instructions to a tee, but when he ordered it to do the Fortnite dance it, it looked at him with question marks above its head.

    *I guess not, heh.*

    He could actually ride the thing, so it would be an alternative to his sword if he ever lost it, the Dragon was big enough for him to ride while having space for more people. This way of traveling was a lot more draining on his spiritual energy though, so it would probably not be a good idea to use it as a regular way of traveling.

    The last but certainly not the least was the Avatar transformation, he took a good breath in before he released the skill. It didn''t have any fancy hand movements to activate, he just had to concentrate but it also had a bit of a charge uptime. He could feel his body giving of spiritual energy, the Qi started coating his whole body and expanding outwardly. Growing and growing, he could feel his point of view getting elevated as the technique turned him into a giant made from lightning, the sparks flew everywhere while he looked at his hands and ground below him. Size-wise he was close to 6 meters tall, but he could pump himself up further but that would drain his energy faster and faster. If he increased his cultivation he reckoned he could sustain a larger form for a longer time.

    He threw a few punches, his power certainly increasing with this skill. He tried forming a javelin while in this form, which worked as the one he formed was many times larger than his regular one, he could probably take on people on a higher cultivation level than he was with this skill, but he had to be quick as it was quite draining. He tested it out, managing to keep it up without using any other skills for about 10 minutes before his energy dipped below 50 %, he would probably have a couple of minutes of real fighting time if he decided to go ham on someone.

    *Guess I should probably use this more as a finisher than the opener, or to give others a scare.*

    He powered down moved back to cultivating, he wanted to his core formation middle stage before moving on, it would boost his reserves quite a bit and being more powerful was always the best way to go. It took him about half a week to finally pump his cultivation to 100%, his lightning core churned with energy, crackling and expanding as he broke through his aura filled the surroundings as a lightning bolt directly hit his body. He stood up and tested his new level with a couple of punches and kicks. He felt a lot stronger than before, he could probably take out the corrupted one with one good placed hit if he fought him once more. Going up a level in cultivation was a lot bigger than going up in levels in games, it was quite the big difference indeed. After testing his skills a bit more at the higher cultivation realm he decided to head to the new town.

 32 Chapter 32

    Matt traveled through the land, zooming around and taking in the sights. The land was quite beautiful and there were many wondrous beasts and sights to see. He even found himself a waterfall to wash up in, then he tried cultivating under it but the progress was a lot slower as the water made it more difficult to transform Qi to the lightning variant. He thought to himself about his future, he wasn''t here for that long and he already almost died due to a wannabe Squidward. The sights were nice and all but spending most of his life as a couch potato while playing games and being as lazy as possible made it hard for him to change the outlook on his life. He was getting better but he still had the tendency to be lazy, though there was not much to do here besides crafting, fighting and cultivating.

    *Well, I should be there in a couple of hours if I keep the speed up.*

    His flying speed also increased with his cultivation as not only did he have a bigger spiritual energy gas tank, the quality also improved so he spent less while having more. He didn''t see other cultivators flying about on their swords, but that was natural as there weren''t that many core formation ones around, a foundation establishment person wasn''t able to fly much. But see a couple of flying ships, they looked like regular wooden boats and galleons but somehow they were able to move in the air as he did on his sword. Maybe he too could make something like that later one? Did the Dao of crafting include shipbuilding?

    He shrugged and flew ahead, he sometimes wished that the cash store would have electronics in them, he could use his old smartphone or an mp3 player, these long trips had interesting things to see, but otherwise, it was quite boring. And would you know it, he got what he wanted as when he was passing by, he spotted a caravan, it looked like one of those merchant caravans that you would expect in fantasy settings. The caravan was stopped by the road, it was getting blocked by some group Matt knew how to hide his aura so that no one below his level could spot him by this point so he peeked down. All the cultivators were still in the Qi Condensation level but they were at a higher level then what the tribe people were ranging mostly from 5 to 12, There also was one person in the foundation establishment-level mixed into the bunch. He was a bit behind the others and was hiding his strength. The leader of the person at the 12th level was from the caravan and as Matt looked at the name above it read Lan Fei, that was a female name right?

    He wasn''t sure what was going on and couldn''t see all that well from way up here so he decided to get a bit closer. He was quite the nosy person it seemed and the boredom was getting to him, as he got closer he noticed that the female cultivator was quite the beauty and how to put it she was quite stacked too boot. This, of course, made him use his heightened senses to zoom in on the lovely peaks, the woman had her cleavage exposed and all. She was wearing what looked like traditional Chinese clothes, just with more revealing parts and sticking to her shapely body quite tightly. He snapped out of it and looked at the group opposite them, they had smirks on their faces as they looked at the woman and the people behind them.

    "This is Cheng Clan territory, you need to pay the toll if you want to pass!"

    One of the thugs said while smirking at the busty woman who looked angry.

    "What''s the meaning of this, the Cheng Clan? The only toll is by the city gates, everyone knows that! Plus this area belongs to the Zhang Clan"

    Matt perked up at the mention of his so-called clan that he had no idea who was or wasn''t a member in, he found himself moving closer and closer as things got even spicier, he was totally not staring at the woman''s chest and totally didn''t stare as she was talking which made her ample bosom bounce in a lovely way. The Cheng Clan members noticed this too, so they started drooling themselves.

    "Hehe, the Zhang Clan has its hands full in Spirit Spring City, they have no power in Moonlight city anymore."

    The woman frowned at the people in front of her, if this was true then they wouldn''t be able to get out of this without paying. They could not offend the ruling clan of this city if they ever wanted to do business here. But she didn''t like the way these upstarts handled things, the moment they got some measure of power they extorting money from people. She gave out a sigh and tried to be professional about it, being the caravan''s owner and a merchant herself. The sleazy ways of these people weren''t anything new to her.

    "How much?"

    The men were a bit surprised that the girly didn''t complain more but then grinned at her. They looked at each other and then the man in charge stepped forward and while looking at the woman licked his lips.

    "100 low grade spirit stones"

    The woman opened up her eyes wide and frowned, this was just plain extortion she wouldn''t pay more than 10 at the gate and this price was ten times the regular amount.

    "Why don''t you just rob us, does your clan head even know you are doing this?"

    The men chuckled to each other while standing.

    "Well, we''ll drop the price to 10, if you give us some special service girly~"

    The man licked his lips as he moved forward and looked at the woman like a predator. The people behind the woman started complaining but didn''t know if they could offend these people, the Cheng Clan might have been an upstart clan but they did have Foundation Establishment elders which they couldn''t handle on their own.

    "Preposterous, Lady Fei lets just leave, we can just head to another city."

    One of the people from the caravan spoke while glaring at the Cheng Clan people, the woman started to think if that would be a good or bad idea, what if they go into the city and they get harassed more, you could never trust those power-hungry upstarts that did whatever they wanted. As she was about to make a decision one of the men in front of them walked out and she could feel pressure pushing her down it was a senior cultivator!

    "Why don''t you stay, I insist."

    The real leader got revealed as the cronies made way for him, the man looked quite old with a wrinkled up face and beady eyes. He was just in the early stage, but this was enough to make the caravan people tremble in their boots. Now they were afraid, they would have no chance of running if this elder jumped in they would have to pay the toll but the problem wasn''t that. The Clan people had set their sight on their boss.

    "How about your people gather the spirit stones while we have a nice chat over there?"

    The old man grinned while poking a bit to the side into the bushes, he turned out to be an old pervert to boot as he also wanted in on that action. The woman showed quite the disgusting face in response while the people on her side took out their weapons, this could turn bloody any second.

    "Am I interrupting something?"

    Suddenly everyone heard an unfamiliar voice, everyone looked around to the sides but they couldn''t see anyone around but suddenly they looked up and there was one peculiar cultivator hovering right above their heads. He was standing straight up, hands behind his back and his feet planted on an expensive-looking flying sword. Everyone gulped as they realized that the man was a core formation expert, just from the way he was nonchalantly flying above them without a worry in his mind. They also could feel his overbearing aura emanating out that confirmed their concerns.

    "Ah you see, we were just trying to collect the toll... "

    The elder from the Cheng Clan started speaking while looking upwards while sweating bullets, the clan didn''t even have one core formation elder in their mids the strongest person being at the great circle of foundation establishment so he could not offend this senior that staring him down.

    "Oh, toll? thought the toll was only collected by the city gate? Right?"

    "Ah yes, that''s right. We must have made a mistake, Senior!

    The Cheng Clan members were fast learners and could read the atmosphere. So they quickly gave up on the idea of harassing this caravan and turn tail to run. Matt didn''t say much just looked at the people backed away till they were gone, then he looked at the people from the caravan that looked surprised and maybe even shocked a bit.

    *A righteous man always has to aid the downtrodden! Even more so if they have...*

    He thought while trying not to stare at the woman''s cleavage.

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 33 Chapter 33

    While the honorable Senior Zhang Dong was trying not to look at the woman''s ample bosom, the woman in question was thinking about what she should do in this situation. The strange cultivator that appeared looked strong the aura was there as well, he didn''t look all that all which indicated that he gained his amount of power at a younger age but didn''t really reveal your true age as when you cultivated faster you tended to maintain your youthful appearance even in your older years. This meant that this could be someone within their 30''s or some old monster, you could never really tell.

    She followed the procedure of bowing at the man, and the people behind them did the same. The Senior above them didn''t talk much but looked down in her direction intensely. She didn''t know why he was keeping his gaze at her, was he like the other people that just left? He didn''t seem like it though. She couldn''t detect any hostile aura from this man, it felt kind of soothing and reassuring instead.

    "Senior?"

    Matt took his eyes of the female''s bust after she looked up at him from the bow in a questioning fashion. He coughed into his hand and looked to the side as he gathered his thoughts while trying to think about something else than the lovely mountain peaks before him.

    "Ah... yes! I was meaning to ask you, does Moonlight City have an auction house?"

    He quickly blurted out what first came to his mind, finally getting a hold of himself. The people stopped bowing then looked up at the hovering man, he had the looks of a warrior even though part of his face was covered by the robe''s hood. Zhang Dong at this time was feeling a bit silly for staring at the lovely lady for that long, hiding his slightly blushing face behind his robe as he turned his face to the side.

    "Yes, there is an auction house in the city, it''s called the Red Tiger auction house, you can''t really miss it, it''s in the pleasure district of the city."

    Lan Fei replied quickly while getting to the point, her gaze looking up and a somewhat calm smile on her face as she just wanted to get to the city and relax.

    "Ahh... thank''s for the info... "

    Matt started feeling a bit awkward, he didn''t really have any experience in talking to women all that much, the experience mostly stopping with small talk at work without anything meaningful besides that. He went grasped the back of his neck which was his tick when he was feeling awkward and just nodded at the people. He didn''t really have much to say to these people and didn''t want to make them feel uncomfortable as they were giving them those kinds of looks.

    "Well then, see you around."

    He took off flying towards the city while feeling kind of silly for staring at the bouncy girl, guess in this kind of situation the hero would strike up a conversation with the beauty and then they would fall in love or something. But he felt like he would be considered some kind of weirdo if he stayed around people that he had no relations with.

    Lan Fei and the others looked at themselves as the Senior that appeared in a flash, vanished just as soon as he came while not doing or saying all that much. The shrugged while looking at each other and then moved their caravan towards the city, there was the problem with that upstart clan, but they thought that they wouldn''t try to pull something in the city, there were other clans in there and there were laws. Plus that was probably why they tried to extort them outside, the woman gave the order out to move on while reminiscing about the cultivator in white, he sure was a handsome man a shame that he left she thought to herself while smiling.

    Matt wooshed towards the city, seeing it on the horizon as he wasn''t far away. He could see the various Oriental styled buildings and structures, it was surrounded by a big wall. There were four big gates coming from each side of the city and he could see a castle structure in there as well and the streets were looking busy. He remembered that there was a toll to pay before one was let into the city, so being the law-abiding citizen that he was he slowly descended from his position to what looked like a big line of carts and people that was slowly moving in and out of the city.

    "Damn, that''s a big line... "

    He was hovering low enough to catch the attention of the people below him, they all looked up at the cultivator and wondered why he was there and staring at them. Matt didn''t know that if you had a certain standing in this world you could cut in line, being powerful had its perks in this world. The people started whispering while Zhang Dong was feeling awkward once more from getting so much attention, but he was slowly getting used to the attention but it was slow progress.

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    "Hey look, mommy, a man standing on a sword!"

    "Is that a cultivator? Why is he just standing there, does he want something from someone?"

    "Hey, doesn''t he look kind of nice?"

    "A powerful Senior has appeared!"

    He was making a commotion that alerted the guards that also looked in the direction, seeing a large man on a sword. They brought up some jade slips that were used for communication by cultivators and alerted the people in the city about an unknown cultivator in white, who was flying on a sword and in front of the west gate to the city. It didn''t take long for some cultivators in the later stages of Foundation Establishment to appear. They tried measuring the man''s power level, but they couldn''t get a read on him, it looked that he was stronger than them.

    Matt was wondering if he should just move into the city instead, the people were making room for him as he tried to approach the line, parting like the red sea as they thought that he wanted through. He ended up by the gate soon while the people were still looking at him with curiosity. The experts from the city came out to greet him in front of the gate, greeted him by clasping their hands which Matt mirrored while hopping down from his sword.

    "Greeting Senior, what brings you to Moonlight City?"

    They asked while being polite, the cultivator''s face twitched a bit as he looked at everyone making a big fuss. He really wasn''t used to this rock-star treatment, everyone calling him senior this, senior that.

    "Ah yes, I heard that you needed to pay the toll to enter the city? I just came to sell some things at the auction house."

    The city cultivators looked at each other then back at the cultivator in white who didn''t seem to know that people at his level didn''t need to pay anything.

    "You don''t need to pay the toll Senior, you can just come into the city, here we will guide you inside."

    He felt stupid now, and just followed the people that beckoned him inside, there were three cultivators and they all looked to be in their 50s a bit old but not too old. They explained to him that the city requires the common people to pay the entrance fee but strong people like him or from powerful families didn''t have to, it was more to keep the riff-raff out. He asked them about the auction house and a place to stay, they saw that this cultivator was a bit quirky but he felt uninterested in causing a ruckus. They guided him to the best hotel in the city and informed him about some locations in it before parting ways and reporting to other people in the city.

    He couldn''t even tell them his name before they left, but the way the clan people that he was harassing the caravan were speaking he left that he should wait and get more information before he revealed that he was from the Zhang clan. It supposedly ruled this city as well before something happened, maybe he could get some info on that.

    He found himself in a big room, it looked quite costly. The door closed behind him while a serving lady took her to leave after guiding him to one of the more costly hotel rooms.

    *I have to stop doing this, can''t keep others just lead me around at their pace, I''m supposed to be some battle-hardened warrior.*

    He wallowed a bit in self-pity as he should learn to say no, at least he had a free room and boarding now, guess it paid off to be a top cultivator.

    *Though I also could learn a thing or two from those people, might have to act like that if a scary cultivator appears with a higher cultivation level.*

    He flopped on the soft bed that as a lot better than the one he had stashed in his storage ring, his next step would be to sell the things he made, he needed to know if he could earn Spirit points with crafting and if he did, how lucrative it would be.

 34 Chapter 34

    He placed all of the items that he wanted to sell on the floor, they included the 9 mortal high-grade weapons as well as the perfect grade one. He also had the crimson common grade items out, he didn''t want to sell the beast cores, for now, he might as well ask for the going price for those later at the store himself. There were various shapes and sizes, war hammers, swords, axes, and even a bow. He wasn''t sure how much he could get for them at the moment but he hoped that he could make some money, if he could then he would have a nice money and point-making option for himself instead of just murdering monsters or other cultivators, the later one he wasn''t that keen on doing at all.

    Zhang Dong had a big window in his hotel room, it was a really tall building and he was occupying one of the topmost floors. He could see down on the bustling streets, there were people coming and going just doing their thing. He still didn''t really know what to do with himself, should he really go to Spirit Spring City, would he fit in there? After giving out a big sigh he flopped back on the king-sized bed and looked at the ceiling, that had some dragon engravings on them. The whole room looked extravagant he wouldn''t be able to afford a lushes room like this in his previous life but here he could just flex his cultivation muscles and people came on running. He didn''t really care about luxurious lifestyles all that much, but he wasn''t against it either.

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    He stared at the ceiling for quite some time before moving his lazy ass off the bed, he would also need to do something about not being motivated enough. First came the auction house, then maybe he could gather some info about his so-called downtrodden Clan that fled the city for some reason.

    *I bet this place has some relaxing hot springs as well.*

    He kind of started liking the warm spring feeling that this culture had to offer, but he still could go for a normal shower. He paced up his things, looked at his robe in the mirror and decided to head out it was the middle of the day so he might tour the city for a bit before the auction house opened, it was in the pleasure district apparently and it only opened at night for some reason. So he headed out, trying to not stand out but his clothing was kind of giving him away as it was kind of exquisite, he started thinking that it might be a good idea to get himself a new robe, he could probably make one himself but he would have to use that dreaded DDR game again.

    While our hero was trying to not stick out like a sore thumb within the masses the caravan with the lovely lady that had the peaks that men desired arrived by the gate. They managed to get through it without much trouble and paid the normal toll of 10 low grade spirit stones. The members were relieved that nothing else happened on the way as they headed into the city to unload their gear. This caravan wasn''t a single unit, they hired guards from guilds that were in the city while having some of their own more trusted people with them as well. They were also carrying letters, people and other various things that they could earn money with. They started unloading their cargo and got busy with work, their purpose was profit they just as Zhang D. came here to sell items at the auction and the market, they had some low grade treasures ranging from common to mortal grades but mostly on the lower levels.

    The guards surrounded Lan Fei as they went around unpacking things, she was the leading merchant of the group so everything went through her. They didn''t think anything would happen in the city but they didn''t want to repeat what happened previously, the strange cultivator probably wouldn''t help them if they got into trouble once again.

    "This place was a lot safer when the Zhang Clan was running things, merchants weren''t getting robbed in broad daylight like this."

    "Shhh, Miss Fei you shouldn''t be talking like that, what if they hear you."

    The oldest guard said to the woman, he looked to be the oldest from the bunch and was the most trusted soldier from the bunch that this woman had. She belonged to a long line of merchants, she had been the leader of this caravan for a couple of years now and was slowly making a name for herself as this wasn''t the first time she was in this city. She reluctantly nodded at the man that she knew was right, those type of people she was going against were the petty type and their reputation was more important to them than the lives of others.

    "Yes, you''re right, let us just unpack and transport everything to the auction house, but be careful the pleasure district is a shady place. We have to watch our backs"

    She said while wrapping her form in a loose robe, she didn''t like it but she knew that women tended to be singled out around places like that. She would have to be careful, she thought that it was a shame that the world was like this but this was the reality. The people were rotten and everyone had to fend for themselves, the person that helped them today was the oddball out. She thought about the man once more but then shook her head, It would be nice to have him around as a bodyguard but that was a pipe dream.

    Fei got her head back into it and started going through her inventory, checking if anything got stolen or damaged. She had to inspect everything they wanted to sell before giving it to the buyers, her good name depended on good quality merchandise. This would take a while but they still had time before the auction house opened up.

    So time passed and nothing major happened, she and her men started gathering all of the items that they wanted to sell and headed off to the auction house. Little did they know that after they left a familiar figure walked out, it was one of the men from the Cheng Clan he was looking in the direction that the people left while grinning. He left after a moment and went to inform some other members that the caravan people were on the move. They had done their research on these people and knew that they didn''t have any strong backing, they were just regular merchants, the female''s father was in the foundation establishment-level but he was just one man and didn''t have many warriors behind him. The Cheng Clan had nothing to fear, they wouldn''t kill them, they just wanted to show what happened to people that go against their clan. This was the early stage of their Clans rise to power, they were still under a stronger clan that could replace them with another family, so they wanted to prove themselves as well.

    They were planing some fun after the Auction ended, they had their people on the inside so they would get the girly and her men into a separate area and give them a good thrashing. Their elder showed interest in the woman before, he wanted to have a good time as well. They had everything planned out, they also knew that the cultivator that came to the rescue of those people wasn''t associated with them and entered the city earlier. They thought that they might have overreacted a bit when they first saw him, and it was them that offered him that hotel room as well, though they weren''t brave enough to keep tabs on him as they knew that he would probably know if someone followed him around.

    While this was happening, Matt was munching on some dumplings. The food was still new to him, he was sitting in some high class restaurant after he pulled out a gold coin the people in the establishment looked at him with sparkling eyes and gave him the royal treatment so he was enjoying some nice food and drinks while watching the city from a window by the table he was sitting in.

    *This kind of life isn''t that bad.*

 35 Chapter 35

    The meat buns were devoured while he asked for more, the waitress returned with a smile with another plate while Zhang Dong munched away. Having cash on yourself was a nice feeling as in his previous life he mostly survived on cooking himself some noodles and chicken here and there. Plus the frozen dinners if he didn''t feel like doing much, but this food was really good even though he didn''t really know what the meat in there was. He burped into his hand while hoping that no one heard, then rubbed his belly that didn''t seem to expand that much.

    *Hm, where did all of that food go. Well, I guess no more Mr. skinny fat in the future.*

    He paid for the food with the gold coin, but this time around he got the change back, leave it to a big restaurant to have enough cash. He smiled at the waitress before going out, resulting in blush from her in response. He wasn''t quite used to his good looks and didn''t really know that you could use that for benefits.

    *Okay, I still have some time to burn before the auction house opens, though I need to get there a bit sooner than the others as the sellers need to present their items for inspection first.*

    He headed out into the city in the form of a tourist, looking left and right while at least trying not to look weird while doing it. People were giving him strange looks here and there, girls kept turning their heads while the men squinted their eyes at him. He wasn''t using his cultivation at this moment, so others didn''t regard him as a lofty senior but just as some good looking guy walking about. He was a bit flattered at the response he was getting from the ladies, but he wasn''t here to pick up girls that much but to tour the place instead.

    He visited a bathhouse as well, paying for the more exclusive one as he kind of got into the big spender mindset. There weren''t many people around here at this time, so he could enjoy the large bath on his own. Dipping his large frame into the water after washing up and looking up at the ceiling while relaxing, taking baths instead of showers might have not been such a bad thing after all. He stayed there for about 30 minutes and ended the experience with a nice full glass of milk, a big mustache left on his upper lip in the process. He smiled at some kids that pointed that out and then headed back out into the city, the day looked nice and it would probably be a nice day, he felt it. Of course, he felt it wrong as after stepping out of the bath building he heard some people screaming.

    There was a dirt road right outside, it was a bit narrow so you had to watch your step as there were horse carriage vehicles going back and forth which didn''t leave much space for the pedestrians. They were pulled by various creatures, there were regular looking horses here and there but you could also see things like tigers or huge wolves doing the pulling. A commotion was happening about now as you could see people running to the sides of the buildings and off the road to safety. In the distance you could see two carriages speeding side by side while getting pulled by beasts, one was a big tiger while the other looked like a big hyena. You could see people on those carriages shouting at each other while smiling and smirking, having some bottles in their hands, they were clearly drinking.

    They appeared a bit away from where Matt as at, he had some time to get a good look at them. They looked like some older teens having some kind of race while drinking booze. The people bolted to the sides while trying not to get run over while others pushed their carts to the side to make way for the rowdy youths behind them. They were probably some young masters doing silkypants stuff as always, guess no place was safe from those Zhang Dong thought to himself as they even had one way back in that tribe he visited. He didn''t intend to do anything about it, the people looked like they were going out of the way and he already caused a big commotion when he was entering the city he didn''t need people gawking at him even more than they already were.

    Though fate had different things in store for him as the most common thing happened in this situation. A child at around 4 years of age tripped, fell and started crying while the mother was trying to pull that child and some other kids to the side. Of course, she pushed the two kids to the wall and then started quickly running back to get her last child back that was rolling on the road crying her little heart out. But the woman was just a regular person, so she wasn''t very fast so at the moment that she was picking up her fallen offspring the people riding the monster-drawn wheeled vehicles arrived at the spot. She couldn''t do much besides grabbing the child and trying to shield her with her whole body, hoping for the best while apologizing for getting them in this predicament.

    Matt''s face fell as he saw everything playing out, most people turned their faces to the side as they didn''t want to see the daughter and mother pair to get smashed to pieces. He almost forgot what sort of world this was, people beneath a certain degree of power were worth less than dirt to those lofty young lords and clan members. They didn''t have any problem in running over a mother and child in broad daylight. It''s not that the people didn''t care but they couldn''t do anything in the face of real power. The people on the top tended to remain there and if you didn''t have the tendency for slaughter you mostly didn''t get far either. He didn''t like that ... he didn''t like that one bit...

    People looked on in horror as the saw the two beasts run towards the defenseless woman and her child, they knew who the people in the carriages were. They were some Cheng clan members, of course, some from the younger generation. They moved along the city as they owned the place now, it was pretty chaotic the previous clan that was keeping the peace wasn''t like that. But they couldn''t do anything about it, they gritted their teeth as they looked at the poor woman. Suddenly something happened, they could feel a huge aura sweep over the place and a strange cultivator appeared right where the woman was standing. He waved his hands in a strange way and a strange translucid shield appeared in front of him and the woman. The shield was sparkling with lightning energy and looked deadly to the touch.

    The two beasts felt the suppressing defensive ability in front of them but they couldn''t stop, the shield wasn''t wide so they tried to dodge to the side but they still ended up hitting it. The monsters got shocked and bounced off to the side while the carriages got propelled into Zhang Dong''s forcefield ability the people on them looked in horror as they slammed into the sparkling wall which was placed at an angle so the carriage flew upwards while spinning and crashed on its top end. They both landed in a similar fashion with the bests getting yanked over as well.

    The Cheng clan members were scattered on the ground but there were still some of them on the inside of the carriage. No one got really hurt though, all these people were cultivators and they could take some hit and this was just a regular vehicle crash. Two youths climbed out of each carriage along with some other men, they were the main silkypants and had their guards in the carriages along with them.

    "Who dares! I am Cheng Tong, I''m the third son of the Cheng Clan head, I will have your head!"

    One of the youth''s barked out while looking around, his hair and robe in disarray as he got thrown about in his carriage like a rag doll.

    "Ye, we are from the Cheng Clan, we rule this city!"

    The other youth from the other vehicle spoke up, probably also a son from the same family.

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    At this moment a big vein appeared on Matt''s forehead, this was the most stereotypical situation he could find himself in, saving people from some stupid snotty silver spoon-fed kid.

    "Oh, you want my head?"

    The two youths and their guards that were helping them up looked in the direction of the voice and could see a mad looking Zhang Dong. Energy was exuding from his body at this moment and his eyes began to glow. He took one step forward and his whole body was covered by a sheet of lightning energy. The Cheng clan people took a step back as they felt the oppressing aura, they gulped as the lightning clad cultivator took steps towards them. With each step he kept on growing, after two he was 4 meters tall and crackling with energy. Two more steps and he was 8 meters tall and after a final one, he was 10. He looked down at the bewildered Cheng Clan members that were directly below him now with a frown on his face.

    "So, come on up here and take my head."

 36 Chapter 36

    You could hear a pin drop as everyone was looking at the scene, the Cheng clan members were really tense as they could feel huge cultivation fluctuations from this person. He was in a giant lightning form, looking down at them like ants and they were worried that they would be crushed to death. The silkypants squad had personal guards at the Foundation Establishment level but they knew that this senior was at the Core Formation stage, plus it wasn''t any regular stage, it felt like he was in the late or great circle stage. They used their jade slips to send for backup but they knew that they were in deep shit as they didn''t even have anyone in the core formation stage in their clan, the patriarch was a great circle of foundation establishment.

    "Honorable Senior, please appease your anger they were just kids from the junior generation they didn''t mean anything bad!"

    The guards of the young masters moved in trying to diffuse the situation, clasping their hands and bowing back and forth while trying to get the young brats that caused this mess to apologize. Cheng Tong wasn''t that stupid, even though you might think otherwise. He knew well that he would be royally fucked if this cultivator decided to give them a beating and his parents wouldn''t be able to do anything. Even if they asked a stronger clan for help they probably would decline as well. So he dropped down to his knees and started apologizing as well.

    "Senior, forgive this silly Junior, I didn''t realize that you were passing the street. Forgive my lapse of judgment"

    Matt looked down at the kowtowing bunch getting even more mad as these people were quick to submit to a higher power while ignoring anyone below them and treating them like dirt. He made his best haughty cultivator impression and snorted loudly, his size amplifying the effect as the Cheng people trembled in their boots.

    "I''m not the one you are supposed to apologize. Apologize to them!"

    Zhang D. Turned to the side, his big frame having an increased weight to it as well which made his feet thump against the ground. Behind him was the child and mother duo, still trembling in the same spot not really knowing what was happening. His large finger pointed to the trembling couple that looked up at the lightning infused avatar form that the cultivator was in, which made her almost pass out on the spot.

    "If I didn''t step in you would have crushed this poor mother and her child, do you have no respect for life at all?"

    They were making a huge scene in the large city, the Cheng clan lord was on his way as well as he got notified about the fiasco that one of his sons had created, he just wanted to give that no good son of his a beating. By the time he got there, he could see his offspring bowing his head to some woman holding her child that looked bewildered, to say the least. The problem wasn''t that though, it was the 10-meter tall lightning giant standing next to that with his hands crossed over his chest in an intimidating fashion while looking at his son. He didn''t know what was going on but he knew about the crash that his son had caused. He appeared in the street and tried to get Zhang Dong''s attention.

    "Greetings honorable Senior, I apologize for my son''s behavior, please appease your anger."

    Matt looked at the man that appeared, he looked to be in his 50''s and was a bit on the chubby side. He gave him a glare which made the Cheng clan patriarch shiver as he felt the other cultivators overpowering presence wash over him.

    "You should teach your kid how to behave in public if you are in a leadership position."

    He didn''t want to be making a scene but these people started to piss him off with their outdated mindset. He started shrinking as he went back to his regular appearance, the mother gave him a big bow before moving back to where her other children were and backed away. She was just glad that she was alive and that her children didn''t need to live without a mother. The Cheng clan members started gathering together as the stronger elders came on over, they didn''t know if they would have to fight this person or not but he seemed to have calmed down for now.

    "Thank you for being so magnanimous Senior, I''ll be sure to discipline my son and his friends! Also, I''m the city lord so if you have anything you want you only need to ask."

    Matt looked at the man that was clasping his hands together while hunched over a bit, he looked like a sleazy merchant more than a Clan leader at the moment. He wanted to be done with the lot and just harumphed like a proper mad expert and removed himself from the vicinity while the Cheng clan members looked at him with fear. After he was gone people started whispering while the Cheng Patriarch showed an angry expression. He gave his son a thwack on the head while barking out at the people around.

    "What are you lot looking at, be gone!"

    He released his cultivation making the people disperse in fear. Then he told his people to gather all they could find about this unknown cultivator, he had to know if he came from some big sect or clan, or if he was some solo cultivator instead.

    "You idiot, I told you to do your stupid stunts where people can''t see you, why did you have to do this stupid thing in public."

    He hit his son one more time, a big lump appeared on his head, he then told him to go back home and not come back until all of this blew over. This strange senior had some weird thing about protecting other people. He didn''t get the info about his clan member''s collecting toll outside the city as they did that stuff on their own, otherwise, he would have probably forbidden them to go through with what they were now planing. He ordered everyone to conduct themselves with care around the cultivator dressed in white and then left.

    At this time Matt was in a secluded alley grasping his chest as his heart was pounding a bit, he managed to stay composed while showing off his cultivation but he still wasn''t used to acting like that.

    "Well, at least I didn''t pussy out totally this time around... think I''m making progress, but still I don''t think this will fix the problem..."

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    He knew that this wouldn''t really fix the problem in the city, he knew that if he wanted them to listen he would need to force them to do it. But he wasn''t ready to go on a rampage in this city, so the most he could do was to intimidate the people under the guise of an irritated senior cultivator.

    He gave out a sigh and then moved out of the alley, he moved towards the auction house in the pleasure district while it was getting late in the day hoping that he could get past that without any problems popping out.

    "Knowing my luck I''ll run into some slave princess that will want me to save her country or something."

    He hurried up taking big strides and after some time arrived in the district, there were many colorful buildings in this place. There were restaurants, theaters, and casinos but also other more raunchy places this was kind of where the seedy people liked to hang out and make money. He could see some food stands and some ladies in provocative outfits standing around trying to invite customers to their establishments, one even tried to invite him in as well but after he gave her his deadpan look she backed away.

    Our cultivator had no courage at all to go into one of these places at all, even though he kind of wanted to but he found himself frozen while looking at one of the establishments.

    *No... I have to be strong... a gentleman doesn''t need to use those sorts of places... I should go to that auction house and sell those items... then just go to bed, starting to feel tired...*

    He strode off to the auction house, passing many people before arriving in front of a big building that had a big red tiger above the entrance. This must be the one that the busty cultivator lady was talking about, this made him recall those massive pillows that she had.

    *Okay focus, selling first.*

    He shook his head and moved up to the entrance where he got stopped by some guards, they asked him about the reason he was here. They told him where he should go if he wanted to sell after letting him come inside. He stepped up to a lady behind a counter and told her that he intended to sell some weapons and that he heard that you had to give the weapons up for inspection.

    "Ah yes, sir, what kind of weapons are they?"

    The woman asked while fixing her glasses a bit, she looked like the librarian type.

    "Ah yes, some perfect grade common weapons and some high grade mortal weapons, plus one perfect grade mortal weapon."

    The woman didn''t react when he mentioned the common weapons, but she perked up after he mentioned the high grade weapons, even more after he said that he even had a perfect grade one.

    "Also I have a core formation beast core, could I get it appraised? Not sure if I want to sell it."

    The woman opened her eyes wide and stood up, she bowed to Matt while telling him that she needed to get a more senior clerk and appriser. After a few minutes, he was lead to a room in the back to get his items checked, the people gave him thumbs up on all the weapons their eyes sparkling a bit at the high grade and perfect grade mortal weapons that were a weapon that a Foundation Establishment cultivator could use well. Matt then brought up the tennis ball-sized core that gave off a faint eerie light and set it on the table, the appriser was an old man with a monocle that moved in close and started examining the item.

    "This is indeed a core formation beast core, where did you find this?"

    The man asked while looking at it.

    "Find it? Oh, I just slew a core formation beast and that''s what was left from it."

    The appriser was a bit astonished at the cultivator''s words, but if he beat the beast that he had to be quite strong.

    "You should be able to get about 1 thousand low tier spirit stones for this core, or 1 middle-tier spirit stone."

 37 Chapter 37

    He took the orb back from the old looking man and placed it back into his storage room. The appriser squinted his eyes as he saw that, he could tell that the cultivator used a storage ring. He did some mental calculations and counted that the core would give him about 10k points if he traded it for spirit stones, would it give him more if he absorbed it instead of the spirit stones? He wasn''t so sure about that.

    The two people inside the room looked at the man that made the core vanish and figured that they should probably alert the auction house owner. If this person can really beat a beast at the core formation stage it would put him at the top end of experts in this city, that might have not even had one present in it at the moment.

    "Ah Senior, let us take care of your items for you, also we can offer you a booth to watch how the auction is going if you so wish."

    "Mmh, sure a booth would be nice. I also have a question, do you perhaps have something that writes down the going prices for various weapons and items? Ah, and do you have prices for resources like metals?"

    Matt asked, he wanted to know the going rates for the things he could sell along with the resources, he wished to calculate if it would be better to buy crafting resources from the people instead of doing it in the cash shop where he needed to spend the spirit points. He wasn''t sure if the auction had any of those around or if they would even hand him something like that.

    The female clerk and the appraiser looked at each other, those were trade secrets that they had but they just couldn''t hand over the going prices for items that they are selling as that would probably lower the profit margin if people knew the exact price a given item was worth.

    "Uh, we''ll have to ask the owner about that, we''re not in the position if giving those pieces of information away Senior..."

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    "Ah sure, go ahead I''ll just wait in that booth, don''t really have anything to do at the moment either.

    He nodded while the lady guided him to his VIP booth that would let him see down into the auction house. The auction house looked a bit like an old-timey theater with these booths being elevated over the chairs and stage. They had red-drapes and comfy chairs, he was even brought something to drink which was wine. He gave it a sip, it was quite tasty so he drank the whole glass quite fast while looking down below at the gathering people.

    *Well, I guess they need to gather all those items together, that might take some time.*

    About at this time, the appraiser was talking with the auction house owner, which was an older cultivator lady. She looked like a nice grandma on the first look but she had a glint in her eye. She listened to the worker who recapped the appearance of the person that brought in the high quality good that was the core formation beast core.

    "So, did he look like someone we should be cautious off, could you get a read on his cultivation level?"

    She asked her worker.

    "No Madam Wong, I couldn''t detect any cultivation fluctuations he must be quite powerful to be able to hide his aura so well, or he could have a treasure on him. He looks like a fairly well off master, the robes that he was wearing are fit for a core formation expert also he had a high grade storage ring as well, not one of those knockoff ones that have barely any space to store a sword in them."

    The woman rubbed her chin while leaning back in her chair, they were in her office and there was a big double-sided glass window behind her, she could see the auction house and all the people below. She glanced at the spot Matt was sitting in and saw the good looking cultivator that was gulping down the free wine they offered to their customers. The moment she looked at him, he could sense that someone was looking at him. There was a big tinted window there, he could kind of tell that there was someone behind there, thanks to his heightened senses.

    Madam Wong felt the gaze of the man on her, their eyes met. He didn''t show much of expression and was just looking, but she felt cold sweat run down her back. The man was able to notice that she was looking at him, she had various levels of magic treasures blocking the view inside the room and no one should be able to know that she was in here. Also while Zhang Dong was focusing on the old lady he gave off a hint of his real cultivation base. She turned around and looked at her appriser that was wondering if something was wrong, the woman looked pale now.

    "Give the Senior what he wants, don''t offend him!"

    The man nodded while being slightly perplexed but he wasn''t one to ask questions. He got out and gathered the jade slips that had the numbers of the items that were sold there. There had even compiled them to show an average price if he was interested in them along with items that cultivators used for pill making, crafting like metals and other various things. He handed it to a waitress lady to deliver to the cultivator, they should have asked him about his name as he didn''t introduce himself, he thought.

    Matt stopped staring at the auction house glass panel, moving his head to the side to focus his gaze on the people in the auction house. After a moment he got the jade slip with the information. The serving lady bowed at him before stepping out letting him examine the jade slip in question.

    *Oh, it''s a jade slip. Cultivators use those for storing information or as phones if I remember correctly. I''m supposed to put my spiritual energy into it to get the information out, let''s see...*

    Matt concentrated and his spiritual energy entered the jade scroll looking item, the databank of the sold items quickly rushed into his head as he did that, giving him a little scare. It was a bit different than the thing the system did with the information injection, the information was there but it didn''t force its way into his brain, he could slowly digest it bit by bit. Guess that was a plus and minus to that, as it wasn''t painful but slower. For the time being, he decided to look at the prices in there and compare them to the store prices to see if he could make a profit later on, he still had some time but people were gathering in the auction house and more seats were getting filled up.

    First, he looked at the mortal grade weapons, he found out that he would probably lose out if he ever tried making low grade or middle grade weapons while buying resources in the store. Maybe break even with the middle-grade ones, but the rewards varied depending on how many people were buying. The high grade ones would give him an up to a 50% profit. So if he spent 1000 SP to make one high grade item, he would earn up to about 150 spirit stones that would net him about 1500 SP in return. 1 Spirit stone didn''t always give him 10 SP in return the giveback varied as well. Then came the perfect weapons those would give him the biggest profit margin, something between 300 - 600 spirit stones, but he needed to use beast cores for those, if he subtracted the core cost then he would gain about 2k spirit points from those and 500 spirit points from the high grade ones.

    *So I can profit, but I guess hunting beasts might be a bit faster, I gain a lot more for foundation establishment beasts, plus the cores will be free then. But still a good way to earn something on the side. I wonder if I make too many weapons if I''ll destroy the balance on the market and the prices will go down, maybe I shouldn''t overdo that. I could also do it wholesale or trade with some clans that have a lot of spirit stones...*

    Time past while Zhang Dong was doing quick mental maths with the jade slip in hand, the auction was about to start and the night was coming, the city lit up with various colored lights. Nighttime came and the pleasure district got busy, for some people this was the real start of the day.

 38 Chapter 38

    While Matt was up alone in his VIP room, trying to math away while scanning the jade slip the auction was about to start. The seats were quickly getting filled out but not like there wasn''t enough space for everyone. There were not super rare treasures coming in, so it would just be a normal day like the rest for the people inside.

    Zhang Dong stopped calculating his potential gains and perked up. He looked down at the people sitting down, they all were in robes and were all wearing those oriental style robes. Though their appearance didn''t fit the culture as there were various types of people around if you compared them to earthlings. Black, white they all kind of mixed together a bit guess this world was very racially mixed. He didn''t know if all countries were like this, or if this empire was a rarity. The people also had various hair and eye colors, with colors like purple and even green here and there. Giving everyone a more fantasy-like appearance.

    He also noticed someone familiar and jiggly sitting in one of the chairs of the auction house. It was the woman that he saved just before arriving in this city. He remembered that they did indeed have a caravan so they probably were coming to this city to trade and auction their items. He coughed into his hand and moved back into his room a bit, not really wanting to stare too much as he already did.

    *I got to get used to women too... why do they have to be so ... bouncy.*

    He gulped while leaning back in his chair and taking another sip from his wine, his focus then turned to the stage where another lovely lady appeared. She had an hourglass figure and you could see her long legs sticking out from her blue dress.

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    "I am your humble servant Fan Ru, I welcome you all to the Red Tiger auction house fellow Daoists. The rules are the same as always, the highest bidder wins."

    She clasped her hands and gave out a little bow and also a wink to the audience, probably making some of the men''s hears flutter in response. After she clasped her hands the curtain on the stage got raised and you could see a pedestal with an item on it, it looked to be some types of pills that were in a small bottle.

    "The first item is a bottle with 10 Qi Replenishing pills, suited for cultivators of the Qi Condensation stage. Let me remind you that every item in the auction house can only be traded with the use of spirit stones."

    The bidding started as some people started raising their hands, the bottle didn''t go for much as it was just for the Qi condensation stage cultivators. He could see people raising their hands in the air and shouting out the prices out loudly, this was the first time he had been at an auction house so it was a new fascinating experience.

    "Going once, going twice, going thrice! Sold. Fellow Daoist in the blue robe, please behind the stage with the agreed amount of spirit stones to receive your item, or you can wait till the auction is over to do so as well."

    The lady said while the item was removed another one was placed in its stead. It took some time for the bidders to examine the item, the lady also described what it did and tired giving a short explanation to up its sell value, the auction house did earn a small percentage from selling the items, so it was in their best interest to have them sold. The items were sold in sequence, from the lowest grade to the highest grade. You could even see some people coming in later as they weren''t interested in the cheap stuff. Finally, the time to sell his crimson perfect grade common items came and they were laid out on the pedestal.

    "These are all common perfect grade weapons, they have all been strengthened by beast cores and are suited for cultivators of the fire attribute."

    Matt perked up at the explanation as he knew that the cores added some attributes but he wasn''t quite sure what they changed in the weapons and now he knew. He kind of randomly added cores while crafting to see if something worked or not, he''d have to examine the things he made more throughout the next time around or just write down the effects by trial and error. He also brought out a dagger that he previously created, but his appraisal skill only told him that it was a high grade dagger. There was something about the appraisal skill being an evolving type, so after checking that he kind of hit his head, he could spend his points to upgrade the skill. Maybe if he increased it enough he could see more stats on the items. He would remember to check this out the next time he crafted something as he didn''t want to do it around here just yet.

    The Spear, two-handed Hammer, Greatsword, Axe and a Jian Sword that he made didn''t sell for much he got about 20 spirit stones for the five, so 4 a pop but they were kind of easy to make and the resources were just regular metals and Qi condensation cores... but he would have to make big amounts of those while spending the exact time creating mortal weapons instead.

    After those items were sold to someone they started bringing out items fitting for Foundation Establishment cultivators, the items he made were all high grade so they would probably only come out at the end. So more time passed while Zhang Dong looked out from his booth at the auction house, he didn''t want to buy anything as he didn''t know what was useful or not. The items ranged from beast cores, weapons to just regular looking plants but they were called mystical herbs. Finally, after an hour had passed one of his high grade weapons appeared out in the open, the cultivators looked at it with greedy eyes as high grade weapons were quite popular among the foundation establishment Daoists. He rubbed his chin and looked down as the people started raising their hands and the bidding wars started. The first weapon was a nice sharp looking spear.

    "80 Spirit Stones! ... 100 Spirit Stones ... 140 Spirit stones ... 145...!"

    "Sold for 145 Spirit stones to the Daoist in the green robe."

    The weapons appeared one after another and all the bidding kind of ranges from 120 - 150 spirit stones, the least popular weapon was the bow, maybe because it didn''t come with any arrows and it sold for 120 spirit stones. He still counted it up, 9 weapons the gains 120 - 150, so that would put it at 1080 - 1350 Spirit stones. So he lost 1000 points for the resources and sold it for 120 - 150 spirit stones, he would gain 200 - 500 points for the items, which was good or not? He did gain spirit points for just playing a game it was worth it, but he should make weapons that were more popular. Afterward, the perfect graded weapon appeared, it was a silvery looking spear, he made it with the monster rabbits core and thought a spear would fit the core as the rabbit used a horn to penetrate people.

    "This is a fine perfect grade spear, it has enhanced penetrating power and works well with earth Qi."

    The bidding started but it was much higher as they started out at 250 spirit stones right from the start, which was already a 100 more than for what he sold his best high grade weapon. The rowdy Daoists shouted out numbers after numbers and the price ended at 550 spirit stones. Which would net him quite a bit for just one item, considering the manufacturing cost. He would have to check the core prices to see how much he would lose if he bought a core from the cash store.

    Some other items came out, but nothing above the foundation establishment level. He just waited around looking at the stuff that got sold, wondering if he should invest in some recovery items after he gets his spirit stones. He would gain something around 9 or 8 thousand points if he converted everything to spirit stones, which wasn''t that bad as a start.

    "Not bad, I will have to check out what I need for crafting and see if I can buy it around town, maybe I can earn more like that."

    Though the process of making the weapons then going to the auction house himself was a bit tedious, if he compared it to flying around the forest and trying to find monsters to hunt it might be a bit better. But he could also use the monster parts for crafting as well, so hunting as also handy. For the time being, he decided to head out and get his stones, then head back to his hotel and rest for the night. The people were leaving as well and he couldn''t see the woman from earlier around, they all must have gone to pick up their money as well.

 39 Chapter 39

    ''Fifteen minutes earlier.''

    Lan Fei looked on as the last item that she brought out was sold, she also was part of the bidding wars getting a couple of items that she thought she could sell for more in another city further along. She knew the amount that she could spend and wasn''t wealthy enough to go for the high grade items so that was more or less it for her in here. She didn''t really care about the high grade weapons that were brought out and were getting bid on now.

    *Okay, guess it''s time to gather up the merchandise and leave this city, I''m having a bad feeling about this place.*

    She thought to herself, there was also apparently some commotion on the streets with some cultivators offending some big shot. It was apparently the Cheng Clan which made the woman feel a bit better, though apparently he didn''t really trash any of them too much just some young masters getting a schooling and nothing much besides that.

    *Heh, guess if you got power you don''t really care about the little people beneath you that much.*

    She had two warriors on each side where she was sitting, she gave them a signal to move out it was time to get the money and the items and then return to the caravan. They would stay the night and then go early in the morning, there was no reason to remain here plus the clan in here was kind of sketchy. She didn''t want to end up with having to bribe them and lose most or all of their profit.

    "Okay men, time to head out, let''s wrap this up."

    "Yes, Lady Fei."

    Both of the men nodded and got out of their seats, they remained a step behind the lovely lady while keeping guard. They eyed the other patrons menacingly as they knew that their lady tended to attract men a bit much. But she also was quite good at mediating and talking her way out of situations, most people were more or less reasonable. But there also were people like the men they met today before the city, those were hard to reason with as they were drunk on newly gained power.

    They exited the main auction hall, people were still going in and out of it. The walked over to one of the workers and gave their information so that they could get their items and spirit stones. The auction house gave special numbered tokens to the sellers and buyers to identify everything later. The worker took out a jade slip and searched for the number, his eye twitching a bit as there was something else in the jade slip that looked unusual, it had something to do with you know what clan.

    "Miss Lan Fei is it?"

    He asked while the woman nodded and confirmed her identity. He kind of knew that this wasn''t anything good, it said that if any of the workers in the auction house come across Lan Fei they should guide her to a certain area in the back of the building without asking any questions. Plus anyone not following this order would be severely punished if they ever found out that they ignored it.

    "Ah yes, this way please I''ll guide you."

    They didn''t see much out of the ordinary as they were guided to the back. This wasn''t the first time that the people were in this particular auction house so as they walked they noticed that there weren''t being lead to the usual room, it was further in the back where the auction house invited the more important guests. This was a red flag, but maybe there wasn''t space in the regular rooms? Did someone important want to make a lucrative deal with them? They didn''t know but Lan Fei looked at her men and nodded making a decision to take the risk. They could see some guards placed along the way but that was normal, an auction house had to have protection.

    They walked into a dimly lit room and there was someone sitting with the back to them, the person that guided them inside quickly made his way out as he didn''t want to stay here any longer than he had too.

    "I have guided the guest in, I''ll take my leave now."

    The woman and the guards looked behind them as the door was shut and two people stood by it now, the light was turned on and the person that was looking like a James bond villain turned around to reveal himself. It was, of course, the previous foundation establishment elder that tried to extort them and his cronies. He smirked while more people from the Cheng clan came out, they quickly grabbed the two accompanying warriors that Lan Fei came with and pulled them away while they were thrashing about.

    "Well, if it isn''t the lovely caravan owner, I''m glad that we could see each other again~"

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    He said while grinning side to side in his chair.

    "What''s the meaning of this, the auction house is supposed to be a neutral area why are you causing trouble. Do you think Madam Wong will just take this, she has connections as well, the Cheng Clan is overstepping their boundaries!"

    The woman shouted at the man while backing away but her men were getting restrained and the door was blocked off by some Cheng clan members.

    "Madam Wong? That old crow? She doesn''t need to know anything, I made arrangments so that we wouldn''t be interrupted. Plus why would that old crow even lift a finger to defend some random merchant lass? If the news doesn''t come out, she won''t do a thing, he he he. This place is sealed and soundproof, I pulled some strings to get you here no one will bother us. This is a special room, only big shots can come in here, you should be honored that I spent so many resources to arrange this."

    The man licked his lips while standing up, his aura radiating in the room as it forced the woman down to her knees from the increased pressure.

    "Why are you doing this..."

    She asked while an angry look in her eyes, she didn''t show fear as she knew that would probably be something that this perverted old man would get off on."

    "Why am I doing this? Because of you, I lost face due to that weird cultivator, made me look weak and pathetic. No one can embarrass members of the Cheng clan!"

    He said while moving closer and closer, his hand moving to grasp the woman''s chin and forcing her to look up to him.

    "So, you''re too afraid to confront that Senior so you''ve picked me instead, how pathetic."

    She replied while spitting right in the elder man''s face, the man getting surprised as the spit landed on his cheek. His face turned red and he delivered a slap to Lan Fei''s face making her bleed and fall down to the floor.

    "You damn slut, after I''m through with you even your own mother won''t recognize you!"

    He grasped her long hair that was in a ponytail and pulled her towards a bed that was in the VIP room. This room was made for many things and sexual ones were included. The Elderly cultivator was mad, his eyes red with anger after getting spit on. He planned to have his way with this woman, then to order his men to do the same while her guards would get beaten to an inch of their life. Then he would leave a permanent scar of the woman''s face so that she remembers this day before tossing her out bruised and bloodied as a reminder to not offend the Cheng Clan.

    Lan Fei was trying to trash about, but the stronger cultivator was using some strange technique to sap away her vitality. She couldn''t move well, her cheek hurt due to the hard slap. She still showed a look of defiance that made the man in front of her even madder but she didn''t want to show weakness in front of a bastard like this. She could see the man going to his robe to remove his pants while grinning in a devilish way. She started cursing inwardly, this is how things in this world worked. The woman knew how it was, but she still felt indignant about it.

    While the Cheng clan members were grinning side to side and stomping on the woman''s guards ready to see a good show something happened. The door that was supposed to be locked suddenly was flung open and they could see one of the people that was supposed to be guarding it on the other side get thrown inside the room and landed flat up against the wall, out called and with shattered teeth. Then they saw a person walk in, their eyes going wide as they could identify this person. Oh, they remembered him alright, it was the cultivator that screwed up their previous extortion attempt and now he was standing there in the doorway, looking awfully mad while giving them the stare down.

 40 Chapter 40

    The auction was over and Matt stood up from his seat, no one dared to enter his room fearing that a powerful cultivator could go ape shit if he got disturbed. They placed a nice lady at the entrance to the booth to serve him drinks or anything that he wanted, but Zhang Dong didn''t really notice her as he was focusing on his calculations and looking how the auction went. He only stood up right at the end and spotted the woman there, giving her an awkward look.

    "Oh right, where can I get my spirit stone, I want to cash out."

    He asked while talking as if this was some kind of casino and he had won some cash. The woman nodded and guided him through the noisy auction house, people were everywhere still picking up their items and spirit stones that they earned so a lot of workers were rushing about not wanting to keep the cultivators waiting.

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    Matt moved slowly through the crowd but as people spotted him they started whispering, he made a scene while coming to the city and even a bigger one when he crushed the young master''s carriage in the racing accident. World of mouth traveled fast, information about a strong cultivator that was easy to anger spread through the city like wildfire. Though he was easy to anger he apparently was quite mild in dishing out punishment as he let the silkypants and his friends go, along with the Cheng clan that were a part of it. They didn''t know if he feared the clan or if he just didn''t bother with weaklings. This world was ruled by the size of your fist, so it wouldn''t be odd if a strong cultivator walzed in here and crushed that clan that let their children be so overbearing one of these days.

    Though there also was a reason that the Cheng Clan wasn''t that afraid of getting retaliated against, they had their backing which came from other large organisations. So some people assumed that the strong cultivator didn''t want to tussle with the real powers in the back that could come back to bite him in the butt later on, which was a smart idea.

    ZD turned to the side as he noticed that people where talking and looking at him in a strange way. The moment he did that the cultivators whistled with hands behind their back and pretended that they were looking at something else. One person even evaded his gaze and started looking at the ceiling.

    *Man, they sure are afraid of me. Do I look like some psycho or something?*

    He still wasn''t that long in this world but by what he experienced in the village back in the forest, he knew that people tended to be tense around people like him. At least they didn''t attack him or bother him too much thanks to that, there were good and bad things about his new found fame.

    He fallowed the servant lady into the back, the corridor started looking more and more high class the further he got. Guess he was really receiving the vip treatment, which made him chuckle on the inside a bit. Matt didn''t think that he would be put in the shoes of an elite but here he was. The lady bowed and opened a certain room for him but before he entered he noticed some people standing in front of another room that wasn''t that far away from his own. He could swear that he knew one of those guards, but he shrugged and entered back into the room that the girl guided him.

    There was a dandy looking man in there, if he didn''t know better he would have called him Alfred or something. The mustached man brought out a bag filled with spirit stones, they were small but he did earn quite a bit with his weapons so it was nice and chubby.

    "1850 low grade spirit stones, all accounted for would you like to count them yourself fellow Daoist?"

    Matt grasped the sack with the stones in and looked at it, he didn''t feel like counting and he really didn''t think that the people in here would dare to rip him off.

    "No it''s fine I trust your auction house, oh right I''ll return this to you."

    He placed the jade slip that he got with the going rates of items and placed it on the desk by what the man was standing at. The man took the slip away and pocketed it.

    "Thank you sir, I hope you''ll come and do business with us again, the red tiger auction house always welcomes new business partners ."

    Matt decided not to ask about further business just yet, he also wanted to check Spirit Spring City''s auction house and market, maybe he could get a better deal there. He thought that it was about time to leave so he bade the man farewell and started walking out. As he was outside he took a look at the guard once more and then it hit him, it was that guy that was bothering those caravan people. He squinted his eyes wondering what those people were up to, he then thought about that busty woman, she was in the auction house as well, they couldn''t have...

    Zhang Dong moved towards the Cheng clan member in question while the gentleman looking person behind him frowned, he didn''t like the way this was looking. He whispered something to the lady that guided Matt here and she took off running somewhere while he himself remain to monitor the situation.

    The Cheng Clan member noticed the cultivator walking towards him and he instantly knew who he was. They people that were here weren''t around when he was making a scene in the city road so they didn''t know he was here. They were busy with puling strings to set this up at the auction house and didn''t bother to ask for current news. The large man was now standing right in front of him and looking down at him. The cultivator glanced down at him and then looked at the door for a couple of seconds, while he was looking at the door his facial expression started changing.

    Matt was focusing his senses inside the room, it had some treasures that could block others from peeking inside but that was for people below the core formation level. He got quite good at sensing the flow of spiritual energy during his cultivation, the lightning Qi arts were one of the most difficult techniques that a cultivator could train. So it let him peek inside and he didn''t like the thing he could see one bit.

    Before the guard could shout out for help he got his head grasped by the large cultivator. Matt grabbed his whole jaw below the nose and lifted him upwards with one hand. The man squirmed around while grasping the larger cultivators muscular forearm, but he couldn''t budge it one millimeter. Zhang Dong delivered a kick to the door that blasted it open he then threw the man inside before walking in. The Cheng clan guard hit the wall on the opposite end of the room and slid down, bloody nose and out cold.

    The people inside were greeted by the appearance of the cultivator that they met in the morning. He looked quite pissed and was mostly looking in the direction of the Foundation Establishment elder that was pulling his pants down at the very moment.

    "What the hell are you bastards doing!"

    He shouted out, his aura filled the room lightning shooting out from his body as it made the area they were in shake. The people inside the room started going down to their knees as the oppressive aura pushed them down. Matt had enough control of his aura attack by now, that he could target the Cheng Clan bastards while leaving the woman and her guards with no pressure to fight against.

    The woman felt the pressure that the elder was giving out vanish and she could move up from the bed, she recognized the person that barged in the room, it was that strange Senior that previously gave them a hand and it looked like he was here to save them again.

    "S-senior show mercy, w-we didn''t know"

    The rapist elder said while being squished on the ground and trembling, he was getting most of the aura attack from the group.

    "Didn''t know what? To not r*pe people? The hell are you even talking about."

    The elder assumed that this woman was probably this man''s or at the least, he fancied her in some way. The idea of him just being a decent person and just coming to help without wanting anything in return didn''t cross his mind. Lan Fei and her men were a bit surprised but the sudden help as well, the woman helped her men up that had taken some damage from stomping but they were mostly alright.

    Matt was thinking about what he should do, he was angry after seeing the attempted r*pe, should he punish the man? But if so, how should he punish him? He didn''t feel like an authority figure but he wasn''t stupid, he knew that if he brought the man to the authorities of this city they would probably let him go with no punishment. They would probably not even punish him for the r*pe but for the fact that he offended someone stronger than the clan could handle. But he wasn''t a ruthless cultivator, he couldn''t just kill him and be done with it either.

    He came to a decision that was somewhere in the middle and hoped that it was the right one, he stepped up to the old man while everyone was focused on him not saying a thing. He pulled him upwards by his robe''s collar and the man was now dangling in front of him with fear in his eyes.

    "N-nooooo S-senior show mercy."

    The man pleaded as he thought he was a goner now, but instead of killing him Matt placed his hand against the man''s body. He was aiming for the dantian, lightning Qi crackled as he released a blast and destroyed the man''s source of cultivation rendering him a regular mortal in the process. He thought that this was the best thing he could do as the man would probably have a miserable life ahead of himself now. Some might say that he was too lenient, but he really didn''t have that killer mentality that some other cultivators had, at least not yet.

    [ Crippled the cultivation of Foundation Establishment early stage target, earned 2000 Spirit Points ]

 41 Chapter 41

    The senior Cheng Clan member collapsed on the ground with his legs twitching, he was alive but his cultivation was crippled and he was just a regular human being now. If his past crimes came back to haunt him, it would now be his own fault. Matt gave out a sigh as he stopped suppressing everyone in the room with his aura, the henchmen were all passed out and convulsing on the ground from the overpowering aura that hit them but they were all alive. He started going around and pushed his finger into the peoples dantian, crippling their cultivation as well. He ignored the prompt the system gave him for now.

    "Are you people alright?"

    Zhang Dong took a step towards the female cultivator and her guards that were standing together on the side. The looked at the large man coming towards and didn''t know how to react. The clasped their hands and gave of a bow of appreciation, they were truly grateful of this magnanimous Senior that came to their help, they would never forget the things that he did for them. While Lan Fei was doing her bow he fell forward, she was still feeling weak and the overwhelming auras in this room were a bit much for Qi Condensation cultivators. She found herself getting caught by the manly cultivator in front of her. It looked like she was giving him a hug with her breasts pressing into his frame.

    Matt could feel the soft sensation against his body as the woman fell into his arms as he tried to catch her and instead ended up hugging her. He froze for a second, she gave off an alluring smell and was soft to the touch. His inexperience showed as his face started turning a bit red, the man not really having much experience with women.

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    "Ah... uh s-sorry about that..."

    The woman leaned back while the cultivator was flailing his arms around, his face looked red. She stared at him with her large eyes and after a second gave out a second.

    "Pffff... well that''s unexpected~"

    *This Senior looks to be very ''pure'' on the inside*

    She gave him a wink while smiling, the woman wasn''t a stranger to female and male relationships so she could tell that the man in front to her had very limited experience in those kinds of things. This surprised her a bit, but it wasn''t that rare to have cultivators train all their life and not play around with girls. But this man in front of her was acting really cute so she felt like teasing him slightly, the tension leaving her body as she felt that this man in front of her was a genuinely nice person.

    He rubbed the back of his neck while looking at the two guards next to the lady. The guards weren''t that surprised that the woman was making moves at the Senior, she did tend to use her sex appeal to get better business deals and all.

    "How about we leave, I''m sure those clan people won''t try to pull anything with me around."

    Zhang Dong said while trying to move things along, he didn''t really want to stay here anymore plus the girl was giving him strange looks.

    "Oh my(Ara ara), Senior. That would be wonderful."

    You wouldn''t think that this woman was just a minute away from getting rapped by the way she was acting. But Lan Fei was a tough cookie, something like this didn''t phase her one bit. She was more focused on gaining the support of a powerful being then about what happened with that old pervert back there. Guess you could say that she as used to these kind of things happening, you had to grow a thick skin if you wanted to survive in this world. She was all smiles and moved right next to the man in white, she looked up to him with those large green eyes and gave him an alluring smile, which made our inexperienced cultivator heartbeat increase.

    "Senior, I''m still a bit weak, you won''t mind if I lean on you right?"

    "Lean on me, uh sure?"

    Though she did a bit more than lean on him, the sneaky vixen wrapped her arm around Matt''s and now they looked like a couple walking together. The man blushed even more as he walked through the corridor, the two guards walking behind them while thinking that their mistress was overdoing it with the act a bit but the cultivator in white seamed to be taking the bait. Women were scary creatures they thought to each other while looking as their leader pushed her ample bosom into the man''s arm.

    People looked at the scene of them walking, the auction house personnel were alerted to the fiasco that happened. They arrived at the scene to see the Cheng Clan members collapsed on the ground, they started pulling them out while some others tried to apologize to both the Cheng Clan and the cultivator that beat them up. But when they tried to approach him he was with some lady that was sticking to him like glue and giving them shifty looks as if they were approaching a deer that she hunted.

    "Ah... sorry about that, those guys tried to hurt my friend here..."

    Matt explained while the woman stuck to him like glue, he was a bit perplexed as she didn''t seem that weak she should be able to stand on her own by now. But he said that he would escort them out and protect them from those clan members that might try to pull something.

    The auction hose members were shocked that someone tried to **** this overpowered Senior''s friend and were very apologetic. They even tried giving him some spirit stones but were told by him to give those to the caravan members in question that were the real victims. He, of course, told it in a very awkward way while the girl was sticking close to his arm. Was she going to stick to him like this for the rest of the walk? well, it did feel kind of nice though...

    The caravan members were sure to pocket the extra apology reward as fast as they could, along with the spirit stones they won at the auction. After the people in question left, the Cheng clan members were relocated into another room. Madam Wong waited for a representative of the Cheng clan to arrive so that they could explain themselves, this was supposed to be a neutral zone away from the cities leading clan. She could not have people feeling intimidated by the ruling power, otherwise, they could just force anyone to stop bidding and get things cheaper. The lady had a high cultivation base and many connections so she didn''t fear that upstart clan one bit. Also, the ones that worked for her that were responsible for this, would be getting a special reward as well...

    While the auction house owner was fuming in her office the white-haired cultivator was getting stared at by the passerby. He looked like some young lord with a lady around his arm and guards walking behind him, looking mean. People parted to the sides and let the people through while giving the man envious looks after spotting the woman that was clinging to him.

    The woman in question was chuckling inwardly as whenever she did something alluring the man would react like a teenager. He would blush, he would start stuttering and tripping over his own words while not trying to stare at her cleavage. She didn''t think a person with this amount of strength, could be this childish. Even if he was inexperienced most men would give her dirty looks and have a glint in their eyes, but this one made an effort to avert his gaze holding it in, she found this kind of commendable. This kind of made her want to eat him up even more, plus he looked like a rare good kind of guy this almost never happened with the more powerful cultivators.

    "Ah, so this is the place you guys set up so uh... So I''ll just be in my hotel if those people try to do something just tell me."

    He described the location and name of the hotel that he was staying at and was about to leave, but the woman wiggled closer to him again.

    "Oh, that''s the most expensive hotel in the city, would Senior let little Fei see it?"

    The caravan people had a deadpan expression on their faces after they heard their boss lady refer to herself as ''Little Fei'' She would probably strangle anyone in their group that referred to her in that way.

    "Y-you want to see the hotel I''m staying at?"

    "Yes Senior, I heard they have delicious tea there too~"

    She replied while still holding on to him, the man not knowing what to do in this situation so he just agreed being the weak-willed sob that he was.

    "Well... okay then ... "

    The two walked towards the hotel building while the caravan people discussed how their lady boss was able to see the bigger picture. Everyone from them knew exactly what she was doing and thought that was a normal thing to do. Why wouldn''t you suck up to a powerful cultivator if a chance presented itself? They just hoped that this cultivator was as harmless as he seemed, you never knew so they still worried about their boss.

 42 Chapter 42

    The cultivator was sweating a bit while looking to the side, the lady was still there and he just didn''t know what he should do. He wasn''t that dumb, he realized that she wanted something from him by now. The man had very limited experience with women, not like he didn''t like them or anything. In his previous life, he was that one guy that stood alone at parties, getting invited by friends but never knowing what to do there. He was approached by girls here and there, but he never knew how to talk to them or how to keep the conversation going. He was a classic introvert that just felt bad at social gatherings so after a while he just stopped attending them.

    This woman was strange though, even though he was stuttering all over the place and looking awkward as hell she just giggled to herself and didn''t seem to be bothered by it at all. He was kind of on the fence about this whole thing, one part of him felt excited that a beauty like this was interested in him, the other part was terrified as he didn''t want to make a fool out of himself.

    The woman was about 170 cm, she had long black hair that was done in a ponytail style. She was wearing one of those Chinese style dresses, the skirt part went down to about her ankles but the sides were open, so you could see her shapely legs. She had high heels on her feet and the top part of the dress had a cutout part that let you see the cleavage. And boy or boy, she really did fill out that piece of clothing well. She had that classic hourglass figure but was a bit more top-heavy. The rear end didn''t fall behind much though and those legs were nice and toned, probably due to the martial arts background that she had. Her eyes were big and green her face as more adult looking than cute.

    He had a hard time focusing on anything with the woman wrapped around his muscular arm, after a while, he found himself in front of his hotel room. Lan Fei finally let go of his arm as he welcomed her in, she looked around the large suite that had quite a bit of things included. The room was large, she could see a fireplace being set up by the wall along with a couch that pointed in its direction. There was a toilet and bath included as well. The large bed could hold multiple people in it and the windows showed the view of the city.

    There was some tea provided by the hotel and a magical treasure like a kettle that was used for boiling, there was no electricity in this world so everything runs on spiritual Qi that could be stored in various ways.

    "Okay, tea right?"

    He went right towards the tea kettle to prepare the tea, just trying to do something else as the woman finally let go of his arm and was now looking around the large room. She was touching the furniture and for some reason pulled the drapes together, sealing off the view at the lit-up city which was bustling with nighttime activities.

    *Okay, calm down she''s just here for some tea no need to lose your head about it. We''ll just chat a bit and then... uh then what?*

    He was so bewildered by the situation that he didn''t think about the obvious reason why the woman was here in the first place. But he did realize it after he turned around whit the teacups in his hands and the woman was lying on the bed. She was on her side in a seductive pose but that wasn''t the problem, the problem was that she was naked. Zhang Dong dropped the teacups to the ground out of sheer surprise. He couldn''t take his eyes off the woman''s shapely curves that were being presented.

    "Uh...huh...?"

    "Well, are you just going to stand there? I just wanted to show my appreciation and by the looks of things, Senior is appreciating the view~"

    She said while giggling, her breasts bouncing slightly as she noticed how Zhang Dong''s lower area was reacting to the provocative scene before him. The lower brother was looking vigorous which kind of made the cultivator bend forward a bit as to hide it.

    "W-well, y-you know..."

    *God damn is this really happening! Did my lucky day finally come?*

    Matt wasn''t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, even though he was an awkward sob there was a limit to being incompetent. He still was a man, so he started frantically fiddling with his pants while looking between the naked woman in front of him and his clothes which were his greatest enemy at the moment. He finally was able to pull his pants down and kicked them to the side along with the rest of his robe, he started going towards his undies but then he suddenly stopped and looked at the woman that was beckoning over.

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    *Wait! I can''t do this!*

    "Uh... I''ll be right back ... just wait for a second!"

    He vanished into the bathroom area of the room to the surprise of the woman that was waiting for him on the bed. She wondered if the man wasn''t interested or something. Matt, on the other hand, was frantically clicking through his system cash shop looking for a specific item.

    *Aha! They have those here, system be thanked!*

    He poked the air and a small packet popped out, it was something people from earth were very familiar with, yes it was a packet of condoms. They had a cultivator theme though, along with a drawing of a sharp sword standing upwards. Safety came first, so after ''armoring up'' he returned to the room while the woman peeked back up as the quirky Senior was right back and looked like he was in the mood. He climbed on top of the bed to the female cultivator that was all smiles, he reached out to her and she reached back.

    -A night of bad smut later.-

    He woke up, feeling like a new man like a big weight had been lifted from his heart. The woman was in the bathing area of the room just freshening herself up after the nightly session. She guided him through his first encounter, opening up his eyes to a new world in the process. He would remember this night for the rest of his life even more, due to the fact that it took him so long to get his cherry popped. But even more, after something was about to happen.

    "You never told me your name Senior~"

    The woman walked out while back in her clothes, still bouncy as ever and swinging her hips side to side in an alluring way.

    "Oh, didn''t I? Well, guess you can call me Zhang Dong."

    He smiled thinking nothing of it while giving the girl the name that the system gave him, he couldn''t really tell anyone his earthly name here. After he told the woman his name, her facial expression changed.

    "Zhang? The Zhang Clan from Spirit Spring City?"

    She asked while thinking about something.

    "Ah yes, did you hear of my clan before, they are in Spirit Spring City."

    The gears started turning in the woman''s head while looking at the man that was smiling back at her. She was a merchant so after getting into this city she sent someone to gather info about the Zhang clan that previously used to own this place. She found out that it was a big clan but it failed in a big expedition. It wasn''t anything new, a big clan goes on an expedition to some sealed of realm or for some treasure hunting and chews of more than they can handle.

    The clan lost their Patriarch in the expedition along with all of their core formation elders, the rumor was that they just had one core formation elder back in the city. Everyone knew what happened to big family clans that lost their power to defend themselves, they would get poached by other big clans. The woman thought that this man would be her meal ticket out of the merchant work, but instead, if she associates with him she could get labeled as a clan member as well and then go under with the rest of that clan.

    "Ahh, Senior... I think I should go back to my people, You don''t need to walk me back..."

    She quickly removed herself from the room while Matt was trying to figure out while the woman did a 180 on him and stormed out of the building.

    "She started acting strange the moment I said my clan name... was that it?"

    Matt tilted his head to the side and thought about the setting where his clan was supposed to be down on its luck.

    "Is the clan''s situation that bad, that people won''t associate with me due to it?"

    Matt felt hurt a bit after the woman that he had an intimate night just fled the moment she heard about his family situation, he would also have to get to the bottom of that as well. He flopped back onto the bed and looked at the ceiling.

    "God damn little Fei, you don''t need to drop me like a sack of potatoes the moment you hear my last name!"

 43 Chapter 43

    The man wasn''t sure how he should feel about the whole encounter, he thought he would feel happier after doing the deed but instead, he felt hollow on the inside after the woman left. I guess it wasn''t all that great if there weren''t any feelings involved. But not like he didn''t enjoy his encounter, he still had a stupid expression on his face as he thought back to the night.

    *Uh, I''ll consider this a win..."

    He went into the bathroom to clean himself up a bit dejected that the woman was gunning more for his status than himself, then he dressed and headed out to ask people about the Zhang Clan. The rumors were widespread so it wasn''t hard. Apparently the Zhang Clan was void of any elders at the moment and all of their heavy hitters died in some exploration attempt of some ruin or holy ground. Those were things akin to dungeons that had sealed of spaces and you never knew what dangers lurked inside, it wasn''t anything new you could gain a lot but also lose your life.

    *Guess that''s why Fei gave me the cold shoulder, she thinks that I have no backing now and will get hunted by other clans if they see me...*

    He still felt a bit dejected but could understand the woman''s decision and not like they had any deep relationship bonding them anyway. He needed to make a decision now, either head to the Zhang Clan and check out if he could salvage the situation there, maybe it wasn''t as bad as the rumors said. Or wait it out then make the decision. Not like he couldn''t take another identity if he wanted, this would probably be the intelligent thing to do, but would the people from the Zhang clan die if he didn''t go there?

    This would probably be the case, but that didn''t really sit well with him. Would this system place him in a hopeless position? He didn''t really have a hard time, the enemies weren''t that tough and he was getting better and better at fighting. He also considered his personal strength to be in the later stages of core formation due to his cultivation method and added bonuses from the Dao he had.

    He didn''t know why but it just didn''t feel right to abandon those Zhang Clan members, from what he heard the people around here much preferred them to the Cheng Clan that was gaining power. He couldn''t just abandon them now after he knew that they were in danger. Also, he was slowly starting to change a bit, the winning battle with the tentacle monster brought something new. The feeling was strange, but it made him itch for a fight.

    It was one thing to battle beasts and fry big bug monsters with his lightning bolts, it was another thing to do the same thing to other humans. He didn''t know if he could hold back and not kill someone by mistake either. While this was going through his mind he tossed out his large sword and started going up into the air. He glanced in the direction of the caravan as he flew above them for a moment, they were leaving the city. The woman noticed him looking at her from afar, she just gave him a little bow before looking away and heading out of the city.

    Matt gave out a sigh and looked at his system map, this city was a halfway point if he counted the forest as his starting point so it would take him a bit to get there. So he pushed his spiritual energy into it and with a thunderous sound, he bolted towards his new destination. The people in the city were alerted to his loud takeoff, the Cheng Clan members glad that he was finally gone and that they didn''t suffer much besides that one pervy elder of theirs, but he could be easily replaced.

    He was going fast and the scenery rapidly changed below him as he increased his speed, he decided to do some mental training while he was at it. Checking all of his inner knowledge that he received from the system wanting to know what he had imprinted in him concerning fighting other cultivators. He also counted that he would have a bit over 25k spirit points if he started absorbing the spirit stones he got. Though he wasn''t sure what to spend it on yet, he also had enough skills he didn''t really need anymore. They were all higher grade and powerful. Though he was running low on those healing pills, he might have to spend some on those.

    At about the time that Zhang Dong was speeding towards his destination, other things were happening there.

    Spirit Spring City was at full alert, their defensive formations were all active, a bright golden shield was covering the whole city. You could see cultivators sitting in lotus positions powering the defensive shield that covered the whole area. Some of them were getting dragged away on stretchers, their bodies drained from their spiritual energy as they were switched out with other cultivators. On the other side of the shield you could see people as well, they were pounding on the shield with something that looked like siege weapons. There were balistas and cannons, firing of colorful shots of energy that were hitting the golden shield making it rumble.

    Back inside, there was one old cultivator looking at the spot that the weapons were firing at. His hair was white, his face had a scar running from his eyebrow down to his cheek. He had a beard and was about six feet tall, his eyes had a golden hue to them. He had a frown on his face, his hands were behind his back as he squinted at the spot that was getting bombarded.

    "How long do we have?"

    He asked one of the people next to him, there were older people like him. On his left it was an older lady, looking to be in her sixties and on the right side it was an old man about the same age.

    "A couple of days, a week at most Elder Jin"

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    The woman said while also looking in the same direction.

    "Any word from outside?"

    "No sir, we sent out a plea for help to outside families and a call to arms. Some have come to aid us but no one that could turn the tide. There is probably no more help coming. We have no way of contacting clan members that weren''t inside the formation after it was activated as well."

    They had lost their Patriarch and the core members of the Clan, Elder Jin was the only core formation cultivator left around and he was also only of the early stage. Zhang Jin gripped his fist in anger as he remembered the day that they got ordered by the sect to examine a new formed holy ground that was unexplored. They couldn''t refuse but the area was an enigma. The Patriarch was a good man, he didn''t want the juniors to suffer if there was danger so he decided to join the expedition along with the other elders and best disciples. Afterward, they found all the spirit tablets with their names cracked and crumbled, indicating that they had perished. They kept this hidden for some time, but after a couple of months the other clans figured it out.

    The sect that ordered the campaign didn''t want to get involved, they just told them to work it out on their own accord, it wasn''t their fault that their people weren''t strong enough to manage an easy exploration mission. They got used then abandoned and they couldn''t do anything about it. They could try bargaining with the other clans, but at most they could offer their women and children as slaves, the men would probably be killed. But that wasn''t their style, they would fight to the end.

    "I didn''t think that my Zhang Clan would end like this..."

    The man looked at the city and the people around them, this was his family. The clan survived for many hundreds of years and the future was looking bright, who would have thought that this would have happened? He would go down swinging, he was old, he didn''t fear death but he was worried about the younger members. He planned to stall as long as he could so that at least the women and children could get away, he already discussed this with the warriors from the clan. The reason that they were still keeping the shield up was just a faint hope that someone would come to their aid, this tactic was about to pay off...

 44 Chapter 44

    Zhang Dong was soaring through the sky in Spirit Spring City''s direction, he didn''t see many people during his journey and he was getting bored. He tried cultivating while flying on his sword, but he found it rather hard to keep it flying forward while absorbing the spiritual energy from the surroundings at the same time. He almost suffered a backlash, so he gave up on the idea of getting his cultivation up while traveling. He slowly got used to this cultivator body, not really needing rest or sleep that much.

    He didn''t just do all nighters though, but he still flew fast with a couple of stops here and there. About two days passed like that and it was getting dark outside. He could hear some random beasts roaring in the background every time that happened but they weren''t really a problem for him. Though for your average cultivator it was mostly not a good idea to travel at night without a larger party. He got used to traveling during the night as well, finding the moons in the sky to be quite beautiful as they lighted up the night-sky.

    As he was drifting through the night like a white ghost, he noticed something in front of him. He squinted with his eyes and focused at the spiritual fluctuations coming his way. He saw a pair of cultivators running in the direction that he was flying from, though he was quite a bit further away. It was a female and a man, they both had similar looking light blue robes. The man was dragging the woman forward a bit as the two seamed to be fleeing from something or someone.

    Matt tried looking behind the two people that were frantically running while holding on to each other. But before he could see anyone behind them an arrow pierced the fleeing man''s shoulder. He did falter though, he tore the end of the arrow that was coming out of his shoulder and threw it to the side and kept on running with the woman next to him. They were slower now, the man started falling behind the woman that was now pulling him along instead.

    Zhang Dong flew increased his speed towards them, he could see about 10 people behind the pair and after he got closer he could tell that the woman and man were actually more of a boy and a girl in their middle teen years. His vision was enhanced so he could see how the people that were chasing them had smirks on their faces.

    *Why am I constantly running into people in trouble...*

    He asked himself while increasing his speed, hoping that he would make it.

    Zhang Liu and Xue were members of the unfortunate clan. They were brother and sister, he was 16 and she was 15. They were away from the city, gathering resources in the mountains which wasn''t an odd thing to do for Clan members of their age. They were out of the city while the other clans and cultivators invaded. They couldn''t get back as the defensive formation as already running. They had to look on in horror as their home was getting bombarded by the invading forces. They wanted to help out but they weren''t stupid, they both knew that they were far too weak to help out. They swore in their hearts to take revenge after they escaped. But the two were discovered while they were making their escape and were now getting chased by the forces that were attacking their home city.

    Zhang Liu felt a sharp pain in his shoulder where the arrow was stuck in, his little sister was pulling him along while he was trying to keep up. He was in much pain, sweat covering his body while the enemy cultivators were hot on their tracks.

    "I''ll hold them off Xue, you run take revenge for our clan!"

    He knew that he was a burden by now, maybe if he held the attackers of a bit his little sister could get away.

    "No big brother, I won''t leave you to die!"

    The little sister didn''t want to let her brother just die here, her hand was tightly clenching his hand as the two were running in the fields. The problem with this was, that the enemies had a good archer and there were no trees or rocks to duck behind. You could heer an arrow whiz through the air followed by a loud scream.

    "Oh no, big brother!"

    Zhang Liu screamed out in pain as he felt a sharp pain in his calf as the arrow pierced the lower part of his leg, going right through it. He fell face-first onto the hard ground, wincing in pain. He looked at his leg and then to his sister, he knew that he was done for. There was no way that he could escape like this.

    "Please, Xue you must save yourself, run and forget about me..."

    The fifteen-year-old girl teared up as she went down to her knees, pulling at her brother as she tried supporting him upwards but instead got pushed away by him.

    "Run, I''ll stall them."

    He stood up with the help of his good leg while turning his back to his little sister, his eyes were focused and he was ready to fight till the end. He could hear other people coming and soon could see the ten cultivators in matching yellow robes coming out. His sister looked at her brother''s large back, she remembered how once he carried her back home when she fell asleep. She whipped the tears from her eyes and instead of escaping stood next to her big brother, fire in her eyes as well.

    "If we have to die, then we will die together big brother!"

    Zhang Liu looked at his little sister and shook his head, he knew that she was very headstrong and there was no use arguing when she got like that. There was also no more time as he looked in front to see the cultivators moving to surround them, grins on their faces.

    "Well, what do we have here, two Zhang whelps. Thought you could get away?"

    One of the men said while grinning.

    "Hey the girly on the left isn''t half bad, let''s have some fun with her!"

    Another sleazy looking man said while licking his lips while glancing at Zhang Xue.

    Lui instinctively moved in front of his sister to cover her, but it was looking bleak he could only glare at the people with his fists outstretched. The sister started backing away while in her combat stance, she had a saber with her. The two were backing away, they didn''t want to be surrounded by their enemies that were moving closer and closer.

    "Let''s just kill the guy off, no use keeping him around."

    The sleazy man said while holding out a bow, three other cultivators did the same as they took aim for the youth. They started infusing their spiritual energy into the arrows, their penetrative power and speed would be increased the chances of the boy surviving this were meek. But just before the enemy cultivators could release their arrows a strange sound could be heard, followed by a big explosion that was just a couple of meters away from the band of ruffians.

    The ten people backed away in horror as the dirt and rubble headed their way. They covered up while jumping backward, not sure if there was a new enemy or if there was some magical bomb treasure buried in the ground that made it explode. But soon another explosion occurred right behind them, then another one to the left side and the right side. They stopped in one spot as they got boxed in by the blasts, they had no idea what was going on as the explosions were happening too fast and they couldn''t even see where the attack was coming from.

    "Hey you, stay where you are, don''t move a muscle."

    They heard a man''s voice coming from above, everyone looked up to see a man standing on a cristal sword. He was holding what looked to be a bolt of lightning fashioned into a spear, they figured that it was probably that man that was attacking them.

    "Why are you attacking these people, ten grown men against two kids just doesn''t look right."

    The man asked while looking at the brother and sister duo, that were now hugging each other not sure what to do. Was this man going to save them? But if he hears that they are from a weak clan that is about to get eradicated he won''t probably help.

    "Good Senior, those people are from the Zhang Clan, we are from the honorable Tsai Clan. You probably heard what happened to the Zhang Clan it''s already done for, the elders just ordered us to take care of anyone that runs away. Our honorable Patriarch is also taking part in the seizure of their treasures.I''m sure he would have a chat with you if you are willing."

    "Seizure of treasures? Or do you mean cleansing?"

    The man asked while moving closer and closer to the people, the Tsai Clan members hoping that the name of their clan would provide backing.

    "Well yes hehe, I''m sure you know how things like that work Senior, they were just unlucky."

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    The man looked at the ten cultivators that were getting more confident he then looked back at the bleeding youth and the girl that was standing next to him, the two terrified and tense.

    "You want to kill all of them... Well, guess I''ll have to introduce myself. My name is..."

    He jumped down from his sword onto the ground, he was right between the two Zhang Clan members and the Tsai Clan members.

    "Zhang Dong."

    After telling them his name, he pointed his finger at the cultivators standing together and a sphere appeared around them. The Tsai cultivators were shocked after hearing that the man was also from the Zhang clan. They started punching at the barrier but after hitting it once they got shocked by lightning instead.

    "Don''t worry I won''t kill you, even though you tried to kill the boy and take advantage of the girl... but your cultivation days are over."

    After saying that, lightning started hitting the people inside the sphere. The people were all Qi Condensation cultivators and even though they were in the top part of it, they were nothing to him. The lightning prison destroyed the people''s cultivation bases leaving them all charred and injured yet still alive.

    [ Crippled the cultivation of Qi Condensation targets, earned 225 Spirit Points ]

    The two youths looked at the man that took care of the enemy cultivators in surprise.

    "Senior U-uncle Dong?"

    He almost tripped after getting called an uncle but kept it together. Zhang Dong took out one of the healing pills and handed it to the girl that looked at the pill with astonishment as she could tell that it was quite potent.

    "I guess you can call me that... Those guys won''t bother you anymore, give that pill to your brother after removing the arrows. Could you tell me about what is happening in Spirit Spring City."

    The two felt relieved, they didn''t know if this uncle that they didn''t know could turn the tide but he was a powerful cultivator, this they could tell. They told him about the defensive formation and how they were being attacked by other clans, the enemies apparently had at least 3 core formation experts in their mids, maybe more. The two couldn''t really tell as they were focused on escaping.

    "Okay... you two should probably stay here..."

    He said while hopping back onto his sword, he was deep in thought but seemed to make up his mind after which he shot like an arrow towards the Zhang Clan headquarters with a solemn look on his face.

 45 Chapter 45

    Matt left the teens alone and flew in the direction of the city. His facial expression was stern as he looked in the direction that he was going. There were many enemies and he didn''t know if he alone could handle them all by himself. Just flying in there without a plan wouldn''t be such a good idea either. But he couldn''t just let one of those horrible clan cleansings happen, they would kill every member of the clan didn''t matter if it were women and children. The people in these kinds of worlds had some twisted logic and no one seemed to bat an eye about it. Did he have to change his mindset and join the other cultivators, or could he pave out his own way?

    He was more in the mindset of taking out the snake''s head. If he took out the so-called patriarchs from the invading clans, the others should give up. He didn''t know if he should sneak up on them and try to take out one of the core formation cultivators before engaging the rest in a fight, that would probably be the smart way to do it. He also thought about shouting out to the crowd and trying the intimidation route. But if that didn''t work he would have given away the element of surprise for no reason. He also could take out one of them in a show of force, then try to scare them off. Zhang Dong didn''t think that he needed to defeat all of them if they retreated he wouldn''t be chasing them down.

    He kind of wanted to go with the diplomatic route but that was somewhat unrealistic, even more after he saw that those people even tried killing some kids that were running away. Matt as slowly trying to shift his values a bit towards the ''kill or be killed'' mentality, though he was just doing the cultivation crippling instead of the killing part.

    He gave out a sigh as he went from having the night of his life to now going to rescue some people he didn''t really know. The only thing compelling him to do it was a skewed sense of morality that he had from his original world, the system set him up as a member of this Clan and it might be bad if he let it get eradicated. He had already learned a way to hide his aura and unless he got really close people shouldn''t be able to detect him. So he straightened up, slapped both of his cheeks to pump himself up and glided towards the direction from where those kids came from.

    Sometime later at Spirit Spring City.

    Zhang Jin was looking at the golden shield that was flickering now, the time running out a lot sooner than expected as the invading clans increased the rates of the bombardments. The people in the city were sitting ducks and they didn''t have a way to retaliate, the most powerful treasures were the ones the Patriarch had and he was now dead. They had some attacking formations to their disposal but the more powerful ones required more core formation cultivators that they didn''t have, it looked bleak.

    The clans that were attacking them weren''t all that strong if you compared them to the Zhang Clan before their elders perished. There was the Tsai Clan, the Wong Clan, and the Wu clan. The strongest one was the Tsai Clan with their Patriarch recently breaking through to the late stage of core formation. The weakest one was the Wu Clan, their leader was just in the early stage and there were more or less just here for the scraps. The Tsai Clan came with three core formation cultivators including their patriarch, two were from the Wong Clan and the last one belonged to the Wu clan.

    The six middle-aged looking men were standing together, there were three cultivators in red robes standing in the front belonging to the Tsai Clan while the other clan elders stood a bit to the side. They were looking at the weakening shield and smirked.

    "It''s almost time, that shield won''t last for much longer. Get everyone ready and surround the city so that no one can escape."

    The Tsai Clan Patriarch with the highest cultivation barked out the orders and every other clan elder headed out to inform their subordinates. Two cultivators remained in the same spot, which was the Tsai Clan patriarch and another member from his clan.

    "Patriarch Fang, some of the disciples haven''t returned that were supposed to hunt for any remaining Zhang Clan members."

    Tsai Fang looked at his fellow clan member and just shrugged.

    "They''re probably having their fun, leave them we have enough clan members here to clear out this city. Punish them if they come back empty-handed though."

    This cultivator was wearing a red robe with white patterns in it, it made it look fiery. His hair and eyes were also red and as you might have thought this clan''s specialty was fire. The man looked on as the glowing shield got thinner and thinner due to the constant impacts, a smirk on his face while his hands were behind his back. He moved his hand to his cheek where a big scar could be seen. This scar was something he received quite a while ago when he was battling the Zhang Clan Patriarch in his younger days. To this day he couldn''t forget about this disgrace. It was him that organized this event, he wanted to remove anything related to the man that injured his face.

    "Hah, are you seeing this Zhang Clan Patriarch, your clan will fall and everyone will burn. Just too bad that I can''t see your ugly face while this happens."

    You could hear a sound akin to glass shattering as a big fireball exploded in mid-air against the shield, the defensive formation finally running out of juice. The Clans outside the city gates cheered in unison while the people inside gasped. The time has come, the Zhang clan was outnumbered and outgunned. But they wouldn''t be going down without a fight, after the shield got blasted away you could see a hail of arrows getting shot from within the city, accompanied by cannon fire from magic cannons that were mounted on the city walls.

    The invading cultivator core formation elders snorted and took flight on their flying swords, they held their hands up into the air as they activated a magic technique blocking the cannon fire and arrows with just the five of them. The Tsai clan Patriarch didn''t feel like taking part as he just wanted to enjoy the screams and watch a good show. The arrows weren''t much, the cannons might have been able to strike down a foundation establishment cultivator but to these elders, it was less than a mosquito bite.

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    But while the invading clans were cheering their core formation elders on, something happened. While all the powerful cultivators were focusing on defending the city''s cannon fire, thunder sounded behind them. The Wong clan member suddenly had a chilly premonition as he tried to move quickly to the side, but before he knew it he felt something wedge itself into his right shoulder. It looked like a spear made of energy, all the other elders saw it lodge itself in the man''s flesh exploding after impact. The man fell down to the ground, his right shoulder blow off, his right arm just dangling about while looking quite gory. The man was more or less out of commission for the rest of the fight as he was losing a lot of blood and only managed to swallow some life-saving pills before collapsing on the ground.

    Soon people started turning around to watch as lightning spears collided with all of their siege weapons. Everyone was running for their dear life as they got sneak attacked from the back, the rest of the core formation elders started evading the lightning bolts but the fellow up attack was mostly aimed at the gear that soon was just a pile of scrap.

    Everyone could feel an overbearing aura descending from the sky and they finally saw Zhang Dong that was holding on to one of his lightning javelins, tossing it out. The spear of lightning split into smaller ones and bombarded the cultivator weapons on the ground turning all of them into scrap wood and metal in the process. There was also a big lightning dragon wiggling around his frame, roaring in thunderous booms that made the lower level cultivators ears bleed.

    "I am Zhang Dong, leave this place if you don''t want to die!"

    Dong said as menacingly as he could while sweating inwardly hoping that the people would just turn tail and run.

 46 Chapter 46

    The cultivators from the Zhang Clan trembled with wide-open eyes as all of their arrows and cannon attacks got deflected and blocked by the invading forces. Zhang Jin was holding on to a big saber and all the remaining Zhang clan members were heavily armed. The time had come to defend their city, the normal people were hiding in their homes shaking and crying, they didn''t know if they would survive this either.

    But suddenly they looked on as one of the powerful enemy cultivators exploded in mid-air, he fell to the ground like a sack of rocks then stopped moving. Then they could hear loud booming sounds in the distance as many lightning javelins descended from the sky, trashing everything in their paths but not really killing anything just destroying the weapons instead.

    The people looked at the cultivator that was descending in awe and got excited after hearing his name, he was a member of their clan. People turned to each other trying to recall someone by that name, but they couldn''t recall anyone. Though Zhang Jin opened up his eyes and looked at the man, his face looked very similar to someone he remembered.

    "It can''t be, the boy still lives... He still lives!"

    The man took out his own flying sword and jumped on it, he told the other two elders that were close to him to continue attacking the invading clan members while he would assist the cultivator that just arrived. The two tried to stop him but before they could say anything their grand elder flew of charging into the mids of the battle with his big saber in hand.

    Zhang Dong was looking at the other five remaining cultivators, Tsai Fang joined the rest of them and now they were all looking at him. He kept his face in a neutral state managing to show no emotion, but if you looked closely you could see one of his fingers twitching and sweat forming on his forehead. The cultivators were trying to measure the situation, they could feel that this cultivator was at least on par with the Tsai clan patriarch maybe a bit stronger. They all came here with the mindset that the city would be easy pickings and none of them was actually willing to risk their life if it came down to it. They outnumbered him five to one, so they should be able to beat him but he was able to incapacitate one of them with one aimed blow so they didn''t want to risk it.

    "Who..."

    Tsai Fang was about to say something but before he could do that he could feel someone charging at them from behind. It was, of course, Zhang Jin charging with his saber in tow. He smashed into the weakest elder of the group that was from the Wu clan, forcing him back.

    "Don''t worry Dong''er! I''ll handle him, long live the Zhang Clan!"

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    Matt twitched as he looked at the bearded elder hacking away at one of the enemy cultivators. Messing up his plan of having a diplomatic solution to this fight.

    *What did he call me, Donger? What the hell is even that you old bastard!*

    Any motion of having the men give up on attacking the city was thrown out the window with Zhang Jin''s sudden attack. The three Tsai Clan members and the Wong clan patriarch turned their faces to Zhang Dong and got into their battling positions. Everything became chaotic as the now many core formation cultivators were flying around and throwing some flashy techniques at each other.

    The people on the ground didn''t just wait though, they continued with the siege of the city even though their heavy weapons were now destroyed. The Zhang clan people started firing their canons again while tossing people down from the walls and trying to defend the gates.

    A big battle was about to take place, the moment the invading forces managed to scale the city walls fighting would commence inside. People were getting injured left and right, without the support of their core formation elders the attackers were suffering loses and many cultivators started looking like pincushions. For the time being the Zhang Clan was managing to hold them off, the deciding factor would probably be the battle that was taking place above their heads as the cultivators flew around on their swords.

    Zhang Dong just dodged a fireball while his lightning dragon was getting roasted by two other Tsai clan members, they certainly were looking like fire benders or something. The fourth enemy he was fighting was quite annoying as well as he had a big bow and was firing off some strange green energy arrows at him. He couldn''t really do much besides dodging left and right, his clothes slowly getting ripped. His aerial combat expertise was close to nil, but the other people couldn''t hit him either as he was faster than them, his flying sword was of a higher quality which let him zoom around the battlefield quickly. The old guy that interfered with his diplomatic talks was nowhere to be seen as he dodged around like a slippery eel.

    "Stop running you, coward!"

    "How about no?"

    The quartet was getting mad as this guy was just too squiggly and they couldn''t get off a good hit on him. They tried firing some larger skills but that took too long to charge up so the white cultivator could just evade it. Plus this lightning dragon was quite annoying as well, the enemy could summon it again and when they managed to whittle it down it exploded with a resounding boom filling the area with chaotic lightning energy.

    "He can''t run forever, there are four of us sooner or later he will run out of spiritual energy!"

    Matt knew that they were right, he couldn''t just keep evading and blocking their attacks forever. He did have a big tank of spiritual energy but he was one against four. He did try attacking a couple of them here and there with his ranged attacks but when he aimed for one, two others would try to slash, pierce and pummel him from behind. He had to think about something fast, he needed to take out one of them first. He couldn''t run forever, so he finally decided on a tactic and went for it.

    His first target would be the annoying archer from the group, so he used his lightning dragon to attack one of the red-robed cultivators and while the other ones tried to go for a backstab he encased them in his forcefield skill. While they were distracted he charged at the archer who was firing of green energy arrows at him, he did his best Jedi impression of batting the energy bolts away with his light sword. He managed to close the distance, the man defended himself with the bow as he thought that Matt would surely swing that light sword down at him.

    Instead, the Wong Patriarch got surprised as the man abandoned his weapon and directly attacked him instead. An afterimage was left behind on the flying sword that was discarded, the enemy cultivator then found himself in a chokehold as the two started falling down to the ground. Matt started squeezing with all his might and he could hear the man''s bones shattering in the process. The addition of the lightning Qi, made the man light up like a Christmas tree. This was a very unorthodox way of fighting, the Wong Clan member was not expecting something like this but soon he found himself losing consciousness. The man was tossed aside like a ragdoll, Zhang Dong was able to guide his sword back to his feet once more.

    The other three attackers that remained managed to resolve Matt''s skills and were now looking at the white cultivator that was back to hovering on his sword. He had choked the poor guy out, shattering his bones in the process. He didn''t know if he had actually killed him, he couldn''t really check, but to a cultivator of this level, a broken neck wasn''t quite fatal.

    The three cultivators looked on in shock as they saw one of their allies get taken out by the Zhang Clan member, it didn''t look good for them as they barely had an upper hand at four vs one, but now they were down to just three.

    "Tsai Clan members to me!"

    The people were all from the same clan, so as their leader shouted out they heard his call. They hovered close to each other and started doing some strange hand motions like they knew what their leader had in mind. Zhang Dong was panting a bit as using his skills in rapid succession as starting to drain his reserves as well, so he wasn''t really able to react to what those people were doing.

    Soon molten rock and fire started forming around the cultivators encasing them in it. It started with just a big molten rock core but soon expanded. The think started taking a humanoid appearance, big blazing legs and huge arms sprouted from the middle part that the enemy cultivators were in and soon they formed an appearance of a giant made from volcanic rock and fire. It didn''t have a head but a volcano instead, molten rock and smoke coming out from it. Its arms were huge and rocky as well as its legs, there were cracks in its shell, fire, and lava spilling from them, it was about fifteen meters tall.

    The giant cocked its arm back and threw a punch at Zhang Dong that tried to evade it, but the attack sent molten rock and wind pressure towards him along with a big amount of spiritual energy forcing him off his flying sword. He was flung to the ground making a loud booming sound as he hit the hard ground and created a small crater in the process. Matt could feel his bones quivering from the impact, this was the strongest hit that he had taken since getting to this world.

    People noticed the giant that was crushing down from the sky, the huge thing landed a bit away from the city walls. The giant monster gave out a loud roaring sound and then charged in the direction that Zhang Dong got sent flying towards. The man in question gripped his head that had blood coming out of it, it was the biggest headache that he ever experienced. People gasped as they saw the friendly cultivator down on the ground, he didn''t look too good and the fire monster was running towards him. But then they saw blinding white light from the spot Zhang Dong crashed in, the light started expanding upwards and to the sides. The enemy cultivators didn''t know what he was doing but they wouldn''t let him finish so they made the fire golem throw another punch, its giant hand producing sonic booms and tossing dirt and debris everywhere.

 47 Chapter 47

    Another blast occurred as something collided with the giant''s rocky fist. The force from the collision made everyone tremble in the vicinity, making them stop with the fighting as they looked in shock at the lava giant. They could see its extended rocky fist, stretched out as it was trying to throw a right hook. The cultivators then saw a slightly smaller fist pushing against the boulder one. It was a fist made from lightning energy and it belonged to the cultivator in white. He had transformed into a white lightning giant, he was slightly shorter than the rocky giant but he was still huge.

    Zhang Dong was inside of his Avatar transformation technique, panting and wheezing. He had to increase the size of the skill to something that would drain his reserves quite fast. The blood that ran down his forehead evaporated inside the skill as his body turned to lightning. He grasped the lava giant''s extended fists as the cultivators inside were probably shocked. He pulled the monster closer and clogged it with his left sending it tumbling backward while lava and fire sprayed everywhere.

    What followed was a good old fashioned brawl. The fire monster didn''t lose its balance but moved in to hit the lightning giant back as well. It managed to connect to the torso which sent Zhang Dong backward as he almost flew back onto his big butt. He managed to balance himself with his feet then went back to punching and kicking his enemy.

    You might think that two giants at about fifteen meters of height would be slow and lumbering. But these two were producing sonic booms each time they made a punch, you could guess how much power there was behind a fist that size if you added speed too it. The two were about equally matched, though the white giant was a bit more nimble while the lava rock one was more sturdy.

    The other cultivators that were near the battle zone backed away and the fighting stopped for now. The two sides started watching the frantic battle each side cheering their respective seniors to win it. Both sides kind of knew that this duel would be the deciding factor of the coming battle, it could go either way as the two looked evenly matched for now.

    Zhang Dong was keeping up but he felt like vomiting blood right now, time was passing and he wasn''t really making much progress versus this rocky monstrosity. The more time he spent in this form the worse it would get, he had a limited timer and he didn''t know if the enemy could hang on longer. It was still three against one though, so he would probably be the one running low on spiritual energy so he needed to end the fight fast.

    Both of the giants collided once more, their hands grasping into each other. Zhang Dong in avatar form pushed his fingers into the rocky golem''s and started squeezing. You could hear lightning crackling and rocks sizzling with lava as the two were now pitting their pure strength against each other. The lava monster started pushing Matt back, it had more mass behind that rocky body. The white giant started getting pushed down, going down to its knees while the other monster clenched its fingers down and pushed slowly trying to rip them apart with all its might.

    The cultivators inside were sweating profusely while remaining in their positions, they never thought it would be possible for someone in core formation at the middle stage to fight against their formation like that. But it looked like he was running out of steam so they pushed their cultivations to the brink trying to crush the white giant''s hands. But suddenly they felt a mighty force pushing against then, the lightning construct gritted its teeth and gave out a strange shout that sounded like loud thunder. It slightly increased its size as it pushed back against the combined might of the three cultivators that tried to resist but soon they got pushed back, their giant''s hands were crushed to dust, fire, and lava dripping out.

    Zhang Dong pushed his cultivation to the limit, forcing his avatar transformation to the limit as he pulverized the lava giant''s rocky digits. He didn''t let up as he delivered a swift kick to where a person would have his crown jewels, cracking the spot in the process. The enemy colossus was on the defense as it tried to protect its large body, but the lightning giant managed to plunge its fist through the defense into the exact spot that the enemy cultivators were sitting in.

    The lava construct started crumbling, the last hit connected injuring the cultivators inside. The three of them flew out while vomiting copious amounts of blood. They looked terrible as they all hit the ground, tumbling for a good amount before coming to a stop.

    Zhang Dong canceled the technique quickly, his vision was going blurry as he felt weak. He had used up most of his spiritual energy to defeat the other giant, this had left him weak and tired. The battle wasn''t over quite yet as the Tsai Patriarch was still standing, while the other two members were out cold and deprived of most of their spiritual Qi.

    "You damn Zhang Clan whelp! Do you think you can defeat me? You will die, everyone from this clan has to die!"

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    While the cultivator was shouting some cliche bad guy lines at him, he was slowly gathering his strength. This would probably be the last one, after this, he could rest.

    "How about you go choke on a d*ck, you discount Fire Lord!"

    His body hurt everywhere, he might have been taking the form of lightning but every hit that he took while fighting those three bastards left a mark behind. He was quite pissed off at the moment, maybe it was the rage that he felt or something else but the tension that he felt before he started battling was gone, replaced with something else. Tsai Fang pulled out a sword and charged after processing what the younger cultivator shouted at him. His attack was met with a crackling lightning sword, that when it collided with the enemy weapon. Sparks were thrown up into the air, the sizzling of heated metal could be heard.

    The two fighters swung their weapons against each other, both managing to slice flesh as the wounds on the two increased. They were quite drained from the previous exchange of techniques so this was more a battle of skill and perseverance. The Tsai Clan patriarch won out in experience but Zhang Dong had a stronger body and cultivation technique that even though it was in the middle stage, still outperformed Tsai Fang''s late stage cultivation that was of a lower grading. You could say that he made up his lack of fighting experience with higher stats.

    The two pushed against each other weapons but there was one problem. Zhang Dong''s lightning sword wasn''t really a graded weapon, it was a skill that he constantly had to pump his Qi into. So after a moment, the Tsai Fang''s sword started wining out as it pushed into the thundering plasma. Both fighters were tired as they pushed each other weapons against each other in a battle of strength. But just at the moment where the discount fire lord was about to push through Zhang Dong''s sword, he felt a discharge of lightning Qi run through his body as the lightning sword technique detonated momentarily stunning him for a fraction of a second.

    This was enough for Zhang Dong to deliver a lightning punch to the man''s jaw, teeth with blood flew in the air as the cultivator in red retreated in surprise. Or at least he tried but instead, he felt pain in his gut as a kick landed there right after, propelling him backward into some boulders that he smashed in the process. The momentum was on his side now so Matt threw himself on his enemy, punches and kicks rained down on Tsai Fang that was quickly turned into a punching bag.

    He tried retaliating, his face all bloodied the scar on his cheek even bigger than before. He realized that he made a mistake, the cultivator in front of him wasn''t letting up and the attack formation that he and the other cultivators used had drained him of most of his Qi as well. He needed to run, he tried throwing a magical treasure that would help him achieve just that. Yet the cultivator in white was using some strange martial arts as he wrapped his legs around his neck and while they were going down to the ground he started yanking on one of his arms. Tsai Fang could hear a snapping sound as his arm broke due to the submission hold Zhang Dong implemented, he screamed out in pain but then got clobbered in the mouth once more almost passing out due to that.

    Matt looked down on the man he was holding down with one hand, he was on top of him, his last hit had incapacitated his opponent as he wasn''t moving. He had won the fight, his enemy was bruised and battered. He could probably end it right here right now, one good punch in the right spot would put this man out of his misery. He was angry, he wanted to resolve this situation peacefully with the least bloodshed as possible but instead, he was forced by the circumstances to fight for his life. He raised his fist upwards, lightning energy coursing through it. The man below tried to say something but just gurgled due to his missing teeth and blood inside his mouth. He looked pitiful, but there was still defiance in his eyes as he looked at the fist.

    Zhang Dong clenched his fist, aiming it at the head. But he hesitated, he looked at the miserable old man in front of him. He didn''t know who he was, he got pulled into this whole fiasco by circumstance. But as Matt was wavering with his decision Tsai Fang took his chance. He was an experienced fighter and he had crawled his way up by killing his enemies without mercy. He didn''t have any second guesses as he grasped his sword from the side with his uninjured hand and plunged it directly at Zhang Dong''s face. This turn of events surprised the cultivator in white, he didn''t know if it was just his body''s reaction to the attack or due to the skills he got implanted into his mind.

    He dodged to the left, a big gash appearing on his cheek while his fist descended downward. A loud boom could be heard and a lot of dust got kicked up into the air. What greeted Zhang Dong after he punched down was a body with a missing head and a massive hole in the ground behind it. He had reacted to the threat of dying by punching downward and killing the Tsai Clan patriarch in the process. He just looked with a blank expression on his face at the dead body his hands trembling while blood dripped down from them.

    [ Tsai Fang Slain ( Core Formation Late Stage ) Earned 185000 Spirit Points. ]

 48 Chapter 48

    The whole place was smoking a bit, so the people around couldn''t see what happened just yet. Zhang dong looked at his bloodied hand then back to the dead corps of the cultivator he killed. He jumped back, his heart pounding as he looked on in horror at the man that he killed. He felt all kinds of emotions right now sadness for the fact that he took a life, anger for the fact that the man left him no choice as it was a do or die situation, fear for not knowing what he should do now also a bit of relief as the battle was over.

    He shook his hand, the man''s blood still dripping down from them. He started rubbing them, shaking his palms around as he tried to get the red liquid off. He had to get a grip, he might have defeated the strongest cultivator from the bunch but there were still others around. He closed his eyes while breathing in slowly as he tried to calm down his heart rate, somehow getting a grip on himself. He tossed his emotions to the back of his head while looking away from the spot he defeated the man, fatigue washing over him as he finally felt a backlash from using his skills too much.

    About this time the area became clear off all the smoke and debris, the people could finally see what transpired. They spotted the cultivator in white standing upright, with his back turned to where someone laid on the ground. On closer inspection, they noticed that the person there was just a headless body, by the robes it was the Tsai Clan Patriarch dead and unmoving.

    "Oh no! The Patriarch is dead!"

    The Tsai Clan members shouted as they looked at the body in horror.

    "Everyone look, those Tsai Clan elders have lost!"

    The Zhang Clansmen shouted so everyone could hear them as they looked at the person that was standing next to the body. Their so-called clan member had defeated the core formation experts single-handedly. About at the same time, Zhang Jin flew back on his sword, he looked a bit beaten up but he was still standing. He had a cultivators head in his hand that he tossed down, it belonging to the elder he pulled away previously. He looked around while holding onto his bloodied saber then pointed it at the passed out cultivators that Zhang Dong knocked out.

    "Zhang Clan members hear me, Attack!"

    The elder went after the defeated core formation cultivators, he didn''t want to risk them getting back up. He could feel that Zhang Dong was quite drained, so he thought that this would be the least he could do after the younger man defeated the strongest fighters on his own.

    The invading people looked on in horror as all of their leaders were slain before their eyes, the enemy core formation seniors were still out there and one was powerful enough to defeat five of their best fighters on his own. The cultivators that were next in the leadership role quickly shouted out, ordering people to quickly retreat to their own cities.

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    "Everyone fall back! The elders are dead, retreat towards our domains!"

    They didn''t come here with all of their resources, they still had some powerful cultivators back home to protect them. So they turned tail and escaped while the Zhang Clan people continued firing arrows and cannons at them constantly, they even left the protection of their city walls invigorated and out for blood after they witnessed the huge battle that the cultivator in white had with the Tsai clan elders.

    Zhang Dong gave out a sigh, his hands finally stopped shaking as he looked to the corps on the ground once more. He walked up to it, thinking that the whole thing was a bit surreal. Just about a month ago he was back in his own apartment playing some video games while now he had punched a man''s head clean off.

    *Not sure how I should feel about this, it was him or me... he didn''t give me much choice...*

    He explained to himself while the bearded cultivator elder showed up behind him. The person looked like a grizzled fighter, with that scar on his face, the beard only adding to his looks. He slowly moved next to Zhang Dong and also looked at the dead Tsai Clan Patriarch with disdain in his eyes.

    "He got what was coming to him, well done Dong''er"

    Matt almost tripped after the man called him donger again, he had no idea who he was but by the way he was calling him he had to be someone from his family. Both his parents were dead, or so said the system window that he read before. His mother Zhang Biyu and father Zhang Peng, this guy was called Zhang Jin and looked old. He was either his grandfather or an uncle from either side of the family, he didn''t have any nifty family tree anywhere to help him out though.

    "Ah yes, I haven''t been to the clan for a long time, surprised that you recognized me."

    He said while trying to prod for the man''s identity a bit.

    "How could I have not recognized my own grandson! You have turned into a fine young lad."

    He placed his hand on Zhang Dong''s shoulder and nodded while looking at him, with praise in his eyes. He was really proud that his grandson managed to return and save the clan in its darkest hour. Plus he was an expert that greatly exceeded him as well, he was just the person that this clan needed now.

    "It''s just a shame that your parents couldn''t be here to see you grow up, such a shame."

    The whole thing was kind of awkward as the old man started reminiscing about the old days while the person next to him had no idea what he was talking about. It would have been great if he had the memories of this Zhang Dong but there was nothing besides the short bio in the system.

    "Ah yes, a shame... During my travels, I suffered a bit of a setback, so my memory from my childhood is a bit hazy... I don''t remember much about the clan after I left for my journey."

    He tried thinking out an excuse for him not recognizing people in the clan too well, he didn''t really want people to start popping up left and right that he couldn''t recognize.

    "Ah is that so... Well, at least you remember your old gramps!"

    The man chuckled and pulled Matt into a bearhug, making his caught as he was still a bit injured from the previous fight.

    "Ah yes, sure grandpa..."

    Zhang Jin squatted down and removed the Tsai Clan leader''s storage ring handing it to Zhang Dong with a smile on his face.

    "I''ll collect the rest of the storage rings from those bastards you defeated, how about I let the juniors sort the stuff out in them, we''ll see if there is some good stuff in there for you later."

    Matt called his flying sword to himself, as Zhang Jin took a glance at it his eyes sparkled as it was quite the nice looking flying sword it was a lot better than the one he had. But there were also all the flying swords that he retrieved from the fallen core formation cultivators, this old man was quite swift with looting the corpses.

    "Well, don''t think there is a reason to chase after them though... Also, there was a pair of kids I met on the way here, those guys are escaping in another direction so they should be fine though."

    Zhang Dong said as he looked at the retreating cultivators and also at the ones that were running out of spirit spring city, ready to slaughter everything in sight. The escaping invaders had a head start though, so it would be hard to catch up unless he or his grandpa helped out on their swords. Zhang Dong had enough of fighting for one day though, he just wanted to lay down and stare at the ceiling.

    "Oh? If that''s what you want."

    Zhang Jin''s booming voice filled the area, ordering everyone to stand down and just salvage the siege weapons for resources. This old man was quite materialistic as he also ordered everyone to retrieve any usable arrows, nothing was to be left on the battlefield. He also informed some foundation establishment cultivators to go pick up the kids. Afterward, he turned towards the city and flew ahead of Matt that was trailing behind, he wobbled in the air before deciding to use one of his healing pills. This somewhat refreshed his tired body but didn''t really do anything for his spirit. His clothes had mended themselves once more, he wished he could add that enhancement to his aching body.

    *Well, I guess I don''t need to worry about ever looking like a hobo.*

    He was finally here, the city that he was supposed to go too. But what was he supposed to do here now? He didn''t really know but first, he needed to take a bath, to wash off this stench of blood.

 49 Chapter 49

    The battle was over, some people had died some were injured and some were even missing. Cultivators were running back and forth all over the place as the City became busy again. Everyone that was hiding came out, people were looking for their loved ones some leaving the city in the search as there were a lot of people that didn''t make it before the city was sealed off. People were rejoicing, people were crying a plethora of emotions was seen as the city got revitalized.

    A lot of focus was placed on the cultivator in white that called himself Zhang Dong. Some older clan members could vaguely recall someone by that name that used to live here, but that was a long time ago. But even though they didn''t know the man, they knew that he was probably going to be a big player in their clan. He had more or less singlehandedly saved the clan from extinction or a life of slavery. They had sparkles in their eyes as they looked at him flying through the air, their elder Jin next to him. The man in question was trying hard not to scratch the back of his neck as he felt the thankful gazes of the masses.

    *Guess I''ll be staying here for a while? Or should I leave? I can probably leave whenever I want... but if I leave will another clan attack them again when they find out?*

    He felt tired after the battle had ended, the city was bigger than Moonlight city. He could see many eastern styled buildings spreading in all directions, they were all in various shapes and sizes. There were also many bodies of water spread around the city, those were probably the springs that the town was known for. The city was more or less circular in shape, massive walls surrounded it from all sides. There were gates placed on all four sides of the city, the east, west, north, and south gate. The city started out flat, but the further you went in the elevation of the buildings increased. Right in the middle of the city, you could see a massive structure, it was at an elevated point and was surrounded by another large wall. There were three towers build into the wall, placed on what looked to be boulders or small mountain peaks and you could see some structures on those peaks.

    Inside after you passed the gate you could see more eastern styled buildings placed around the wall in the inner part. Right in the middle, there was a giant spring, it looked more like a lake at this point. In this spring there was another hill and on that hill, there was a castle-like structure. There were bridges going to this structure from the three mountain peaks, plus stairs leading up from the main gate this looked to be the main area of the Zhang Clan. There were various basins with water build into the castle structure and water was running down from them into the lake below. Forming many waterfalls in the process, the soft sounds of water and fish could be heard all around.

    The whole City was quite large, it was many times larger than what Matt was us too. He and Zhang Jin landed in the main Clan abode in the middle of the city. If there was one thing that this world had to offer, it''s the wonderous sights. The view from here was breathtaking as he could see the whole city. This place seemed rather peaceful and quiet, koi fish were swimming around adding to the tranquility.

    "Ah, this is probably the first time you are here. Only the core members are allowed to enter the inner sanctum, also you were just a young lad back there. Though you seem to have retained your youthful looks."

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    Matt had no idea what his pseudonym Zhang Dong was in this clan, he knew that his father was supposed to be some kind of elder while his mom died while giving birth and that he left over 10 years ago.

    "Also a shame about what happened to your father, that monster came out of nowhere. It was truly heroic what Peng did, he saved a lot of lives that day. But let''s not bring up old wounds, I''m glad that you are back Dong''er"

    Zhang Jin patted Zhang Dong on the shoulder while the man in question''s face twitched at the mention of Dong''er. The man realizing what a silly naming choice this was and now he was stuck with it for his life.

    *Can you change your name in this world? If I join a more powerful clan only my last name will change...*

    The name of the leading clan popped into his head as he was thinking about changing his name. It was the Long clan, he would be getting an even sillier name if someone got him to join that one. He coughed into his hand and turned to Zhang Jin a neutral expression on his face as usual.

    "Ah sorry, I seem to have forgotten many things about the clan, but that beast that murdered my father is now dead, it won''t be bothering anyone else."

    Zhang Jin perked up at that, his son had been avenged by his grandson. He had carried the shame of not being able to protect his own child, then losing his grandson as he vanished from the clan never to be seen again. But now he was back and he was on the level of the old Patriarch, plus he was still very young he probably didn''t yet reach his peak!

    "You just made this old man''s day, it''s truly a blessing Dong''er. I would really like to introduce you to the rest of the elders and family members, but first... we have to talk about other things."

    The man moved to the side of Matt and looked out into the city, people were running around, injured were getting brought in and resources were getting gathered. The old man played around with his long beard, he looked like he was thinking about something while looking into the distance.

    "Zhang Dong, become this Clan''s new Patriarch!"

    Matt''s face twitched as he stepped back, the man had just arrived today and now he was told to run the place.

    "Wait, what? You want me to be the Patriarch?"

    "Yes, I''m sure you have heard about what had transpired. Most of our senior members have died, even quite a bit of the core and inner members of the junior generation are gone now. Your appearance gives hope to our Clan!"

    "Wait, I have no idea how to lead... how can I be the Patriarch of this clan, I don''t even remember how things work here...Why don''t you be the Patriarch instead?"

    The old man chuckled while patting his grandson''s shoulder.

    "Oh, you don''t need to worry. You don''t really need to do much as the Patriarch, the juniors will handle most of the things. The other clans just need to see that the Zhang Clan has a powerful leader again, you can just cultivate in freedom and let the others do the bothersome things. I''m not as strong as you, people wouldn''t accept that. Also having a young leader that has a bright future ahead of him will invigorate the clan members!"

    The man started laughing kind of not taking a no for an answer from his ''grandson''. The gears started turning in his head as he thought about some things they should take care of.

    "You just relax and leave everything to your old gramps here, you just cultivate and get stronger. I''ll assign you a junior member to lead you around the premises they''ll explain everything in more detail."

    While Matt was thinking on a way to decline the offer the old man was in his own world, not really listening to what this grandson of his had to say. He soon stormed off somewhere while Zhang Dong had a perplexed look on his face, things were happening too fast.

    *What is that old geezer doing, doesn''t he just want to dump the responsibility of the clan on me instead?*

    He gave out a big sigh and crossed his arms over one another as he looked out at the city. The scenery was beautiful, this place sure looked like one that you would retire in. The spiritual energy also felt a lot denser around this spot he was in, probably something to do with those springs around. After a moment he heard some footsteps and a person that looked to be in his early 20''s appeared before him. He was wearing a scholar robe and was wearing a strange hat. The robe was quite long and didn''t look like it was meant for fighting, the boots the man as wearing were bent upwards, reminding Matt of jester shoes.

    "Senior Uncle Dong! , Elder Jin... uh, Grand Elder Jin told me to guide you to your quarters!"

    The man said before tripping on his long robe as he was frantically running at Matt, looking quite tense. He slid forward on the slippery marble ground towards him, his face down and the hat falling off as he came to a stop.

    "Uh... you okay there buddy?"

    He didn''t know if he should laugh at the man tripping over his own robe, but the scene of the blunder made him feel a bit less tense for some reason. He seemed to forget about the bloody battle that he just had. Matt helped the younger man up to his feet, which the man was surprised by, thanking his Senior uncle by kowtowing several times and apologizing. This made the man laugh due to the comedic way the other was acting.

    "Pff... okay, okay. Guide me to my quarters"

    The two soon left, the Patriarch to be was now getting lead around the main Clan building and taking in the exotic sights. While this was happening the other clans were getting the news of the Zhang Clan surviving the onslaught of the other powers with the help of one specific cultivator. The whole area was in a buzz as everyone wanted more info about the new player that was strong enough to defeat so many core formation experts. The two teens were rescued as well as they met up with their Clan members and were told the good news, their eyes sparkling in anticipation and reverence as they heard about the big battle that took place in front of their city.

 50 Chapter 50

    Zhang Liu and Zhang Xue soon arrived at the city, along with some other members that came out of hiding after seeing them and getting the good news. After arriving they saw the destroyed siege weapons and signs of battle, there weren''t that many casualties on both sides due to most of the fighting being done by the top cultivators while the rest of the armies stayed out of it, but some people still died.

    The kids could see bodies scattered around here and there, the gates were now open, clan members were out and about the area dressed in their battle gear. The kids noticed a woman running at them, tears in her eyes.

    "Liu, Xue!"

    The woman was their mother, she gave both of her children a hug but mostly their daughter the two just collapsing to the ground while crying in each other arms. She was named Zhang Jie and was in her 30''s, she looked like a person in her 20''s though this thanks to her being in the foundation establishment realm which most of the time doubled the lifespan of the cultivators.

    "Waaaa, I was so scared."

    Xue cried while cleaning to her mother that was sobbing as well and rubbing her daughter''s head in response. Liu was looking at the daughter and mother duo, a smile appearing on his face as he was glad that everything worked out in the end. After some time the females stood up, their faces red but smiles on her faces.

    "Mother, mother you won''t believe it. We were fleeing from those Tsai Clan members, Liu even got shot by some arrows!"

    The mother opened up her eyes wider and started examining her son''s body, she could see that his robes were torn up and there was some dried blood but no wounds.

    "Don''t worry mother, his wounds have been healed thanks to The Senior Uncle!"

    "Senior Uncle?"

    The mother asked.

    "Yes, he appeared out of nowhere and in a flash all the bastards from the Tsai Clan were down."

    Replied the brother while smirking and clenching his fist while reminiscing about the encounter.

    "The clan members also told us that he rescued the city as well, he met us on the way here and saved our lives."

    The mother looked at the boy and girl, then back to the city zoning in on the middle clan structure where the senior in question was now in.

    "Listen here you two, the man that saved you is called Zhang Dong he is the grandson of Grandfather Jin."

    Zhang Dong in question would later find out that his old bastard grandpa was quite the womanizer back in the day. He was part of the core members of the clan, but he had sired many offsprings with mistresses and concubines alike. The only good thing about his character was that he always took responsibility for his actions and took in any children he produced. Zhang Dong''s father was one of those as well, as he came from one of those mistresses. So he had quite the extended family now, all thanks to ol'' gramps who couldn''t keep it in his pants. Zhang Jie was from the core family, so were her children so they were his half-niece and nephew. The lady would be akin to his half-cousin.

    "The problem is, that he is from a side family..."

    Blood purity was a thing in these clans, Zhang Dong was from a side family and these people were from the mainline. There would be tension between the side families and the main one from time to time. Mostly due to the main families antagonizing the side ones for not having ''pure'' enough blood. The woman feared that the man in question could have some hidden animosity against the main clan bloodline members. She could recall him a bit from her youth, but the boy never showed himself much he was always training and never spoke to anyone around him so he was a big unknown.

    The man did save her children though, so she would be forever grateful for that, the woman never did like the way some members treated the side families. But there could be some trouble brewing as some of those purists were still in the clan, this cousin of hers was very strong. She was there during the fighting, there was no one besides her grandpa that could even hope to stand up to him. But the grandpa in question was more than likely to accept him into their midsts, he was just a big family man.

    "Uncle Dong?"

    The two looked at each other and thought back to the cultivator that saved them. They remembered his righteous appearance, how lightning crackled around him and how easily he took out those enemy cultivators. The two didn''t care about the main family or side family stuff, so they just smiled as they knew that the man had a closer bond with them.

    "D-do you think Uncle Dong is accepting disciples?"

    Liu asked while licking his lips.

    "Oh? I want to be Uncle Dong''s disciple too!"

    Xue chimed in while bouncing around in excitement.

    Their mother gave out a sigh while shaking her head, then told her children to get back to the city. She knew that a change of leadership was probably about to happen, there was no one stronger than this cousin of hers now. The thing that bothered her was mostly if this family member would be a good fit for the clan. Would he even stay? Would he rule with an iron fist? There was uncertainty ahead, but the clan needed a new strong leader and this young man was their best bet now, she hoped that it wouldn''t get violent though. She hoped that Zhang Dong didn''t have a bad temper, the previous Patriarch tended to have mood swings and a one-track mind. He also took most of the best treasures with him to that godforsaken place, which made the clan weaker in the process. He was the type of person that put himself above everyone else, she sure hoped that this new person would do the opposite.

    The family of three started going back home while Zhang Dong was lead around the main mansion grounds. There weren''t many people around as everyone was still in damage control mode. He did run into a couple of members, that just bowed at him or whispered something to each other as he passed. He was shown a big hall, where the upper clan members made decisions. There was a throne-like seat at the end of it, stairs leading up to it. You could imagine the clan head sitting there with a lofty look in his eyes, just looking down at people who had to stand up as there were no other chairs or seats around.

    In the end, he was guided to the old Patriarch''s bedchamber. The door was quite large, but the room inside was even bigger. There was a red carpet leading to a large bed, but also on the sides of that carpet, there was a pool with water. You could see many white lotuses floating about. The room''s deco was red, there were many lanterns lighting up the place that seemed to be activated with spiritual Qi. The bed had drapes hanging down from it, there were also a couple of those oriental folding screens where you were supposed to change your clothes behind.

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    In the back there was another room, it had a big pool in their water coming out of various statues. Zhang Dong could feel the spiritual energy coming from this warm water, the heat opening up his pores that just increased the intake of that condensed Qi. This place looked like a high-class hotel that millionaires or billionaires would stay in Dubai. There also was a balcony, he also wondered if he could have the ceiling open up as he didn''t want the buildings to get struck by lightning if he cultivated here. To his surprise that was already covered, as the previous Patriarch had installed a mechanism that would open up the ceiling so that moonlight could fill the bathing area.

    "I''ll think I''ll rest for a bit... thank''s for guiding me here."

    The scholarly looking man just bowed and left him inside, going back to report to the elders while Zhang Dong went straight to the bathing area. This place has something akin to a shower, it was in the form of water running out of one of the statues, looked more like a waterfall. The water was warm and it washed over his body, the stench of blood slowly fading away as he scrubbed his hands and arms thinking back to what transpired today. The emotions he felt during the battle started coming back after he was left alone. He looked at his hands that he was washing and remembered the moment he plunged his fist into the man''s face.

    He still didn''t know how he should feel about what he had done, he was feeling shame and remorse. But he also knew that the man that he killed was quite the psycho. He remembered him shouting about wanting to kill everyone from the city, with a mad look in his eyes. This made him feel better, but still, he had slain a man and perhaps he would need to do that once more. The reality of this world started slowly creeping its way towards him, but he didn''t want to be like cultivators from this world. He was already an adult by the time he was placed here, he had a set personality it would be hard to change his core beliefs.

    He knew that what he had done was out of necessity, no one in this world would hold it against him. They would probably be more surprised if he spared the guy instead, which made him chuckle.

    "Ahh... what did I get myself in to..."

    He asked out loud while sinking into the warm water, the liquid somehow soothing his mind as he closed his eyes and slowly dozed off.

 51 Chapter 51

    Matt opened his eyes, a small boy was poking his thigh. He recognized this child as it was his nephew, he looked around noticing that he was in the back yard that belonged to his cousin. He didn''t know how he got here but the youth was holding on to a ball and he wanted to play. He could see some other family members around as he stood up from his chair. The boy smiled and started kicking the ball towards him while he just kicked it back. The boy miskicked to the side that made the ball tumble away from him, so Matt decided to go after it as it was still closer to where he was.

    He bent over to pick it up, but then when he turned around there was no one around anymore. The whole place looked devoid of life, his family members nowhere to be seen. He tried calling out but no one replied, then he noticed something. The ball that he was holding had a strange texture to it, he looked down to see that he was holding on to a man''s head. The head belonged to the man that he had slain not so long ago, tears of blood were coming out of the dead looking eyes that gazed at him with disgust. He screamed out in shock waking up to find himself in the same pool that he had dozed off before.

    He panted a bit while grasping his chest for air, not much time had passed since he had entered this room and no one came to bother him. He gathered his thoughts and stood up, the water running down his muscular body as he grasped a tower that was on the side. He gave out a sigh while gathering his thoughts trying to forget about what happened today.

    *Uh, still not used to this shit."

    He frowned while walking back to the main bedchambers, pulling up his status screen to focus his thoughts at something else.

    [ Name : Zhang Dong

    Affiliation : Zhang Clan

    Spirit Points : 192084

    Cultivation Base Qi : Core Formation [Middle Stage 5%] (Lightning Core)

    Cultivation Base Body : Foundation Establishment [Great Circle 0.5%] (Silver Body)

    Techniques : Lightning Qi cultivation art, Silver Body Arts, Thunderlight Sword, Thunder Movement Art...

    Dao : Dao of Heavenly Lightning, Dao of Smithing and Crafting

    Other : Senior Aura ]

    *Guess none of those other core formation cultivators died, only got those points for the fire lord guy...*

    He didn''t manage to cripple any of the other elders in that fight, he didn''t get any spirit points for most damage done to the enemy either as you tended to get in some games. Zhang Jin had finished off the defeated cultivators, but the one that he took out at the start had gotten away, not like he really cared that much for them. He took out the ring that he got from the big baddie and scanned it with his spiritual sense, discovering quite a bit of spiritual stones in there. There were even some middle-grade ones in there, but just a handful. If he absorbed those he could probably get the next level of the crafting abode, which would let him make earth grade weapons and clothes.

    There were also some beast cores in there, some cultivation manuals and a couple of weapons. He pulled out a spear and tried to examine it.

    [ Grand Fire Spear Earth Lower Grade ]

    He wondered how much he would gain in his body tempering technique if he absorbed a weapon that was above the grade it was currently in. Previously it went up by 20% if he used high-grade weapons while being in the middle stage, so it should be at least that, might be more as this time around it was a weapon that was not just one small grade above but a whole realm above.

    *Should I try it? But it takes a while to absorb what if someone walks in?*

    He shook his head as he was still new to this place, he needed to figure out how he stood with this so-called Zhang Clan of his. He was supposed to become it''s Patriarch apparently, so he tried to remember what a Patriarch is actually supposed to do. From what he knew, they were the leaders of the Clans, some were hidden in the background and didn''t show themselves to the public while some took an active part in the Clan''s business. His grandpa told him that he shouldn''t worry too much and that he wouldn''t really need to run things.

    Matt went back to fiddling with the spear, but instead of absorbing he dumped some points to level up his apprisal skill. He wanted to know if anything would show up and it was just 100 SP for the first one. Nothing seemed to change at first, but after he kept looking at it another window popped up.

    [ Name : Grand Fire Spear

    Grade : Lower

    Attribute : Fire

    ????? : ?????

    ????? : ?????

    ????? : ?????

    ????? : ?????

    ????? : ????? ]

    *Oh, it did work. There are more stats to see now... could have figured out the attribute through the name... The rest are just question marks guess I need to invest more points to see the rest...*

    The next level cost 500 and the next one 1000, he also dumped in 2000 points to get another one in.

    [ Name: Grand Fire Spear

    Grade : Earth Lower

    Attribute : Fire

    Durability : Medium

    Condition : Fair

    Advanced Grade : C-

    ????? : ?????

    ????? : ????? ]

    *C-? is this school or something... though that would mean that it''s slightly below average if it goes from F to A ... should I dump 5000 SP to get the next level... uh... think I''ll stop for now, I''ll see how many points I have left after I clear out those spirit stones... also Zhang Jin said that he would give me more of the spoils later... He looked stingy though, hope he doesn''t scrooge out on me. Unlocked Durability and condition as well, guess that will come in handy when buying things. Don''t want a weapon that will break after one swing even if it has high attack power.*

    Matt placed the weapon back into the storage ring and started examining some other items. His Crystalline Flying Sword came out with a pristine condition with an advanced grade of A+, guess it was on the top end of high grade flying swords. He also brought up one of his skills, wondering if it would show any other statics now.

    [ Name : Lightning Qi Cultivation art (Upgradable)

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    Grade : Immortal Low

    Attribute : Lightning

    Advanced-Grade : B

    Qi Limit : High

    ????? : ????? ]

    The statics were self-explanatory, the Qi Limit just meant that he had a big gas tank, guess the higher the more Qi related attacks he could do. The thing that was the most peculiar was the ''Upgradable'' part in the brackets, he didn''t remember it being there before. He hovered his finger over that and it took him to a new menu with some more options now. But it looked like a skill tree in a game this time around, with only two options for the first branch.

    He didn''t have many options, one only said Empowered Lightning Qi Cultivation art and the other said Gray Lightning Qi Cultivation art. It kind of made it seem like it was a choice between two major schools that he had to take. He hovered his fingers to see if there was another explanation and there was.

    [ Empowered Lightning Qi Cultivation : A superior version of the Lightning Qi cultivation art, further upgrades unlock other options. ]

    [ Gray Lightning Qi Cultivation : A darker path unlocks for the cultivator that fallows this cultivation art. ]

    *I guess the gray one is the dark side choice... Though shooting black lightning at people would be cool... hope I won''t get pink lightning with the other choice...*

    He didn''t want to go with some kind of evil cultivation art, then end up looking like a wrinkled up raisin. He also wondered if this was actually a good thing. Should he upgrade his cultivation art, or get a new one later. The system said that this would last him up to the great circle of core formation, he would have to get a new one when he wanted to get to the next level. But the prices for nascent soul cultivation manuals were quite high, plus he had to reach the great circle stage first and level up his body tempering skill too.

    He looked at the skill tree from the empowered lightning qi cultivation art, he could see a skill tree leading up to the Nascent Soul. He just needed to unlock two of them to get to the Nascent soul one. There were even color options for golden, violet and azure. The colors probably meant something as the Nascent Soul would be in that color later on.

    *Hm, guess I''ll decide on that later on... *

    Also, he recalled the battle from today, then the dream he had and decided to look up something else in the cash shop.

    [ Void Mind : 20000 Spirit Points - The cultivator abandons his emotions for a sharper mind, nothing can faze a cultivator that studies this technique. ]

    [ Tranquil Mind : 30000 Spirit Points - This mind technique helps keep the cultivator''s demons at bay and helps to calm down his emotional state. It improves the state of mind to keep calm under pressure. ]

    [ Berserker''s Mind : 15000 Spirit Points - Exponential increases the cultivator''s battle strength with the side effect of entering an enraged state. ]

    He focused on the tranquil mind technique, he could really use that. He realized with the last battle that he wasn''t getting accustomed to this world fast enough, the problem was his attitude. He didn''t have that killer personality and a lot of times he froze, not knowing what to do. During this fight, he hesitated almost causing him to die in the process. He felt a bit disgruntled about killing the guy, but he knew that he was a typical murderous cultivator with a high body count. If he wanted to improve, he would have to change his mindset. He would probably have to take lives in the future, but he didn''t want to end up as a senseless murderer.

    The rest of his current skills just showed the advanced grade and instead of the Qi Limit it just showed had a marker for how much spiritual energy you needed to use the skill. Like his javelin skill was quite low, while his avatar transformation was at high. He would probably be buying some stuff after he got the rest of the things those enemy cultivators had, or at least what the Zhang Clan gramps didn''t pocket himself.

 52 Chapter 52

    He wanted to start absorbing spirit stones and spending all of them on upgrading his cultivation, as well as getting that mind skill to ease his troubled mind. But at about that moment the doors to his new penthouse apartment opened up and his good old gramps walked out with two people that were closer to Zhang Dong''s age group. The man looked a bit stern and calculative while the woman looked somewhat motherly with a smile on her face.

    He almost did a business greeting in the form of a handshake while looking at the other male from the group, but then placed his hands behind his back and gave the people a nod. The two clasped their hands as they did a formal greeting and didn''t talk, they let Zhang Jie do that instead.

    "This is Zhang Ya and Zhang Kuo, they are my disciples and can be trusted, we need to talk about a couple of things."

    The two looked up at Zhang Dong, trying to feel him out.

    "Ah, I guess you want to talk about me becoming the next Patriarch, are you sure about that Gramps?"

    The two people twitched a bit after they heard the man call their clan''s only core formation elder gramps. The man in question just grasped his belly and laughed out loud in a jolly voice.

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    "No one ever called me gramps before, but yes it''s about that. Some members are against you becoming the new Patriarch, they don''t want someone from the side family to be in that position."

    The man shrugged, kind of not caring about what those other clan members thought, he didn''t put much weight in the purity of the blood, all Zhang Clan members were equal in his eyes. He was more interested in their character, drive and actual battle prowess.

    "Well, not like they can do anything about it, they are mostly hot air. If they offend you in any way, be sure to give them a good thrashing!"

    "Also Ya and Kuo will help you out with your Patriarch duties, if you need anything just give them a call, they''ll be your guides around the clan grounds don''t need to worry about making these two work hard!"

    The man laughed some more before giving the two people behind him a pat on the shoulder. The female just smiled while the man rolled his eyes slightly.

    "It''s a pleasure to meet our Clan''s savior, it''s going to take some time to set up the ceremony and banquet."

    Matt tipped his head to the side while looking at the woman, question marks appearing next to his head.

    "Ceremony, banquet?"

    This time the man stepped out and replied.

    "Yes, the Patriarch candidate is adorned with the title during the ceremony, all the core clan members have to be present during it. After the title is bestowed we host a banquet, then it''s customary for the Patriarch to visit the city so that everyone can witness his grand appearance."

    While the man was talking the woman slowly went behind Matt and started patting him down. He noticed that she had a measuring tape in her hands.

    "We need to prepare your robes for the ceremony, your white battle robes aren''t suited for the festivities also the color isn''t very eye-catching."

    The woman said while chuckling to herself and doing her measurements, her eyes were sparkling as she did it making it seem that she was really into this task.

    "We still have to make repairs to the grand formation, account for the loss of lives in the attack and prepare for any further intrusions."

    "Do you think someone will attack us again?"

    Matt asked.

    "No Senior, we should have eliminated the core fighting strength of the clans that attacked us, the Tsai Clan will probably try to hold up in their domain, the Wu clan lost their Patriarch that was their strongest cultivator the Wong clan retained some of their cultivators but don''t think we will see them again. Due to Senior showing his power, the other Clans will probably think twice before planing anything. We should be safe for now, unless one of the stronger clans or sects gets involved."

    Matt just nodded while stretching his hands out so that the woman could measure his arms, she giggles when she managed to take the measurements of his biceps. He didn''t really tense up like the last time a woman was touching him, guess the previous encounter did change him slightly.

    "It will probably take about a month till the ceremony, you can just take your time and get used to living around here after it''s official we''ll talk about retaking our lost assets. I bet those bastards are shaking in their boots right now."

    Zhang Jin said while clenching his hand. The clan had lost most of its assets and was chased out of cities that they were managing, one of them being Moonlight City that Matt previously visited. After a while, the measurements were done and the woman excused herself to prepare the ceremonial garb, the stern-looking man also excused himself leaving Zhang Dong and Jin in the room alone.

    "I didn''t want to say it next to the juniors, but you should prepare yourself for the future. This will be turbulent times for our Clan, we might have won the battle this time but we don''t know what will happen next. The Dark Palm sect might be a problem later as well, they were the ones that forced our Patriarch to act in that failed expedition. But in their eyes we were just a tool that could be used, let''s hope they order some other clans to finish the job instead."

    The Zhang Clan was more or less a medium-sized clan, they had their territory but in reality, this belonged to the Dark Palm sect that was the real hegemon in the area. They used the clans to manage the cities and resources for them, taxing them for ''protection'' and using that to grow their sect. There was no rule against clan members joining sects, it was common for them to do so as if they were deemed worthy they would inherit powerful cultivation skills. But the further you were on the ladder the more you were expected to put the sect on a higher pedestal than your clan or previous life. That was also the reason why most sects only recruited younger members as it was easier to indoctrinate the young.

    "But you probably don''t want me to prattle on all day, so I''ll leave you be for now. Maybe if you look around your memory will return."

    Zhang Jin said while heading out, but stopped after Matt asked him a question.

    "Um, aren''t you forgetting something?"

    The man looked back at his grandson''s face, he was squinting at him and looking at a certain place. He followed that gaze and noticed that he was eyeing his storage ring. This made him sweat a bit as he thought he could pull a fast one on his grandson that might be busy with getting to know the ropes around here.

    "Oh, ho ho.... silly me... here..."

    He tossed Zhang Dong a storage ring, just one as he did say that he would have some people sort through them. He scanned its content to see some more spirit stones and resources, it looked to have similar things to what the Tsai leader''s ring had so he reckoned that was the stuff from those two other elders inside. He didn''t spot the bow that one guy used that he choked out though, did he get away or was gramps holding out on him?

    "Well, then my dear, loving grandson... grandpa will be leaving..."

    "Wait... didn''t one of them use a bow weapon..."

    Old gramps twitched and caught a couple of times into his hand, before taking out another spatial ring and tossing it over.

    "Oh, it was just such a nice bow, so I just couldn''t resist... forgive your old grandpa."

    The man laughed while looking at Zhang Dong that had a deadpan expression on his face as he pocketed the storage ring.

    "You sure are a piece of work gramps... I''ll make you something better than the bow, later on, just provide me some resources."

    Matt knew that there were enough spirit stones in those rings to let him buy the next stage of the crafting abode, then he could make earth grade weapons next.

    "Oh, you are also adept in the Dao of blacksmithing? What a talented grandson I have!"

    The man just laughed while removing himself from the room as he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, he would let Zhang Dong have some time to himself before seeing him again. The man in question just gave out a sigh while moving back to the room, he had to examine all the items and start absorbing the resources, it was time to level up!

 53 Chapter 53

    A pile of dust could be seen on the ground, it was the remains of the spirit stone that Zhang Dong had absorbed. He noticed that not every lower grade spirit stone gave him exactly ten points, they mostly ranged from seven to ten while the middle graded one gave him a hundred times that amount a pop. He now had quite enough points to spend on the crafting abode upgrade along with the tranquil mind skill which he did. He felt a slight migraine as the knowledge got injected into his brain once more, the process getting less painful each time.

    The first thing he did after that was going to the ground, spring water around. He started cultivating this skill, hoping that it would relieve the stress he was feeling. He took a long breath then exhaled, his breathing slowing down as his body relaxed. His bodily functions slowed along with his breathing, the noises beside him getting quieter with each passing moment. He felt his spiritual energy inside his body, moving through his meridians. His mind was getting clearer with each passing moment, he was becoming one with the surroundings if someone were to enter they would have a hard time spotting him even if they were looking directly at him.

    There wasn''t anything grand happening, not flashy effects taking place. Matt just sat there, his breathing was nonexistent at this point as his head was void of any thoughts. He didn''t feel fearful, angry or spiteful, he managed to reach a state of tranquility. He opened his eye, the day had turned to night as he stood up and looked outside. The city was covered in yellow lights, the springs were giving off a greenish hue as the light bounced off them.

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    "Well, it did calm me down."

    He felt the stress levels declining significantly after he was done with his cultivating, even after he recalled the death of the man he slew, he still felt relaxed.

    "I don''t feel any different..."

    He placed his thumb to his chin while doing a test, he recalled the night that the had with the busty cultivator. His lower area reacted to the stimulation, showing him that he still felt emotions. Asking your little brother was the proper way to get a feel for your emotions, yes...

    "Hm, maybe it works more on negative emotions."

    He wondered if he would be harder to anger now, but he would need to face an opponent to see if this technique would affect his fighting potential. Keeping calm under pressure was quite the big deal, he felt a lot calmer than before.

    There were some things that he wanted to do, first buy the crafting abode, then see how well he could craft the earth ranked weapons. He also wanted to get his body tempering up a notch and then try to enhance his cultivation skill to the advanced version. With those boosts, he should probably be able to fight people even stronger than at the late stage of core formation. He had a month''s time till the Patriarch ceremony was supposed to happen, so he had enough time to test things out.

    After buying the abode he entered it, it had increased in size and he noticed that there were some other things he could do now. He could edit the items now, he could also reforge old ones. For instance, if he created a high grade sword, he could reforge it with some materials like the beast cores that would improve the advanced grade and add special effects. He did some tests on the cheap common grade items, he could keep boosting the weapon past an A+ into an S grade after that it would jump a grade. So he could well just keep upgrading one weapon that he liked, instead of forging new ones in the hopes of getting the stats he wanted.

    He also needed a real weapon, he saw the limitations that his sword skill had if he paired it against an earth graded weapon. Also, he needed to constantly use up spirit energy to keep it going.

    "A shame though, it''s super cool looking."

    He lamented that he had to give up on one of his favorite skills, who didn''t like playing around with laser swords?

    "Wait there might be a way though..."

    He thought about something, what if he could find a weapon that he could combine his thunderligh sword skill. He started scrolling through the many sword diagrams he could get and after a while found something that could work. It was a longsword, it had some dragon patterns in the hilt while the blade looked to be made from some semi-transparent metal or crystal. The thing about it was that in theory it was supposed to absorb external sword skills letting the blade have a second form. So if you pumped in fire Qi into it, it would start forming a flame sword.

    He bought it, but even just the schematics cost him about 10 thousand points as it was an earth grade weapon. He wanted to try crafting right there and then, but then he looked at the costs of the resources that had increased by quite a bit. He needed to dump at least 60 thousand into making one weapon so if he failed he would be losing quite a lot. He recalled the prices for earth grade weapons on the low end and they sold for about two thousand spirit stones up to four thousand, he would need to make a middle graded one just to break even.

    *I bet this rhythm game will just get harder, I had it easy with the previous ones because my cultivation was already high. I should upgrade my cultivation technique and my body tempering before doing this.*

    He had decided on upgrading his cultivation instead of buying a new one later, he was already used to it so changing midway could be detrimental. He pulled out one of the weapons he got from fighting the enemy clan members, it was a lower graded earth weapon. He started absorbing it as he did previously with the other weapons, it took longer as this was a higher graded weapon but even with just one it pushed his cultivation of the great circle to 40%. His eyes gleamed as he took out another weapon moving his cultivation up to 80%, his silvery body started changing color slightly as it started looking somewhat golden.

    He took out another lower graded earth weapon, it slowly started dissolving into liquid metal and getting fused with his body. This time around the change was different. Many cracks could be seen on his body, they looked like spiderwebs. The sound was akin to steel bending and breaking as chunks of the first layer of his silvery skin started peeling off and drooping to the ground. The process took a while but afterward, his skin started gleaming with a golden hue.

    [ Cultivation Base Body : Core Formation [Early Stage 5%] (Golden Body) ]

    He was drenched in sweat, the golden luster subsiding after a while. Matt started poking his body, trying to feel if anything was different but couldn''t really tell. He should be sturdier now but he needed to test it out first. The bow that he had as a middle-grade weapon, plus he had the Tsai Patriarch''s saber which was also a middle graded weapon. He had absorbed three lower-tier weapons that were the flying swords of the weaker cultivators he fought. He still had that fire spear though, so he took it out.

    *Okay, hope this works...*

    Matt grasped the spear closer to the pointed tip and pointed it at his hand. He then started pushing it into his palm, trying to check if it could pierce his now improved golden body. In theory, he should be able to tank the hits and to his surprise, the spear wasn''t able to cut him. He tested it further, poking himself harder not getting more than a scratch. Then he took out the saber that was used against him previously and poked the tip with his finger. This weapon was a grade higher so after some poking he got cut, blood run onto the weapon while he pulled his hand away. The small cut healed itself rather quickly, showing that his body tempering technique wasn''t just about defense there was some added regeneration involved.

    He looked inside his storage ring, in it, he had three middle-grade weapons and 3 lower graded earth weapons, this wouldn''t get him past to the middle stage but he didn''t really want those weapons he wanted to craft one of his own for use.

    *Man, this is one expensive technique... though the good thing about it is, that it''s fast to level up if you have the resources.*

    He absorbed the rest of the weapons and then left his crafting abode, for the time being, it was time to upgrade his cultivation technique. The bathing area looked like a good place to do this, the walls were enhanced to keep the spiritual energy inside and the water in there was rich in Qi. Plus he could open up the ceiling to take in any incoming lightning strikes, he sure hoped his new neighbors wouldn''t mind some thunderous weather though.

    In the middle of the pool, there was a platform to sit on, it was directly under the roof that could be opened and was probably used by the previous Patriarch to cultivate. Matt didn''t know if the process would be painful or not, so he hesitated before clicking the Empowered Lightning Qi Cultivation upgrade and gulping afterward. The moment he did that, information started rushing into his brain again but this time around it was quite a bit more painful. Lightning energy started forming around him making rumbling sounds, the Qi inside of his body started getting switched out. The pale blue lightning that he used changed to a deeper blue color as you could see it getting discharged into the surroundings.

    The upgrade cleansed his body from some impurities that were formed during the cultivation of a lesser graded method, making his sweat glands push out dark looking goo in the process. The usual vomiting of black blood soon followed, but it was a lot less than what happened when he first arrived in this world. The change was more or less contained and he managed to not pass out in the process.

    [ Name: Empowered Lightning Qi Cultivation art (Upgradable)

    Grade: Immortal Middle

    Attribute: Lightning

    Advanced-Grade : B+

    Qi Limit: B+ ]

    Matt stood up and gathered some Qi into his fist, throwing a punch upwards into the opened ceiling and watching as his lightning attack got discharged. He sure felt a lot stronger now, he felt that he might be able to battle that volcano construct without needing to change into his avatar form and win. That monster battle power was in the upper echelons of the late stage, maybe on the cusp of getting into the great circle. In theory, he should be equal with core formation experts in the great circle realm, if he reached the late-stage himself he should be able to tussle with multiple of such opponents at once. He had the tropy cultivation art that broke the level boundaries, maybe if he upgraded it further he could go up against a weaker early-stage nascent soul cultivator.

    About a day had passed since he got to this room, but he didn''t really feel like leaving just yet as he started to get into the zone with his cultivation. He decided to sit down and gather up some energy, the process was more or less the same but the upgraded cultivation technique showed him a way to purify the energies in the surroundings even more. The purer the Qi he absorbed, the stronger he would be and this wasn''t even the final form of this technique. Soon the sky turned black and lightning bolts rained into his cultivation/bathing chamber. The clan members thought they were getting attacked but after Zhang Jin went to check up, they noticed that it was their Patriarch to be. They could feel the terrifying energy fluctuations coming out of his chambers so there weren''t willing to bother him to stop, the storm clouds only remained directly above the main building and thanks to the reinforced cultivation chamber the thunderous sounds were somewhat contained.

 54 Chapter 54

    After getting in the zone Zhang Dong breathed out, the area filled with lightning energy that crackled through the spring water. About a week had passed since he got here, he never left this room and didn''t really feel like eating during his cultivation period. His cultivation had gone up to about 20 percent which was a lot slower than before but still was quite fast if he compared it to people around this world. He wondered if it was due to the level of his cultivation method which was in the immortal grade.

    He decided to try crafting his weapon before heading outside as he was cooped up in this room for far too long, there were sights to see. So he entered his crafting abode, he had about a hundred thousand points left, this would allow him to have two goes at it at most. The things that he found in the spatial rings weren''t really useful for crafting as for this sword he needed something called crystal alloy. After he got the position he needed to check if he could get some free crafting materials as he didn''t want to spend all his points on those. He just wanted to boost his body refining skill further and maybe earn some dosh on the side.

    He selected the weapon schematics and brought out the core of the Cthulhu look-alike monster to boost his chances of crafting, he even threw in some random foundation establishment monster cores hoping for the best. A new kind of music started playing and as he thought it was a lot more fast-paced than before. But thanks to his tranquil mind he wasn''t tense, he started hitting the spots as he was directed to but even with his enhanced cultivation and body, he wasn''t able to hit everything perfectly. Maybe due to luck or the number of cores that he dumped into this crafting, he managed to get a high grade one.

    The weapon didn''t look all that grand, but after he used his thunderlight sword technique the sword started to shine, literally. The weapon got coated in plasma-like light, electricity shooting from the blade. Matt swung it around and it made familiar wooshing noises, the blade was covered with bluish light and you could feel the spiritual energy emanating from it. He didn''t really have anything he could test this weapon out on, be he felt that it would probably slice anything below a high graded earth weapon in half. He still had some points left, so he decided to dump five thousand into his apprisal skill again.

    [ Name Spirit Infusion Longsword

    Grade: Earth High

    Attribute: None

    Durability : High

    Condition : Perfect

    Advanced Grade : B

    Special traits: This weapon can fuse with the users Qi and increase its resistance and sharpness in the process. Works best if the user combines it with weapon constructs techniques. ]

    He deadpanned at the added explanation window as it was more or less the same thing he got when he was buying the blueprint for it. He left his crafting dwelling afterward he had about 45 thousand points left but he would save those for later, he didn''t really have anything he wanted to get. Maybe a technique that let him shoot beams out of his eyes? Or lightning breath? Those sounded a bit silly but probably would catch people off guard. Maybe he could come up with his own techniques if he tried, he had the Qi control down and he had that Dao of lightning knowledge. He also didn''t have many healing pills left, so maybe it would be good to stock up on those for later use. He could regenerate somewhat, but that required him to pump his spiritual energy into his body refining technique. So maybe some Qi regeneration pills would be good too.

    He also found out something after he examined his clothes after the special trait window got revealed he found out that was more to these clothes than just self mending. These white robes could actually change color and also blend into the environment if you didn''t move for much. All of this could be done by inserting some spiritual energy and giving a special command to the robes. He could even upgrade them to add new functions, but it didn''t come cheap.

    Matt played around changing the color to black and red, then blue. Guess if he covered his head with the hood no one should recognize him as the cultivator in white if he ever needed to lay low. For the time being he changed it back to white as he walked out of the previous Patriarch''s room, well now it was his. There were some people around so he just gave them a nod while passing, they seemed a bit tense as they saw him walking towards them but they just gave him the usual bow of respect.

    He felt kind of strange walking around this place, everyone was showing him the utmost respect, no one talked to him. Was it rude to talk to someone of a higher status than you? Or were they just being shy, well not like he wanted to talk to the unknown people he was still an introvert that liked his peace and quiet. But now he had to take center stage on some kind of inauguration ceremony to his new position. It was already a big step for him that he didn''t just refuse the position and leave this clan instead. But he would rather stay here, than wonder the lands as some rouge cultivator with no place to call home. Also, they had quite the nice springs around here, Matthew was quite fond of taking long relaxing baths.

    After walking for a bit he noticed that someone was walking behind him when he turned around there was no one to be seen. He could feel the presence of two people behind the corner, they had been following him for some time now. Were they some bodyguards that were supposed to keep tabs on him or something? Were they assassins that were sent by some vengeful clan? Probably not as the two people were in the Qi Condensation level, he could probably snort them to death at this point.

    "So, are you two going to come out. Or are you going to be following me for the rest of the day?"

    He crossed his arms over one another while waiting, soon the stalkers were revealed. It was the brother and sister duo that showed a lot of courage while standing up to the Tsai clan pursuers. The two teenagers walked out while holding their heads down, probably not knowing what to say to the man in front of them.

    "Oh, you''re the two kids from last time, glad you are safe. Did you two want something from me?"

    The two raised their heads, perking up a bit as they were glad that their uncle remembered them.

    "Uncle Dong, we just wanted to thank you for what you did."

    The girl said while bowing in a graceful fashion, Matt raised an eyebrow at the ''uncle'' part. Most people would put Senior in there, or even in front of the uncle part, but those two made it seem like he was their real uncle. Did he have any siblings that he didn''t know about?

    "Uncle?"

    He looked at the two children in front of him, trying to see the resemblance. They looked more or less like what your typical male lead and female lead in a cultivation world. They had dark hair, auburn eyes, the girl was a jade-like beauty, though to him she just looked pale. The boy had a serious-looking face, a bit too serious for his age.

    "Ah yes, our father was your cousin..."

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    He noticed the change of tone when the girl''s father was mentioned, she also slumped her shoulders a bit. The boy replied afterward instead.

    "Our father went to the expedition with the previous Patriarch, they never returned..."

    Zhang Dong placed his hand on the male''s shoulder, not really knowing how to react so he kind of gave him an awkward pat on it.

    "My condolences, I''m sure he was an honorable man. I''m sorry about not recognizing you two, I left the clan a while ago and my memories are a bit hazy from that time..."

    He tried to change the uncomfortable subject, wondering what these two wanted from him.

    "Great-grandpa Jin told us about that, no need to apologize uncle Dong!"

    *Great-grandpa Jin? So that would mean that they are from his side of the family? That would mean...*

    He figured out that him being from the side family, would mean that old gramps had a harem going for himself. He shuddered at the thought of having multiple family members that would start popping up from nowhere.

    "Ah yes, Gramps... So, what do you two need?"

    He rubbed his chin while looking at the kids that started fidgeting side to side a bit. It looked as if they were trying to ask about something but weren''t sure how to do it. After a moment both of them looked at each other, nodded to themselves and dropped down to their knees to kowtow.

    "Please Uncle Jin, take us in as your disciples!"

    They both shouted in unison while their foreheads hit the marble floor. Matt started recalling that tribe he met in the forest, as they were fast to drop to their knees.

    "Wait, what?"

 55 Chapter 55

    The two were prostrating themselves in front of the man, he was a bit dumbfounded by the whole thing. He didn''t know anything about teaching people or guiding them in any way shape or form.

    "You want me to be your master? I just met you two. Why would I even take you in as disciples?"

    The two kept their heads down, not looking into his eyes while trying to get his approval.

    "Please honorable Uncle, we want to be strong to protect the Clan. We almost lost everything before you arrived, we can''t let it happen again."

    The girl from the group did most of the talking, while the boy mostly just said yes and nodded his head, which only caused him to hit the ground with his forehead. The whole scene was quite uncomfortable for Matt as he had no idea how to even train those two if he agreed, also this would be quite the long term binding contract. Masters in the cultivation world tended to be treated as your own parents, sometimes they were put on an even higher pedestal. He didn''t really want to be responsible for teaching them some strange things, which would get them killed later on.

    "Don''t think that''s a good idea... I need to go take care of a couple of things... so see you around..."

    He just bolted out of there, trying not to think about it too much. The kids would probably forget about it, leaving him alone. Also due to the fact that he didn''t eat much for the past week when he was cultivating and making items, he was famished. He wondered if he should just go to the city and find himself a restaurant, or ask someone about food, he could probably get some here if he wanted. Matt was curious about the city though, it looked nice from the top of his peak top apartment. Would it be a problem if people recognized him in the streets? Though not many people had actually seen his face.

    He looked around, there were some people here and there doing their thing. No one was really keeping tabs on him, he didn''t have any bodyguards as no one in their right mind would want to attack a cultivator that could take out four core formation cultivators. He figured ol'' gramps probably gave the order to not interfere in his business too much unless asked directly. Matt thought that he would probably get the rundown of the place only after he officially got the Patriarch spot.

    For not he just hopped onto his sword and flew around the city a couple of times before coming down into an empty alleyway. He swapped the color of his robe to a brown one, this being quite common. He finished his disguise by covering his head with his hood, he also debated on putting on some cool shades to hide his eyes but have up on the idea. A cultivator with dark shades would just look out of place around here. Also, he could use his cultivation to mask his appearance somehow. If people tried looking at his face they would see it blur slightly, but that only worked for people below his strength level.

    He mingled with the crowd, slipping from the empty alleyway. He Hit some stalls on the way, getting some noodles and slurping them as he continued to walk. There were quite a lot of things to see, from street performers playing on their zithers to various monuments and statues. He had spirit stones and regular money so he wasn''t a scrooge as he tipped the street dancers while enjoying the day.

    The day seemed quite peaceful, he walked into one of the larger restaurants that looked quite busy. By this time he knew how things worked in these types of places. The people with more money would get better treatment, in most restaurants the higher you were seated the greater your status was. So after flashing the serving lady some spirit stones he was guided upwards into a more peaceful booth where there weren''t as many people around. He ordered something similar to kung pao chicken, though the paultry used for it had some spiritual Qi in it so the taste was somewhat better. Spirit Spring city also was quite famous for its spirit mineral water, so he ordered that with it instead of alcohol.

    He thanked the cute serving girl that brought him his food and then started munching, the view outside the window reminded him a bit of the previous city he visited. He hoped that he wouldn''t bump into some spoiled brats on his way out though, as this time around they would probably belong to the Zhang clan. It would be quite the sight to see if the future patriarch would get run down by his own clan members. The thought of brats made him recall the two kids that begged him to become their sensei, he wondered if that would even be possible. He brought up his system screen, by this time he was quite sure no one was able to see it beside him.

    *Would this thing even help me with disciples and stuff like that, didn''t it give me some prompt about clan building when I got here...*

    This system was kind of wonky, it would sometimes hide things from him and only show them later. Was there some kind of trigger for it, maybe his power level counted or some steps needed to be taken to unlock things? He glanced at his system screen, it looked like a computer screen just hovering there. His eyes twitched as there was indeed a new icon there, it looked like a scroll with some Chinese symbols on it. He poked at it while wondering what was inside. As the window changed he could see that there wasn''t much inside, but there were a couple of tabs. There was one for disciples when he clicked it the inside was just empty. There was also one for disciple candidates, that showed up with a red ''!'' mark. It looked like a friend invite, but there was more. He could see a window with some statics for both of them.

    [Name : Zhang Liu

    Age: 16

    Cultivation : Qi Condensation 9th level

    Potential : B

    Trust: 70%

    Alignment: Chaotic Good ]

    [ Name: Zhang Xue

    Age:15

    Cultivation: Qi Condensation 7th level

    Potential: B

    Trust: 75%

    Alignment: Neutral Good ]

    He looked at the prompts and numbers, taken aback by the D&D styled alignment one. Also, the trust percentage was quite high, was me saving them enough to bring it up so high? The potentials were the same and quite high, B should probably be above average as you started off from F with the worst kind.

    *I guess they have potential, but wait... if this is letting me see those stats... could it be possible to change their potential later?*

    The system was quite overpowered it had really many functions, but it also needed a lot of points to run on he didn''t think changing someone''s actual inborn potential would come cheap.

    *I do have all those manuals in my storage ring, they always appear after I buy skills and I have all the ones I got from the start too.*

    He had all the materials he needed to teach people his skills, even the Dao of lightning passive skill had a big manual coming with it. The techniques had basic manuals for Qi condensation practitioners if it was feasible for them to learn a weaker version of it. Like his cultivation art went from the noobie stages up to the core formation stage. The stages you needed to take to go from Qi condensation to foundation establishment, forming your lightning Dao pillars were all explained. He also had the knowledge in his brain, so in theory, he should be able to teach plus if the system let him spend points on his disciples it would be even easier.

    The two seemed like promising candidates, they were good kids and had high potential but he was still on the fence about the whole thing. He was never really good with people, to begin with, now someone wanted him to guide them while he himself didn''t really have things figured out. But maybe this would also be a good way for him to come out of his shell. For now, he moved the thought to the back of his mind and went back to eating, he wasn''t really in a hurry. He finished his meal but was still quite hungry so he wondered what he should order next while looking at the menu.

    At the same time, he could hear a woman''s scream followed by some plates breaking. When he turned around he could see some people sitting in a booth not far away from him, bothering the serving lady that was serving him before.

    "Oh little missy, look what you did. You dropped all the food."

    The man laughed while the girl was hiding her rear end behind the serving tray. Probably one of the men had touched her there.

    "You perverts!"

    The woman replied while fuming with anger.

    Matt kind of facepalmed as these things kept happening around him, wherever he went there were some people in trouble. Some damsel or kids in distress. Did he really have to go over there, or could someone else handle this, weren''t there any bodyguards around here?

    One guy from there was in the foundation establishment level, probably the leader the rest were probably just his goons.

    "Listen here girly, big bro here is a big shot in a big clan, you little Zhang clan can''t hold a candle to it! Be glad that he showed interest in you!"

    The big bro in question was a sleazy looking man, he just licked his lips and yanked on the girl''s wrist making her fall into his lap.

    Zhang Dong doubted that claim to fame, as the group was quite shady-looking and didn''t conduct themselves as people from a prominent clan. Their clothes were quite shabby as well, so they clearly were low on cash.

    *Aw shit, here we go again.*

    He was slowly getting used to this, so he just stood up from his seat and slowly walked over to the booth the goons were sitting in. They quieted down after seeing the unknown cultivator. They tried to say something, but before they could do anything the man grasped their leader by the face, lifting him up while not letting him speak. The man thrashed about, kicking, punching and trying to move Zhang Dong''s hand away, but to his horror, it wasn''t budging at all. The whole group kind of figured that this man was strong from the way that their leader was just squirming around not being able to break free.

    The female escaped and went behind Matt who turned his head to her and asked.

    "Hey, could you open that window miss?"

    While the girl was still getting ahold of herself he tested something out. He could only analyze people''s names and cultivation levels from afar. But what if he had direct contact like when he identified items. It did work, the man did indeed lie about belonging to a clan he also had a fitting name for his attitude.

    [ Name : Hoo Dung

    Age: 65

    Cultivation: Foundation Establishment early stage

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    Affiliation: Dung Gang

    Alignment: Chaotic Neutral ]

    *Dung Gang huh? Well, at least he isn''t evil...*

    The girl looked back nodding, she didn''t say much and just followed the order. As soon as the window was open, the cultivator walked over to it, just holding the thug with one hand while his feet dangled around. The rowdy character was chucked out of the window, he made a nice arc before falling face-first into a pile of horse excrement.

    "Hah, bullseye!"

    He then turned back to the rest of the thug squad while shrugging.

    "You guys still here?"

    The group looked at each other and then started running to get to their ''captain'' just leaving the place altogether while hanging their heads low.

    "Hey miss, could you bring over some meat dumplings?"

    He sat back in his booth while the female employee thanked him, the restaurant owner showed up later to as he was grateful as well. Security around here had dropped since the Zhang Clan was busy with other things like the siege and the Patriarch ceremony so they didn''t blame them that much. Matt just ate his fill, probably staying there another hour as he got a good deal.

 56 Chapter 56

    Time moved on, his daily routine consisted of cultivating in the night, getting three hours of sleep as he didn''t need more, going to the city to sightsee and eat delicious meals. Then go back to the Zhang Clan stronghold while trying to evade the two teenagers that pestered him about accepting them as his disciples. He started noticing a strange occurrence though, whenever he went out to town.

    The man was just enjoying the sights while trying to tour the ten million large city, but whenever he did that trouble was always around the corner. Not for him though, but for other random people. Just like on the first-day things seemed to go astray as he kept running into people that got mugged, assaulted or were brawling.

    On one occasion two fathers were duking it out, punching each other left and right while their kids watched. Apparently one of the father''s sons had asked for the other dad''s daughter''s hand in marriage. But that one strongly disagreed so they got into a fight, one claiming that his daughter was too good for the likes of them, while the other got offended. He found himself pacifying the situation and forcing the family to talk it out like civilized people while he watched.

    In the end, he ended up handing over one Qi enrichment pill to the people as a gift. They were in one of the rings he got earlier so he didn''t care much about it, but the people sure did. The people even wanted him to be part of the family after they got all buddy-buddy with each other. But he was afraid that they would try to milk him dry if he ever accepted to do that.

    At one point he wondered if he should change his robe to a black color and put a bat symbol on his chest. The amounts of robbers he beat up and sexual harassers was quite high, he didn''t know if it was just how things were around here or if someone had put some kind of curse on him. Well, it would be a lie if he said that he didn''t enjoy beating up the baddies the man having a bit of a hero complex, but when you did it all the time, every day, it started to weight on him. When he got that Patriarch position he would be sure to form some kind of police force. He couldn''t be busting up criminal rings while being the king of the city himself.

    Though, he was doing the exact thing at the moment. It was less than a week till the Patriarch ceremony, so the clan members were busy with that. He was eating a shish kebab while walking, he wasn''t sure where he was but by the banners outside the buildings, it was probably a similar place to the pleasure district in Moonlight city. While he was walking past one of the alleys he heard some muffled screams, his senses were quite up there so he stopped. Two people were in front of that alleyway, probably some goons to scare off others as they were giving him the stink eye.

    He just went over there nonchalantly and took a peek behind them while the two were shouting things like ''Do you want to die'' and ''F**k off bastard''. Sure enough, there was a woman getting held down by some goons. He gave out sigh and then looked at the two shouting men in front. He did something he saw in cartoons or movies, he grabbed the two by the heads, bumping their heads together and then tossing the two to the side. The people inside pulled out their weapons, one of them swinging his scimitar right at him but he just caught it between his index and middle finger. After disabling that attacker with a little jolt of electricity via the metallic weapon he moved forward. The other two were soon down on the ground with some missing teeth and broken noses.

    This wasn''t the end though, the woman in question started begging him to help rescue her sister that was abducted by the baddies in question. Guess he stepped in on a human trafficking situation, he just shrugged and told the girl to lead the way. He was a bit surprised by the fact that there were things like this taking place in this city. He thought the Zhang Clan wouldn''t allow such things to happen, but later it was revealed that yes they were a lot better than the other clans. But still, some people could still be bought out they just kept things more secrete. So there weren''t things like what the young bratty masters did back in Moonlight city.

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    This made Zhang Dong mad, he didn''t want to have people forced into a life of prostitution. While some Zhang clan official turned a blind eye while getting paid some spirit stones. He wanted to go back to the clan abode to get some people to check this stuff out, but the girl was just yanking on his robe and crying. So, after giving out another sigh he told the woman to show him the way, what happened next was people flying out of windows like in an old western saloon scuffle. He was just too strong for them, without needing to use any of his Qi cultivation he just walked in the building, weapons shattering and denting the moment they touched his reinforced body.

    In the end, he brought the big crime boss to one of the Zhang Clan''s establishments, they were scattered around the city and told one of the people there to go get Zhang Kuo. He was still covering his face, plus he wasn''t that known so the clan member inside didn''t really want to listen. That was until he released some of his cultivation on him. After Kuo got here, he told him about the whole thing and wanted the man to get apprehended. Zhang Kuo didn''t argue, he just looked at the beat-up man and some girls that were standing behind him, the girls were the ones that he saved from the baddies.

    The man was quite good at organizing things, so he had the man brought in while having the women questioned about their situation. The Patriarch to be wanted him to get them back to their families or if they didn''t have any to organize a place they could work at instead. He thought this was a bit too excessive for the Zhang Clan to get involved this much, but it was a noble endeavor and his boss gave the order so he couldn''t really refuse.

    After acting as a vigilante, he returned home to find Liu and Xue sitting by the entrance to his room. They were kowtowing there for close to two weeks, not moving an inch even when their mother came over to pick them up. He was slowly feeling bad for them, did those two even pee?

    *God damn you brats, I have no idea how to teach you anything...*

    He hid inside his room and bit his lower lip.

    *Will those two just sit there till they are skeletons? Their mother was giving me strange looks lately...*

    When he looked at the Disciple tab, there was not much he could do. He couldn''t even remove the disciple candidates in the system or accept them, he figured he needed to tell them that he accepted it. He had that senior aura, but most it did was just make people agree with him more.

    [ Impartation of Knowledge (Upgradable) : 30000 - Teaching was never this easy, all your disciples will absorb your teachings like sponges with just a touch of your finger. Skills and techniques thought this way will transfer a faint amount of the mentor''s knowledge into the student.]

    [ Imposing Will: 35000 - This skill makes your disciples listen to you more, increasing their blind devotion towards you. ]

    [ Mentor''s Eyes: 20000 - Having trouble with picking up the flaws of your students? With this skill, you''ll be able to see any shortcomings that your pupil is experiencing. ]

    *I guess if I want some devoted minions that ''Imposing Will'' would be good. But don''t really want some crazy zealots. The other two will help me teach them faster while picking up on the flaws in their cultivation...Should I try it...*

    He gathered a bit more points during these weeks, getting some clan resources and making weapons without having to spend points of them. But the earnings were so-so. He had enough to get those to skills, also he had a hunch that he might be needing those skills in the future to make the Zhang Clan stronger.

    After buying them he looked at his mirror, checking if he wasn''t looking funny.He then opened the door and said in a stern sounding voice.

    "Liu... Xue..., stop sitting around there and get in here."

    The two youths moved their heads up after they heard the words, they looked slightly emaciated but were in high spirits after they heard their uncle''s voice. They closed the door behind them and looked at Zhang Dong that had his hands behind his back while standing up straight.

    "So, do you two want to become my disciples?"

    The two looked at him nodded and replied excitedly in unison.

    "Yes, Uncle!"

    "My cultivation techniques are very volatile. If you fail in your cultivation, it will mean certain death."

    He said with a frown on his face as the lightning Qi that he used was quite chaotic and hard to use. If the cultivator made a mistake the backlash could kill them. This was probably why the rank of his cultivation was up there. While asking he moved his hand out, electricity crackling through his fingers as he demonstrated.

    The two kids gulped while looking at that lightning Qi, they were quite gifted so they knew that what the man in front of them was doing, wasn''t that easy. But they made their decision long ago, they would risk it.

    "Also, you must give up on your revenge, extinguish your rage. Pursuing power for revenge leads to many demons in your Dao Heart, this will delay your progress significantly and at worst, will cost you, your life!"

    He wasn''t lying as this was the truth in this world, the knowledge that he was implanted with told him that. Inner demons were created from negative emotions and unless you were planning on cultivation some demonic technique you were better of without them.

    "If you agree then you may call me master."

    He said while opening up his hands, the bottom side of his palms pointing at each individual in front as if he was beckoning them forward.

    The two thought about for a second before, kowtowing one last time. Then replied, determination in their voice.

    "Yes, Master!"

    [ Accepted Zhang Liu as your disciple! ]

    [ Accepted Zhang Xue as your disciple! ]

    [ Gained 10000 Spirit points for accepting your first disciple, congratulations! ]

    He perked up at the prompts, he thought that he might be able to earn points by training disciples as otherwise, he would be spending resources and not getting much in return while others got stronger. Guess he could become the greatest disciple trainer in the world!

    *I can even feed them pills to get stronger and choose their move set...*

    Matt wasn''t a person of this world, so he didn''t really get the whole Master - Disciple dynamic that well. He wasn''t against teaching kids some things here and there but wasn''t really thinking about the cult-like behavior disciples mostly had towards their masters. The more he would teach them, the more devoted they would get. This could be a double-edged sword, but the kids didn''t look like the type to get into trouble, he sure hoped that his trouble attracting aura wouldn''t rub off on them.

 57 Chapter 57

    After seeing the prompts, Matt noticed that Xue and Liu''s faces were now in his disciple window. When he clicked on them he could see all their statics, how far they were into their cultivation what skills they had learned, and how well they knew those skills. They all had the usual low, mid, high and perfect grading, so it was easy to figure out.

    Zhang clan being a Clan based in a city full of springs made them mostly have water techniques, maybe this was the reason why the Tsai clan that was fire types hated their guts so much. Now he would have to make a decision, to either buy new water-based techniques for the kids or just teach them what he had already. He didn''t think there was a reason to do the earlier, as his cultivation method was superior to the other ones. He also had many resources dumped into his lightning Dao way, that it wouldn''t really make sense unless the kids didn''t have the aptitude for it.

    First, he needed to change their main cultivation method, only after that could he start teaching them his techniques. Then, he might need to get them a better body tempering skill, he didn''t want to give them his as it was far to resource-heavy. Maybe it would give them an initial boost as the first levels would be easy, but later on, when the resources get scarce it would become a problem. They had no system to help them craft weapons that they could absorb, this type of technique was only good for people that were loaded.

    "Take a seat you two."

    He beckoned them over, letting them sit down while he stood up, brows furrowed slightly before he began speaking.

    "Qi Condensation, you take in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth from the surroundings, to temper your body from the inside. You prepare your body for your foundation. You two have already started, but luckily it is not yet too late."

    "The breathing techniques that you have learned allow you to extract Qi from the surroundings, filtering out the water elements and then storing them inside of your body. My cultivation method is a bit different."

    Zhang Dong said as he stuck out his index finger and pointed it at his new disciples. After a moment the two could see a Qi bubble forming in front of it, but it was a bit odd. It was weaker than normal and didn''t seem to have any elemental energy inside. But after a moment it started crackling, turning a deeper shade of blue as it appeared in the form of a small lightning bubble.

    "You don''t just gather the spiritual energy, you transform it, feel the heavens around you, bend them to your will!"

    He kind of recited what the knowledge in his head was telling him, it sounded like hogwash but the two kids were eating it up. He also had to agree with it because he was actually pulling out heavenly lightning from thin air. But he didn''t plan on making many speeches though, as he took that handy Impartation of Knowledge technique. He did have the books on him, but he didn''t want to explain everything like a math teacher when he could just upload stuff directly into the brain. Also, the skill had a small bonus of already giving the one that was receiving it some proficiency in it. The first steps were always hard, so this was a big plus. He also could spend points to upgrade it later, so that the impartation would let the pupil learn more from the get-go.

    "I''ll impart my cultivation technique for the Qi condensation level to you, but also another technique. It''s called the Tranquil Mind, I want you to study it first before you attempt cultivating my Lightning Qi Cultivation Art."

    He thought that the bonus from the tranquil mind technique would aid the kids in keeping a calm mind, so they wouldn''t make a blunder during the cultivation period. The two were giddy with anticipation as their Master walked over and placed his index finger on Liu''s forehead. The two didn''t know what Zhang Doong was doing as they have never seen a teaching technique like this.

    "You might feel a tiny bit of pain... so endure."

    Before Liu could nod he felt information rushing into his head, he could feel discomfort penetrating his mind and sweat going down his forehead. He never felt something like this before, the knowledge of the tranquil mind, the cultivation art and even the Dao of lightning was getting shoved into him. The whole thing didn''t take long but the poor teenager almost passed out during it. The Dao of lightning was probably the hardest to comprehend, as it was the absolute principle of lightning.

    *Uh, maybe it''s too much information at once? I managed to survive that info dump... they should be okay, it''s a lot less info than what I had to endure.*

    He went over to the girl that was shivering slightly now but there still was determination in her eyes. She survived the headache but was rubbing her poor forehead while on the ground trying to process the information.

    "I have imparted the basic teachings to you two, you can head back and start cultivating after you rest up. Also, take these and copy them down, don''t show them to anyone else, then return them to me."

    He handed them the cultivation manuals with the techniques as well, the impartation skill wasn''t perfect they might need the techniques in written form for reference and the system didn''t have a copy function. The two teenagers wobbled out of his chambers while grasping their heads, he might have overdone it but he smirked a bit as he wasn''t the only one who had to endure migraines while learning new things.

    *Haha, you two are young you can power through it.*

    *I think that should take them a while to process before I have to teach them other things, but I sure would like to have a body refining technique for them... one that lets them get to the nascent soul at least...But those would be in the heavenly grade, those don''t come cheap.*

    He had spent most of his points now, he wondered if he could get Zhang Jin to fork up some spirit stones that he could absorb, or maybe he could get their mom to do it, but she was a widow now so he thought that would be inappropriate.

    "Wait, there are those upgradable skills... maybe I can buy one that starts at the Qi Condensation stage but I can upgrade it all up to the Nascent soul stage... maybe even higher."

    That was the good thing about those upgradeable skills, they might end up costing more in the end but you could use them at a lower level. A person at the Qi Condensation level couldn''t use Core formation skills even though they were of a higher grade, they required just too much Qi to use. But not like someone with no body refining skill would be weak. Qi cultivators were more of a mage class, while body refiners were more akin to warriors. The strongest people cultivated both, but most of the time one path was the main one while the other was just a bonus.

    Like Zhang Dong mostly used his Qi cultivation instead of his body, but that was mostly due to his body refining being behind his Qi cultivation but now it had finally caught up. So he would probably win against someone with a similar Qi cultivation if their body refining level was low, as he would take less damage and tire himself out less.

    His Qi cultivation was of a high level, so the kids didn''t need a super hard to learn body refining technique more or less something to add to their repertoire would suffice. But he still wanted it to be somewhat good. There were a lot of techniques that could be upgraded and had skill trees to them, but none of the attack ones he had. That kind of evolved as he upgraded his cultivation technique. He also had a skill tree for his body refining technique, but he couldn''t up the grade but instead, he had attacks that he could unlock.

    The copper body skill let him choose a grasping technique, his fingers would become metallic and his griping power would increase exponentially. He had already gotten that and tested it out, it also got a free buff when he rose his level of cultivation. The silver body let him deliver explosive strikes with his fists and legs, as they also changed to metal. He could also raise his defense past his cultivation realm for a brief moment. The golden body let him go into a special state he would perceive time slower while moving faster, so it was more or less a boost in speed and reaction time. All in all, it let him fight better at close range while using up his stamina instead of his spiritual energy.

    *But wait, the upgraded skills work on me as I have the system, can I upgrade them if someone else learns it..."

    He didn''t take that into account, he was the person with the system. He could buy skills but he had to use them himself to get the required knowledge to pass on. So he checked out his cash shop and found another way. Some skills could be bought a tome at a time if needed. So he could buy the first tome of the skill and pass it on, then when they were done with it just get the second tome without having to pay the whole price for the skill or technique upfront.

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    So while his new disciples were bumbling with their cultivation efforts, Zhang Dong took his time in examining the body refining skills. He also was really close to becoming the Patriarch, he sure hoped that nothing wrong would happen during the ceremony.

    [ Behemoth Body (Tome 1):2000 - Cultivator absorbs demon beast cores to enhance the body. Gains monstrous strength can transform body parts like nails into claws. Practitioners might experience violent tendencies. ]

    [ Profound Physique (Tome 1) 2900 - Through rigorous training, tempering and absorption of heaven and earth energies the cultivator can transform their body into the perfect weapon. Mostly focus on defense and power. ]

    [ Devil''s Frame (Tome 1): 3500 - By performing specific rituals, the practitioner can gain the body of a devil, it boasts high regenerative abilities. ]

    [ Sylph Physique (Tome 1): 2850 - Suited for female cultivators, it focuses on speed and evasion instead of resistance. While still giving a moderate increase in defense and regeneration. ]

    He didn''t find anything out of the ordinary, the Behemoth Body seamed good as it only needed beast cores but the violent tendency part was a bit iffy. The Devil one was out of the question, he didn''t want his disciples slaughtering infants. The profound one looked like your regular body refining skill, with no downsides besides being hard to learn. It looked like it would boost the cultivator''s skills without the mental or moral downsides. The Sylph one would probably suit his female disciple, while the profound one would be better for the male one. He would give those later to his disciples, maybe he could even give it to some other clan members as those looked to be good high grade all around refining techniques. Plus it was just for the Qi condensation level, so they was rather cheap.

    There was also one other thing he learned while he was examining the cultivation manuals that he got from the core formation cultivators he defeated. When he examined it with his system out, he noticed that he could actually refine the cultivation techniques. Also, the costs were lower. He would pay less for upgrading a low earth graded skill to a high earth graded skill than to buy a new high graded skill. So maybe if he got his hands on those water cultivation tomes that the clan had, he could upgrade them. It would be probably better to learn a better version of a technique you were already familiar with than to start practicing a new one.

    For now, he didn''t have many points left so he just resumed his daily activities the day of the ''coronation'' was coming.

 58 Chapter 58

    His progress had slowed down with time, the Qi around the place was also thinning out as he was absorbing it at an increased rate. His cultivation was above 50% but it started stagnating. The good thing was that even without achieving a breakthrough he was getting stronger. Each percentage counted, he was a lot stronger at 50% than he was at 1% of the middle stage. Plus he had managed to get his body cultivation into the middle stage as well.

    He wore a golden robe as the patriarch ceremony was uppon him, looking kind of regal as Zhang Ya was fixing him up. He was even wearing a strange ceremonial hat, which made him look like a pope or sect leader. The hat had some strange strings with small beads attached to them that just dangled around. The sleeves were very long and wide, this was certainly not a robe meant for fighting. He looked at himself in the mirror while his attendant was fixing up his clothes, he wanted to crawl into his bed and hide, due to his silly appearance.

    "Patriarch, you look stunning. I bet all the prominent clans in the area will send marriage proposals as soon as they see your stunning appearance."

    The woman said in an excited fashion.

    This didn''t help at all, as Matthew didn''t really feel like getting married. He also knew how things worked around here, the marriages were mostly political and were meant to bind clans together while the parents were supposed to pop out babies like crazy. Well not like he had much against the baby-making procedure, but he would rather do it with someone who actually liked him. He still remembered that one woman just running away the moment she heard his clan name.

    *Well, I''m the Patriarch so they can''t force me to marry anyone. If someone tries, I''ll force them to marry a goat! That will show them! I''ll even bring some spirit grass for the goat as a wedding present.*

    He was slightly nervous but quite less as his tranquil mind was in full effect. He just needed to do a couple of those breathing exercises and he was good to go. He had been living in this place for a month now, he had met some of the elders and core members for the clan. But he was quite bad at remembering names, it was even worse to attach those names to faces that kind of blurred together. So most of the time he ended up just nodding while greeting people.

    Zhang Ya had explained everything to him, but he went through it once more in his head. First came the ceremony in the main building hall, everyone from the core members would be there. He would get the official title there, he would have to sit down on that big throne and get greeted by everyone which could take a while. After that, he was supposed to go to the mausoleum and pay his respects to his ancestors. A lot of this involved kowtowing and getting kowtowed back, these people sure had a thing for that, he liked handshakes more. Following that, he would have to get on a magical platform that worked like a flying sword. He would have to show himself to the citizens and either say something wise or just wave at them and nod. Then came the strange parade through the city ending it all with some kind of banquet where more people were invited to. The clan would receive gifts from other clans, which was more or less a friendly gesture to keep good relations. He wasn''t expecting much as the clan was in decline, so there weren''t many other powers trying to get on their good side just yet.

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    *This is going to be a long day...*

    He gave out a sigh and headed out, it was time to get this over with as the day had only started. The whole thing was supposed to take quite a bit, the banquet was taking place at night so till then he would be greeting people while stoically looking at them. Zhang Jin gave a long-winded speech about the Clan''s future, that the families should come together to form bonds or something like that. Matt wasn''t really listening as he was trying not to fall asleep during it. Afterward, many people came over to pay their respects, some people he remembered some were new. He kind of waved his hand about while nodding, playing the role of a more silent lord but it was mostly due to not knowing what to say.

    This took a good chunk of the day, there were many clan members as he kind of underestimated the massive size of his clan. Some looked happy, some looked dejected as the side families kind of forced their way into the whole ceremony proclaiming that if the Patriarch was from a side family as well, they had the right to be there. The raining grand elder had set this all up, these were troubling times so the clan needed unity more than tradition. Some people almost started fighting, but with one good snort they quieted down fast.

    After that was done the mausoleum part was next, he was alone kneeling in front of some statues and graves. He just lit some incense sticks here and there while bowing at the ''ancestors''. He felt kind of weird doing this as he had no relation to these people whatsoever, besides the system bestowing him with the body of the so-called Zhang Dong. He had thought a bit about that, was this a game world? Or was this just some parallel world and he now inhabited the real Zhang Dong''s body that existed in reality. Maybe the owner of this body died during the battle with the monster that slew his parents. He just got inserted into it, though that would be unlikely as he was the one that picked the name.

    He was leaning into the direction of a godly being making this whole world, for some shits and giggles. Probably watching him dance like a puppet while laughing. This was kind of unsettling but he couldn''t do much about it.

    Next up, was the part he wanted to do the least, his public appearance. He was radiating his senior aura at max while looking down at the people, there was a huge about of them. It looked like a sea of people crammed into a small space, just looking up at him while he focused on his tranquil mind technique and recalled what he wrote down beforehand. Even though he remembered it mostly from movies and games... Thus he started speaking with a slow steady voice.

    "This day does not belong to one man, but to all! Let us together rebuild this Clan, this city, that we may share in the days of peace."

    "In order to succeed in this endeavor called life, we must come together with one heart, one mind, one love, and one determination"

    "Unity is strength, division is weakness only together can we achieve greatness!"

    "Individually we are but a drop of water, but together we are an ocean!"

    He tried quoting some political propaganda that he remembered from some internet surfing back in the day, but he wasn''t sure if it was working as you could hear a pin drop after he was done with his speech. But soon cheers could be heard around the whole city, probably because most of the people in this world had a big individualistic mindset, gaining power for themselves to raise up in society. The whole ''Work together'' thing was a bit new. While the people on the bottom pole were eager to share and work together, the people on the top would probably still cling to their resources.

    He just waved and flew along the road as the parade started, the platform he was on had a big throne on it. So he looked like some lofty magical king just floating while getting escorted by traditionally dressed clan members. The people looked quite happy to have him there, which made him glad but he just wanted to get out of these uncomfortable clothes also he was really bored.

    While he was just sitting there he decided to see how his disciples were doing, he hadn''t seen them much in the past week. The last time was just after they returned him his original manuals to the skills he gave them.

    [ Name: Zhang Liu

    Cultivation Base Qi: Qi Condensation 9th

    Cultivation Base Body: Qi Condensation 1st (Profound Physique)

    Techniques: Tranquil Mind, Rainwater Sutra, Empowered Lightning Qi Cultivation art, Flowing Water art...

    Dao: Dao of Heavenly Lightning(0,5%) ]

    The kids had started learning his skills, the tranquil mind skill wasn''t that hard to learn so afterward they concentrated on the Dao and lightning cultivation art.His Lightning Cultivation art already transformed into the empowered one, he hoped that when he upgraded it again he could teach the kids the improved version with no problems. The Dao bit looked hard to learn though, it wasn''t even at 1% but that was the hardest thing to learn as it showed the cultivator the right way. The peculiar thing about his disciples, that after absorbing the lightning Qi, their hair started showing white strands. Guess that was the side effect of this art, silvery hair.

    The girl wasn''t much behind the boy, She had the Dao understanding a bit higher at 0,7% but had more trouble with the new body tempering technique. You could say she had more talent for Qi related techniques, while the youth for body-related skills. But it just might have been a different mindset.

    The last thing on the agenda was the banquet, so they all returned to their main base. He was back at sitting at his throne while people were buzzing about, some other more friendly clans came to pay a visit. They were mostly the weaker ones, just trying to be polite but there were some others gathering some info about the new guy in town. Matt was trying hard not to yawn, which might have given the wrong signals as his face quite stern-looking.

    The people were happily chatting between themselves, Zhang Jin was quite fond of the lady cultivators as he seemed to be working his adult charms on them. Zhang Dong sighed as he didn''t want to get a new ''uncle''. But the pleasantries came to an end there, because everyone could feel an overbearing aura suddenly fill the whole place. It was an unannounced visit, no one knew how the person got here as the guards didn''t notice their arrival. Matt was also surprised as he couldn''t feel the person before they released their aura, the aura felt quite strong it was at the level of a core formation expert at the great circle. But it wasn''t just one person, there were more.

    Six people walked in, filling the room with their oppressive spiritual energy that pushed anyone below the core formation-level down to their knees. The five people behind the strongest person were all at the late stage, Matt had gotten stronger in the past month but he probably wouldn''t be able to handle all those experts alone.

    "Well, isn''t the little Zhang clan going to pay their respects?"

    One of the people in the back spoke up. All of them were wearing similar yellow robes, the person in front had the most expensive-looking one on him. The thing that stuck out was a symbol of a black hand embroidered to the back of the robe.

 59 Chapter 59

    The person in the front looked a lot younger than the people in the back, he was also the strongest, probably some kind of genius young master type. The people in the back were all older men, looking to be in their fifties. The lofty young master had long dark hair, a more tanned complexion and some kind of jewel sticking out of his forehead. Might have been some kind of treasure, or maybe part of a cultivation method. The six were of course members of the dark palm sect that ruled this region.

    The first one to react was Zhang Jin, he was also the only one that could move beside Zhang Dong in this situation as the former was a bit baffled by the situation. This was actually the first time that Matt was in front of someone that he wasn''t a senior too. Jin went in front and made a bow to the younger male offering his greetings in a pleasant voice.

    "You honor our small clan with your presence oh honorable Seniors."

    Zhang Dong was a bit slow to react, which caught the eye of the sect members. Who started eyeing them down, almost ready to pounce on him for not showing the due respect towards them and their young master. To them, he was just a country bumpkin that was a leader of a small insignificant group of cultivators.

    "Ah, excuse my rudeness."

    He quickly got off his throne and bowed his head in front of the sect cultivators, this being the first time he actually had to do it. Most of the time he was the strongest person in the area, so he kind of got used to acting nonchalantly around others.

    The young master seemed to be a person of few words as he looked dejected to even be here in the first place. He just looked at Zhang Dong for a second and then turned his face to one of the elders behind him. His tone was quite condescending.

    "Just give them the orders, don''t want to be in this backwater place anymore than I have too."

    The elder that was spoken too, took out a jade slip and threw it over to Matt that quickly scanned its contents. He started frowning more and more as he read on what was written in there.

    "This..."

    "Follow the orders in the jade slip, you know the repercussion if you decide otherwise. Know your place whelp, you might have won against some trash clans, but don''t ever forget that the Dark Palm sect is the one that lets you have your petty squabbles in the first place.

    The man spat on the ground, as he didn''t like how Zhang Dong was slow in giving them face. After the elder gave them the warning, they withdrew their aura, jumped onto their swords and headed out. As their master had stated, none of them wanted to be here in the first place. The clan people started getting off the floor while panting, knowing well that there was probably nothing good in that jade slip. Zhang Jin walked over with a solemn look on his face, he was passed the jade slip his eyes going wide-eyed in the process.

    "Does damn bastards! Did we somehow offend them?"

    Matt let Zhang Jin keep the jade slip as some other elders started reading through it. Due to the previous expedition ending in failure, there would be another one. The secret ground opened up on set intervals and required a set amount of people to take part in it. Their clan was ordered to supply them with 1 core formation cultivator, 20 foundation establishment cultivators and 200 Qi Condensation cultivators. Also, they specifically ordered the new Patriarch of the clan to take part in it, if not the sect would replace them with another clan.

    There was also an explanation about why this specific number of cultivators was required. After going to the secret grounds, the people there found ten large platforms. The whole thing was created by some immortal cultivator, if they completed a trial they would get some cultivation technique of his as a reward. There was also a giant door in that chamber, in the text it stated that if the trial is successfully finished the giant door would open and reveal the treasure inside.

    The Dark Palm sect was very much interested in what was behind that giant door, they tried to brute force their way inside but even their nascent soul cultivators couldn''t put a dent on that massive door. They decided to bring enough people for the trial, but they didn''t want to use their own disciples. They brought in the clans for that, some of them went in for the spoils as the sect did offer rewards. But no one could actually refuse them.

    So the first time around, the Zhang Clan went over with 3 of their core formation elders, 60 foundation establishment experts and 600 Qi foundation warriors. These were the best warriors of the clan, as the clan was going to get paid well if they succeeded. The rest was filled by other clans, in the end, no one returned. The secret grounds forcefully expelled everyone that came inside and the entrance to it got sealed off. But it was later revealed that the seal was weakening with the passage of time and that it would open again.

    The ever greedy sect cultivators decided to throw more people at the trial, they didn''t care about what the clans thought, they could be replaced later. The opening time would be in about three month''s time, they were required to bring their forces there or suffer the consequences. If they succeded the sect would offer them some spirit stones and resources also they would let them have whatever was in the trial. Probably because they thought that there wouldn''t be much worth in there.

    The atmosphere was solemn in the room as everyone got the news, the banquet was ended prematurely while the people in charge went to the main hall to discuss things, Matt went with them of course.

    "We have three months... we are done for...the previous Patriarch couldn''t best that trial with our strongest forces, how are we supposed to do it now?"

    One of the men in the room said while pulling his hair out.

    "We could try running..."

    "And what? Become bandits? Join another Clan? The moment they find out our roots they would execute us."

    "They really want us dead..."

    Matt listened to the old men bickering, the trial was strange as it had designated spots and a set amount of people. The composition was strange, the core formation experts seemed like generals of their forces, the formation establishment cultivators like officers and the Qi condensation warriors as soldiers.

    *Maybe it''s some military game where they compete against each other? But then one of the teams would have won and been alive to tell the tale...*

    He tried thinking about novels and how most of those pocket dimension dungeons worked. Mostly there were a lot of traps involved people competing to get some strange herb or treasure in the end. But this one had a treasure outside it, while the people taking the test were inside.

    *Sounds like a place to test your forces or something...Maybe people inside have to work together to win... If so ... that might be bad...*

    He knew well how things worked around this world, sometimes a sibling would backstab their family to get that magical pill. Working together wasn''t really something that was associated with cultivators. Being a murder hobo, popping pills was more the xianxia way.

    *I guess if everyone was from one sect it would work out, but if you put in Clans that probably have some grudges with each other and tell them to work together for one goal... I think I need to get more points.*

    After becoming the Patriarch he had unlocked the Clan window, he could see how many people were in it and what cultivation levels they were. It kind of looked like sim city, he could see the approval ratings in the city, what cities he had, the crime rate and so on. There was even an achievement tab, that showed him that he could get points for things like getting the approval rating up to a certain point. Building a hospital, building more martial art schools and bringing the strength and knowledge of the citizens up. More or less he got points the better the clan and the city did. Also, he gained passive points each day though at the moment he was gaining a whooping two points a day.

    He decided to act a bit more like a leader, slowly filling the room with his aura as she said with a booming voice.

    "Organise a city-wide tournament for our clan members, tell them about the new expedition. Qi Condensation juniors and Foundation Establishment cultivators from the clan can participate. We will select the right number from the strongest from them. Do it within a month''s time."

    "Zhang Kuo, find me a list of any strong beasts or demonic cultivators that have bounties on their heads, best if they are in the core formation stage. Do it as fast as you can."

    He needed to train his forces up, which would require quite a bit of points. The fastest way would be slaying monsters or cultivators at the core formation level. He had to get enough points to upgrade the skills for the chosen elite warriors from the tournament. He could hide the fact that the winners would get conscripted, but he would rather have some weaker people that have the guts to fight, than having to force them to come along and then have them abandon others in the middle of battle. The strongest warrior wasn''t always the best one for the job.

    The people in the room, mostly knew what the Patriarch was going for with the tournament to choose the best warriors. But was a bit surprised that he wanted to hunt some bounties? But they guessed that he wanted the cash rewards to aid the clan, so there wasn''t much resistance from them. They discussed some other things, with him there, mostly the logistics of getting the tournament ready.

    Zhang Dong returned to his chambers and flopped like a dead fish on his large bed. His face was down in the pillow as he just wanted to go to sleep. But before he could do that he heard knocking on the door. He turned around and stared at the ceiling for a moment before standing up.

    "Who is it?"

    "We apologize for the intrusion, Master"

    It was the two kids, they were looking at him with embers in their eyes. They had apparently heard about the whole dark palm sect expedition. Probably overheard it from their mother or one of the other clan members.

    "Please Master, teach us fighting skills we want to participate in the expedition!"

    He looked at the two youths, the two looking quite determined.

    "There''s going to be a tournament if you can get into the best 200 you can participate... But is your mother okay with this?"

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    "Mother will probably take part in it too... we overheard her talking to grandpa about it, we want to join her and our brothers and sisters of the clan!"

    The to were taking it quite seriously, which made Matt a bit hesitant. He didn''t want to get these two youths involved that much, they had a bright future ahead of them and quite the high talent. But if they failed the clan would probably be done for anyway.

    "Fine... you two continue with your cultivation, but also use this..."

    The two were getting the hang of it, but most of Zhang Dong''s techniques required high amounts of lightning Qi. The most he could give them is the basic fighting techniques along with the lightning punching and kicking arts. If they could advance with those, they might stand a chance in the tournament. He also wanted to learn a sword art for himself, he didn''t have one yet but he would need to get more points for that.

    The two left his chambers with a splitting headache again and some manuals to copy from while Matt decided to cultivate for the rest of the night. He expected to get the info on potential targets in the morning, he would head out to gather points, his goal was to get into the late stage of the core formation stage, his progress was slowing down though. He started feeling responsible for these Zhang Clan people, the closer he got to them the harder it was to let go. He might have been an introvert but that didn''t mean that he wanted to be alone.

 60 Chapter 60

    The next day the news was spreading through the city, making the citizens quite unruly. This was understandable because if this expedition ended badly like last time, there would probably be a new attempt on the city. No one thought that there would be anyone rescuing them again if that happened. Some people were thinking about abandoning the clan and city in general, but then they also heard that other clans in the area were in similar situations. No one was really safe from the sect overlords and it was hard to abandon an established life to start anew.

    Matt was in his cultivation chamber, trying to raise his power level. But his gains had slowed down the further he progressed. The storm clouds were coming down less, the spiritual energy in the area was thining out. He was thinking about his plan, would it even work? He left and went over to Zhang Jin, he wanted to know if he knew anything about the last expedition.

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    After the two greeted each other then his grandpa explained everything in detail. The old Patriarch left with two other core formation elders, this happened about three months ago. They didn''t have many details on what happened inside as the communication jades didn''t work. The spirit tablets started breaking after about a month, so the people inside that dungeon didn''t just get wiped out. They remained for quite some time, fighting for their lives. It took another month for everyone''s tablets to break, maybe it was some kind of prolonged attack or some kind of maze?

    The thing Zhang Dong was sure of was that he needed to get as many points as he could, but he wasn''t about to go on a killing spree. That''s why he told Kuo to get him that fugitive list. He wanted to hunt some monsters and get spirit stones as rewards to boot, he needed a lot of resources. Did everyone have the best available weapon for their disposition? Could he upgrade their cultivation method? This was a team event, so he needed to arm his men and women to the teeth and he knew that the previous expedition drained the clan''s coffers dry.

    "I have brought you what you asked for, Patriarch."

    Matt nodded and took the jade slip, it had information about various baddies and monsters around the whole empire. He scanned it for core formation enemies, would be nice if he could grab a nascent soul beast, but a monster like that would probably one-shot him.

    [ Ravager: Demonic cultivator, last seen near the five dread peeks by the city of Frostriver. Cultivation base in the later core formation stage. He has killed hundreds, maybe thousands of people in pursuit of power. Reward 10,000 low grade Spirit Stones. ]

    [ Lesser Calamity Dragon: Evil Beast residing in the volcanic areas of the inferno mountain range, regularly seen raiding nearby cities and villages causing havoc on the populace. Cultivation base in the late core formation stage Reward 12,000 low grade Spirit Stones ]

    [ Blood Demon Cult: An evil group of renegade cultivators, they act in the shadows and are hard to track. People have reported children getting abducted in the night. Reward 8,000 spirit stones, cultivation base unknown, possibly in core formation, not confirmed. ]

    He mostly looked for opponents in the late stage of core formation, after fighting the fire lord and upgrading his skill he thought that he could take those on. He noted down the cult as well, as the city that they were doing their evil deeds was between the other two places he was going to go. He could head there after taking care of one of the assignments. After he finished up with those, he would decide if he could do more before returning to the clan.

    He thought that maybe he could stay here and relax for longer, but now his life was at stake. There was always an option to leave and hide, but he was the Zhang Clan Patriarch. Everyone probably knew him by now, he would probably be a wanted one like that Ravager guy on the run. But there was also an option of a disguising skill, though if he did that the people from this clan would be dead meat. He didn''t want to have that on his conscience.

    *I really need some sword skills, I can''t actually do any fancy attacks with this sword of mine besides swinging it around.*

    Matt knew that there were many flashy sword styles, that if mastered let the user unleash powerful attacks. He would like to get a technique with a lot of potential best if he could use it from the get-go and be able to raise its prowess later. He had an eye on one particular sword art, that came under the umbrella of lightning elements so he got a discount. It wasn''t an upgradable skill or anything, it was divided into tomes though if he bought the Earth grade one, he would get the previous ones for the lower ones.

    The manuals were called Thunder God Sword Scripture and had various sword attacks and stances that went well with his empowered lightning Qi cultivation method. He wanted to grab the lower-level ones, but if he bought them one by one he would just lose points. For now, he decided to spend the rest of his points on Qi recovery pills and healing pills, as well as some detoxification pills against poison attacks. He knew well how those evil cultivators liked to poison everyone, though his golden body had quite the high resistance to poison attacks.

    After checking out his map and marking down the first three waypoints, he could see that the closes area was the volcanic one. Also, this one actually pointed out the whereabouts of his target, the other ones were kind of vague. Maybe after he got the points from the dragon he could find some kind of tracking skill. He wasn''t sure if he would be such a good detective and find that cult or that evil cultivator. Those guys seemed like the types that were good at hiding.

    The plan was simple, go out, slay some baddies, get points, upgrade the cultivation methods of the clan members after they are done with their small tournament arc. Who knew, maybe some kind of protagonist type would appear during the tournament that he could focus his resources on. There probably had to be a reason why that secret ground required lower-level cultivators, so probably everyone was important and he couldn''t just power through it with his own strength.

    *Guess I''ll be off to saving some damsels in distress, maybe that dragon will be hiding a cute princess somewhere.*

    Matt thought to himself jokingly while making sure that he had everything he needed in his spatial ring. He took the excessive pills that he got from the previous battles with him, you never know, low grade pills could come in handy as well, he could always sell them later for more spirit stones.

    While he was heading out, his grandpa Zhang Jin was waiting. He looked at him with concern in his gaze, fidgeting slightly before speaking out.

    "Don... Patriarch, are you sure you want to leave the clan at this moment, what if something happens to you?"

    He was informed about what Zhang Dong was doing, he wasn''t sure what hunting some criminal and evil beasts would accomplish in the spawn of 3 months. The clan sure could use more spirit stones for weapons and gear, that was true. He was slightly concerned that the new Patriarch could die during his travels, they had no dao protectors to accompany him as he was the strongest member in the clan, they would only slow him down.

    "Don''t worry gramps, I''ll be back. This is kind of how I get stronger... I might even have a breakthrough in these three months. I already said it to Ya and Kuo, but try to gather some crafting resources I might be able to forge some weapons for the winning clan members afterwards."

    He replied in a calm voice, that tranquil mind technique working out quite nicely as previously he would have probably been stuttering all over the place.

    Zhang Jin raised his hand as if he wanted to say something, but then instead nodded and gave his grandson a pat on the back and some words of reassurance before sending him off.

    "Don''t worry, I''ll protect the clan while you are away."

    Zhang Dong smiled slightly while just nodding back, then he jumped onto his flying sword that started glowing as he inserted his spiritual essence into it. With a thunderous sound, he vanished from the spot and you could hear a resounding sonic boom. Some other clan elders and members were also there. They had a myriad of feelings about the whole situation, some thought that this young cultivator would probably abandon them. Some were hopeful that their new Patriarch would deliver another miracle and get them out of this situation. Some were just confused, others were mad or fearful. Everyone dispersed after Zhang Jin told them to move their asses in motion and get to work while squinting.

    The Patriarch had a communication jade slip with him this time around, the defensive formation was repaired so he would be able to come back if something went wrong. They had to follow orders, so they got busy with the tournament plans. Zhang Dong didn''t mention how exactly the tournament was supposed to function, but he did say that he didn''t want people to just get eliminated if they lost a fight. Everyone was supposed to have multiple chances to get their rank up, one fight wasn''t enough to decide a good or bad fighter. Also, the fighter''s stamina was important, so the combatants had to fight people in succession. Weapons were allowed, but they had to be of the same grade as the opponents.

    The clan had a designated sparring area just for that, with build-in formations that kept people from getting killed or fatally injured. The people got to work while Zhang Dong flew through the air, the increase in cultivation making him fly twice as fast as before. If someone went into his patriarch chamber they would notice that the grand bed was missing, Matt sure as hell didn''t want to sleep on that straw mattress that he got from that Tribe. The new bed barely fit into the upgraded crafting abode, he really needed to get something he could comfortable spend his time in...

 62 Chapter 62

    Matt was on his sword munching on some healing pills while his wounds were regenerating slowly. He didn''t like how his first mission went down, he almost died fighting that dragon then some crazy bandits wanted to chop his head off. He even got some innocent people involved, then had to kill. He''d give himself an F+ for handling things, the + just for not being dead in the end. He kind of figured that he shouldn''t rush into these kinds of things without gathering some intel first. Though not like there was anyone around that volcanic mountain range to ask questions about. He could also use a detection skill of some sorts, maybe if he pined the location of that dragon before it noticed him, he could have gotten a sneak attack in.

    First, he used the new points to get the first three manuscripts of the Thunder God Sword Scripture, to increase his attacking power. Each manuscript taught him one special move, but they also contained the knowledge about sword stances, methods of attacking and defending. The first one was an attacking technique, the sword practitioner would release sword energy and deliver a slicking attack that would cut anything in its way. It also added some lightning laws, and besides slicing and dicing your opponent it would kick up a storm in its wake. It had the name of Thunder God Slash, it also increased in power with every higher-ranked manuscript. There was also a variation of the skill called Thunder God Thrust.

    The second one was called Thunder God Domain, it was a defensive move you formed in illusory domain calling up lightning elements and storms. In this domain, you could perceive all incoming attacks and react accordingly. The last one was a charge up attack called Sever the Heavens. It was similar to the first one, but it would deliver an immensely powerful strike and couldn''t really be spammed like the Thunder God Slash move.

    He decided to try out his new repertoire before moving on, starting with the basic Thunder God Slash. It was more or less a sword light type attack, if he did a slashing attack it would send out an energy blast from his sword, that would cut anything in its path. He tried it out, managing to slice up quite the big boulder with no problem at all. He could also do thrusting attacks with it, this left a big gaping hole in another large boulder that he abused.

    The domain technique gathered lightning energy and sword intent around an area of about 10 meters in all directions. He threw a rock up into the air and closed his eyes, waiting for it to fall down. The moment the object got into his domain he could sense it along with its trajectory, slicing it in half without needing to open his eyes. This was quite a handy skill to predict enemy movement.

    The last one was a bit harder to pull off. He grasped his sword with both his hands and started pumping his energy into it. The sword blade started expanding upwards, getting longer and wider. He performed a diagonal swipe with the ''charged up'' weapon, slicing a smaller mountain peak in the process. He was left drained, sweat running down his forehead as he panted.

    *I can''t use this one too often...*

    After getting the gist of his new sword techniques, he thought about the next destination. The closer one was the city where the cultists were in, but he needed some things before that. He looked for a fitting detection technique, maybe something to mask his aura or looks as well. He recalled that many Xianxia protagonists always had a handy technique to hide how they looked so that they could escape into the crowds whenever getting into trouble. Also if the cultist noticed that they had someone sniffing around town, they would either try to kill that person or lay low if they were too strong.

    He looked at the earth graded skills as always, he aimed for something that worked on core formation experts and below as he couldn''t really afford heavenly ranked skills and didn''t know if he could actually use them. There was one, just named ''Earthly Disguise Art'' that was supposed to work on core formation experts and below, masking the user''s appearance along with his or her aura. It also helped the users detect people that were using disguising arts of lower and similar grade. Then there was an enhanced version called the ''Heavenly Disguise Art'' That was a direct upgrade of this one.

    He also wanted to snatch a better aura detection skill, maybe an aura tracking skill. People tended to leek their spiritual energy into the surroundings, it did dissipate after a while. He could maybe home in on this dissipating energy to track the evil cultivators. He felt that these were some quality of life skills, so he decided to drop some points into them as well.

    Matt closed his eyes and focused his mind on his surroundings, the enhanced aura detection skill let him home in on the beasts and animals in the surroundings quite a bit more. His range also was increased by multiple kilometers, he dropped down to the ground. He noticed that if he used his new tracking skill a sort of mist appeared. It was a trail that he could choose to home in if he fallowed after it the person or animal in question would be at the end.

    He thought that this system was a bit too overpowered, it had way too many functions and was only limited to the number of points he could get. He wondered if after some time there would be some kind of drawback, would the prices suddenly increase? With this thing around, he could probably go into seclusion hunting weak beasts, evil cultivators or search for things he could absorb for points. Guess he couldn''t absorb magical treasures for points. Also, he couldn''t see anything above the immortal grade in there. He didn''t want to abandon the people he was now feeling responsible for though.

    With the new skills and techniques, his points dropped by about a hundred thousand. The dragon did give him a lot of points though, so he still had some left. He didn''t want to waste them as he had no idea how many he needed to upgrade his clan members cultivation techniques, also there were some treasures with steep prices that he wanted to get to aid them as well.

    *It always comes down to points... Well, I still have to go pick up the spirit stone reward think it was issued by the clan around here, what was it again the Huo, or Hou clan?*

    Matt was still having trouble with all the oriental names, for now, he headed to the city to get his reward. He also shifted his clothes to a black color and used the new disguise technique to change his appearance. His facial muscles started shifting around, the color of his hair turned to black, he even grew a full beard as he looked like an old kung fu master. He wanted to see if he could pass for someone else in this town, no one needed to know that the Zhang Clan was out hunting monsters. Also, he wanted to get a higher reward for his troubles, would be easier to bicker with people if they didn''t know who he was, but could also get him into trouble.

    While Zhang Dong was on his way to get his reward, the people back in Spirit Spring City were getting ready with the tournament. Everyone from the clan knew about the second expedition and that they were testing everyone. Some people didn''t want to participate, but most felt a deeper bond with the family clan and were going to give it their best because if not, their families would be done for.

    The clan was quite large, it had many foundation establishment fighters and even more Qi condensation ones. There were about 20 thousand clan members scattered around, that wasn''t really a big number considering that the city had 10 million people in it. From those 20 thousand members, only about 1 thousand were in the foundation establishment level. Most in the early and middle stages, the rest were just Qi condensation juniors.

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    People below at the 6th and lower levels of Qi condensation weren''t even allowed to participate. Zhang Xue barely made the cut, but no one was expecting her to get far, her brother stood a chance as there were a lot of free spots to be taken. Though no one knew that the two people in question were experiencing a colossal change. It had been about two weeks since they picked up the new cultivation method. Their old cultivation art was more or less trash compared to this one. This could be seen by the amount of silvery hair that the two now possessed.

    Xue managed to advance into the 8th stage while her brother was close to breaking through the bottleneck of the 9th stage. The two were frantically training with all their might, hoping to be of service to their new master and to their clan which they held dearly in their hearts.

    The way the tournament would work was announced, it wasn''t a bracket system as they didn''t want to get one strongest fighter. The participants would fight multiple bouts in one day if they lost they got zero points if they won they would get two, if the time run out or if it was a draw they would get one point. The ones with the most points would move on to the next day where more fighting would take place. The first couple of days would be the worst, as there were just so many participants.

    This wasn''t really an event for the masses so everything was closed off, the sound of fighting resounded in the Zhang clan compound. After the first day, the two disciples managed to get some wins while loosing to some more experienced fighters. People were somewhat surprised as the two youths were able to defeat cultivators that were of a higher realm. They seemed to use some new techniques, Xue was adept at kicking while Liu at punching techniques. When their kicks and hands collided with their opponents, sparks flew about while the adversary became momentarily stunned leaving themselves open for attacks. The two kids looked promising as the tournament continued, but it would take some time till it ended.

 64 Chapter 64

    He arrived at the city that the so-called cult was supposed to be in. His new disguise was of a rugged looking old man, a big scar over his face and short brown hair. He figured out that he could change the length and volume of his hair at will. He could also shift his muscles around on his whole body, but couldn''t really change his bone structure. Matt decided to play it safe, not knowing if the cultivators that he robbed would put up any wanted posters of him.

    The town looked kind of gloomy, the sun was covered by a thick layer of clouds. Matt noticed that the weather tended to change rapidly depending on the location he was in. Sometimes he would arrive at a tropical area with lots of natural beaches, only to fly for an hour in another direction to arrive in a snowy area. This might have something to do with the nature of spiritual energy around this world. Places tended to be warmer where fire elements gathered.

    The city was called Fogmire, which was a peculiar name given that most towns had those xianxia sounding names. This one was just dim, murky and the moment he stepped inside it started to rain. The notice came from this town, so he wanted to go get the details. Fogmire as any other in the area was governed by a clan. The city had about five million people living in it. On earth, this would be a capital city, but here it was just a regular mid-sized town.

    His robe was pitch black as he flew close to the city, he descended in the nearby forest while hiding his aura. He didn''t want to alert people to his high cultivation, his flying sword being a dead giveaway. It took him about half an hour to walk to the main gate, he paid the toll normally and then asked one of the pedestrians about the clan that governed the place and about the cult.

    Fogmire was governed by a side family of the Kin Clan, their leader wasn''t all that strong but he still was in the core formation. When he asked about the cultists, the person looked at him with wide eyes then bowed deeply before running away. Guess the people were more scared of that cult than of his new menacing appearance.

    *Well, I guess I''ll go check out the main clan building, they should have all the info there.*

    [ Your Disciple Zhang Xue has reached another level in the Sylph Physique, 500 spirit points gained. ]

    Those prompts starter popping up here and there, whenever his two disciples gained insight in his skills or advanced he would get rewarded. Guess it was a good decision as he already had earned back the points that he spent on the two rascals. He wondered if he could just make a martial arts school and have everyone swear him in as their master. But then he looked into his disciple tab, he could see a 2/5 counter in the upper right corner. Guess the system wouldn''t let him use it like that. Maybe if he cleared some hidden quests, the limit would increase?

    Matt had picked up a habit lately, every new place he visited he was drawn to their restaurants. The food in this world was quite tasty, probably due to the added spiritual essence in the plants and animals.

    *Work can wait, first it''s time to check out the local cuisine!*

    He rubbed his palms together as he strolled through the city, trying to find a nice restaurant for himself. It was getting late, the gloomy town was becoming even bleaker as it lit up with the faint light of the street lights. The lights didn''t run on electricity, they were simple magical treasures that used up spiritual energy from the surroundings. Matt finally found a place to eat, it looked like a tavern that you would see in those fantasy games. It even had a sign with a beer mug outside, but it seemed kind of quiet.

    He pushed open the double doors as he walked in, the people inside slowly turned their faces towards him giving him cold stares. He was hiding his cultivation base, so they wouldn''t know of his level. Matt thought that people would be having fun inside as it looked like a saloon, but it was rather quiet inside. The floorboards creaked with each step as he made his way towards the counter where he saw a lone bartender person standing.

    He wondered if he walked in at a bad time as the place felt gloomy, even more than on the outside. He wondered if he changes genres as the inside looked like your run of the mill western fantasy establishment, still, the people were wearing robes even though they were on the shorter side. Before he could ask for some food, the man behind the counter spoke up in a hoarse voice.

    "Greetings stranger, you shouldn''t be out here, all alone... He he he ..."

    The man was strange-looking, his eyes vacant and a pale unhealthy complexion. When he was laughing Matt could see the rotten teeth and the accompanying bad smell that came with them. The motion of ordering any kind of food from this place went out of the window after getting a load of those chompers.

    These people were kind of strange, he felt multiple gazes of people from behind and the barkeep was acting loony. Zhang Dong had gotten that new skill where he could see people''s auras in a more visual form. He decided to turn it on, wondering if this would shed some light on the situation.

    *W-what is this...*

    He took a step back after seeing a black smoke like aura enveloping the man in front of him. This wasn''t any old chimney smoke, this was evil miasma mostly seen on demons. He turned to the side, the people in the establishment were all covered in the thick, eerie aura. The whole place was covered in it, did he just walk in on the main evil base or something. Where those people evil cultivators, or some kind of monsters, the demonic aura was really thick on them.

    Matt decided to do a test, he flicked his finger at the man that was still laughing. A little bit of his electric Qi flew out and bonked the man in front on the forehead. The good thing about his Dao of heavenly lightning was the heavenly part. Apparently anything that involved the heavens was the bane of anything that involved demons and demonic energies. The lightning jolt was really weak, it wouldn''t really do much to a normal person but when it came in contact with the man he started shaking furiously.

    Strange growls escaped from the man as he twitched around, his head was twisting in impossible ways. Soon his head shot up into the ceiling while the body collapsed onto the floor. The head had spider-like legs and had multiple eyes protruding out of its body. It gave out a high pitched scream that seemed to rouse the other monsters in the room. Everyone inside started transforming into nightmare creatures, lots of teeth, claws and even tentacles.

    They all pounced at him in unison, biting, clawing and gnashing all their various appendages. The creatures were stopped by a barrier, the moment those creepies touched it they were sent flying backward due to an electrical shock. Matt was inside, really glad that he had bought this skill before the monsters wouldn''t be able to get to him now.

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    *Without my tranquil mind skill, I''d be s*itting bricks right now...*

    Besides their gruesome horror appearance, the things were more or less just trash with Qi condensation level strength. They were all quite brainless as all of them continued attacking him while bouncing off the electric shield over and over again. Matt just wanted to obliterate the whole building with the monsters inside, not really keen on touching those ugly looking things. But if he did that, he could harm people outside also there could be some innocents in here as well.

    Instead, he formed a couple of smaller lightning dragons, sending them outside his barrier to do the fighting for him. They were the size of larger snakes but packed a punch. They started chomping, pouncing and just charging through the monsters quickly clearing the place up. The small lightning snakes coiled their bodies around some of the humanoid monsters, causing them to sizzle and evaporate as they discharged heavenly lightning into them.

    None of the monsters was spared, Matt only came out of his bubble after he didn''t feel any demonic auras in the building. He looked at the dead bodies that were quickly turning into black sludge, frowning. He toured the tavern, hoping to find normal people inside but it was barren the most he could find is some gnawed on remains, probably a midnight snack to these monsters.

    *Well, this whole thing became rather unsettling... think next time I''ll go fishing..."

    He went back to the bottom floor and dipped his finger into some of that black sludge. Even though the thing was dead, it still had a faint demonic aura to it. He tried focusing on this type of evil energy, closing his eyes as he let his senses guide him. Then he noticed a certain spot that was radiating this kind of energy. He opened his eyes and hopped behind the bar counter, going into the pantry.

    The food looked rotten and there were flies buzzing about. The demonic energy was coming from behind the wall, there might have been a secret passage behind it. He started patting down the walls in the hopes of finding a switch or lever, but to no avail. Guess it wasn''t as easy as they made it look in those adventure movies.

    He did the only logical thing afterward, punching the wall and uncovering a secret narrow passage behind it. He cleared the rubble and took a step in, the demonic aura was leading inside. The passage quickly turned to narrow circular stairs that were going downwards. This was a textbook example of a horror setting, he expected to find even more of those monsters below. This was probably the moment in which he had to decide if he should continue downward or just report this to the people in the city and have them risk their lives.

    Maybe it was just bravado, but the man felt that he should be able to handle himself. Also, if the monsters got alerted to his presence, they might start killing those people that they abducted, that is if they were still alive. He started going down, the stairs went on and on as he walked for a good half an hour before finally arriving at the bottom. There were torches lining up the walls, illuminating the interior faintly.

    After descending the stairs he started hearing strange chants in a language that he had never heard of before. The walls were made from old bricks, the corridor started getting wider and wider the further he went in, the strange chanting louder and louder.

    "Ph''..lui mglw''na... .ul..hu ...yeh wgah''na... fht...n "

    He was almost there, he could see green light outside of the tunnel. He slowly moved forward, trying to not let his aura seep out into the surroundings as he peeked out of the tunnel. He saw some cultists kneeling down in front of an altar, some babies in front of them crying their little hearts out. Those were probably the sacrificial offerings, to the thing that was on the altar when Matt saw it his jaw dropped.

    *...What is that thing doing here again...*

 65 Chapter 65

    The tunnel Zhang Dong was peeking out was not the only one, there were many and they all led into this massive cavern. The other tunnels were also probably connected to other places that those demonic beings had taken over. Matt didn''t know where they were, but they were probably deep under the city. The cavern was circular with a high ceiling. In the middle was an altar, pedestals with torches around it and a familiar-looking mass of tentacles in the middle.

    *I thought that thing back in the forest died... are there more of them around...*

    [ Ltl''thulhu The Corrupted One Slain ( Core Formation Late Stage ) ]

    *Ltl?... little? Is that even bigger than mini...*

    This monster was certainly stronger than the last one of its type. Zhang Dong looked on as the monster was just a head peeking out of a mass of tentacles, similar to the way the other one looked when it powered up. He took a quick glance at the people that were standing around the altar. They were holding curved daggers in front of some infants that were placed on smaller sacrificial altars in front of the monster. What they were doing was quite clear, he had to save the children and he couldn''t let the monster evolve further.

    There were eight infants, two on each side of the rectangular altar. The people seemed to be finished with their chanting as they started pointing those daggers at the babies. First Matt bolted out of his hiding place, making enough sound so that everyone would notice his arrival. He wasn''t really worried about the cultists, they weren''t strong but he had to get those kids to safety first.

    The cultists quickly started going through their demonic transformation as they reacted to the threat. While the baddies were focusing their attention on him, he surrounded the children with his spiritual energies forming small barriers around their frames. This was a bit taxing on his mind, but he managed to pull through before the monsters could shishkebab the poor babies.

    The monsters were uppon him at that point, trying to devour him whole while their big boss was flailing around in the tentacle mass, mad that it couldn''t get its meal. The lackeys weren''t really a problem as they got bisected in an instant by his blade. He started cleaving them apart left and right while gathering up the infants from the altars.

    Ltl''thulhu wasn''t having any of this, the tentacle mass started coming together to form his body. He looked exactly like the monster that he fought back in the forest, but it was a lot bigger. The good thing about its size was that it was taking some time for that body to form, this was time he needed to get the kids out.

    The children floated around him in those tiny barrier bubbles while he hopped onto his sword. He couldn''t really battle this thing while thinking of the babies, so he decided to fly straight upwards. He shot through the air like an arrow, while holding out his sword that was glowing deep blue. The ceiling had some strange rune-like patterns drawn into the rocks, probably some kind of formation that prevented the demonic aura from seeping out. It only worked one way though, as Matt could feel that the rock wasn''t all that thick. He used his Thunder Sword Thrust to lunch a flash of powerful lightning sword energy at the ceiling in front of him.

    The people in the city could suddenly hear a rumbling sound, followed by thunder as Zhang Dong busted from beneath the clan estate. Yes, the monster lair was right under the governing clan''s main building. But the clan in question didn''t seem to be working with the demonic cultists as they were baffled by the situation as well.

    The Kin Clan members just witnessed a cultivator bust through their backyard, surrounded by thick spiritual energy. After the man flew out, many winged monsters started clawing their way out of the hole, screeching and roaring in the surroundings. This certainly woke everyone up, the cultivators started fighting with the monsters that they previously came across but could never pint point their location. No one in their right mind would have thought that the demons were hiding right under their estate.

    The monsters gnashed their teeth at the human cultivators that attacked them with spears and swords. While the creepy crawlies were distracted with the other cultivators Zhang Dong descended to the side. He looked around, spotting some female cultivators that were running somewhere. He dropped down right next to the group of females, the sight of a big burly cultivator with balls of light hovering around him made the people stop and stare.

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    "Hey, those demons were trying to eat these babies, bring them out of here, I''ll take care of their boss."

    The women blinked in surprise while Zhang Dong opened up the barriers surrounding the infants, doing it one by one while handing the crying children to the women. One of the women quickly run-up to a specific baby, grasping it close to her chest.

    "It''s Bao''er, he disappeared two days ago!"

    Guess this one was one of theirs, so the women quickly took the babies away. The surroundings rumbled once more and a strong demonic aura could be felt by everyone. The people started screaming, blood coming out of their ears and eyes. This was clearly an aura attack performed by the huge ugly boss monster that started emerging from the hole in the ground. It was a lot bigger than the one he met in the forest, about three times as tall.

    All of the monsters roared as their master was emerging, not affected by the aura. The human cultivators were close to losing their minds, but then they felt a powerful aura enveloping them. This aura pushed the demonic one away, forcing the smaller monsters back as well. The people saw a fearsome cultivator emerging on his sword, his body was covered in lightning, his eyes glowing with a deep blue hue.

    "Hey, sh*t head. Your opponent is me."

    Matt sent another sword thrust at the ugly looking beast, aiming for the head. The monster covered itself up with its huge palm which blew up sending flesh and black goo flying. The hand regenerated quite fast afterward though, the black blood sizzled against the pavement as it had corrosive properties, it even dissolved one of the smaller demons in the process.

    Zhang Dong flew upwards on his sword, throwing his ranged skills at the monsters just poking it while the thing finally burst out fully through the rocky ground. It didn''t look like he was doing much damage as the thing had high regenerative properties. This wasn''t really his plan though, he just wanted to make it mad so that it would chase him instead of remaining in the city. His plan seemed to work as the monster spread it webbed wings taking off into the air.

    The huge size making it blow away its own demon minions along with the weaker human cultivators. Matt flew away while throwing his javelins at the demon, slowly making the demon follow him to a more secluded location. He thought that the Kin Clan members should be able to take care of the weaker demons, they also had a core formation elder among them.

    People in the city could see the giant being flying above them, its loud booming roars waking everyone up in the city. They could see that the behemoth was chasing a man on a sword, that was attacking it with some ranged attacks. It looked like the man was fleeing while the beast was chasing him down, it looked bleak for the cultivator.

    The two vanished in the distance after a couple of minutes, the sounds of fighting could be heard in the Kin Clan compound as well as in the distance where the flying horror and the cultivator headed to.

    *Okay, this should be far enough...*

    Matt looked at the Cthulhu looking fiend, it looked quite similar to the mini version. Red glowing eyes, squid face, huge burly arms and frame. He thought to the last time he was battling this thing, that time he just overpowered it after finally mustering up some courage to fight. This time around it wouldn''t be that easy, the thing was a lot stronger and a lot bigger. But he had also gotten a lot stronger and he actually knew how to use his techniques.

    "I wonder how long you can keep regenerating, didn''t last that long the first time we fought"

    He grasped the air, forming another spear of light. He charged it up for a longer period before chucking it at the incoming baddie. The spear split into smaller parts and pierced into the tough green skin of the monster, damaging it in the process. Ltl''thulhu roared annoyed at the wounds it was receiving, the holes where the small spears pierced into healed in the spawn of seconds.

    "Well, at least your slow and stupid."

    Matt thought that he would just tire the thing out with some guerrilla tactics first. Poking till its regenerative abilities run dry, then he would either slice and dice it or match its size with his avatar ability. But as he was charging up another one of his ranged attacks, the beast roared and released a deep red energy blast from within its hideous mouth. The blast of energy headed right for him, in the nick of time he managed to dodge it to the left side, the blast only grazing his arm slightly. This was enough to disintegrate his clothes on his right side, his arm getting a bit charged in the process as he felt a massive amount of pain.

    The energy attack flew by, crashing into a forest below creating a giant explosion. Dirt and dust flew up into the air as the only thing remaining afterward was a giant crater. It looked like a meteor had crashed in the middle of the forest. Matt''s whole arm twitched, he felt a sharp pain but luckily nothing was broken and the pain quickly subsided thanks to his body refining skill.

    *I guess it has more tricks up its sleeve...*

 66 Chapter 66

    The creature started blasting him with various ranged attacks, besides the breath attack it also could shoot out its huge pointy claws at him. He managed to parry them thanks to his new gained swordsmanship while counterattacking with some timely placed Thunder God slashes and thrusts. Matt didn''t think he would have so much trouble with this thing, but his inexperience in battle showed. He couldn''t just rely on his stats anymore, these enemies were close to his level and he had to start taking things seriously which he was trying.

    He wasn''t keeping his distance anymore, he was like an annoying fly buzzing around the creature''s head as he used his small size to his advantage. The demon couldn''t really use that huge ranged attack on him if he constantly moved, so he did. He sliced and diced the large body, managing to chop one of those webbed wings clean off. He evaded the large claws that were swung at him, the creature then promptly fell to the ground with a resounding boom.

    He examined the detached wing that just turned to black liquid the moment it got removed from the main body. Another wing started growing right back, but the regeneration was getting slower and slower. The angry monster fired of another mouth blast in Matt''s direction but missed by a mile, it looked quite pissed of as its face tentacles thrashed about menacingly.

    He had been fighting it for an hour now, the thing was quite sturdy but after he learned its move set it was just a matter of dodging the telegraphed attacks while getting one or two of his own hits in. He could test his fighting prowess on this raging monster that was at around his level. He was able to test out his skills on a moving target, upping his fighting experience.

    "I guess I could test this new move out on this thing..."

    He was mostly focused on his swordsmanship in this battle, it was a lot easier to use his weapon than to rely on his fists. While the monster was down on the ground he also descended and started charging at it. The angry behemoth brought down its giant fist at the annoying cultivator but instead of hitting him, it felt a jolt of electricity running through its whole arm as it hit a lightning afterimage. While the monster was feeling a tingling sensation in its huge arm, Zhang Dong appeared behind it with his sword in hand.

    He breathed in while concentrating, his body giving off a golden color. Everything seemed to slow down in the surrounding area as he activated the skill he achieved after upgrading his golden body. This skill let him perceive everything in slow motion while increasing his speed. He used this in tandem with his thunder god slash, slashing out with his sword energy. He didn''t just slash once, nor twice he delivered hundreds of these less powerful slashes in a matter of seconds that quickly turned the monster''s body into sashimi.

    He breathed out, feeling his stamina getting drained due to the multiple usages of skills that was taxing his body. Delivering so many light sword slashes in unison was quite strenuous. He looked on as the giant''s body started breaking up into cut-up cubes that turned into black goop. The monster was quite in a bind as it tried reassembling itself back to its original form. Matt was a bit surprised that the creature was still alive as he hoped that this special move would bring the thing down.

    "Do I have to disintegrate this thing to molecules or something?"

    He performed some hand seals, pointing his hands on the cut-up monster that was slowly reforming its head. He pumped his cultivation into his next attack as a giant dragon head started forming. This dragon construct was huge, its head easily able to gulp up the monster remains as it was ordered to. Matt guided the dragon upwards, while the wiggling mass of tentacles and thick black liquid tried to escape outside. The over-sized lightning dragon could be seen from afar flying towards the heavens only to explode, disintegrating any remains from the Cthulhu lookalike, as the heavenly lightning that it was made off was quite effective.

    [ Ltl''thulhu The Corrupted One Slain( Core Formation Late Stage ), gained 192000 Spirit Points ]

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    The clouds parted revealing the stary sky to the denizens of the gloomy city, the multiple moons shone down upon the people as the battle was over. Zhang Dong fell down onto his butt, his forearms propped up on his own knees as he panted. He had slain the monster, he didn''t take much damage as the thing was all power and no speed. Still, he was gassed out the Qi regeneration pills weren''t tasty at all as he swallowed them whole.

    He was slowly getting the hang of this fighting stuff, he grabbed the leftover core that the monster dropped and hopped onto his sword. He didn''t know if the people back in the city were able to handle the monsters so he sped back. He didn''t need to worry though, as the warriors from the Kin clan managed to clear them up. He also noticed that some monster stragglers were just dissolving. The beasts might have been part of the big boss monsters, it probably was just using them to gather in resources. Though this one had an acquired taste for infants, Matt didn''t know how many of them fell to the beast but at least there wouldn''t be any more casualties after this. He also wondered if this was really the last time he would see this type of demonic being.

    He landed back in the Kin Clan estate, people were a bit apprehensive about his arrival as they saw him leaving with the huge overpowered monster. The clan came out to have a talk with Zhang Dong, that gave them a quick rundown of the things that happened to him after he arrived in town. He also told them that he was here to collect the bounty for the monster he defeated as it was put up by this here clan.

    The clan members didn''t have a reason to doubt his story as they started examining the hole beneath their estate, finding the ritual cavern and the tunnels heading into various establishments around the city. They all gulped hard after realizing that the whole city would have probably been devoured by those devils if this cultivator didn''t show up. They were so grateful that they even doubled his salary which Matt was grateful for. They invited him to stay over for the night, though it was close to dawn at this point.

    He took the denizens of the city up on their offer, he was quite hungry as the demons interrupted him when he was trying to get some grub. He was led to a nice looking room where he was offered various spirit foods, some cute ladies were even playing harps and slow dancing on the side to add to the atmosphere. The only awkward thing about this was that he was still in his disguised state and had to come up with some fake name. Being the big-brained individual that he was he gave himself the genius name of...

    "Just call me... Lei Yinglo..."

    He almost choked on his drink after coming up with that name, trying not to laugh while the people around him tried to please him. After some nightly pleasantries, he was guided to a nice room in which he just for a couple of hours. He left early in the morning, checking if he hadn''t forgotten anything. The people were nice enough to see him off, or maybe just being courteous.

    He looked at his status and counted the spirit stones that he had gathered until this point, two weeks had passed since he had left. He should be able to get to that last wanted person. He would have about a week to take care of him before returning. He had a hefty amount of points now, but having more wouldn''t hurt. He left this disguise on this time around as he swished towards his next destination, it was a couple of days away from this spot. He really wished that he could get a smartphone with music or movies that he could look at during his boring flight. It was fun in the beginning, but now it was boring as hell just looking at the blurry ground below him as he zoomed by.

    The Ravager sure sounded like an edgy character, he imagined someone dressed all in black with a strange haircut. Or maybe he would have a long coat and a mask covering his face. Though his body count seemed to be no joke as the notice said that he might have killed thousands of people. The town he was heading was called Frostriver, he wanted to check it out before going to those five dread peeks. Maybe if he was lucky he could get this done in just a couple of days, this tracking skill he had now was quite nifty.

    For now, he just churned his cultivation power, the crystal flying sword glowing brighter as he dashed through the clouds. The milky sky marshmallows parted as his sword surfing board pierced through them, leaving a triangle-shaped path behind him. The wildlife below him scattered after taking in his overbearing aura, people craning their necks as they heard the sonic booms.

    "Watch out Ravager, Lei Yinglo is coming for you!"

 67 Chapter 67

    Back in Spirit Spring City.

    It had been about three weeks since Zhang Dong left on his adventure and the tournament was coming to an end. All the foundation establishment elders were set in stone at this point, the Qi condensation participants would be ending their bouts in a couple of days as well.

    Zhang Liu had managed to break through his bottleneck of the 9th level and reached the 10th. The combination of his hard to crack skin and lightning combat arts had propelled him to the top in his age range. Xue was able to reach the 9th level due to the overwhelmingly better cultivation art that she possessed now. She wasn''t doing as well as her older brother, still getting a lot of drawn-out that ended in draws. She was still holding her ground somewhere at the end of the brackets.

    The two were increasing their battle prowess with each day, getting some practical sparring experience during the tournament while concentrating on their insights into the Dao that their master had left them with. The two missed their masters a bit, as they had many questions concerning their Dao path as the scriptures that they received had many hard to understand passages.

    "Hey Xue, do you know what this one about the prime meridian means..."

    Liu asked while squinting at the copied over manuscript.

    "I''m not sure brother... it''s challenging to understand..."

    The sister replied while looking over the shoulder of her big brother, the two trying to trade pointers with each other during these 3 weeks they were cultivating.

    "Maybe it''s too soon for us to understand? We''ll have to wait till Master returns to ask him about it."

    The two wanted their uncle to return from his journey, they wanted to receive some input on their advancements. But also didn''t want to bother him too much so they were trying to progress by themselves as much as it was possible.

    "Mother has been chosen as one of the seniors to participate in the expedition..."

    Liu gave out a sigh as he handed his sister the manuscript with the dao of lightning written down.

    "Well, at least there will be someone to knock some sense into you there~"

    His sister chuckled into her long sleeve while her brother scoffed at her reply. They both were nervous about the future of their family, their father was already dead. The whole predicament was due to that sect, the two felt a burning rage towards it.Their master told them to abandon that anger otherwise, they would form some inner demons. But even with the new Tranquil mind skill, the male from the group was finding it hard to drop his vengeful feelings.

    "Remember what Master said, ''Anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. Though I''m not sure what he meant with ''dark side'' when he was talking about it."

    The girl contemplated on the cryptic meaning of her Master''s wise words. The month was coming to the end and their master would be returning, so they focused on their training.

    A couple of days earlier.

    Zhang Dong was arriving by the city of Frostriver, as he had thought it was covered in snow. It looked like a blanket of white was covering the entire surrounding area, he even saw an abominable snowman as he was flying by some mountain peaks. He used his travel time to slay a couple of demonic beasts, gathering up more points in the process. This didn''t slow him down all that much, considering he could kill the weaker beasts with one thrust of his sword.

    Time was running out though, he didn''t have much of it left so he wanted to catch this demonic cultivator and return back home. First, he needed to gather some intel, so he directly landed in front of the city gates and just asked the guards if they knew something about that Ravager fellow. The men looked at the strong-looking cultivator and told them that he should talk to one of the merchants in the city, as the man would probably know where to find the man.

    *Oh? Well, maybe I won''t need to search for him that much then.*

    He was pleasantly surprised that he had a lead right from the start. Matt was a bit surprised by the authenticity of all the wanted reports he had, all of the leads were panning out. These people sure had a good information network going around, even without any internet. Guess those communication jades came in handy.

    *Wonder if I can get something better than a communication jade, they said that they couldn''t talk with anyone that went to that secret grounds after they entered it.*

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    He recalled a couple of pocket dimension dungeon tropes that went around in novels. Some of them had random teleportation traps that send people all over the place if something like that occurred a communication device would come in handy. He would check that out later, but for now, he headed to a large merchant building the emblem on it looked somewhat familiar but he couldn''t remember from where.

    *Probably seen it in some restaurant in another city.*

    Matt was still in his disguise, having the more menacing scarred up face look. He kind of liked playing the role of the grumpy looking cultivator, he found it funny how women quickly grabbed their kids to the side whenever he was walking down the street. It was certainly a good look if you were going with an intimidation approach.

    The merchant business building was huge, there were carriages coming in and out of it. He could see some muscular-looking bros unloading and loading merchandise. There were various types of weapons and items scattered around, he could even see someone selling fresh fish in the corner this kind of made his tummy grumble.

    *If I don''t stop eating so much I''ll get fat...*

    He shook his head while going in and looking for a clerk that he could ask for directions. As he entered a little bell rung and he was greeted by a nice looking lady, though the woman twitched a bit as she noticed that a fearsome-looking uncle just come in. But she quickly gathered herself, showing a bright smile.

    "Welcome to the Red Lotus merchant group, how may I be of service, good sir?"

    Matt pulled out a jade slip on which he stored only the part with the Ravager fellow, on it was the description of his last location as well as his appearance. The woman looked through the jade slip, her eyes moving between the storage device and the man in front of her. She was staying silent for some reason so Matt decided to get the conversation on track.

    "I''m looking for that man, the guards by the city told me that you people from the merchant group should have some information..."

    The woman certainly knew something as she was fidgeting around not sure what to do. After a moment she excused herself saying that she would bring over a manager. Matt waited for a bit while tapping his finger on the bar counter, other people started whispering amongst each other while glancing at him but evading his gaze when he looked back at him.

    *They are certainly bad at keeping secrets.*

    After five minutes or so the lady worker came back with an older looking gentleman. He was wearing glasses and looked like a strict teacher type. He examined Matt from top to bottom before speaking out in a serious tone.

    "Could I know why sir is looking for that man on the wanted list?"

    Matt crossed his arms together, trying to look slightly more menacingly before he replied.

    "To get the rewards of course, what else?"

    He shrugged nonchalantly while grinning, kind of making it look like it wouldn''t be a big deal. The two were a bit taken aback by the man''s claims and confident act.

    "Sir, are you sure, that man is a powerful demonic cultivator... he had killed many men..."

    The man replied with concern in his voice.

    Zhang Dong raised his eyebrow, he still didn''t know if they were protecting the man or just trying to not get strangers into trouble. Guess they didn''t trust him, so he decided on a demonstration of his power. He slammed the counter with his hand, making it break apart in the process, his core formation aura filling the whole merchant building. Everyone felt the strong aura around them, but they weren''t getting pushed to the ground or bleeding from their orifices as Matt just wanted to show his level of cultivation and not cause the people harm.

    "Stop stalling, you dare hide information from this Lei Yinglo!"

    He shouted out so everyone could hear him, almost breaking his act after he told the people his name. He stopped releasing his aura letting the people gather their senses as they were still panting. Before the scared manager and the lady could reply, a chubby man waddled out from the side. The man was quite rotund, his cheeks jiggled around as he ran towards the group of people. The man came to a stop in front of him and quickly started bowing.

    "Boohoo! Please senior save my daughter, that bastard took my little girl Whaaaaa."

    The man dropped down to his knees and started hugging Matt''s thigh, crying and sobbing like a little child. He started shaking his leg but the ball of a man was clinging to him like a spider monkey just bawling his hear out. The man was the owner of the merchant group here, he had apparently lost his daughter to the demonic cultivator in question. Lei Yinglo delivered a bonk to the chubby man''s head to calm him down, hoping that he could get an explanation.

 68 Chapter 68

    Matt felt a bit perplexed as he looked at the rotund man that was rubbing his forehead. The manager and the lady tried to help their boss up to his feet, but he was just too heavy for the two of them. They fell on their butts after the woman slipped and lost her grip on her boss'' arm. After the people were done with their comedic routine they finally started to talk, recounting the previous day.

    "He came at sundown, he somehow managed to remove the cities protective formation. The experts in the city cowered in fright and didn''t even dare to come out to face him... damn cowards..."

    The man blew his nose and continued speaking in a solemn tone.

    "The demonic aura soon filled the whole area, it was truly overbearing. He said that he demanded ten beautiful women as his brides and that he would pick them out himself. He then used some kind of strange purple glowing treasure that looked like a medallion."

    The chubby merchant wiped some sweat from his brow, he looked like he was about to cry again.

    "He started pointing that thing at the poor girls, t-they got sucked into it, he got my little girl too..."

    Matt rubbed his chin while listening to what the man was saying, it looked like the demonic cultivator probably captured the women to perform some kind of ritual. Could also be part of his cultivation method, he knew that some cultivation methods required people to sleep with each other. He didn''t like where this was going, would he sacrifice those girls to some demon, or suck their life energy? None of those choices was any good.

    "Hmmm..., tell me where he went. There is probably not much time left for those girls."

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    He didn''t want to sugarcoat it as he replied in a serious tone, he would try to save those girls but he didn''t want to give these people high expectations. The manager stepped in this time around, telling Matt in what direction the man left.

    "Also when that man come here? Did he touch anything? Or do you perhaps have something that belonged to your kidnapped daughter?"

    He had his tracking skill by now, maybe he could get a whiff of the man''s aura that would point him in the right direction. He might also be able to home in on the aura trail of the girls. He received some kind of hair accessory that was giving off a faint spiritual signal, he could see a purplish energy trail going all around the merchant house which didn''t help him out that much. In the mess of trails he could point out an ominous looking one.

    It looked like a strand of vape smoke just drifting about and out of the front door. He stepped outside to follow the trail that was mixing with some other random aura trails. If he didn''t home in on it in the merchant building he would probably not be able to single it out in this piled up mess.

    "Okay, I got his trail, I''ll be leaving then."

    He jumped up into the air, skillfully removing his flying sword from his spatial ring and wooshing into the distance before the people around him could say anything back to him. Truthfully the merchant and his workers didn''t expect much from this man, they thought that he would either flee or die, still the father prayed that his lovely daughter would be rescued.

    *The more I stay in this world, the bleaker it gets... demons, monsters that kidnap infants in the night. People that care more about power than the well-being of others, rapists and murderers everywhere... not sure why people like these kind of worlds in those novels, prefer them less chaotic, wonder if I can change the peoples mindset...

    He rubbed his glabella with the eyes closed before opening them up and following the smoke trail. He was set on rescuing those women, hoping that he would make it in time before it was too late. He tried to be positive but the surroundings were throwing him curveballs every time. The trail brought him towards a mountain range that looked even more gloomy than the town he was previously in. The wind was whistling and storm clouds were gathering, lightning and thunder filling the surroundings. It looked like these were the so-called dread peaks.

    The moment he got close he noticed that the trail was getting thicker and thicker, leading him towards one of the mountain peaks. He arrived at the spot, his sword drawn as he could feel quite a bit of demonic Qi around. But besides some trashy looking demonic beasts there was no one in sight. He focused on the trail, but it turned from one smoke stream to multiple ones and soon just filled the whole surrounding area so much that he had no way of telling where the demonic cultivator went. His sytem map didn''t show much either, just pointed out some dots here and there but it could''t pierce through the mountain not showing any life signals.

    *His demonic qi is filling the whole mountain top, I can''t tell where he went from here... is there some kind of secret passage?*

    The cultivator was at a high level and he managed to survive for so long even with people on his trail. It was wise to assume that he had some kind of hidden lair or some kind of treasure that hid his presence. Maybe if Matt could find the entrance he could figure something out, but his tracking skill wasn''t pointing him to it.

    He thought about the hair accessory that he received from the merchant, he pulled it out in the hopes that maybe he could home in on the woman''s aura instead. The tracking ability was quite easy to use, he just needed to concentrate on one energy signature and it would show him the trail if that type of aura was in the surroundings. He concentrated, the dark smoke vanished as he focused on the accessory that gave out its own light purple smoke signal.

    *Okay, I''ve locked on to it... let''s see if I can find something here...*

    He looked around while hovering on his sword, trying to pick up the purple aura. It only took him a couple of flights to finally spot the trail in question. He followed it to an unsuspecting wall, it didn''t seem like there was anything there just a part of the mountain, not even a cave. The purple smoke was clearly going into the rocks, telling him that there should be an entrance somewhere.

    *Should I just bust through? But won''t that alert that guy to my presence...*

    He changed his trail vision back to the evil cultivators, dark smoke filling his vision as he looked around. He spotted a certain spot that was a lot darker than the rest, it was a tree stump with a hole in it. After fiddling for a second he actually found a lever in there, after pulling on it he could hear some kind of mechanism getting turned on. The wall started rumbling and suddenly vanished into thin air revealing a corridor behind it.

    *Great, more corridors...*

    He placed his flying sword back into his storage ring while pulling out his Spirit Infusion Longsword, he also thought that the name for his weapon was a bit too long. He would have to give his weapon a better name like ''Lightbringer'' or ''Thunder-fall''. For now, he hid his aura as much as he could and went into the tunnel, inside he was rewarded with some stairs, though they were going upwards into the mountain peak and not down this time around. The peak in question stretched into the mountains for quite some time, so this might have been a long walk.

    *What''s with all these damn stairs... *

    He focused back on the purple trail that continued on, the daughter of that merchant had to be here somewhere he had to hurry up and rescue her along with the rest. Luckily it didn''t take him half an hour like last time as he came to a clearing and could even hear some voices in the distance.

    He started sneaking towards the noises, there was light coming from that area and the door seemed to be open the demonic cultivator probably wasn''t expecting any visitors. Matt tippy-toed his way and slowly peeked out of the door entrance while remaining vigilant. It wouldn''t be funny if he got attacked the moment he looked in, so he kept his guard up.

    What he saw inside was a strange-looking room. He was on the upper floor and there were handrails in front. When he looked down he could see a circular room, the ten women were there. The females were bound and strung up on what looked like one of those bondage contraptions. It was in the shape of an ''X'' with spaces to bind the hands by the wrists and legs by the ankles. There was a large bed right in the middle and there was a woman on it. She had a collar around her neck with a chain attached to the bed, she was trying to yank herself free while a man was disrobing himself.

    *I didn''t think they called him Ravager due to his pervy tendencies...*

    Zhang Dong looked around, the women looked to be fine for now just naked and bare. They all were kind of shapely, guess the demonic cultivator liked the voluptuous types. He was about to pounce on the sexual deviant but then he looked at the woman on the bed, she was really familiar looking...

    *Wait... what is she doing here... Was she that fatties daughter? *

 69 Chapter 69

    The previous day.

    Lan Fei was going through her inventory checking if everything was in place as she was getting ready to head out once more. She arrived in Frostriver a week ago. She was the daughter of the chubby merchant boss but she didn''t want to tell him about the fiasco back at Moonlight city as she knew that her dad was very overprotective. If it was up to him, she would probably not be allowed to leave her old home. Fei had to force him to let her travel as one of the caravan leaders in the first place, he didn''t need to know what happened.

    She sighed to herself as she thought about the incident that happened back in that city, but more about the way she run away from that cultivator. After coming back home and unloading the things that they got, she went to get some info on that Zhang Clan. To her surprise, the man that she had a passionate night with turned out to be quite the warrior. He managed to defeat the invading forces single-handedly driving them back and even slew a late stage core formation cultivator.

    The man also became the new clan Patriarch within a month''s time. What was a clan Patriarch? He was the leader of at least one city, but Fei knew that after he got settled in the clan would probably regain back their former land. That was a lot of assets and resources, ones she could have a bid for if she just didn''t run.

    *Darn Fei you blew it. I could be getting my feet massaged while relaxing in one of those springs in that Spiring Spring City.*

    She slumped her shoulders while thinking that she let a golden goose escape her clutches, plus the man was quite the looker so there were no downsides. She, of course, didn''t know that the Zhang Clan was getting forcefully recruited to go back to that secret ground. She might have been singing a different tune then.

    *Well, at least I got away with my head intact, maybe dad wasn''t wrong when he told me that it was too dangerous to go out to other cities... but it''s so damn boring here... If I stay here he''ll just pawn me out to some ugly senior*

    She looked around the snowy surroundings and the chimneys that were spewing dark smoke. Due to the cold weather people mostly remained in their homes, there wasn''t that much to do around here and Fei being still in her prime wanted to tour the world. She was also planning to nab herself a good hubby, he, of course, had to be loaded.

    *Maybe if I visit that man he''ll take me in... he was quite fond of me, though he did look quite silly when I was making my moves on him. Kind of cute...*

    While thinking about some schemes to get back on good terms with the Zhang Clan Patriarch she heard a rumble. This was the sound of the cities protective barrier breaking, soon an ominous aura filled the whole city. The loud voice of a man could be heard everywhere.

    "It''s me th'' mighty Ravager, ah deman'' ten of yer most right purdy wimmen as tribute, they will become mah brides!"

    The man flew around an eerie looking flying sword, somehow he could tell where the so-called purdy wimmen where. He pulled out a silver medallion, it had some kind of runes on it and glowed a purple hue. He pointed it at a woman, the female started getting surrounded by a purple light and then got sucked into the metallic trinket.

    Soon he found his way up to the merchant building. His demonic aura was making everyone kneel and unable to move, he looked at the trembling Lan Fei with a grin on his face. The man was surprisingly good looking, he had long golden hair and strong facial features that made him look like prince charming.

    "Ah yer a fine specimen, yer fit t''be th'' prime vessel, ah reckon."

    He didn''t give the female much time as she got sucked right into his magical treasure like the rest.

    Fei landed on her butt in an open field and she could see more women around her. This treasure apparently transported people into a sealed-off space that looked like a grassy field. There was even a large building in there, right in the middle. How did the people in there know that it was a sealed-off space? Well, the women could see that they were standing on a small rocky island that seemed to be floating in the void. They could see the end of the small landmass that was about five kilometers in diameter with the building in the middle and grass filling the rest. After the tenth lady dropped in from thin air, they could hear the kidnapper''s voice seemingly coming from the void.

    "Don''t wo''ry mah buttercups, soon we will be one."

    This was the only thing the man said while he flew back to his lair, some of the women just collapsed crying while others checked the building out hoping to find something in there to aid them. The house was quite unkempt, dirty on the inside spiders and roaches everywhere. It was clearly not getting managed by the crazy cultivator, there was nothing in there besides bugs and some skeletons that gave the females a scare. It was quite large with many rooms, if Matt was here he would think that it looked like some kind of student dorm.

    After some time passed the man finally appeared amongst the ten scared women. He didn''t say much before grabbing one of them and just vanishing into thin air. He returned after half an out or so just to grab another to bring her out. He was undressing the scared females while hoisting them up in his ritual chamber, taking his time as he was having fun.

    Fei was left alone after the ninth female got removed from the small pocket dimension. She collapsed on the ground not knowing what to do, why was she so unlucky did someone curse her or something. She wanted to defend herself but the difference in cultivation was just too huge. She was dropped off on that large bed with a collar and chain around her neck, her eyes glaring daggers at the man in front.

    "Don''t look at me like thet mah li''l vessel, ah reckon. Eff''n thet stoopid Sect didn''t git rid of all th'' cultivato''s aroun'' hyar Even ah w''dn''t dast t''do this~"

    She had a hard time understanding his dialect, but more or less the cultivator said that due to the drop in powerful clan cultivators in the area the evil cultivator could come out of his hiding and do what he pleased.

    "Yo'' might be wonnerin'' why fo'' ah brought yo'' all hyar mah ladies, Well..."

    He started disrobing himself, the only thing remaining on the man was his underwear and a glove on the right hand.

    "Ah''s in need of yer essence, ah''s runnin'' outta time yo'' see..."

    He pulled off his glove letting the women see a darkish looking hand, it had many warts, blisters and boils with puss on it looking quite hideous.

    "Yo'' will gimme yer life essence so ah may recovah."

    Lan Fei was backing off on the bed but was held back by the collar and chain, she yanked on it but to no avail. Ravager started pulling down his underwear, presenting himself bare to the women that went wide-eyed at his ''little brother''. The thing he had between his legs looked like a serpent, but the head was a mix of an alien and a predator. It wiggled around while bearing its teeth at the naked woman in front.

    "Don''t wo''ry mah dear, its quite th'' nice feelin''... fo'' me."

    All the bondage crosses started to glow with a bizarre light. The women on them started squirming as they felt their spiritual essence getting pulled out of them. The essence was getting guided to the bed in the middle, the vessel would receive it all and then transfer it to the demonic cultivator as she got devoured by him.

    While the evil cultivator was focusing on the voluptuous woman in front, she was looking behind him. Fei could see another cultivator slowly approaching from the back, sword in hand. As the cultivator made contact with her eyes he moved his index finger to his lips. The demonic cultivator was not aware of the man behind him as his lower snake was thrashing about slowly pointing towards the bewildered woman.

    "Noo... S..stop my father is a rich man, we can give you thousands of spirit stones if you let me go... you don''t need to do it..."

    She shouted out in a loud while trying to keep Ravager occupied with her, hoping that the man behind him was someone friendly. Her wording was quite natural, she was quite eloquent with words when it counted.

    "Hah, whut kin yo'' offer me thet ah can not simply take? ''Nuff talkin'', time t''feast!"

    As the man was ready to pounce on the defenseless woman, he suddenly felt that something was off. He got a bad premonition but was just a bit too slow because as he was about to turn around he felt something hit his neck. Wind pressure could be felt around the room as the cultivator dressed in black swung his sword, making sure to swing with all his might as he decapitated the evil cultivator. The man''s head flopped down onto the bed while his body fell down like a puppet with its strings cut, the essence drawing ritual instantly stopped after the man lost his head.

    "Well... that was easier than I expected..."

    The man said while looking at the dead demonic cultivator on the bed, black blood shooting out of his neck stump while the women in the room looked on at the spectacle. They didn''t know how to react, was this man here to save them? or was he just another bud guy, he certainly had the bad guy looks. Fei was about to say something but then the man backed away while muttering something.

    "Wait... there was no..."

    Before he could say the sentence the snake-like thing that was between Ravager''s legs shoot out straight for his face. His sword got knocked to the side but somehow the cultivator evaded while grabbing the serpent-like appendage with both his hands. The women could see how the cultivator in black started pushing and pulling on the elongated thing that spat yellowy-white goop at him. He managed to dodge to the side, but the goo was quite acidic as it burned a big hole in the floor behind the two.

    *Aww hell naw...*

    Matt thought while Ravager''s body contorted in unfeasible ways and stood up without the head attached. The body''s knees and elbows were bent in the wrong direction and his hands and feet turned into claws. The whole body started turning to the way the evil cultivator''s hand looked like as it attacked the man in black.

    Zhang Dong was a bit afraid to let go of this snake thing that was spiting suspicious-looking liquids at him. Instead, he used one of his skills that increased his grip strength. His fingers glowed with a metallic luster the creepy looking thing started swelling due to the pressure. The creature tried to back away but was held in place by Matt''s vice-like grip. But this wasn''t over as the demon suddenly felt electricity running through its body, lighting up like a Christmas tree, its strange high pitched screams filled the surroundings.

    While this was happening the woman on the bed felt something moist graze her thigh. She looked down in horror as it was the demonic cultivator''s head. It had vacant eyes but its tongue was out and licking her leg. She screamed while kicking the thing away, the head just rolled a bit before going down from the bed and to the ground going in the direction that the fight was happening.

    "Look out, behind you!"

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    Fei shouted out as the head was somehow making its way towards him as he was electrocuting the body. It somehow jumped up, its mouth opening showing off a huge amount of sharp teeth. Matt turned around to see the horrible looking face coming towards him, he used his movement technique to dodge, grabbing his sword that was by the side going back to his fighting stance.

    "weLL NoW, wE hAf aN uNweLcOmE gUeSt."

    The demonic cultivator''s head spoke while some tendrils burst out from the neck stump and reattached themselves with the main body. Zhang Dong grimaced as they were back to square one again, guess this wouldn''t be that easy.

    *Why do these people have so many regeneration abilities... damn hax*

 70 Chapter 70

    Matt thought that he had taken enough precautions in sneaking behind the unsuspecting demonic cultivator, he did manage to chop his head off but didn''t foresee that he would be able to regenerate from that. He glanced around a bit, he didn''t want to give the enemy time to recover but he also couldn''t really lunch a devastating attack while there were so many innocent people around.

    He needed to take the fight somewhere else, best would be outside. The enemy was on guard but momentarily out of commission while regenerating as he wasn''t attacking. Matt thought to himself that it was a bit of a drag to have to think about collateral damage, he then placed his force field around Ravager and then started yanking him into the corridor that he came through. The two soon vanished from the main room, the demonic man was thrashing around in his barrier bubble.

    The females found themselves alone in the main chamber, naked and bare. Most of them were a crying mess by now as they wiggled around shackled to the crosses. Lan Fei tried removing her chain but it was just too sturdy, she saw that Ravager had dropped his robe on the edge of the bed. She managed to reach it with her foot, yanking it towards herself rummaging through it in the hopes of finding a key. She couldn''t find anything in there as the man probably kept all his belongings in a storage ring, it wasn''t in here.

    Luckily there was a huge boom outside in the mountain range, this made the entire room shake with so much force that the bed in the middle broke apart. The chain was still around her neck but it wasn''t attached to the bed as it broke into several pieces. Fei run-up to one of the girls and tried to pry one of the shackles open, she still was a cultivator at the pinnacle of qi condensation so she wasn''t weak by any means necessary.

    The shackles started rattling a bit as she tried prying them open, but to no avail, this type of metal would be able to hold foundation establishment cultivators in place. She wanted to help the woman out but couldn''t, she looked around hoping to find something else otherwise she would need to abandon these people. She spotted something on the side, it was round and metallic. It was the medallion the cultivator used to bring them here, maybe she could use it on the girls the same way he did.

    She fiddled with the thing but couldn''t make it work, sweat was running down her forehead as she noticed that the booming sounds stopped outside which might have indicated that the two cultivators stopped fighting. She clearly couldn''t activate the pocket dimension with her spiritual power level, you at lest needed a core formation cultivation to do that.

    She bolted to the side running around the room as she tried to find another exit beside the one that the two men had gone in. Then she heard it, there were footsteps. They echoed through the hallway that the two cultivators disappeared too. The sounds started getting closer and closer, the person took his sweet time as he was just walking towards the place where the women were still struggling in. Fei couldn''t really do much besides pulling the chain to her body in the hopes of using it as a weapon, maybe if it was an enemy he would be injured enough for her to make a break for it.

    Slowly a silhouette appeared, the steps were a bit heavy with indicated that the person coming had quite the weight to him. Fei peeked out seeing that it wasn''t the demonic cultivator but the man that sliced his head off. The man looked kind of annoyed as he was rubbing his cheek that looked kind of red.

    Matt had managed to defeat the pervy strange talking cultivator, he found him to be a lot weaker than the Dragon or Cthulhu look-alike, just annoying to fight. He wasn''t as sturdy as the two and his regenerative capabilities were a lot more limited than of the squid monster. He was rubbing his cheek furiously only due to the fact that the man''s trouser snake had managed to graze him there. It didn''t do any damage, but he felt dejected by the fact that he got attacked by a demon donger.

    He had promptly turned the evil man into minced meat before blowing him up with half of the mountain. He still had his spatial ring with him, there were quite a bit of spirit stones and demonic cultivation manuscripts in here. He jumped down into the circular room with a thud, the scared women looked at him with fright in their eyes which made Matt drop his head in shame as he had scared them even more.

    "No need to fear that man is dead, don''t worry I''ll get you out in a second."

    The man walked over to one of the women and grasped one of the shackles just tearing it apart while making sure to not hurt the ankle that it was around. After a couple of cracking sounds, the first girl was free and down on her knees looking at the scary-looking cultivator in front. Matt thought that maybe this wasn''t the best face to use when rescuing fair maidens as he looked like a bandit himself.

    "Hey, you stop hiding behind that column and come help me..."

    Matt coughed into his hand while he beckoned the hiding Lan Fei over. He was a little mad about the last time they met, but all things considered, he couldn''t stay that mad as the woman was really down on her luck. He waved his hand as he took out all the female clothes that the man had in his ring hoping that the females could use those.

    Time passed and the females started dressing back up while the cultivator that introduced himself as Lei Yinglo went around the lair. The females gathered together, crying and hugging but also discussing if they could trust this new man. Zhang Dong toured the surroundings, opening some closed doors while looking at his system map that actually helped him find some hidden parts. He started looting the place, grabbing everything he could find he could just identify it later.

    The girls looked on curiously as the man started forcing his way into some closed-off rooms that were behind some sturdy walls, giving them a scare, they found it a bit funny that afterward he came back and apologized while rubbing his neck. They were all beautiful women, so they noticed how he was acting quite bashful around them, even blushing slightly while mumbling something about tranquility.

    "Senior Yinglo, everyone is dressed h-how will we be going back."

    Fei asked with a concerned voice, she didn''t know if the cultivator could carry them all on a flying sword. Matt was also finished with his looting spree, this was quite a big haul as the evil cultivator had amassed quite the treasure hoard, there were many spirit stones and crafting materials, though they were mostly of the demon beast kind.

    "Hm... I don''t think I can carry you all on my flying sword... leaving some of you behind would be a bit..."

    The man was pondering while the girls fidgeted as he mentioned leaving some of them behind, they surely didn''t want to remain in this godforsaken place anymore. Lan Fei, on the other hand, brought out the medallion and placed it in Lei Yinglo''s hand.

    "Sir, the demonic cultivator used this to transport us here maybe you could also use it."

    Matt looked at the medallion and used his apprisal skill to examine it.

    [ Name: Dimensional Regalia

    Grade : Immortal Medium

    Attribute: None

    Durability: High

    Condition: Damaged

    Advanced-Grade: A+

    Special traits: This Spatial treasure houses a world of its own, due to its damaged state the area within is limited, can be repaired to increase the size. ]

    His eyes bulged as he saw the grade of the item in front of him. It was the highest-graded item he ever came across. He quickly sent his spiritual sense into the item due to its previous owner''s death it didn''t offer any resistance whatsoever. He could see the small island floating in the void and the building in the middle. He did a little test and the girls saw the man get sucked into the medallion that promptly dropped onto the ground.

    They all looked at each other wondering if the man would be stuck in it but soon he returned, appearing right out of the medallion.

    "Okay, think I figured it out. Oh and I left you something to eat, it''s on a blanket on the grassy field you can''t miss it."

    Soon the females found themselves back in the small pocket dimension munching on some strange looking things. It looked like two bread slices stuck together with some filling, it were, of course, some system bought hamburgers and cheeseburgers. Lan Fei was the last one that was in the room, the cultivator gave her a more meaningful look as he contemplated something.

    "Is something wrong, Senior?"

    The woman became a bit uncomfortable, not knowing what this man was thinking about but he probably wouldn''t try doing anything weird at this point. She didn''t know that the man in question was wondering if he should reveal his true face, but did he really want to continue this relationship. The woman showed a lot of character, as he overheard the women speaking. He heard that she didn''t just try to flee on her own, but actually tried to help the other girls while he and Ravager were duking it out.

    She did drop him like a sack of potatoes back in moonlight city the second she heard of his situation, this was kind of understandable all things considered. He wasn''t that mad but his pride was still a bit hurt. But would she just do the same thing if she heard that he had to go to that secret ground, where death was very likely? There was probably no future left for the two of them, but at least he wanted to end the whole thing.

    He shrugged and leaned over towards the woman, he held out his finger in front of her forehead flicking it.

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    "Owie..."

    Fei backed away rubbing her forehead from the finger poke, not really knowing what it was for but then she saw the man''s robes changing white, his hair growing out and his facial features switching around.

    "Take that, that was for running away back in Moonlight city."

 71 Chapter 71

    "It''s you!"

    Fei exclaimed in a surprised voice.

    "It''s me, long time no see?"

    Matt replied in a somewhat more relaxed tone.

    "We should probably stop meeting like this..."

    He scratched his cheek a bit while looking at the smaller female in front of him, he could see the woman''s facial expressions cycle through a couple of times. She didn''t know how to react in this situation as she did not expect to see this man again. Matt wasn''t quite sure what he should say either, his experience with women had gone up lately but not by much. He decided to speak up first, trying to use a neutral tone.

    "Well, why don''t we leave first, we can talk on the way..."

    He pointed to the exit and beckoned the voluptuous female over, he could bring one person onto his flying sword without having any drawbacks.

    "Senior Dong... or is it Yinglo?"

    Matt turned his head to the side trying not to laugh as his great naming sense came into the limelight.

    "Dong is fine you can drop the honorifics..., the other one is just a pseudonym, it wouldn''t look too good if the Zhang Clan Patriarch was bumbling about the place. We have enough trouble as it is with that dark palm sect business..."

    Matt started talking, kind of blurring the dark palm sect thing out in the open but not like it was that much of a secret. This made the woman perk up as she started asking questions.

    "Dark palm sect? Trouble?"

    Fei asked a bit curious about the clan situation, from her point of view the clan was on the rise with the new strong Patriarch at its help.

    "Ah yes...about that..."

    He scratched the back of his neck while pulling up his sword. Pointing to the large thing as he invited the female cultivator onto it. He took the rear position, he was a head taller than the woman so he could see quite well.

    "You don''t need to be afraid, you won''t fall down."

    He brought his aura around the female''s frame, he kind of naturally moved his hands behind his back as he stood on the sword. Lan Fei intuitively backed up into the man, grasping the hem of his robe even though the flying technique didn''t allow any gravity or wind pressure to affect her. His new mind technique really kept his pervy tendencies at bay, as he didn''t stare all that much but he still got quite excited due to the woman''s close proximity. So he resumed where the two left off so that he could focus on something else.

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    "Yes, I''m sure you know of that expedition the Dark Palm sect ordered some time ago."

    Lan Fei replied with a yes, due to the flying technique the two could hold a conversation even though they were flying above the speed of sound. The woman looked down at the passing by landscape a bit jealous of the core formation experts that could do this so easily.

    "Well, those guys came right back and ordered the clans to do it again, ours included... I also have to participate"

    Matt said while his voice became quieter in the end.

    "Is that so Brother Dong..."

    Lan Fei contemplated while Matt sweatdropped at the fact that the female was calling him brother now, guess he told her to drop the honorifics but he didn''t realize that it would just switch senior to brother in her mind. This time Fei started talking speaking out in a shyer sounding voice.

    "I have to apologize for the way I behaved back in Moonlight city..."

    It was kind of a strange situation, the woman slept with him but then run away, the whole lead up to the act was mind-boggling.

    "Ah, it''s fine... it was a strange night, guess I lost myself to your charms, ha ha..."

    The two started awkwardly laughing, the woman might have been a lot more experienced but people in this world conducted themselves differently. Relationships like on earth didn''t really happen as people were more materialistic, families traded each other''s children just to have better relations.

    "Well, I guess this will be a good learning experience for both of us."

    The two started chatting during the flight, the woman blushed after thinking things through at the way she acted just going for broke at seducing the man the moment she got the chance. Matt did the same, thinking back to the way he acted like a teenager and allowed himself to get seduced even though he should have been the more mature one. It took him a mind skill to be able to relax and not be stressed out around women, this was kind of cheating but it let him see things more clearly.

    "Brother Dong, you have to understand, times are tough ..."

    After a while, Lan Fei started unloading onto Matt telling about her troubled times and her thought process. He just started nodding and replying with ''Is that so?'', ''Aha'' and ''Your right'' kind of getting lost while the lady chattered on. He also checked out the girl''s stats while he was at it.

    [ Name: Lan Fei

    Age: 24

    Cultivation: Qi Condensation 12th level

    Potential: B-

    Trust: 40%

    Alignment: Chaotic Good ]

    *40% I''m not sure if that''s high or not...guess she trusts me more than the average person?*

    While he was thinking the trust level shifted to 41% on the fly, guess the more they spend time together the more it increases. Her potential was quite high as well, probably if she had some sort of good cultivation technique she could be in foundation establishment at this point. Or, it was due to her traveling too much and not focusing on cultivating.

    He could see her cultivation techniques, they revolved around the wind element but she didn''t have many fighting techniques to speak of. He could actually get into more detail with his upgraded analyzing skill, he had dropped in more points just for this.

    [ Name: Lan Fei

    Potential: B-

    Elemental Affinities: Wind B+, Fire C, Earth E,

    Weapon Affinities: Whip A-, Sword C-, Spear D+, daggers D- ]

    He raised a brow at the weapon affinity, the one with the A- made him imagine Fei in a black latex suit, whipping people around while laughing.

    *Oh, boy... I think I made a ''perfect common grade'' whip while doing tests...*

    The woman continued talking while Zhang Dong thought about some things he could give here before he left.

    "And that''s when I smacked him in the face and run away from home. Do you believe the audacity of my dad, trying to wed me to that ugly toad of a man, well he had the money... but that face... nothing like you Brother Dong."

    She looked up smiling, as she went back to those alluring gestures the man just gave a forced smile, he didn''t know one person would be able to talk non stop for this amount of time. From what he gathered, the female was very foolhardy, running away from home and forcefully starting her own caravan business. Her father wasn''t all that rich so he couldn''t really provide great security, it was a miracle that this woman didn''t get sold off to some slave traders a long time ago. Guess her luck ran out recently, or perhaps it was his trouble attracting aura that caused all of this.

    "W-well...uh... I think I better change we will be arriving in your town soon..."

    He started shifting his appearance back to his pseudonym, his hair getting shorter and face getting more scars. The woman looked at the change in appearance, astonished by the whole process yet again.

    "I know what you might be thinking... but yes the previous appearance is the way I really look, I''m just thirty years old..."

    The woman just smiled while nodding, this answered one of her questions as she was afraid that this big bro might be a big gramps on the inside just changing his appearance to suit his needs.

    The two arrived in the snow city, everyone at the merchant building was surprised to see the rough-looking cultivator back so soon and their young miss was with him. Just as Lan Fei stepped down from the flying sword you could hear something in the distance coming at her. Matt could see a round blur just on a collision course with his female companion. This was, of course, the big round daddy, eyes all red and snot coming out of his nose. He was quickly kicked in the face by his daughter and fell to the side right into a stand with some fish.

    "Waaa... how can you do this to your father little Fei, I was so worried... Sob sob..."

    Matt looked at the comedic routine as the dotting father tried hugging his child with fish all over him, the girl in question just kicking and punching him away with disgust on her face.

    "Stop it dad, you''re all stinky..."

    The man ended up hugging one of his daughter''s ankles while she tried pushing him back with her other leg. While the two were busy he started pulling out all the other girl, they soon appeared outside hugging each other as they realized that they were back in their town. More townspeople gathered, slowly rejoicing as they got reunited with their mothers and daughters.

    Everyone cheered as they thanked the scared up cultivator that proclaimed that he slew the evil Ravager and all was well. It had been about three weeks since he left the Zhang Clan, it was time to return. He just needed to drop the dead body of the evil cultivator and pick up the spirit stones he was owed. His alter ego''s name was slowly getting known around these areas as he had slain that cultist monster and now defeated a powerful demonic cultivator.

    Before heading out though, he handed Fei a spiky whip weapon along with a tome he got cheap from the store telling her that she should probably practice with this as she had potential in it.

    "You should probably get your cultivation up and grow stronger, these are troubling times."

    The woman nodded looking at the whip, she had never trained with a weapon like this. She didn''t know how the senior measured her potential for this, but he was a powerful cultivator she should probably give it a try. She also received a wind cultivation method for the foundation establishment level, he had gotten it from one of the rings the cultivators had. It didn''t take many points to upgrade it to a suitable level that she could use it. He still felt kind of bad for the girl for getting in so many weird situations, he would feel more at ease knowing that she got stronger.

    The woman looked at the gifts with astonishment, as she read through the manuscript she could tell that this was quite the refined technique.

    "Br... Senior Yinglo, this is a bit much... I don''t deserve this."

    Her hands shook a bit as she tried giving the items back, as she fought against her materialistic nature, these were some costly things and to be honest she wanted to take them.

    "Ah, no need, think of it as a present from a friend to another... hope you will do well in the future, no more getting captured."

    The man laughed a bit as he hopped onto his sword ready to leave.

    "W-wait, will we ever meet again?"

    The woman asked while hugging the items she received to her body.

    "Well, it wouldn''t be safe around me but I guess you know where to find me..."

    He flew away, he thought that this was probably not the best time for a relationship he had other things to focus on. He also didn''t know if he could trust this woman, though she wasn''t a bad person she just had a tendency for chatting and shiny things. He noticed her eyes glistering the moment he brought out the gifts, the way she was trying to resist the temptation was kind of cute though. Maybe if destiny allowed it they could meet in the future but first, he had to survive what the Dark Palm sect had in store for him.

 72 Chapter 72

    After bidding the lady goodbye he headed to where he could pick up his reward, strangely enough, it was the same place that he got the spirit stones for the dragon. It would take some time till he got there though, he had to backtrack all the way there. It was close to the place he faced off against the dragon at the start of his journey. He wondered if the people would try to rob him again when he left the city, as he was ''wearing'' a new face again. Though his new pseudonym was gaining recognition due to defeating two evil creatures.

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    *Took me over three weeks to get this done, guess I''m on track. *

    He looked at some other wanted notices, this made him feel like a bounty hunter. He wanted to see if he could grab a fast one alone the way but couldn''t really see anything worthwhile. Core formation beings were rare, it was even harder to find ones that you could hunt for money as most people wouldn''t even bother putting up a wanted poster. Maybe if someone offended some big shot, or was a demonic cultivator like that Ravager fellow.

    *Well, guess my detection range increased a bit, maybe I can find some demonic beasts around here.*

    He was becoming quite the monster hunter lately, he also had the white hair to go with it, just needed to get a wolf medallion to place around his neck. He had that one he looted from Ravager, but he was afraid to leave it out in the open. The sects were quite bloodthirsty and everyone was rushing for that immortal ascension thing, they would probably kill his entire bloodline to get something in the immortal grade.

    He also took a peek at his cultivation skill, mainly his next upgrade path. He had three choices and after getting his first evolution into the empowered lightning tree he could finally see what those colors did.

    [ Golden Lightning Path: The cultivator''s lightning imbued with more heavenly powers with an added holy element, creatures of the demonic nature are highly susceptible to this type of energy. This path doesn''t favor offense nor defense boasting an all-around increase in combat prowess. ]

    [ Violet Lightning Path: The cultivator''s lightning takes a more chaotic nature, harder to control but a lot more destructive than the other two types. This path favors offense increasing the cultivators Qi reserves the most, allowing for prolonged use of techniques. ]

    [ Azure Lightning Path: The cultivator''s lightning becomes in tune with the heavens, this is the most stable form and easiest to progress in. Favor''s defense over offense increasing the resistance of all construct and defensive type techniques. ]

    He read through the information once more wondering which path he should go for. The first option was quite interesting, it would aid him if he ever faced off against demonic beings like the Cthulhu lookalike. He felt that there would probably more of that kind of monster around in the future, so this could be useful. Matt didn''t really have a defined fighting style just yet, though he mostly finished his enemies at close range.

    The second one had ''Mage Class'' written all over it. He would gain the biggest Qi pool from the three and would be able to spam his skills more. Guess bombarding enemies with overwhelming ranged skills could work, he also had his body refining skill for close-range fighting. The last one looked the least interesting as it favored defense but the increase to his construct type techniques like his avatar form and the lightsword was tempting. Though would this push his constructs to another level, or would they lose out against crafted weapons and other items in the end anyway?

    He looked at the golden path, it looked like the most interesting one with the added elemental affinity. Maybe he should get some healing skills to go with it, or some auras like Paladins tend to have in games. He could imagine him and the Zhang Clan fighting in the secret ground together, him using some aura skills to boost everyone''s stats, maybe using something to boost stamina and Qi recovery.

    *Well... it''s always more fun in a group? Guess I''ll have to check if aura skills like that even exist around here.*

    He checked out the shop to see if there were any paladin or cleric like skills. There were some but there was a small problem, he couldn''t use them unless he was cultivating a holy element based cultivation method. This meant that he needed that upgrade before he could even use the cheapest healing skill.

    *Well that sucks, can''t even test things out ... this upgrade costs quite a bit...*

    He looked at the 1 million spirit points next for the upgrade, the previous one only cost 100 thousand points. By this logic, if he wanted to get that golden nascent soul upgrade afterward he would need to spend 10 million points on it, maybe more as this was a full large cultivation level.

    *Yikes, think I''d need to kill over 50 core formation enemies in the late stage to get that many points, which wouldn''t be that hard if I was some kind of murder hobo... Also not sure if I could find that many around unless I raided some sect.*

    Matt thought that this system would be really overpowered if he lost his morals and just started extinguishing lives left and right. This was the perfect system for someone that liked to kill.

    *Well, I guess you could also rob some kind of spirit stone mine instead...*

    The spirit stones mostly came from mines that were scattered around the continent. The only problem with that was that they always belonged to powerful sects or clans with nascent soul cultivators that were there to protect the assets. This was understandable as spirit stones equaled wealth, it was the most common currency around the continent.

    *I might be able to sneak in ... but when they notice the drop in spiritual energy after I absorb the stones, I''d get murdered.*

    Matt shook his head as he gave up on trying to rob a spirit stone mine, he could rob some convoys but that would probably involve hurting other people. Someone might get killed or maimed, he also could get chased by some angry sect uncles and he wasn''t that desperate quite yet.

    *I need to up my cultivation as well, need to at least reach the late stage in both body and mind.*

    Matt had tested out spending points on increasing his cultivation with not very good results. He could dump points into it for an easy increase but the more the percentage went up the more he had to spend. It kept stacking doubling each time which made him stop. Due to this, he didn''t want to spend his points, only if it was urgent and he needed a quick power-up. He also didn''t know how many points he would need to upgrade his clan''s cultivation manuscripts to a respectable level.

    *It would really be nice if I could go into my crafting abode while flying on my sword, it said that this medallion is damaged, wonder if I can repair it. Well I guess I have some time, I''ll just do it at night.*

    He parked his sword by a big tree in a clearing then hopped into his crafting space to see if he could do something with this dimensional regalia that looked like a medallion, guesses it belonged to some king once?

    He did upgrade some of his equipment before, so he placed the medallion on the big anvil and looked into his crafting screen if something would show up. He saw the item getting scanned by the system before he saw the medallion''s status screen.

    [ Damaged Immortal Grade item detected, can''t process please upgrade the crafting abode by at least one level. ]

    *Meh... think I need close to 3 million to upgrade the crafting abode... guess I''ll pass.*

    He grumbled while removing the item from the large anvil.

    *Well, it''s still usable people can still go in there and bring stuff over... guess I''ll get some of the clan members to clean up the building in the middle.*

    Matt wasn''t quite sure what he could use this closed-off space for yet, he hoped he could use the crafting abode to expand the size or maybe add some upgrades. He hoped for things that would aid in training, like slowing the passage of time in the pocket dimension. Many such artifacts existed in the novels he read.

    *Guess that''s a bummer, but it still can be used for training...*

    He went inside that space with his sword, he could leave the little floating island but there was nothing around besides empty space. The air thinned out the further you flew away from the center as well. The peculiar thing about this place was, that if the ground was damaged it would recover after a short while. So you could train and destroy everything around you, the next day everything would be recovered. That is everything besides that unkept building in the middle, maybe it was brought in by someone and placed there and it wasn''t part of the treasure.

    He wondered if that secret ground would allow him to bring in more people if he placed them in this medallion. It would be unfortunate if it didn''t, and they would somehow die due to this, that place was also made by an immortal so he wouldn''t risk lives.

    *Well, time to rest for a couple of hours then I''ll go get my spirit stones. They should be done with the tournament by the time I''m back. Guess I could use this medallion as a secret training ground for my clan bros, there is enough space to run around and train. The amount of Qi in there is quite high as well. It also replenishes itself naturally for some reason. This Qi is a bit strange, it lacks any kind of elemental affinity, but its quality is slightly higher.*

    Matt thought about the future while time was running out, the people back home were close to ending the event, the people selected for the expedition were the most skilled and willing warriors that the Zhang Clan could offer but they still needed some training.

 73 Chapter 73

    Not much happened while he was picking up his reward, he left the chopped up remains of the demonic cultivator behind, he didn''t feel like keeping that pervs body stashed in his storage ring. He also saw the idiot trio that he disrobed the last time he was around, they were acting a lot nicer though. They probably won''t be bothering random cultivators for a while.

    *Well time to go home..., home huh?*

    He wasn''t yet sure if he should call that Clan''s city his home yet. He had only been in this world for a couple of months, so the feeling of longing wasn''t quite there yet. After having some food he flew back to his clan, he hoped that his clan members would procure those crafting materials so that he could start crafting. He could make quite the amount of items as long as he had the materials as the rhythm game took between ten to five minutes. If the blacksmiths of this world saw him making weapons in five minutes they would probably get a heart attack.

    *Zhang Kuo should at least be able to get the crafting materials for foundation establishment items, even though I can''t earn that much with them they are a lot easier to make. Though also depends on how fast they can sell them*

    If he made perfect grade weapons in the hundreds he could make quite a bit of spirit stones, the problem were the logistics. Unless you had a flying sword traveling between the big cities took quite some time. Maybe he could get ol'' gramps do act as a courier, but he also wanted to upgrade the old man''s cultivation method so he could get stronger.

    *Guess I''ll do it in the beginning so that our clan people can go between the cities and trade, would probably take them a couple of weeks to a month to do it.*

    Thunder could be heard as Zhang Dong churned his cultivation to the max shooting off like a rocket towards Spirit Spring City. He needed to check those skills first, maybe he had enough points for everything and he was just overthinking it. While he was on his way he spotted an immensely huge mountain, on top of it a giant storm was brewing. Lightning bolts could be seen hitting the peak, while the hurricane-like winds were breaking nearby trees and scaring the beasts living in them.

    He stopped as he was passing by, thinking that he could use that huge storm to increase his cultivation, he still had time too, so he dived right into that thing. He got bombardier by lightning bolts left and right, even he had a hard time absorbing all of this energy, coughing up blood as the rainwater drenched his whole robe.

    While Zhang Dong was getting electrocuted at a snowy mountain peak, the tournament back in Spirit Spring city was coming to an end. Liu and Xue were still fighting it out as this wasn''t an elimination event. The younger sister was barely keeping up at the 194 spot hoping to survive among the 10th to 12th Qi condensation clan members. Liu ended up around the 90th spot, his fighting strength being around the 11th level even though he was at the 10th level.

    The two hadn''t adapted to the lightning arts just yet but if they had more experience, they would probably jump a couple of levels above their peers.

    Xue delivered a wind infused kick to one of her senior brothers that barely defended himself with the help of a saber that rattled after the impact. Zhang Dong''s two disciples didn''t have any weapons with them, they wanted to focus on what their new master was teaching them. They hadn''t received any weapon training and their previous water-based techniques didn''t really work all that well with the new lightning Qi ones, or they just didn''t know how to synergize the two.

    "You''ve gotten quite strong little Xue, but not strong enough!"

    She was fighting an 18-year-old at the 11th Qi condensation level, she was barely holding her own. The youth swung his battle saber at her, she was barely able to evade the attack thanks to her nimble movements. The sylph physique added to her evasive repertoire quite a bit. Just after this happened you could hear people cheering from the sides.

    "Junior Sister Xue is the best! You can do it!"

    "Hey, if you hurt Junior Sister in any way you''ll be answering to me! I''ll pummel you to death!"

    "What a stinky Senior Brother, you should be ashamed of yourself!"

    Xue was quite popular among her own generation, probably it had something to do with her being one of those jade-like beauties. You could hear cheering and threatening shouts that were aimed at the opponent that she was fighting. The opponent gulped as he had heard that one of the opponents of this clan sister, was found beaten up and left naked in the streets.

    The siblings were cultivating body refining physiques that were transforming their bodies. Liu was getting more manly, his muscles were showing in all the right spots that made him quite popular with the junior and some senior members. Xue, on the other hand, was getting her female attributes enhanced thanks to her Slyph physique, it probably helped that she was wearing more form-fitting robes so that she wouldn''t get slowed down by them. She was focusing on her speed and nimble movements.

    "Hey, you guys stop this is a serious event!"

    Xue shouted at the peanut gallery, with her brows furrowing but that only made the people cheer more.

    "Hah, she looked at me, look at that passionate gaze!"

    One of the younger males said while another slapped his head from behind and the two got into a fight. In the end, the fight ended in a draw as the senior brother didn''t want to get beaten up also he didn''t need to get any more points. The top brackets mostly consisted of people at the 12th and 11th level. There were a couple of level 10''s at the end, with Xue in tow. She was the only person that made it in while being at the 9th level.

    Both of the Patriarch''s new disciples generated a lot of buzz, some were envious also wishing that they could get taught by the strongest member of their clan. The two have been rapidly growing at an unprecedented pace, showing everyone that Zhang Dong was quite the teacher with superior cultivation knowledge.

    Most of them didn''t delude themselves into thinking that their Patriarch would pick them up as disciples. They realized that these two had a lot more talent, being the strongest at their age range even before Zhang Dong came along. But they were hoping that if they got into the best 200 they could get some pointers and rewards from their leader as they knew where all of them were going afterward.

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    The Clan members were mostly segregated by skill and cultivation levels. Matt was surprised when he previously toured the compound as the younger generation members went to something akin to a high school. They had normal classes that consisted of reading, mathematics, and the sort, combat aimed lessons were also taught. There were even classes on pill forging and crafting.

    The people of the clan even wanted him to take a teaching position for the more experienced students but he quickly refused that proposal. There were four classes starting from common followed by mortal, then earth and at the end was heaven class. The last class was reserved for people at the strength level of 10-12th Qi condensation. So depending on talent and resources people of various ages attended.

    The fourth week was coming to an end, all the placements were set at this point. The place got busier as every placeholder was ordered to list out their cultivation methods and battle techniques. The Patriarch apparently wanted everyone to get segregated by their cultivation method firstly, then by similar working combat techniques. Most people weren''t sure what he was up to, did he want to check out the skills before giving them pointers. That would be extremely hard to do without seeing them preform first, how could he even know what they were good or bad at.

    No one really knew what good it would do to look at some random clan skills, but they trusted in their Patriarch''s strength at least. The way his disciples were progressing was also a boost to his validity as a teacher.

    "How''s everything progressing?"

    Zhang Jin asked one of the Patriarch''s new retainers, Zhang Kuo, he was mostly responsible for the calculating side of business while Zhang Ya was more in human resources, doing odd jobs.

    "We are in the process of gathering the manuals that the Patriarch requested, there shouldn''t be any problems in procuring them as the Clan members techniques don''t vary that much. Also, we have gotten reports that all the missions that the Patriarch selected were carried out."

    Zhang Kuo gave a jade slip to Zhang Jin as everything was written down there, the older man looking at the report with a mixed expression.

    "Make sure none of this leaves this room, If my grandson wants to stay anonymous he has to have a reason for it."

    The old man was a bit surprised by his grandson''s battle prowess. That Lesser Calamity Dragon he took out would probably maul the old Patriarch that was in the core formation late stage, that thing had a really tough hide and anyone below the great circle would get trashed. Also, he fought another monster and a strong demonic cultivator that was nothing to scoff at, and the boy just bested them without a setback.

    This grandpa would probably be less astonished if he knew that his grandson barely escaped with his life when he was fighting the first monster on that list. Still, the achievements were speaking for themselves, this Patriarch was already stronger than the old one, the problem wasn''t him but the rest. The other clan members weren''t ready, they didn''t make it into the last selection for a reason.

    Back at the mountain range Matt was in a hole, pulverized rock all around him while he was twitching while laying on this back. The lightning storm had done him in a bit, but he managed to absorb most of its energies before they dispersed. He felt like an overcharged light bulb as the chaotic energies circulated all over his body making him shoot of tiny sparks.

    *Damn, didn''t think this blasted storm would shred my clothes down to my boxers.*

    His robes had begun regenerating already, but the chaotic energies in his body were making things difficult.

    *Guess I should be careful in absorbing so much energy, but that was a nice boost of 10%!*

    He dusted himself off the gravel and hopped up onto his sword, guess if he flew high enough people wouldn''t see that he was bare-chested. He set off towards the clan, he wasn''t planning on stopping to cultivate anymore the month was coming to an end and they only had two left, he had to start training his soldiers.

    He had gained over half a million points from killing the three mini-bosses alone, but he also gained another 200k through killing smaller demonic beasts along the way. He got close to 45k spirit stones that would translate to a bit less than ten times of that in points. So he stood at about over a million points now, having spent some to buy the sword arts, the disguise skill and the tracking skill which paid of in the end as he would never be able to find that pervy cultivator otherwise.

    Some other people could have probably gained more points by killing more, like those three that he left naked and bruised. That wasn''t his style though, it would be nice if he could get a fraction of the points for just beating up people instead. He also didn''t run into any spirit stone convoys that he could try to rob, though he would probably be apprehensive about that as well.

    While in thought he started noticing some familiar scenery as more water springs appeared on the horizon. The water elements started being abundant and the familiar smell filled his nose.

    *Home sweet home, huh?*

 74 Chapter 74

    Matt canceled the disguising art during his cultivation period in the mountains, so he was back in his white robe looking like the Patriarch that everyone knew and loved. Well, at least that was what he hoped for. People on the ground spotted him flying in, he cruised by by the gate and just gave the guards a nod, this making the men freak out and do sort of a salute.

    "At ease?"

    He flew back to the main clan building, trying to slip in without making too much of a commotion but the moment he landed he could hear footsteps coming, people were apparently waiting for his return, he could hear some youthful voices.

    "Master! Welcome back!"

    The shout made his ears ring as his male disciple greeted him with a wave followed by a small quick bow with clasped hands. Matt looked at the sixteen-year-old, his hair was a lot whiter than before but you could still see the black strands in there. His sister appeared right behind her brother, a pout visible on her face.

    "Aww, I wanted to greet Master back first... not fair..."

    The girl puffed up her cheeks while glaring at her brother that was looking kind of smug. Matt didn''t know how to react, was it some kind of grand achievement to greet your master first? The kid sure looked like he had won some kind of prize, while the young lady pouted like a little child. Though their master started chuckling to himself, finding the siblings to be quite the comedic duo.

    "Well, Liu my student for greeting your Master first, you have earned the right to a reward!"

    The brother perked up at his masters'' words, you could see his eyes shining with anticipation.

    "R-really Master?"

    "Hah, you wish!"

    Matt replied with a smile on his face then ruffled up the youth''s hair with his larger hand. The sister started at her squirming brother that was getting his hair rearranged by their master. This was a peculiar sight, most master - disciple relationships were more no-nonsense but Zhang Dong liked to keep a more relaxed atmosphere where people weren''t that tense around him. After he was finished teasing the youth he asked about the tournament.

    "Well, I didn''t see the report yet, how did you fare in your fights?"

    Zhang Liu was grasping his messed up mop of a head, trying to calm down his long locks, due to that Xue answered instead.

    "We both got into the top 200 participants! They had no chance against Masters'' superior cultivation and combat techniques!"

    "She meant to say that she barely made it into the 195th spot."

    Liu snickered under his breath while his sister snow-white complexion started turning pink, her eyes in the form of daggers were pointing in the direction of her brother that was having a good time.

    Matt crossed his arms over one another and looked at the two, the two would be going with him, their life probably depended on his decisions. He sighed inwardly hoping for the best, the two made the decision to come along on their own but they were far too young in his opinion.

    "Is that so..."

    "Well, I''ll check your progress later you two. First I have to speak to your grandpa, we need to start preparing for that expedition..."

    The two quieted down, the atmosphere got a bit more serious as their Master started talking about the impending quest into the unknown. The two bid their master adieu as he went to his chambers, his two retainers and Zhang Jin were already waiting for him.

    "I see that you are back Dong''er, were you successful in your travels?"

    Zhang Jin asked while the two people on the sides gave small bows of respect to their acting Patriarch.

    "More or less, got some loot. I went through it all and there are some things that we can sell, but I''m not sure about some of these items, here take a look."

    While saying that he handed one storage ring with some less useful treasures over to Zhang Kuo so that he could pawn them off. He handed a second storage ring over to his grandpa, this one contained a lot of occult looking items and demonic cultivation manuscripts. Matt didn''t really know what to do with those, could they be sold of, or were things like these banned? Matt did look through all of them on his way here, he disposed of the more gruesome techniques, like the one that used women as batteries. He mostly left techniques and items that used the cultivators'' life for bursts of power, if someone wanted to use things like those for a short term power increase they could go right ahead. He just didn''t want more demonic cultivators popping up that used strange skills to bother the populace.

    Zhang Jin just scanned the storage device with his spiritual sense, his eyebrow quivering oh so slightly.

    "I see... we can''t sell these with the usual channels, but there is a way, don''t worry I''ll have someone handle it."

    Gaining more spirit stones was always a good thing, he could absorb them for more points or buy more crafting materials to equip his soldiers.

    "So, did you do what I asked for?"

    Matt looked at his retainers that nodded, they handed him a storage ring with a lot of old parchments and manuscripts. Some of them looked like they would crumble at the slightest touch. He also received a jade slip with the statics that showed him which cultivation techniques were the most used by the Zhang Clan members. Luckily the costlier ones that the foundation establishment seniors used weren''t that varied, they all more or less cultivated similar water skills.

    Mostly depending on the family ties and bloodline, a Zhang clan member could choose a cultivation method from a limited pile. The higher the grading the less of a choice there was, so most of the people tried their luck at cultivating the highest-ranked technique or skill they would find. Due to this, there wasn''t as much verity, which would mean that there were fewer manuals to upgrade.

    "Okay, I''ll start with the foundation establishment ones first... Oh right, Gramps give me your cultivation manual as well."

    The Zhang Clan members still weren''t sure what their Patriarch was trying to do, what could he do with those old techniques, could he learn them all and train the people in just two months of time? This was a hard pill to swallow, there were over a hundred manuals in there even if you were a genius, you needed a couple of days to grasp even the easiest of skills. They didn''t think that there would be enough time to do that.

    "Ah sure, here you go..."

    Zhang Jin handed his grandson the cultivation technique. The group discussed some other things, asking Zhang Dong about his travels. They gave him a general report about the tournament and what happened in the past month, but there wasn''t much to report. The three left soon after, Matt could now concentrate on his next task. He removed the big bed from his storage ring and started placing all the foundation establishment manuals on the ground, segregating them by general cultivation manuscripts, then combat techniques which were further segregated into ones that required and didn''t require weapons.

    "There we go..."

    He picked up one manuscript, it was called Rainwater Sutra. It was a general cultivation manual and this was the second part of it. This was the method the main family line practiced, along with his new disciples that switched over to his now. There were three parts to it, that went from Qi condensation up to core formation, but the third part was incomplete. Due to this, it was impossible to cultivate it to the great circle and you could barely get into the late stage if you bumbled around.

    [ Rainwater Sutra part 1 (Common high grade): First part of a cultivation manual, suited for cultivators with water affinity. Gives a more than moderate insight into qi condensation. ]

    [ Rainwater Sutra part 2 (Mortal high grade ): Second part of a cultivation manual, suited for cultivators with water affinity. The foundation pillars forged through this method are more or less stable, but flawed ones can arise ]

    [ Rainwater Sutra part 3 (Earth low grade ) [Incomplete ]: Third part of a cultivation manual, suited for cultivators with water affinity. It''s missing a lot of information, cultivators won''t be able to cultivate past the late stage if they follow the incomplete instructions and it will stifle their progress. ]

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    Matt raised a brow at the explanations, the best cultivation method of the clan wasn''t all that great. The ones the core formation elders were supposed to use even got them stuck in the late stage. This was the one his grandfather was using and the same one the previous Patriarch used as well.

    He brought out a different cultivation manual, it belonged to the first man he killed it was called called ''Inferno art''. It had quite the cool sounding name, but the grading was just as bad as the one that the Zhang clan was using. Matt had checked every core formation manual that he got from his travels and they all were of lower grades, sometimes incomplete with glaring flaws. This was probably why no one was able to reach the nascent soul, the methods these people used were just abysmal.

    *The manuals for foundation establishment and Qi condensation are better, but still they aren''t perfect, no wonder the sects treat the clans as lower-class citizens. I bet they hog all the good methods to themselves and just laugh at the clans that bumble their way through the process.*

    Matt could see that past the foundation establishment the clan was reaching a bottleneck in their techniques. The lower the grade of the method the more damage one suffered to their body. Like with the Rainwater Sutra, it outright stopped the cultivation process after the late stage.

    *Also the advanced grade is quite low and that rainwater part isn''t good either...*

    Cultivation methods mostly fell into a certain Dao. The Rainwater Sutra was derived from a greater Dao of water and was a lesser Dao. The closer to the ''Source'' of a Dao you got, the better it was. Zhang Dong''s lightning cultivation was from a greater Dao, the inferno art was also something created from the greater Dao of fire, or yang as the people in this world liked to refer to it.

    What was the difference between a lesser Dao and a greater one? A person that followed a lower path would always be weaker than a person that followed a greater one. Also, you could not progress into the immortal stage if you didn''t have any insights into a greater Dao. Most cultivation techniques in this world were just crude imitations of greater Daos, but they were a lot easier to produce.

    *Guess I lucked out with my greater Dao of lightning, I wonder how many spirit stones I could get for my cultivation arts...*

    This was a tempting motion, to start selling improved versions of cultivation methods. But then some scary sect uncles could come knocking, wondering where he got them from.

    *Think I better wait till I''m in the nascent soul for that...*

    He picked up the manuals that the foundation establishment members used and started upgrading them.

    [ Rainwater Sutra part 2 (Mortal high grade ) Do you wish to upgrade this cultivation manual. Yes/No?]

    [ Springwater manual (Mortal middle grade ) Do you wish to upgrade this cultivation manual. Yes/No? ]

    [ Dragontide manuscript (Mortal middle grade) Do you wish to upgrade this cultivation manual. Yes/No? ]

    His points started going down and down, he got them all up into the mortal perfect grade. This wasn''t the limit of the upgrading though, you could improve them further. He also used an immortal grade cultivation manual that was for core formation practitioners. The only rule was that a manual couldn''t be of a lower grading than what the cultivation level was. So, if you were in the foundation establishment realm your cultivation manual couldn''t be off common grade, that just wouldn''t work.

    *Should I upgrade them into the earth grade, or is this enough...*

    Matt thought that upgrading a technique of a lower level into a higher one would probably be very beneficial to the cultivators that practiced it, even if it was only in the lowest of them. He was glad that there weren''t that many of those scripts for his foundation establishment members, so it didn''t cost that much but still he lost eight thousand points a pop.

    *This better be worth it, could buy myself an earth grade skill for this... Though it''s not that much at this point*

    There would be more spirit stones coming in so he could spend some points on these things. He needed to go through the other parchments before deciding if he could upgrade anything past the lower earth grade.

    *Though there is one problem...*

    The upgrading process didn''t do anything to the manuals he was holding, the refined techniques were added to his system''s library which he now had an icon for. He could click on it and read through everything, he also got the knowledge inserted into his brain as always.

    *Damn, do I need to write these down myself now?*

    The Impartation skill was good and all, but it wasn''t perfect so he needed to complement it with the written down texts. As always, the system came to the rescue as it had various calligraphy and copying skills that he could buy, and they didn''t cost much as they weren''t used for battle.

    He bought two skills, one called hyper calligraphy the other beautiful penmanship as his writing style was quite trashy. Thanks to the first skill that let him smoothly scribble everything down within seconds, he managed to write everything down within fifteen minutes. Which was quite fast for so many complicated manuals.

    *Think I should hand these over so that those guys can go to work, still so many things to go through...*

 75 Chapter 75

    A person was standing with both of his hands on his forehead. The man''s name was Zhang Zhi, he had just turned forty this year but due to his cultivation, he looked like a man in his late twenties. He was the one that took the first spot for the foundation establishment elders at the clan tournament. Due to his fairly young age and high cultivation level, he was highly regarded amongst the clan.

    Half an hour earlier he and the other tournament participants were brought into a room. There he saw some copied over manuscripts, even while they were walking in some women clan members were diligently working on copying them down from some nearby notes. He straightened out as he saw that their current Patriarch was standing there, handing down some papers to people that were copying them over.

    "Ah, I see that you all are here, could you all just line up. There is much work to do, best if you line up in order of your tournament placement."

    The patriarch ordered while waving his hand around, moving it in a certain direction. The Zhang clan elders looked at each other and just followed the instructions, lining up by the wall. Zhi was the first one getting approached by their new leader, he was slightly shorter than Zhang Dong and had a more ectomorph like physique. He looked at the silver-haired man in front of him as he placed his hand on his shoulder, he could feel some strange energy wash over him the moment that happened.

    "Zhang Zhi, Great Circle, 40 years old... you should probably switch to sword arts from those spear arts...you practice the Dragontide method, I see..."

    Zhi was a bit astonished that the man that he never interacted with started naming things that he shouldn''t know. The man started claiming that he was better at the sword than the spear, he had followed in his father''s footsteps that was quite renowned for his spearmanship. The white-haired Patriarch mumbled to himself for a moment before placing his index finger on Zhi''s forehead.

    "This might feeeeel a bit funny, just bare with it..."

    The moment Zhi heard those words he could feel information getting forced into his brain. This knowledge was something that he knew by heart, it was about his cultivation method the Dragontide Manuscript. It was different though, the wisdom contained was far superior to the understanding of the technique he previously had. He backed away, holding onto his head in shock as most of the knowledge remained intact. He instinctively wanted to seclude himself and try out the improved cultivation method.

    "T-this..."

    Before he could say something the Patriarch looked to one of the people that was copying down his scribbles. Talking to them in a pleasantly sounding bassy voice.

    "One Improved Dragontide manual, please~"

    He said while one of the girls brought over the goods, Zhang Zhi got the item shoved into his palms his eyes going wide as it was the same cultivation method that was imparted into him, just written down the ink didn''t even look dry.

    "If you have any questions, they should be answered in there, now go reinforce the foundation, you have a week."

    Zhang Dong had improved his Impartation of Knowledge skill, but it still wasn''t perfect so he needed those copied over manuscripts with all the required data. Zhang Zhi being the typical cultivator nut started shaking furiously as he looked at the manuscript in front of him. He knew that improving cultivation methods that you didn''t make yourself was extremely hard. But there it was, his family art improved even he could tell that it was far beyond anything the clan had in their library.

    He was baffled, he wanted to hug the man in front of him and beg him to take him on as a disciple. But he managed to stop himself, for one this man was the clan''s Patriarch and he already had disciples, two he was ten years younger than him. The others next to Zhi glanced in his direction, they saw his eyes redden and his lower lip quivering not really sure what was happening.

    "Thank you, Patriarch, this Zhang Zhi will never forget this act of kindness!"

    What followed was a furious display of ass-kissing in the form of kowtowing, which made the Patriarch''s eyebrows twitch momentarily. He coughed into his hand and moved over to the second person. He placed his hand on the older looking man and within a couple of minutes, the man was down on his knees, thanking the young clan leader for being so benevolent.

    Zhang Dong started moving past the quivering clan members, trying not to look at their over the top behavior. Everyone was receiving the improved versions of their cultivation methods. The ones that had yet to receive their manual had stars in their eyes and sweaty palms, they looked like a bunch of puppies before you fed them. Most of the people were old men past their forties, so the looks on their faces were priceless, Matt had to force himself to not laugh in front of them.

    "Oh, you''re Liu''s and Xue''s..."

    About at the end of the line, was the mother of his graying disciples. She and Xue looked very similar, having that unhealthy white complexion that people in this world liked so much. She looked a bit more refined than her daughter that still had some baby fat stuck on her face, also she was quite flat. She made up for that deficiency with her back end, which was quite large in comparison.

    "Zhang Jie greets the Patriarch."

    She gave him the usual bow of respect before Zhang Dong went through the motions and imparted the improved Rainwater Sutra art to her. The woman was wondering what was the deal with this man, her children just couldn''t shut up about how great he was. She finally knew how those two brats started progressing so fast, this man teaching methods were quite unusual. Her head was throbbing but her knowledge of the cultivation arts increased by leaps and bounds.

    "You should tell gramps to not cultivate before I look through his cultivation art, it has way too many flaws in it."

    She figured that this ''Gramps'' that the new Patriarch was talking about was her grandfather Zhang Jin, she didn''t know if she should laugh or cry about the way this man refereed to her adored grandfather.

    "Ah yes... I''ll be sure to pass it on, Patriarch."

    The dazed Zhang Clan foundation establishment elders waddled out of the gathering room, their heads hurting a bit but this was a small price to pay. They all felt invigorated as with the imparted knowledge, they were sure that they could reinforce their flawed foundation pillars.

    What was the Foundation Establishment cultivation realm? It was the first real step on the way to cultivation, everyone could condense Qi in this world, but not everyone was able to advance past that. If you wanted to further advance you needed to create your dao pillars, people that advanced to the early stage only had one pillar while advancing further they formed more. Depending on the cultivation technique the amount of those pillars varied. The thing that also varied was the state those pillars were in.

    The lowest kind were the cracked pillars, a myriad of cracks like spiderwebs would run through them, indicating a flimsy foundation that could be shattered at any moment. After that came the flawed pillars, they had fewer imperfections ruining through them. These types of pillars were very common among the Zhang Clan practitioners. After that came the superior pillars, flaws in those were difficult to spot. The last ones were the perfect pillars, the rarest and the most difficult ones that a cultivator could produce.

    A cultivator could have mixed pillars, flawed ones together with superior and cracked ones. Most people around the world that used average cultivation methods had flawed pillars with some cracked ones in the mix.

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    Zhang Dong having an immortal grade technique was the owner of perfect pillars. Also, they were special lightning dao pillars which increased their rarity even further. With the improved versions of the cultivation arts, Matt hoped that everyone could transform their flawed and cracked pillars to the superior version of them, maybe even add a couple of new ones in the process. The better your pillars were and the more you had of them, the smoother your cultivation path would be in the future. This was also the reason Matt was cultivating at such breakneck speeds, he faced no bottlenecks whatsoever. The only thing holding him back was the amount of spiritual energy he could absorb to expand his lightning core.

    Back in his chambers, Zhang Dong looked at his system screen, the shoulder touching wasn''t only for figuring out people''s names and what they were good at. He could actually save everyone''s stats into his database, in it he could see the personal data of the people he examined.

    *I''m sure glad that I took that analyzing skill.*

    He couldn''t see the progress of the people he analyzed as he saw it in his Disciple section. He could pull up the database at any moment, update it and see how everyone was progressing. He could also plan ahead, like with Zhang Zhi, his talent wasn''t that great only at a C+, but his affinity with the sword was at an A+. But for some reason, Matt saw that the only weapon techniques the man had were spear ones. Zhi''s spear affinity was much lower at a C, it was a travesty that this man was training in an art he had no talent in.

    *Should I get him to try out some sword arts, or is two months not enough...*

    Matt didn''t know if retraining yourself before going to battle in two months would be wise. But the A+ indicated that the man had superior talent in swordsmanship, also he was a lot older so some things should translate over. There were other people that were already using the sword as it was a common weapon type along with the spear and saber, so it would come in handy.

    *I can''t give him my sword art, it''s for lightning Qi...*

    Due to being the Patriarch, he had access to all of the best techniques that the clan could offer, though they were worse than even his lowest graded technique. He looked through the more advanced sword techniques the clan could offer, they were mostly in the lower or middle grade, but there was a high grade one that could be used.

    [ Rainstorm Blade (Mortal high grade ) Do you wish to upgrade this cultivation manual. Yes/No? ]

    He upgraded it to the low earth grade, the thing about this whole process was that he was learning all of these skills almost instantaneously while not even cultivating them. Matt didn''t know if knowing so many skills would even be good for something, he looked through his technique library but he didn''t see any options for combining skills which he could use.

    *Damn, I can''t even sell these as that would undermine my clan in the long run...*

    He threw the motion of selling off cultivation arts out the window, as he didn''t want a paper trail leading to his doorstep. Also, you couldn''t earn much back for anything below the core formation as most sects and clans had their own stuff below that level. Training in some random techniques could impede your progress.

    *Well time to go through the youngster techniques...*

    He gave out a sigh as there were two hundred of those Qi condensation juniors he had to go through, at least upgrading techniques from Qi condensation didn''t cost that much. Also, they weren''t that bad as the foundation establishment ones, being a lot easier to produce for the lower level clans and sects like them. Matt flexed his cultivation aura which alerted a nearby clan member that was in his service. This was quite a nifty way of getting people to come over, he didn''t even need to use his voice.

    "Give this to the Zhang Zhi fellow, tell him that he should try it out. Also, tell the junior members to come to my chambers in order of the tournament results."

    Matt didn''t want two hundred people looking at him silently while he analyzed others one by one. It would be less stressful if he just takes care of them one at a time, they were young so they could wait in line all day. Which they would have to as he had to look at their cultivation method, write it down for them, then have others copy it over. This would be a lengthy process, they didn''t have time and he also wanted to teach people some actual battle skills later on.

    "Okay, let''s get this over with..."

 76 Chapter 76

    Zhang Dong needed about ten to twenty minutes to process one person, but due to there being two hundred people that he had to go through it took him two days to finish everything. You could see a big line of nervous youths just outside his chambers. Matt made a mental note to have the clan members build him an office for things like this. There were a lot of people from the side families here so they weren''t familiar with the place, their eyes moving left and right as they examined every nook and cranny. They looked at the inner members with envy in their eyes, but now with the new Patriarch also being from a side family, they felt like things would change.

    After the two days without sleep, Matt flopped onto his bed. He had 198 more people in his database as he didn''t need to add his two disciples that were already training in other things that he got for them. After checking out their affinities he noticed that due to his Dao of Heavenly Lightning their grades towards the lightning element were increasing. He sure wished he could afford to buy Dao knowledge for the water element with so many water cultivators around, but he only had a small fraction required. The Dao of water was a greater Dao, so it required a lot of points.

    He laid on his huge bed looking up at the ceiling, but he was actually looking at his system window that was showing him the Qi cultivator profiles. Luckily the techniques didn''t vary as much as he thought. This was probably due to this being a clan and not a sect, so most people specialized in similar fields. You didn''t really have divisions for pill forging, crafting or beast taming as clans tended to stick to one profession. The Zhang clan specialized in restorative pill forging that went with their water arts that were suited for healing.

    *Glad that their techniques don''t vary as much as I thought. Got the basics down, now I need to prepare the regular weapon training techniques, the evasion techniques, they don''t really use any body refining techniques...So still a lot of work left.*

    The Qi condensation techniques were really cheap so he got a ''Water Nymph Physique'' for the female cultivators, it was similar to the Sylph Physique that Xue was using. For the male cultivators, he found the ''Leviathan Constitution'' , this also belonged to the water element bracket. These two worked similar to the techniques that he got for his disciples, the girls got more agile while the men got more resistant. They were a bit worse than what he got for his disciples, but they were fashioned for water type cultivators so they would complement their strengths.

    He decided on those two for one reason, they would let water cultivators use their Qi skills even in harsh environments devoid of any water elements. The more they progressed in his refining techniques, the more Qi they could store in their body for later usage and the less they needed to use for their other techniques.

    Zhang Dong meditated for an hour, not sleeping just yet as he headed over to his dimensional regalia. Inside he saw many clan members shuffling about, they were carrying various tools and resources. Some of them were sweeping, some of them were scraping the bricks from the moss. The more Matt gazed at the building the more it looked like a university dorm that he was familiar with. It was long and made from bricks with many rooms that were connected to a hallway. It was several stories high if you squeezed two beds into each room, you could fit about 250 people in. Maybe more, as cultivators liked to sit down and meditate instead of sleeping which took up less space.

    After the walls got cleaned up you could see the reddish color of the bricks, it had that steep Mansard roof that Victorian-era buildings back on earth had. It had some sash and bay windows plastered in, making Matt wonder where this thing came from, as most buildings in this world were more or less Oriental, but there was that one western looking tavern back in the gloomy town.

    The moment the people saw him they bowed and started working faster and harder, fearing that their new boss would start whacking them if they didn''t speed things up. The place was getting renovated, beds and furniture were getting carried in as Matt was preparing this place for the training that he was going to give his warriors. He thought that making the people live around each other and spar would increase their coordination.

    He was still of the mind that that whole place would be some kind of group activity, so he wanted to increase his peoples'' teamwork. He wanted to implement some group exercises to elevate the synergy between his clan members. It would be good if they figured out each other strong and weak points, then complemented each other''s flaws.

    He wasn''t going to do it alone, as he had some more experienced members help him out with the formations they could put the people in. They wanted to segregate people into groups, each Foundation Establishment elder would get a team of ten Qi condensation juniors to lead. He wanted to assign everyone at the start so that they could get to know each other better, this wasn''t anything out of the ordinary as it was quite common to put soldiers into smaller teams.

    "I guess eleven people isn''t much of a platoon but it will do..."

    He would be the company captain while the twenty elders below him would be his officers, the Qi condensation members would be the grunts. He would need to either make specialized squads or more all-around platoons.

    *Well, if I use specialized groups it would be easier to train them. But if everyone gets split up and my medics are lost without any combatants to cover their butts, they will be screwed.*

    Naturally, everyone was good at something, most people knew how to fight but the first ranker and the last ranker were miles apart. Matt thought back to his gaming days, mostly the MMORPGs he played. Most parties had a tank to keep the monsters busy while the damage dealers either used ranged attacks or flanked them from the side. The healers could then keep their party refreshed and ready for the next fight. There were also the buffers and debuffers and various other specialized classes, but he would be keeping it simple for now. The Zhang clan being a water elemental clan, had some good healing arts which Matt would be upgrading for future use as skills like those were a necessity.

    *Guess I''ll go for the more all-around team setup, better be safe than sorry later.*

    *Got eleven people in one platoon, would be good to have at least one medic/healer, then some frontliners to keep the enemies busy while the backliners either bombard them from afar.*

    He looked at his database, focusing on the Qi condensation members. There would be enough people with healing abilities to cover each team, but all platoons wouldn''t have perfectly balanced setups as the people were picked mostly through combat. Teamwork was fine, but he also had to take into consideration that everyone would be separated and would have to fend for themselves.

    The cool thing about this world was that the cultivators had specialized techniques for team combat. They were called formation techniques, Matt also fought against one of those formation techniques. The people from the Tsai clan had combined into a giant volcano golem and gave him a good whacking before he turned the tide. He was holding two books in his hands, they were the formation techniques that he had chosen for upgrading.

    [ Floodarmor Formation (Mortal Low Grade): This formation allows cultivators to produce a large shield in a wide area around them from water Qi. It can be used by Qi condensation practitioners in tandem with a foundation establishment cultivator that acts as the core of the formation. People within the formation can still attack from the inside while being shielded. Minimum 8 cultivators required. ]

    [ Spirit Serpent Formation (Mortal Low Grade): This formation allows cultivators to transform into a large serpent composed of water Qi. It can be used by Qi condensation practitioners in tandem with a foundation establishment cultivator that acts as the core of the formation. Minimum 9 cultivators required. ]

    One was for attacking while the other was for defense. Matt hoped that with the increased grade the formation would shine even more, maybe allowing the people inside to reach close to the core formation level. The formation techniques didn''t have any cap on how many people could use them, so in theory, if all 220 of them used that Water serpent transformation, going into the core formation area wasn''t that far fetched.

    *Would be good to get these up as high as possible, formation techniques are indispensable in large scale combat.*

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    He thought back to the rock golem, he still had that technique manual with him. It was of low grade of course, but he reckoned if it was of a high grade than he would have probably lost during the power struggle at that time.

    Matt sat down on a chair that was brought in by his fellow clan members as he was still in the medallion realm. He scanned through the most used techniques, thanks to his library he could organize them like in a spreadsheet. Everything was nicely presented, from the most commonly used skills, the highest-graded ones, he could compare everything and take out the most essential ones for further improvement.

    While he was busy with clicking the air, the Zhang clan members on the sides started staring at him while they cleaned the building. They looked with wide eyes at their silver-haired Patriarch while seeing him poking at the air in front of him. Was this some kind of ritual for a new technique or something? It would be far too rude for them to ask but the sight of their leader swishing his finger up, down, left and right was making these people have sweaty palms from the way their boss was frowning.

    "Ugh, why are there so many of these skills... just learn one and stick with it..."

    Matt rubbed his forehead while staring at his decreasing points that were declining with each second, soon he would run out. Luckily he got most of the skills that he wanted and more spirit stones would be arriving as well. The next thing on the agenda was the equipment, thanks to his golden touch he knew exactly what each person had an affinity for so he could design the right weapon and gear for them.

    *Guess I''ll have to use that dancing platform as well... the clan robes don''t really have much to go for them...*

    He vanished from the pocket dimension and appeared in a certain heavily guarded room, there were many intricate inscriptions on the walls that were pulsating with spirit energy. This was a secret chamber that the dimensional regalia was resting in. The moment he showed it of, his grandpa looked like he had laid an egg. He knew the implications of having this sort of item around, if any sect figured out that they had it with them, there would be nothing that could save them from extinction. Unless they just gave it away, but luckily this thing didn''t give off any immortal artifact aura. You needed to get really close and actually touch it to feel the wondrous immortal radiation that it was giving off. So, they decided to hide it for now.

    The people that were working inside had sworn an oath of secrecy, it was something to keep people''s mouths shut. Other clans used different methods, in Zhang clan''s case if a person tried blabbering out the secret they would find themselves bursting from inside. Guess there was a lot of water in a person''s body, so a water clan would know how to come up with a technique that would use that and explode a body from the inside.

    Matt was a bit apprehensive about the methods, but kind of knew that this was the only way to be sure that no one spilled the beans. The people that were working inside the pocket dimension weren''t against it at all, everyone knew that this safeguard had to be made. Also, the people inside the medallion didn''t actually know of the treasure''s grading most of them reasoned that it was a heavenly graded artifact at most, as the dimension inside wasn''t all that large. No one actually touched the item as it was used by the Patriarch.

    Matt went out of the room and headed to his chambers, it was time to get some crafting done after that he would start cultivating, he really needed to get into that late stage as soon as possible.

 77 Chapter 77

    In his crafting abode, Matt was looking through his system window. This would take a while, he had 220 people so he needed to make the same amount of battle robes, the thing with robes was that higher graded robes could be used by lower-level cultivators. While using higher-level weapons taxed their cultivation more while executing attacks, due to robes having mostly passive buffs.

    Weapons past the common grade had a lot more spiritual energy in them, kind of a mind of their own. They would work against a cultivator if they weren''t ready for it, so giving mortal grade weapons to the Qi condensation juniors wouldn''t be such a good idea. But the robes, on the other hand, could be used for their passive enhancements.

    *It''s kind of strange, people in this world don''t really pay attention to the armor side of gear... guess it is due to the body refining skills. They probably think that they don''t need any more defense anyway.*

    Matt wanted to give everyone a nice battle robe that would increase their defense and give them as many supplementary passive bonuses as possible. Luckily he wouldn''t need to spend many points for this, as his clan had spent most of their spirit stones to procure the resources that he needed to fashion two hundred mortal grade robes and twenty earth grade robes for his people.

    The biggest problem was the design, Matt didn''t want any generic looking robe design, he wanted something cool. The color would be in the blue or azure as he wanted to keep the water theme going. He didn''t want one of those baggy robes that a lot of xianxia people liked to wear, they were good for long sleeve swishing but got in the way of fighting. He was thinking about certain space wizards that liked to fight in robes as well, though theirs were a lot easier to move in and a lot cooler too look at. He went for the evil counterparts of them though, giving the robes a darker bluish hue.

    After upgrading his abode he could edit or even create his own designs. For now, he choose a design that looked the closes for what he was going for. He added a hood to it so that the wearer could use it for more protection. He also thought about adding a mask, it would add more protection but it would limit the vision. But an evil space wizard without a mask didn''t feel right, so he scanned through the building options and found something that let the user see just fine.

    The helmet came out futuristic looking, it covered most of the head and the eyes were wide but narrow. By the mouth, you could see vent like openings that filtered the air, the headgear could be used as a gas mask. It had azure stream patterns etched into the shiny metal and the helmet was kind of skull-shaped. Due to the enchantments, the vision wasn''t impaired and it would even help with the breathing.

    *Maybe I should change my robe too, then shoot lightning out of my fingers, though I can already do that.*

    Matt kind of laughed to himself as he was geeking out while fashioning his ''battle robe'' for his clan members, the foundation establishment elders would get a version with a cape while the ordinary Qi condensation members would get ones without it. Also, the masks would be a little bit different to indicate a different rank.

    *Guess it''s time to dance as I''ve never danced before...*

    He turned on the crafting contraption and heard a tune from his earth days, at least in here he could enjoy some music. These robes would all be mortal perfect grade, by this time he could do this without any worry. His reflexes had gone up with his increased cultivation, he had no problem in hitting all the right steps over and over again. The only problem was that he needed to repeat this procedure one hundred ninety-nine times.

    While Zhang Dong had locked himself in his crafting abode and wouldn''t come out before he had all the armor and weapons ready the other cultivators were diligently working on their progress. Zhang Zhi breathed in, his toned body was giving out a pungent smell as black sweat and blood were getting expelled. This was a common occurrence when you switched over to a good cultivating method, your body would be refined from the inside while disposing of the impurities that arose from previous techniques.

    The man was quite stunned by the ingenuity of this new method that the patriarch had given him. He felt like a new world had opened up to him, he already managed to patch up any cracked pillars that he had blundered in creating. The new insights that were presented in the improved version of this technique let him progress at an increased rate as well.

    "It''s all so clear now!"

    This new development made him look at the young Patriarch in a different light. Before he thought that man would bring them to ruin, the moment the dark palm sect appeared he vanished. He was at that banquet as well, he saw how this Patriarch behaved not knowing any decency while confronting the young master of a powerful sect. They were lucky as the young master didn''t bother with any punishment, but that could have cost them dearly.

    But now, he saw potential in him. Someone who could modify an old cultivation method on the fly had to be special. He either was a genius among geniuses or he had some kind of fortuitous encounter and managed to find an immortal legacy. Zhang Zhi was more prone to believe the latter.

    "If someone can get us through this, it''s him..."

    He had made a decision, he would fully support this man in his future endeavors. If he got out of that expedition alive, then this clan could go even further. He also believed that maybe this man could get through the bottleneck that all the clans in the area were in, the bottleneck of the nascent soul. If Matt knew what this man was thinking he would probably buckle down under the pressure of his expectations.

    But cultivators in this world weren''t very difficult to figure out if you showed them some love they would repay you fully. The world was very cutthroat, everyone kept to themselves and daily battles for resources were common. People didn''t receive charity often and when they did, they liked to do melodramatic things like swearing oaths of allegiance. Though not everyone was like that, as you would always find some snakes among them.

    Things like this were happening back in the houses of the other clan members, each of them young or old was slowly reinforcing their cultivation base. Their bodies were getting cleared up from the imperfections while their foundation pillars increased, or got repaired. They were quite thankful to their young Patriarch that at this moment was moonwalking while thrusting his hips back and forth, in his crafting abode.

    This act of improving techniques might have been easy to him thanks to his system, in reality, something like this required an unfathomable amount of knowledge. People could live for many hundreds of years and this was how far the old members of the clan brought their techniques too. Even if someone was able to improve something, most of the time they would keep it to themselves in the hopes of rising up. Most people didn''t see a reason to share their hard work with others, they wanted to elevate themselves first. If they managed to do that, then if they had the time they would throw some scraps at the others.

    Matt had a different mindset than these people, he would rather have more people uplift themselves together. He hoped that a domino effect would start and everyone would start improving together. But he knew well that it wasn''t that easy, he would need to slowly change the mindset of these people. First, he would need to get past that dungeon, he already had something in mind for when they got back. He would introduce new institutions and laws, there would be more jobs for the common populace so there would be a lot of work ahead of them.

    Time passed and Matt was finally out of his crafting chamber. He wobbled out and placed his hand on the nearby wall. His other hand was placed on his forehead, which he rubbed while giving out a loud sigh. He had to dance, not once, not twice, but over two hundred times. He even managed to fail a couple of times, which resulted in something of a lower grade.

    "If I have to line dance one more time... think I''ll vomit... what''s wrong with those Americans?"

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    The thing about the dance dance revolution crafting was, that if you crafted the exact item over and over, it tended to use the same song. On this occasion, it was the country classic line dance. It wasn''t all that difficult, but the longer he did it the more annoying it got.

    "Well, at least when I was crafting the officer armor I got to listen to some MJ"

    He looked into his spatial ring, he had all two hundred elite soldier robes in there along with the twenty officer robes. All of the robes had the Chinese symbol for the Zhang clan on them. If you looked at the robes and the masks, there was one word that came to mind, that word was ''edgy''. Even then, they were a lot more functional than the regular robes that the clan was using. The old ones were quite baggy and had long sleeves that got in the way.

    Besides looking ''cool'' the robes had more advantages. They were a lot more resistant, being able to tank a couple of good hits that were above the level of the person that was using them. The user could even pump in some spiritual energy for a greater temporary defensive buff. They had a function that helped the user collect ambient spiritual energy, it had buffs to water elements and various other stat boosts.

    *Hm, should I get a mask for myself too... Eh, probably better to just get my body refining up for defense.*

    *I don''t know if I need to make those common grade weapons for the kids. The clan has a lot of those in stock, even the perfect grade ones. But the perfect grade mortal ones are a different thing, most of those got lost in the first expedition.*

    He dived back into his crafting abode after massaging his legs, he had all stats for his officers, what type of weapon they liked and what type of skills they used. Luckily besides Zhang Zhi no one was using a weapon that wasn''t fit for them, so they didn''t need retraining. He wanted to try maxing out those advanced grades, he had a lot of cores to use up.

    First, he made a sword for the man in question, this wasn''t a long sword-like he used but a katana. There were many types of swords and bladed weapons to make, but after further examining the man''s affinity he could see that he was suited for the weeb weapon of choice. He could already imagine the man doing quick draw techniques and bisecting people, their bodies slowly breaking into two parts while he looked into the distance.

    *I got lucky that the sword technique manual was fit for katanas as well.*

    Even though the weapons fit into a certain bracket, it didn''t mean that a ''sword technique'' could be used with any type of sword. It was different to wield a two-handed longsword than it was to use a broadsword, even though they both were considered swords. Luckily for our brainy Patriarch, the Zhang Clan technique was quite varied and could be used for swords that had a blade on one side. He would have to pay attention to things like this, otherwise, he would run out of points soon.

    *Would be nice if I could modify more techniques as well... but... not enough time for that."

    He packed his gear after he was finished, it was almost time to hand the items out along with the techniques that he upgraded. After this, he would lock himself in his chambers and cultivate till the late stage both in body and cultivation. He would have Zhang Jin and the others instruct the juniors, for now. He would probably take a while to advance as the closer he got to the late stage the slower the progress was.

 79 Chapter 79

    The pocket dimension had its own light source in the distance, no one knew if it was real or an illusion because if you left the small rock formation you would quickly run out of air. Every platoon was gathered outside the dorm building, each officer was standing in front of their squad while another member of the Zhang Clan was in the middle.

    "By the order of the Patriarch, I will be your ''Drill Sergeant''. From now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be ''Sir.'' Do you maggots understand that? If you do, reply with "Sir, yes Sir!"

    The Drill Sergeant was a middle-aged man, with a military-like haircut and scars all over his face. The man was trying to keep a straight face as this was ordered by the Patriarch himself. He had written down some mean sounding quotes to him and told him to use them while training the juniors. The foundation establishment elders wouldn''t be part of the training drills, so they were free to train on their own accord for now. The formation training would be practiced later, first came the physical drills and some sparring among the youths.

    "...Sir yes, Sir!"

    The kids shouted out, some of them feeling a bit dejected at the treatment.

    "If you juniors leave this island, if you survive the training, you will be a weapon. You will be a minister of death, praying for war. But until that day, you are nothing but unorganized pieces of amphibian excrement."

    Question marks could be seen above the youth''s heads when the ''amphibian'' was mentioned, from the context they somehow knew that it wasn''t anything good. While the foundation establishment elder was belittling the new soldiers, he was exuding an aura that was making the Qi condensation juniors buckle under the strain. Everyone in the surroundings was starting to feel pressured, this clearly wasn''t going to be easy. After some shouting they finally left for a run, the robes they were carrying had a function to decrease and increase the weight just for this. The juniors quickly found themselves sweating profusely under the increased weight of their enchanted clothing.

    The first one to fall behind was Zhang Hong, due to his increased bodyweight he wasn''t really fit for cardio all that much and collapsed. The drill sergeant instantly was on him, shouting and even kicking his rear end to get a move on, some of his fellow platoon members helped him up and they all started moving once more. The Sergeant looked at the fatty wobble away, now remembering a certain instruction that he got. The clan leader had told him, that if there was someone that started falling behind the others, he should let up on him just a bit, even more, if he was overweight. He wasn''t sure why, but he would follow orders to not be so hard on Zhang Hong.

    The drill Sergeant pulled out a jade slip, on it he had all the lines that the Patriarch gave him. He looked at it, his eyebrows twitching slightly while he sighed inwardly. Orders were orders and he would follow them to a t, he moistened up his lips and started talking while the youths were jogging around the compound. The Patriarch kind of told him to try to sing this part, he wasn''t sure about that though. He also didn''t know what the ''Totally original Patriarch lyrics, plz don''t steal :)'' at the end meant.

    "Let''s get down to business, to defeat our foes. Did they send me servants, when I asked for cultivators?"

    "You''re the saddest bunch I ever met, but you can bet before we''re through. Junior, I''ll make a cultivator out of you!"

    The training switched to hand to hand combat, the platoons competed against each other as they were learning some basic teamwork. Most of the time they were bumping into each other though, the 9th platoon wasn''t doing all that well as Zhang Peng liked to solo everyone, letting his muscles do the talking. Zhang Ai liked to hang in the back while spamming ranged attacks, just using her teammates as meat shields. This resulted in her hitting Peng in the back of the head with a water serpent technique while he broke of defensive formation to attack an enemy. Some semblance of teamwork could be seen between the two pairs of siblings, the twins along with Xue and Liu were somehow not getting into each other''s way.

    "Tranquil as a forest but on fire within. Once you find your center, you are sure to win. You''re a spineless, pale, pathetic lot

    And you haven''t got a clue. Somehow I''ll make a cultivator out of you."

    A week had passed now, the members were still not doing that well as they were slowly learning the ropes with the formation arts. You could see the formation''s blue lights all over the place as everyone tried to make the shield appear. Some of the platoons were succeeding while some were nowhere near finished, their shields breaking and the people suffering cultivation backlash from the rampant spiritual energies in the area.

    "I''m never gonna catch my breath, say goodbye to those who knew me..."

    Zhang Hong said while collapsing, his robe all sweaty from the constant running and physical training that he was being forced to do by the drill sergeant.

    "Boy, was I a fool for not preparing more, Now I really wish that I didn''t come here."

    Said Zhang Teng as he suffered a hit to the face from a clan member during a mock battle against the 7th platoon, his team members just looking at him as he ate dirt.

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    "Be a Zhang! We must be swift as the coursing river. Be a Zhang! With all the force of a great typhoon

    Be a Zhang! With all the strength of a raging fire, Mysterious as the dark side of the moon!"

    Which of the moons did the drill Sergeant even mean, thought the youths while their physiques were getting better and better. Their understanding of the two formations was increasing as they didn''t blunder so much anymore. There were even close to moving on to the next step of every clan member forming a giant formation together.

    "Time is racing toward us till the Patriarch arrives, Heed my every order and you might survive Even if you''re unsuited for the rage of war, Don''t pack up and be through because I''ll make a cultivator out of you!"

    Three weeks in the juniors were showing promise, they were all working together with each other. You could see a large muscular man together with a wide chubby youth standing side by side while shielding their teammate from attacks while she charged up a finishing move. The team mentality was slowly clicking together as even the unlikable Zhang Tai was seen working together with a smaller junior, pummeling away at some other platoon people. Everyone was slowly singing the catchy tune that the drill instructor repeated each day, it started getting integrated into their minds.

    "Be a Zhang! We must be swift as the coursing river. Be a Zhang! With all the force of a great typhoon

    Be a Zhang! With all the strength of a raging fire, Mysterious as the dark side of the moon!"

    After the ''training montage'' was over, they all returned to the dorms to talk. They had all increased their mastery in their techniques, but they still needed to do more. There was still about a month left before the time was up, they could still level up their masteries and get better. Due to spending so much time with people with the same mindset everyone started slowly thinking as a unit, the petty squabbles between the purebloods and the side families were shoved to the side while everyone concentrated on the future of the Zhang family.

    At this time Zhang Dong was not in the vicinity of the Zhang Clan, he was on a tall mountain experiencing an increase in power. The lightning energies in him were a lot more chaotic this time which caused a huge explosion. Any creature in the vicinity would get electrocuted as the cultivator in white hovered in the air slightly. Yes, he was hovering this was an early sign of a cultivator getting close to the nascent soul level as experts of that caliber didn''t require flying swords anymore.

    He couldn''t fly just yet though, as you required a lot more juice to do that without a flying sword to hold you up. Matt was only at the late stage now, but he could give anyone at the pinnacle of the core formation a run for their money due to his immortal grade cultivation method. He was frowning though, looking at his opened palm on which the blue lightning energy was forming.

    "Damn, it took me a whole damn month to finally get through to the late stage..."

    He noticed a serious decline in his advancement speed, it still was swifter than any other cultivators, but it would take him at least a year to get to the great circle at this rate.

    "Guess cultivating more won''t make that much of a difference, but every bit counts... maybe I should try getting some new skills, the guys should be back with the spirit stones by now."

    He had a minor amount of points left, not enough to do anything with them. He wanted to get enough to upgrade to that golden lightning art, but he needed a million for that, and he didn''t think he would be able to gather that many spirit stones from the sales. The clan blew through all of the resources that they had stashed behind, so there wouldn''t be much more. What was left was hunting beasts, gathering points from his students, or just cultivating more as even one percent more in the cultivation art made him slightly stronger.

    He looked through the wanted lists, but since his last hunt, most of the criminals were laying low. People were afraid of the strange cultivator that was hunting core formation criminals, so most of the evil cultivators decided to hide and wait it out. All of them had long life spans, so waiting a couple of years wasn''t that hard. Matt, on the other hand, didn''t have much time left, so spending time on a needle in a haystack was out of the question.

    *Heh, wonder if that guy actually followed my instructions..."

    He got a bit curious as he returned back to the Zhang clan, a month had passed and he saw his disciples progressing in their skills a bit. There wasn''t a big change though as the focus was teamwork and formations instead of cultivation arts. When he arrived, no one noticed him as he was hiding his aura. He peeked at the youths that were training and could hear them singing the tune that he butchered a bit.

    *Haha, they are really doing it.*

    Matt was holding his hand to his mouth, trying not to burst out into laughter. Soon enough he was spotted by some people, the small floating land didn''t really have many places where a white-haired buff dude could hide. He came out of hiding, which caused everyone to take notice and stop with the training. Everyone gave him a proper bow, they were all wearing the gear that he made which made them look like a small army of Ch¨±niby¨­s.

    *Well... I got myself an army of edgy teenagers, who can stop me now?*

    He nodded at the people, telling them if they could show him the fruits of their labor. They demonstrated the formation techniques, some of the youths were quite nervous while looking at their patriarch which caused some fumbles here and there but somehow they pulled through. The giant two hundred people formation needed some work though, he told them to form the water serpent one so that he could test the formation''s power.

    Matt watched as the crowd worked together like an almost well-oiled machine, they quickly got into their designated spots and started forming the large water serpent. It was quite huge, larger than his avatar form with the many cultivators floating around in its spirit energy body. They were all in the lotus position, with the strongest member that was Zhang Zhi in the snakes head acting as the core. He was controlling the giant thing, the snake gave out a roar that blew the Patriarch''s hair a bit.

    "Well then, give me all you''ve got."

    Matt produced his lightning shield, setting it up in front of the snake. He was quite used to the technique now so he was even able to layer the barriers together. He made it so that the first one was the weakest starting off at the foundation establishment lower level, all up to the late stage of the core formation. He wanted to see how far the attack would breach in, hoping that it would at least get through the early core formation level.

    The snake opened its mouth, he could see the sharp watery fangs protruding. A large water ball was forming in that maw, he could see the spiritual energy getting sucked in from the surroundings like a whirlpool, then a bright blue beam of light was fired off towards the shields. The cultivators inside the battle formation grimaced from the skill usage, the attack draining them of their spiritual energy.

    The beam attack hit the shield, going through the first three barriers without a problem stopping briefly on the fourth one before blasting through it as well. When it hit the fifth one it stopped though, this one was the early stage of core formation. The beam continued as the snake kept at with the attack, the people within giving their best to not disappoint the Patriarch. Due to this, you could see some of the youths passing out and flopping out of the formation due to spiritual energy depletion.

    After seeing that, Zhang Dong wanted to stop the test but he noticed the determination in their eyes. The attack continued and the shield finally started to show cracks and with a resounding boom, it shattered to pieces. The attack hit the next barrier, but before it could do any more damage the formation started breaking and it collapsed due to too many cultivators tiring themselves out.

    "Okay that''s enough, you did well. It can be used as a trump card, you just need to keep the formation more stable."

    Zhang Dong nodded while trying to give his clan people a pep talk. The youths seamed invigorated as he saw some of them smiling while panting, probably proud of their monthly achievement.

    "But don''t get cocky, there is still much more work to be done."

    He ended it on a serious note, time was of the essence and there wasn''t much more left as the last month started ticking down.

    Had fun writing this silly chapter, so early release probably next one will take longer to release, enjoy xD

    It''s is highly advised to listen to this song while reading.

 80 Chapter 80

    The people looked as the Patriarch turned around and vanished into thin air after they showed off their skills. He didn''t test them out on the defensive formation, but not like they had enough spiritual energy left for that. The Zhang Clan members were in high spirits though, they managed to break through the leader''s strong barrier quite a bit. The moment the man came in they could feel the high energy fluctuations from him. The younger members couldn''t tell much, but people like Zhang Zhi felt the increase in Zhang Dong''s power after he formed the shield that could block an attack of a late stage core formation expert.

    *He wasn''t showing the full extent of his power.*

    The man thought to himself while sitting down into a lotus position to gather his energies. He looked at the youths around him, he didn''t think that they would be able to train them up so well. The strange military methods seemed to be working, the catchy workout song was also doing its thing. The upgraded techniques were a lot easier to master and the youths, as well as the elders, were progressing at breakneck speeds. The spiritual energy in this artifact was quite pure so that helped with the training as well.

    "Everyone you have an hour to rest, we will resume further training afterward, you did well."

    The younger members were sweating a lot more than the foundation establishment elders that looked slightly out of breath. Though they were invigorated after this test run, they just saw their new Patriarch he was quite the celebrity around the clan.

    "Did you hear that. The Patriarch said that we did well!"

    One of the tired youths said while he flopped onto his back and panted.

    "Yes yes, I think he also smiled in my direction, such a manly smile!"

    One of the females said while other members looked at her with narrowed eyes. Zhang Zhi''s lower lip quivered as he got ignored by the younger generation that started talking about the Patriarch and didn''t even reply to his comment. He let this transgression slide this time, as he also was a bit excited that the man that improved his arts gave them a passing grade.

    *He was also right about my spear training*

    After he received the katana, he was in a bind as he had to train in the sword art manual that he got. He was apprehensive at first, thinking that if he didn''t see any progress within a weak he would just return the sword and skill manual to the leader. But to his surprise, after he started training he noticed that the sword was like an extension of his body. He was already a seasoned cultivator and warrior, he knew how long it normally took to learn a new fighting style. The speed at which he was immersing himself in the sword Dao was astonishing. Day by day he found himself improving, getting past the beginner stage and advancing further rather easily.

    *The sword does indeed fit me more than the spear, wish I knew this sooner. But how did the Patriarch know about this, he just examined me briefly with his spiritual sense... truly wonderous.*

    The figure of Zhang Dong was getting bigger and bigger in the eyes of his clan members, making them think that the man was some kind of one in a billion genius. The cultivators in this world already tended to show sect-like behaviors, having the leader''s opinion outweigh their own or their families. Matt was slowly getting put up on a pedestal in the mind of these people, he did make them stronger and did it for free, this was mostly enough for cultivators to pledge their allegiance to the person responsible.

    While people were overestimating Matt, he walked out of the secret chambers wanting to check out if there were any spirit stones he could gobble up. His system point tank was on empty after having upgraded so many techniques and frankly, they weren''t all that great anyway. The most he spent was on his grandpa''s cultivation technique getting that thing to not halt the cultivation process was quite costly. Upgrading unfinished or incomplete techniques cost a lot more than just upgrading finished ones. Guess it was easier to renovate an old building than to rebuild a half-finished one.

    He was greeted by his accountant Zhang Kuo, well at least that''s what Matt started thinking the man was as he was mostly responsible for the numbers. After selling off all the weapons he had gained some spirit stones, but it wasn''t nearly enough. He spent all the crafting resources on the robes and weapons for his clan members. The rest were used on weapons that he could absorb, finally managing to get his body into the late-stage along with his regular cultivation level.

    *This isn''t enough to evolve my lightning cultivation into that golden one... Should I try hunting for some core formation beasts...*

    There was less than a month remaining, the dark palm sect had given them instructions to gather their forces in a certain place at a certain time. The Zhang Clan had one flying ship left, it looked like a large galeon with a dragonhead at the front. It was different from regular ships, it didn''t have sails or anything as everything around this world worked on spiritual energy. It was the last one the whole clan had, as the ones that it previously used in the first expedition never came back, probably pawned off by the dark palm sect or some other clans. He would probably look into that later and get their stuff back.

    *The trip there will take about a week, so that leaves less than three weeks to tie up loose ends around here...*

    The option of running away was still open for Matt, but for some reason, he didn''t feel like it. He was slowly bonding with these strange people and their quirky ways, finding it funny as they overreacted when they saw him do ''unfathomable'' things. They were clearly a violent bunch, but most of them were good people. There was also the thing that he promised to himself, not wanting to be a coward anymore.

    "Well, hold the fort while I''m out Kuo. I''ll be heading to the mountains but I''ll be close by. You know how to reach me if something happens."

    Matt headed out to cultivate at the mountain peaks and maybe hunt some beasts for points, he might get lucky in his travels. While he was charging into the distance on his flying sword, the light in the hidden pocket dimension was dimming. The people there noticed that the place had a night and day cycle, the nights took about eight to nine hours.

    The dorm was quiet as most juniors were resting, but there were four youths sneaking to a certain place. The dorm was only used for living, there was nothing besides the rooms that could be used for sleeping, no plumbing or lights to speak of. But the water wasn''t a problem around here, so the people just dug out a couple of holes and transported some spring water from the outside. The water had healing properties and could also help with stamina recovery. There was a separate place for the boys and girls, blocked away by a large bamboo wall. The youths in question were clearly heading for that wall.

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    "E-elder brother Teng, are you sure about this... if we get caught w-we will be severely punished."

    Zhang Bao asked while he looked at the grinning elder brother that was smiling and licking his lips. There were two large males behind him as well, the buff Zhang Peng and the round Zhang Hong that had replaced some of that fat with muscle now, but he still looked round as a ball. The smallest from the bunch was blushing, still wondering how he got himself into this. He was just outside to pee when he saw the trio sneaking out of the dorm, he went to check on them but they just pulled him along to go peek at the girls.

    "No need to fear, my part of the family is renowned for their hiding skills and the Patriarch even improved on our skill so if you just follow my instructions, the lovely thighs of junior Sister Xue and the lovely front peaks of Sister Ai will be all for us to behold!"

    The youth''s started doing obscene motions with his fingers almost drooling while talking about the peaks in question. The other two members that got roped in had dopey expressions as well. The burly guy looked like a perverted older man, the chubby fellow seamed to be salivating as if he saw a jelly-filled doughnut in front of himself to devour.

    "Little bro hehe, you remember how the elders told us to work together, we must get through this as a team!"

    "Yes Bao, remember what the drill sergeant said, it''s all for the team, it''s a team-building exercise!"

    The three looked like hungry wolves sneaking through the night, due to Teng''s sneaking technique their footsteps were muffled as he could produce a mist around the whole group making them hard to spot within the dark night. The idiot quartet approached the bamboo wall, they could hear the girls chatting on the inside. The group clearly went out the moment they saw their female team members leave to take a bath, as the four girls were talking inside.

    "Oh, little Xue your hair sure is shiny, what do you use to keep your hair so smooth and soft?"

    "Not much, think it might be the cultivation art that Master taught me, my hair turned white too."

    "Not fair, I also want to be the Patriarch''s disciple, do you think he will take me in as well?"

    "He looks so dashing, not like the boys from our group."

    The males heard their names getting mentioned as the girls chatted, though it wasn''t anything good. Teng was thought to be a big pervert, due to his snake-like appearance that gave the girls the chills. Peng was said to look like an old uncle and was too buff for the girls taste, Hong... well Hong was just a thick boy, the girls were scared of him crushing them. There wasn''t much said about Bao, Liu and Tai got some praise from the girls though they didn''t like the older ones stuck up attitude. The girls laughed as they joked that elder brother Tai looked like he was constantly constipated.

    The pervy youths were listening but at the same time working on the next stage of their masterplan. The next stage would be poking a hole in the wall so that they could peek on the girls, what could go wrong? It was just bamboo, they were high-level cultivators they should be able to poke a hole in it with their fingers by now. But while the three hornballs were pushing their cheeks against the wall, as they tried to listen in the bamboo started buckling under their combined weight.

    The wall started to shake as the young male''s hormones got out of control. The females on the other side noticed the shaking wall, it was giving out under the weight. Hong had gotten too excited and tripped, slamming into Peng on the way making the two large males fall face-first on the bamboo, which gave out in seconds. The girls saw three males on the collapsed wall one was missing though as Teng was nowhere to be seen, he had dissolved into mist the second the wall started falling down and made his escape. Using the commotion to get out before the impending thrashing.

    *Kekeke, oh well guess I''ll try another time alone~"

    "Kyaaaaa... damn perverts!"

    A girl screamed loudly alerting all the other women in the spring, everyone started covering up while the three guys sweated profusely. They looked back to their ''leader'' but he had vanished into thin air, long gone.

    "Team building my ass!"

    The three youths shouted in unison while trying to run, but there were too many angry women around them cutting off their escape route. Teng sneaked away while the other three youths were pummeled by the angry girls on the other side. The four females from their platoon weren''t the only ones in there, so there were many more girls eager to stomp them good. The three youths'' faces looked like they were stung by bees and they had an allergic reaction after the beating was done. Their lips were swollen and many bruises could be seen on their bodies, the three were pulled away by an elder to get treated.

    The next day, the three were punished by Zhang Jie that was fuming with anger due to her daughter being in the bath while the three were peeping. Though after some scolding she let them go, they were beaten badly so there wasn''t really a reason to punish them more. She didn''t see the part where the three youths started chasing their snaky looking friend with drawn weapons, the drill sergeant didn''t know people could run so fast. He just saw a blurry snake-like youth sprinting away, with fear in his eyes.

    "Get back here, I won''t be satisfied until I punch your face at least ten times!"

    Zhang Peng shouted while wielding his knuckle looking weapon, that covered both his forearms.

    "Hey, it''s not my fault that you lard asses can''t keep quiet! Lieutenant Jie save me!"

    While this was happening the girls were looking at the four with shifty eyes, Zhang Liu was just laughing to the side while the last male member from the platoon didn''t know what those four fools were doing, so he just jogged on.

 81 Chapter 81

    Matt was close to Spirit Spring city, bringing up his status screen, his brows were furrowed and his face was showing a frown.

    [ Name: Zhang Dong

    Affiliation: Zhang Clan

    Spirit Points: 223267

    Cultivation Base Qi: Core Formation [Late Stage 2 %] (Empowered Lightning Core)

    Cultivation Base Body: Core Formation [Late Stage 7 %] (Golden Body)

    Techniques: Empowered Lightning Qi cultivation art, Golden Body Arts, Thunderlight Sword, Thunder Movement Art...

    Dao: Dao of Heavenly Lightning, Dao of Smithing and Crafting

    Other: Senior Aura, Impartation of Knowledge, Mentor''s Eyes, Apprisal... ]

    There was a big problem there, three weeks had passed and he had gained a small number of points. The plan was to find a breeding ground of some demonic beasts or insect-like beasts. He was aiming for creatures like ants, that multiplied rapidly, aiming for quantity instead of quality after failing to find anything at the core formation level. He did find a burrow of some termite looking monsters after a while, there were many of them but soon a problem arose. He wasn''t getting any points, he stopped getting points for creatures below the 12th Qi condensation level and for those he got 1 point.

    All the spirit points for foundation establishment beings also dropped by half or more, so killing monsters or anything for points became a hassle. This all happened after he reached the late stage, if he knew this he would just remain at 99% and wipe out some insect monster nests for quick points.

    *God fucking dammit, I screwed myself over...*

    He scoured the surroundings for more monsters to hunt, but due to his increased level, the mobs just kept running away. He couldn''t hide that much due to the fact that his aura was radiating out as he flew on his sword. If he didn''t fly around, he wouldn''t get anything done as the world was vast and the distances between places were ridiculous. In the end, he managed to get some cores and demonic beasts at the foundation level, but not nearly enough to get to one million points.

    There were some points though, he could get some battle skills to up his powers. He found one that would work nicely in tandem with his avatar form and his golden body.

    [ Spiritual Condensing [Earth Perfect Grade ]: This skill lets the cultivator compress his spiritual energy into his body, works well with techniques that exude aura or enlarge the user via energy constructs. It compresses the energies to bring out a dramatic increase in both power and speed. It can''t be sustained for a long period of time, or the cultivator might suffer a backlash. ]

    This looked like a skill that would work well with his avatar form. So he bought it and immediately tested it out. His body ballooned up past what he was able to achieve in his avatar form while being in the mid-stage of core formation. After reaching his maximum height he activated the condensing skill, his avatar form started shrinking and shrinking giving out strange crumpling sounds in the process. After reaching about two meters it stopped, he looked like a miniature version of his avatar form but he could already feel a difference.

    He did some side dashes, utilizing his movement technique. But due to his now increased stats, he misjudged where he would end up as he did the sidestep. He promptly ended up hitting the side of a big boulder, pulverizing the stationary object in the process. You could see a deep blue glowing energy being walking out from the crushed boulder, lightning energy crackling with each step he made.

    *Okay, this will take some time getting used too.*

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    He did a couple more tests, utilizing various attacking skills and defensive ones as he tried to feel out his new form. But after a couple of minutes he felt drained, his new form started flickering as he had trouble of keeping the two techniques stacked together, finally going down to one knee and panting.

    *Damn, the power increase is there but I can''t keep it up for long.*

    His hands felt twitchy and he could see his veins pulsating on his forearm, he felt that if he kept the form up for too long that his veins would start bursting from inside. The power and speed increase was immense, this was a trump card that could be used scarcely. He tried using the technique without the avatar form, it made his frame flicker with energy. The drain on his stamina was lessened but the increase in power and speed was lowered as well.

    Just as the explanation said, the skill forcefully stopped his energies from leaving his body. Condensing them together for a short term power explosion. Matt also felt that the backlash was milder than it should be, this was probably due to his body refining skill that made him quite sturdy. Probably without it, he would be covered in his own blood by now.

    *Damn, buying these skills without proper training isn''t that smart. If I got this thing in the middle of the battle, I could burst like a tomato.*

    He wanted to get more skills to get more powerful, he also wanted to save the points for his advancement. He thought he was covered in most places, he wished he could get some healing skills but without the holy element, he couldn''t use them that well. He even tried using the Zhang clan healing arts but he found another problem. Besides his lightning affinity that was in the S grade, all the other elemental affinities were of the F grade. He would need to study up on the other elemental daos if he wished to use them.

    *Guess this is the downside with a specialized build...*

    [ Heavenly Lightning Terrain [Earth Grade Perfect ]: This technique creates a limited field around the user, passively discharging lightning energies that damage the opponents without affecting the user. The field fills the area with lightning qi thus lowering the battle power of enemies that aren''t versed in the lightning dao. ]

    This skill worked well with the new one he got and with all of his other skills. It was more or less an active buff to all of his skills, all of his attacks would be empowered in this field while the people that he fought would get a debuff and even receive damage over time effects.

    He was back at the Zhang Clan compound, his edgy army had just left the pocket dimension and was packing up. Luckily due to the spatial ring technology, there wasn''t really much to carry around, so they just needed to say their goodbyes before heading out. The trip to the secret ground would take about a week so they had to leave now.

    He had all of his things in his ring as well, he looked at the people that were hugging their family members. Some were crying, some were cheering their elder brothers and sisters on. Some looked angry, some looked dejected there were various expressions plastered on their faces.

    Zhang Jin was standing next to him, not saying much as the two looked on. After some time, Zhang Kuo came to report that everything was ready and they could depart at any moment.

    "It''s time to leave..."

    Matt said with a solemn tone, then nodded at Zhang Kuo the man just bowed before leaving. Matt looked to his elderly grandpa, this time it was he who placed a hand on his shoulder.

    "Well, I''ll leave the place to you, don''t stay up all night bothering the ladies old man."

    "Hah, leave it to this Zhang Jin I''ll protect the city while you are away!"

    Zhang Jin just smirked, giving his grandson a nod as the two parted. The defensive formation has been upgraded slightly as well during Matt''s upgrading spree, so it could work for months at maximum output. The clan would be safe for some time, but how long they would be gone was still a mystery.

    Zhang Dong hopped up onto the large dragon head on the front part of the ship, while Zhang Zhi and some other clan members remained at the helm. He could see the citizens from the city along with the other clan members sending them off, they were bowing and waving while also cheering. The junior members were doing the same, they toughened up during the training a bit but still, you could see some tears in their eyes during the departure.

    "Okay everyone, I want you all to reinforce your cultivation further, the trip will take about a week."

    His tranquil mind technique had spread through the clan, so even though everyone was nervous they could keep a sharp mind. The days passed and the surroundings started changing, the trip was quite uneventful most of the creatures that wanted to try their luck were quickly dispatched by the Patriarch that seamed more than willing to deliver a killing blow to anything that came close to striking distance. His officers offered their services as they didn''t want their clan leader to do all the dirty work, but their offer was refused. They only heard something about having to get more points while the lightning bolts rained down from within the ship. The junior members looking on in awe as they felt the strong energy fluctuations from those lightning strikes.

    The other people didn''t want to bother their Patriarch, so they just cultivated in peace. There wasn''t much talking on the way there as everyone concentrated on getting stronger, each second counted. Soon enough they arrived at their destination and could already see some other flying ships stationed in the area.

    The entrance to the secret area was close to a mountain range. The thing was shaped like a huge cylinder and it stretched right into the heavens going past the clouds. It was huge as a mountain, how it looked reminded Matt of tower dungeons that had levels to them. Maybe you climbed it as you passed the trial?

    They weren''t the first to arrive, but they weren''t the last. They came to a stop, the people that were already there looked at them but everyone was still sitting on their own flying ships not descending down. Matt could see some people down below though, they were wearing the dark palm insignia on their back. They were probably waiting for everyone to arrive first before ordering them to move, they needed all ten groups to take part in the expedition.

    While they were waiting, Matt took his time to look at the other core formation participants from the group. The closest group to them had a red-haired man sitting in a throne, he was drinking wine and some beauties were serving him food. You could see his muscular chest as it was only covered by a vest that was open and had fur at the collar area. He didn''t even react when he was getting stared at and was enjoying himself, he didn''t look like someone that was forced to come here.

    There were two ships with the same insignias, they looked like firebirds making Matt think about a phoenix. More than likely this clan was a fire-based one, when he looked to the other side he just saw more regular old uncle looking cultivators with more ships as well. There were multiple core formation cultivators there, there probably weren''t many downtrodden clans like the Zhang clan that came with just one flimsy core formation Patriarch.

    The other clans gave them some attention, mostly because everyone on their ship was wearing a strange looking battle robe that gave them a ferocious look. The time started passing as everyone waited, the dark palm sect people looked a bit annoyed as they waited. With his increased hearing Matt could hear what they were talking about, apparently, everyone was here besides one clan that was taking their sweet time.

    "Well that clan Matriarch is a bit... but she will be here, if she didn''t turn down the young master, she wouldn''t be here. Such a shame, she is quite the looker."

    One of the dark palm elders said while chuckling to another member of his clan. Speaking of the devil, the moment the sect members started talking a large flying ship appeared. It was very long and had many white sails all around it, light green energy was radiating off it and you could feel the dao of the wind coming off it. Matt craned his neck to take a peek, he noticed that most of the people on the large ship were females. He tried focusing on the strongest person there, looking for core formation members he managed to spot two.

    The weaker signal was coming from an older looking lady, she looked quite docile and was wearing a modest robe. The only thing out of the ordinary was that she looked like a baked potato. Matt opened his eyes wide, quickly looking through the people on that ship his eyebrows twitching. He looked at the woman next to the baked potato elder, she had a healthy tan to her and she was wearing a short light green robe with ample cleavage showing and she had quite a lot to show there. The female was quite curvacious but that wasn''t the interesting part, her nails were long her hair was light pink and she had a lot of makeup on.

    *Is... is that a Gyaru...?*

    Matt looked through the females on the flying ship, they all had bleached hair and tanned bodies. The makeup looked funny on some while fitting on some others. They all were showing some amount of skin and looked like typical ''gals'' with the strange-looking hairdos. The girls had facial accessories like shiny things plastered close to their eyes that didn''t go well with the overused mascara and eye-shadow. He went back to staring at the Matriarch, she wasn''t as overdone as the rest of them having the makeup fit her face giving her a more mature look.

    Before he could examine the woman further he felt an oppressive force wash over the whole area. He never felt something like this before, he got goosebumps and started feeling weak. He felt like someone stuck underwater, trying to breathe but not being able to. This was the first time Matt experienced an aura superior to his own, this was indeed someone in the nascent soul!

    "Feng Clan, you are late!"

 82 Chapter 82

    This was truly an uncomfortable feeling, Matt felt like puking as the suppressive force crushed into him. His clan members were worse off than him as they started collapsing onto the ground, not being able to hold on. The oppressive force vanished soon after and a floating person appeared. He was floating right in front of them, his hands behind his back while his back was straight up.

    "Our sincere apologies Grand Elder Guo, we were attacked by some beasts on our way here."

    The older woman said while cupping her fists and bowing before the dark palm sect elder. The woman next to her just turned her head to the side, seemingly annoyed by the whole thing which made the older one sweat bullets not wanting to offend a nascent soul expert. Elder Guo just floated in the air, he was a baldy with a long goatee and a really wrinkled up face.

    "I see that your Matriarch hasn''t learned her lesson yet, you''re lucky that time is of the essence."

    The woman was quite lovely looking and had a high cultivation level while being fairly young just having turned thirty-nine, though she looked like she was in her early twenties. A woman like this would have many suitors from strong clans going after her, even though her complexion was a less desired one than the pale one. She mostly found the old masters disgusting and the younger ones kept giving her perverted looks, so she always turned them down.

    One day she caught the eye of a young dark palm sect master, this wasn''t any regular member but the son of the sects Patriarch. She, of course, didn''t want to have anything to do with him, finding his character not up to par with her standards. Her clan members couldn''t force her to marry the man even if they wanted to as she was their Matriarch. The sect started blackmailing the whole clan after a while, culminating in the matriarchal clan being recruited for this expedition that had a very low chance of succeeding. This was seen as a way of getting rid of the person that didn''t give them face, without having to get their own hands dirty in the process.

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    Matt didn''t know any of this though, he was just staring at the people that clearly had some bad history. Soon the nascent soul elder went deeper into the mountain, ordering the clans to disembark. He had scanned the nascent soul cultivator, finding out that he was only in the early stage. The area was littered with tents and hastily constructed buildings, the dark palm Sect cultivators were all over the place. There were many core formation cultivators around, even more, foundation establishment ones making Matt wonder why they even had the clans do their dirty work for them if they had so many resources.

    He was a bit surprised after seeing the gyaru ship, even the old elder lady looked peculiar with a lot of makeup and glitter on. Due to him staring so much, the leader of that ship finally noticed him. He kind of froze at the moment their eyes met, the woman took a look at him and then moved her index finger right below her right eye. She then stuck her tongue out at him, while closing her left eye and pulling down her the lower eyelid under her right eye. Matt didn''t know how to react so he just remained in place, the woman moved away after a while after having stuck her tongue out at him.

    *Well... that was a bit strange...*

    After the strange reaction the woman gave him, Zhang Dong waved his hand forward, giving the signal to disembark. They all jumped down from the airship, only a couple of Zhang Clan members would remain on it, waiting for their people to return later. Their clan did turn a lot of heads though, the peculiar-looking robes that they were using were quite unusual in the eyes of the other cultivators. The youths inside the robes puffed out their chests and took long strides forward as they followed their Patriarch, fear wasn''t something that they felt now. They just wanted to bring honor to their families and return safely.

    It didn''t take that long to arrive in front of the humongous tower, they all looked up but couldn''t see the end, clouds were just blocking off the view. There was a large gate in front with some cryptic writings above it, it was mostly faded away and unreadable. From what Matt could decipher it had something written about chains and unity, but couldn''t really decipher it further.

    Inside the ''tower'' there were more people, there was a wide corridor and on the walls, you could see many murals depicting some fighting between beasts and people. Torches lined the passage, only the footsteps of people could be heard as everyone walked forward without saying much. Not like they didn''t want to talk, but they were getting escorted by the core formation sect members with the nascent soul grand elder in the front, so they didn''t really want to say anything that could offend the man.

    After a while they came up to another large door, this one had more ancient writing on it. To the side were some stairs, they lead to the ''testing'' area that would teleport them somewhere. Matt looked around the place, it looked really old but the large door did indeed give of immortal grade fluctuations. It looked more like a giant castle gate than a door, this was probably the one that had the immortal grade treasures behind it.

    "Listen up, soon we will arrive. You all will be handsomely rewarded for your participation, as agreed you can keep anything up to the heaven grade from the secret ground. If you find anything in the immortal grade you are to relinquish it, you will get payed in spirit stones instead."

    The people in the room rolled their eyes at the mention of the immortal grade items. They knew that if they tried to take something like that out of here, they would get eradicated by this overbearing sect. The number of spirit stones that they would offer would probably also be a scam. But not like they could do much about it, might made right in this world. At most they could hope for some immortal grade pills that they could swallow before leaving.

    You could cut the tension in the air with a knife, the dark palm sect continued with their self-righteous mumbo jumbo. Some clans were here on their own volition, but there were also clans like the Zhang and Feng that were forced to participate. Matt sure hoped that the clans with various agendas wouldn''t start fighting against each other in there. He was thinking about a couple of possible outcomes after the initial teleportation but wasn''t sure which one it would be. He sure hoped that it wouldn''t be one of those battle royale settings.

    *Well, I did all I could and this system is even denying me more points now...*

    He looked at his Ch¨±niby¨­ corps, he was the only one wearing a white robe which made him stick out like a sore thumb amongst them. He wanted to give them a pep talk, but couldn''t really interrupt the sect elders monologue. Soon they were led up to the platform room, there were ten of them. The platforms were circular in shape and had many runic patterns scraped into them, making it look like something magical.

    "Remember your training everyone, don''t forget that we are all with you."

    Matt said after they finally had some time to talk, the other clan members exchanged some small talk. You could see people patting each other on the shoulders, some girls holding their hands while preparing for the unknown. They all could very well die in there, get teleported to different places and never see each other again. Matt walked over to his two disciples, trying to get some weight off their shoulders.

    "Listen to your superiors when we are inside, don''t worry I''ll be with you as well."

    The two nodded, they were wearing the masks already so he couldn''t really see their facial expressions but thanks to his tranquil mind skill, he was sure that they were keeping their cool. These siblings were quite tough even though they were so young, he felt that if they made it through this in one piece they would probably soar to new heights. Matt was trying to play it cool, but he also felt butterflies in his belly. This was it, everyone was ready and the dark palm sect elder was slowly walking up to activate the teleportation mechanism.

    "Remember, this is a test created by the immortal Senior that design this secret ground. Any forms of contact with the outside will be blocked so you will be on your own once inside. You will get rewarded accordingly when you return."

    *Guess this is it, I should be able to take down anything up to the great circle level, there shouldn''t be anything above that level in there, right?*

    He thought that the enemies inside shouldn''t be above a certain level due to only allowing people of the core formation to go inside. It would be quite unfair if they made ten core formation cultivators fight a nascent soul one inside, they would just get squashed like bugs. He looked at the dark palm sect member walk to the center, there was a strange-looking console there. The man placed his hand on it and then closed his eyes.

    The console started glowing, slowly illuminating the room with it as rune-like patterns started appearing on the platforms everyone was standing in. The floor slowly lit up, going from one platform to another as the contraption got activated. The people started hearing a buzzing sound each time a platform got fully lit up, the ground looked like some kind of magical circle. After each podium got activated Matt felt a strange sensation wash over his body, more light covered all of the people around him and the scenery around started getting blurry. Finally, everything went dark as the people vanished from the spots they were standing in, the sect members just looked at the vacant platforms and snorted.

    "Are the new communication treasures responding?"

    A couple of people walked out from the shadows and approached the console the grand elder was standing in. Truth be told the sect didn''t expect much from these backwater clan members, the plan was to let them go inside the testing grounds just so that they could test out some measuring equipment they had some of the clan members carry inside. They wanted to get some information about what was happening inside before sending their own people in to actually complete the whole task.

    The sect members brought out some communication jade slips, trying to connect to the ones that were inside the secret ground. Then they brought out some other magical items, their brows wiggling a bit as they shook their head to the elder.

    "No response for now grand elder, we will need to wait and see if a signal comes through later."

    "I see..."

    Elder Guo rubbed his chin, not really expecting anything from this test run. They were poking inside an old immortal''s secret ground, it was reasonable to assume that if they wanted to communicate they would probably need items in the immortal grade. They used some high-grade items this time around, but it seemed that it wasn''t working either. Now they had to think if it would be wise to send their own people without knowing what was inside.

    "Very well, keep sending the signals maybe one will go through."

    He didn''t think that the idiots that were stuck inside would amount to anything. They were either ones guided by greed or weaklings that couldn''t defend themselves like the Zhang clan. This was survival of the fittest, the sect was trying to protect their own assets first. They didn''t see a problem in sending some treasure hungry cultivators to their doom if it furthered their own agenda.

    At this time Matt felt like he was riding a rollercoaster, the teleportation was a lot different than what he expected. It wasn''t instantaneous and he felt like he was getting tossed around like a ragdoll. His feet suddenly landed on the ground, he had to muster up all his strength just not to fall down to his knees, cold sweat covering his back.

    "Where did we end up?"

    He looked around, the area he was in was a forest, not something that he was expecting. There was one problem though, there was no ''we'' here. He looked left and right, he even jumped up high to see if he could spot someone from his clan or from another one. There was no one here though, he spread his spiritual sense outwards trying to scan for life forms but could feel it getting blocked by something he couldn''t really see past a kilometer from where he was standing.

    "Damn, if everyone got split up the team training and the formation training was pointless..."

    He facepalmed and then got ready to take his flying sword out to see if he could find someone. There was another problem though, the blasted spatial ring wasn''t opening the same thing that blocked his spiritual sense was cutting off the access to his items. He had everything in there along with provisions, weapons, change of underwear. Luckily he was at least wearing his longsword at his waist and he had ordered everyone to take out their weapons before arriving, just wanting to be ready if a fight broke out. But other than that, he had nothing. All his healing pills, magical items that he saved up for this expedition were in his ring.

    "I''ve made a huge mistake..."

 83 Chapter 83

    Matt took out his sword, ready for a fight not knowing if anything would jump out at him from the bushes. This reminded him of the forest area where he was transported to this world in the beginning. He wasn''t in an open field now though, but deep in the forest which looked more like a rain forest than a regular one. The trees were quite high and thick, blocking the sunlight with their large leaves.

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    *Where am I anyway, why is there a sky in here, am I in that big tower?*

    He tried scanning the surroundings with his senses again and picked up some life signs, but something was messing with his abilities so he couldn''t really tell if it was a human being or not. He brought up his system map to check, but after pulling it up he just got an error message.

    [ Error Error System map is being blocked by an outside source Error Error ]

    *Wasn''t this supposed to be some kind of super system, why isn''t it working in here?*

    He wanted to give his system window a smack but he would just be slapping the air. He also tried using his crafting abode but was constantly getting the nearby enemy prompt. It never went away though, making him think that the system might be considering this whole secret ground an enemy of some kind. The second option would be, that it was getting blocked like all the other system functions by the unknown force.

    He decided to check the nearest life signal in the area, hoping that it was some of his clan members. He wouldn''t take any chances though, he was ready for a fight. He hid his aura as much as possible and started sneaking with the sword in his hand already drawn and ready to slice and dice. There were some nice footwork manuals that his clan had, not everything required water elemental affinity so he could use some of the neutral ones.

    His feet shuffled in a pattern as he moved closer, even if he stepped on some twigs they wouldn''t snap alerting any enemies to his location. He came up to a big tree and could feel that the thing that he felt was on the other side, he could even sense some movement from it. He slowly wiggled next to the tree, trying to not get spotted by the potential enemy and peeked out to check.

    *Wait... is that a... Goblin?*

    Yes, it was something that Matt knew well, it was a creature that was a popular mob in a lot of games and novels alike. The goblin came up to his waist and was quite thin, it had a protruding belly and was wearing only a moist loincloth to cover its nether regions. It had no boots as you could see the calluses on its feet, the nails looked more like claws. It was carrying a short sword that was rusty and probably would break the moment it hit something hard. The other interesting thing besides that it was a goblin, was the system indication above its head.

    [ Common Goblin (Formation Establishment Late stage) [ Summoned creature ] ]

    *Why is a trash goblin mob in the formation establishment stage, even in the late one...and what is that summoned part?*

    It was still weak, he could take it on without any problems but how would his clan members fair when the strongest person was at the great circle of foundation establishment. He really hoped that his clan members were sent to some other spot with weaker enemies if they run into a big group of these goblins they would get wiped out. While thinking about that he scanned the area, there were no other life signals close by so he decided to test things out.

    He came out of his hiding spot, letting the Goblin spot him wondering what the creature would do. Would the thing gauge his superior battle aura and run away? Or would it blindly attack him instead? It did the latter part, it''s beady eyes going red and it just charged at the larger man that was holding a sword. Matt didn''t falter while just waiting, the monster charged jumping upwards and grasping its weapon with both hands as it brought it down with an overhead swing. The goblin was flying through the air, focused on its enemy but suddenly the man in front of it vanished. Appearing right next to it, the thing was mid-jump so it couldn''t really stop itself now.

    Matt slashed upward with his sword in a lazy fashion, cutting off the weaker goblins head. The creature''s momentum sent it crashing into a tree, its head went flying upwards and landed a couple of meters away from the fallen lower-body.

    [ Common Goblin Slain ( Formation Establishment Late stage ) Earned 5 Spirit Points. ]

    "What? How was that only 5 points?"

    He wasn''t sure if the system was just lowering his point count due to his cultivation level, or if he was getting fewer points because of the monsters having that ''Summoned'' part in the name.

    "This thing acted like a game monster, the moment I got into its line of sight it got aggroed."

    He rubbed his chin and then poked the dead body with his sword, wondering if this thing would have a beast core in it. But after a few moments the body started vanishing into light bubbles, nothing remained beside the used up loincloth and the sword that the creature was welding. Matt looked at the chipped weapon, getting surprised that it was a mortal graded item and even at the middle level. It looked like trash but was apparently deadly.

    "This is bad if my clan members get jumped by these things..."

    He started to worry, this goblin looked weak but was carrying good gear and could hold its own against a foundation establishment cultivator his Qi condensation juniors were in trouble if they were scattered around this palace as well. Time was of the essence so he decided to search for his team members, he wanted to take the rusted weapon that could be used as resources but couldn''t put it into his storage ring.

    He started running into more goblins, taking care of them with his sword skills. There was a problem though, the further he went into the forest and killed more of these trash mobs, the less he knew where he was. The area was covered with bushes and greenery so he had no way of telling where he was, his system map didn''t work and his aura detection technique was getting blocked as well.

    *Damn, I should have learned some regular tracking skills...am I running around in circles?*

    He brought up his system window, but he couldn''t use the cash shop either getting the same error message as before. This showed him how reliant on the system he really was. Before coming here he thought that if he ran into some trouble, he would just spend some points on some skills or items and that would be it. But now, he was left with only a sword in hand and couldn''t even use his storage ring to get anything out.

    *Guess next time I''ll get a backpack...*

    He thought while slicing the thick bushes with his sword using it like a machete to get through. The further he went in, the more goblins he came across, they were variations of the creatures. There were warrior variants, scouts and archers making him feel like he had changed genres and was now in an RPG world and not in a xianxia one. The goblins weren''t the only things in here though, there were your typical slime monsters that spit acid at you, snake monsters that looked like vines. Luckily his detection skill still worked it just had limited range, so he could tell when something was trying to hide and pounce on him.

    *Still, the monsters aren''t giving me many points...*

    He didn''t get much more from even the warrior gobbos that were in the great circle stage, just between 6-10 points for them. He would need to kill hundreds of thousands of those things to get his upgrade at this rate, but he had other things to worry about. Where were his people? Was there something to eat around here? He had no water or food, though being a core formation expert he would last a couple of months without that by just meditating. Still, he would feel hungry and parched, he needed to at least find some water. This was a rain forest area so there shouldn''t be a problem, it was even raining already.

    He finally saw some light as he was walking out of the forest, he could see a narrow river and some rocks that lead into a hill. In that hill, he spotted a cave, something he could use as he didn''t want to be stuck in this rain all day. It was also getting dark, so he headed inside. He was sure that there would be some kind of monster living in there, though he hoped that there wasn''t goblin poop all over the floor.

    [ Large Fang Bear ( Core formation early stage ) [ Summoned creature ] ]

    He got startled a bit, this was a core formation creature but he could still handle it. The monster growled at him and tried charging as it used its huge body to attack him. The cultivator just gathered his spiritual energy into his longsword and held it in a somewhat fencing position, he then thrust it forward releasing a condensed shockwave from the tip that punctured a hole in the monster''s head.

    *These things sure like to charge at you with no plan eh? and only 500 points for that thing?*

    The bear dropped dead instantly, the glowy lights forming from it as it vanished into the ether. Matt wondered if everything in this dungeon area was a summoned creature, maybe he would have to find himself some fruits or berries to sustain himself. Also, he needed water, though that problem was solved by the clear spring that was close to this cave that he was in. It was still raining and was getting cold, the inside of the cave didn''t lead anywhere, the only things he found inside were bones from some animals which made him think that some of them could be eaten and hunted.

    He had been trekking for two days now, there was a day and night cycle and some strange creatures came out at night. He was concerned about his people, but even after spending the entire previous day and night, he still couldn''t find anyone. This place was huge and he couldn''t use his flying sword so he had to move on foot, there was also another problem.

    When he tried to use his range javelin skill, throwing it high into the air. It started flickering and dissipating after about 100 meters. He wanted to see if this palace had a ceiling or if perhaps someone would notice his attack from afar. But due to this, he noticed that ranged attacks would fizzle up prematurely. Cultivators that were dependant on long-range skills would probably be severely weakened. The spiritual energy seamed to weaken the moment it left the cultivator, he was lucky that he always could go back to his body refining skill which left him unscathed from most attacks.

    *Guess I''ll stay here for the night.*

    He wasn''t sure how long he was in here, but it had been at least a day. He spotted some bamboo and having the knowledge of survival videos on his side, he knew exactly what to do. He found himself a sturdy looking bamboo pole and sliced it up so that the segmented parts weren''t damaged. He then poked a hole on one side, which would be used for drinking while the bottom was left untouched. He was surprised at how sturdy the bamboo was, guess it was some special spirit bamboo. He also used the bamboo narrow top part as a cork to the bottle so that the water wouldn''t spill outside and ended the whole construction with wrapping vines around it so that he could even carry it over his shoulder.

    He filled it up, but before drinking, he examined the water wondering if he''d catch some parasites if he drunk it. Luckily for him, it looked clean and this bamboo was quite special as well, as it could resist his lightning energy somehow and was partly heat resistant. He could heat it up like an electric tea kettle, which meant that he could even make some tea if he found some good leaves. For now, he just drunk the boiled water and meditated, he didn''t want to stay here for longer than he needed as he still was lost. He couldn''t find anyone and he was even meeting core formation monsters from this point on.

    The night went by without much happening, so he filled up his water bottle and went further in. He started running into stronger and stronger monsters the more he traveled, there was quite an abundance of core formation monsters now. They weren''t giving him many points though, but not like he could spend it on much at the moment with the cash shop closed. After three more days of travel, he felt something. There was a large gathering of life signals in a spot about a kilometer away from his position, from the type of the signal he reasoned that it were probably goblins but there was one that was a lot stronger than the others.

    "Is it a boss? Maybe a goblin king?"

    He couldn''t really tell as he was still far away, so he slowed his pace and hid his aura sneaking up at the goblin encampment. He shuffled up getting closer and closer while almost falling to his doom as there was a large river below him while the goblins were on the other side, separated by a deep chasm. He could see their dwellings built into the side of the chasm, there were stairs leading up where he could see more of the green skins. They were gathering in a spot and they looked like there were preparing a feast with a large cauldron in the middle.

    But then he noticed something, there was a different life signal coming from there, it felt like a human. He used his enhanced vision to zoom in on the area, spotting a person there. This person was getting carried by two larger looking goblins, though they looked more like a hobgoblin. The person had their hands and feet bound to a large log and the monsters were carrying them out like a hunted deer. He could see the person''s status, so he knew that they were alive, so he would help them. This was the first human that he came across after almost a week of traveling alone, maybe they had some answers. Also, he wouldn''t just let the monsters eat someone if he could stop it.

 84 Chapter 84

    The chasm was about five hundred meters wide, Matt reasoned that he should be able to jump this distance if he took a good running start. Before engaging the enemies he took his time to examine the situation, he could still see the levels and names of the monsters thanks to his system and analyzing skill.

    *Okay, there are a lot of the small goblins everywhere... don''t really have to worry about those...*

    Besides a large number of regular goblins, he could see some hobgoblin warriors they ranged from the early to middle stages of core formation. There were also a couple of goblin shamans around also in that power range, probably those were the long-range caster types perhaps they could heal their monster allies as well. There was also a really fat looking hobgoblin with a stained apron by that large cauldron, looking like a green lunch lady. The strongest goblin from the bunch was a chieftain class and was in the late stage, he was sitting in a large throne-like chair not doing much besides looking at the human that was getting carried and about to get cooked.

    *Don''t see anyone in the great circle, so it should be okay... But I was wrong about them acting like game mobs. They are somewhat organized and even brought in a living human to eat. *

    The goblin encampment was large, they had buildings and towers placed in front of the wide chasm. The area from the other side was walled off by a simple wooden log wall, sharpened spiked logs were shoved into the ground so that other monsters couldn''t just charge into it. They had some shacks acting as buildings past that wall but by the way that gorge was looking, they had burrowed into the landscape as Matt saw openings and lights coming out of the side of that fissure. There were logs inserted into the rocky side, allowing the goblins to move along but it didn''t look safe at all.

    *Can''t even use my range attacks to snipe them, guess this is going to be close and personal.*

    He didn''t really have much time to prepare a throughout plan, the person on the log was about to get boiled alive. Thanks to his system, he could actually see who it was, name included.

    [ Feng Liena core formation late stage ( Poisoned ) ( Weak ) ( Bleeding ) ]

    Matt didn''t know when he started seeing status effects, but the woman in question looked like she was about to die. There was no more time to lose, he took a running start and started charging in the direction that the goblins were preparing their feast, hoping that he could vault this wide chasm. His feet produced thudding noises, breaking the ground and leaving cracked footprints in the hard soil.

    The woman in question was close to passing out, just like Zhang Dong she had been split up from her clan members and found herself alone in this place. She was a pampered princess so she relied on others for things like shelter and food, so she didn''t really have many survival skills. The only thing that she had on herself were her two fans that produced wind attacks when swung around. She found it difficult to use her techniques here as the wind blades weren''t as effective in this strange place, still, the weak foundation establishment monsters didn''t pose a problem so she moved along.

    After two days of walking in high heels, she was getting annoyed, there were mosquitoes everywhere the monsters constantly attacked her so she couldn''t even take a break. Her skills were getting hindered by some outside force, so the encounters with the more evolved monsters were exhausting her spiritual energy fast.

    About an hour ago she had an unfortunate encounter with an evolved Vine-Snake. This creature as the name stated, liked to take the form of a vine just hiding and waiting for some prey to come. While Liena was sitting by a tree, trying to rest after defeating some monsters the snake pounced. Her sluggish reaction cost her dearly as two puncture wounds appeared on her thigh. She managed to cut the snakes head off afterward but the paralyzing venom was already working. She felt feverish, all of her detoxification pills were in her storage ring that she couldn''t use.

    The goblins came soon after, probably alerted by the high pitched screams after she got bitten. She tried to use her cultivation to halt the poisoning process to a minor degree of success. Liena got overwhelmed by the combine goblin attacks, cut wounds soon appeared all over her body. After she fell, the monsters took her away to their chieftain, who had ordered to gather up any non-monster intruders that they came upon.

    The goblins didn''t need food that much, the energies in this strange place kept them alive. But they still felt hunger, so any being that didn''t turn into ethereal energy would be taken back to the encampment to get eaten.

    Feng Liena was battered and bruised, but still alive. She was barely awake, still squirming while tied on a long log and carried by some disgusting looking monsters. She thought about the dark palm sect, cursing their name. She promised to herself that if she somehow survived she would do everything in her power to destroy that blasted sect along with its pig of a young master that forced her into this position. She was placed over the boiling cauldron, she would slowly get steamed by the boiling liquid and then maybe lowered into it. While she was about to pass out, she thought back to her clan members hoping that they would forgive her for pulling them into this mess along with her.

    Her sight was getting blurry, she couldn''t distinguish the faces of the drooling goblins anymore. But on the cusp of giving in to sleep, she heard a loud noise, it sounded like something heavy crashing into hard rock. This was Zhang Dong, that didn''t quite make it past the half kilometer jump and crashed into the side of it. The goblins looked to the noise, grabbing their weapons as they prepared for battle. After the initial sound, they heard another one, a loud thumping noise followed by additional banging that continued and got closer.

    Matt''s head burst out from the ground, right in the middle of the festivities. He held back the urge to shout out ''Here''s Matty'' as he jumped out and delivered a devastating right hook to the closest hobgoblin, punching his head right off, his fist shining with a golden metallic luster. The wind pressure created from his fist strike made some of the lesser goblins fly backward, kicking up a storm.

    *First things first...*

    He thought while kicking the boiling cauldron to the side, right onto the fat goblin cook that screamed out in agony. He quickly grasped the log that the female cultivator was on and tossed her over his shoulder. He wanted to jump back over the chasm at first but due to his previous blunder, he feared that he might hurt the woman. He ran in the opposite direction, wanting to get the girl to safety first before facing off against the monsters.

    The goblins weren''t having it though as they all started chasing him, with murder in their eyes. The girl felt that something was happening as she was now moving in another direction and someone was carrying her. The trip was quite uncomfortable as the person was zig-zagging all over the place dodging arrows and some fire bolts that the shaman goblins were firing of.

    Matt vaulted over the wooden wall and pulled out his sword. The girl got tossed into the air even further, she couldn''t see much but could feel that the rope bindings were cleaved by something. Then she found herself in someone''s arms, the person carried her like a princess and she could feel herself getting snuggled into a wide manly chest. Strength was leaving her body, but she could see the outline of the man''s face that was saving her followed by some calming words.

    "I''ve got you, everything is going to be okay"

    She passed out after that, her body going limp as Zhang Dong escaped from the goblin encampment. It was more important to get this woman to safety, he didn''t know how bad the poisoning was he needed to treat her wounds fast. The goblins wouldn''t let their breakfast just up and run, so they started chasing after him. But Matt was a lot faster, the small goblins had short legs and wouldn''t be able to catch up as he bolted into the thick bushes taking long strides, cracking the ground with each step he took.

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    After running for about twenty minutes he stopped by a waterfall, he could see that there was a cave hidden behind all that water. This looked like a good place to lay low till he treated the woman, the falling water would also probably block the smell of blood that was coming off her. Though not like he was afraid of fighting the monsters, just first aid came first.

    He moved inside the cave, there were some strange green mushrooms that illuminated the inside. Luckily there was nothing strange living in the cave, so he placed the woman down on the ground. He started tearing up his white robe, making white bandage strips out of it as he still had no access to his storage ring and his clothes would just replace themselves anyway.

    The first thing he did was striping her down, he felt apprehensive about it but he just had to bandage up all of her wounds. The woman was quite stacked, she could give his previous love encounter a run for her money. The most glaring thing he saw was a wound on the woman''s thigh, he could see two puncture holes right there and puss leaking out.

    *This looks like a snake bite... but the venom has already spread through her body at this point.*

    He was no doctor and the people in this world mostly used pills for treating everything. He knew that sucking out snake venom from a wound was more or less bs and didn''t work as the venom spread through the body quite fast. There were some people that claimed that you could neutralize venom by electrocuting a person, but it was never really proven to work.

    *Well, not like this is the old world though.*

    Matt had gone through the whole Zhang clan library, so he had a lot of knowledge in his brain. There was one method he could try because he didn''t think he could produce antivenom, or make pills with a similar effect. Firstly, he used the purified water from his water bottle to soak in some torn up robe parts. He started washing the female cultivator from all the dirt, blood and grime that she got over time. He bandaged all the cuts, slowly turning the woman into a cute looking mummy. Then came the second part, there was a technique where you could share your vital energies with others.

    The technique in question required skin on skin contact, so Matt sat down with the woman taking up the spot in his lap. He was bare chasted due to having ripped up his robe. He brought his arms around her, her soft body was now pressing into making him quite excited. He would nourish Feng Liena''s body with his inner energy. The technique was slow working and you didn''t need much practice to use it, it was also the only healing skill that he could use due to his low elemental affinities.

    Time passed as he leaned back against the cold stone wall, the calming waterfall could be heard from inside the cave. After an hour, Matt was more or less sure that the goblins had lost their trail or just given up on the chase. He looked down at the curled up female in his arms, she looked quite cute if you got past the copious amount of make-up that had washed off by now. She was shivering and quite warm, probably having a high fever due to the snake bite.

    *Well, at least the bleeding status vanished.*

    His healing technique had managed to close off most of the wounds, but it was quite slow working she would probably need a lot of rest before everything healed up. More time had passed and Matt sighed, he couldn''t move from this spot. The only thing he could do was look at the glowing mushrooms and whistle to himself as staring at the naked body of the woman in his arms was a bit too stimulating.

    *Ah, I hope everyone is doing well...*

    Around this time, a group of two hundred twenty cultivators was marching through some rocky terrain. There wasn''t much besides rocks and debris around, but there was something in the distance. There stood a large fortress, it had gigantic walls that connected into watchtowers. There were four gates coming from each side of the structure that was cubical in shape. The placement of this fortress was strange, it was as if someone took it and dropped it in a deserted area. The structure looked sturdy and all, but it could be surrounded from all sides easily with no natural defenses in place whatsoever.

    "So, is this the place that voice told us to gather up?"

    Zhang Zhi asked while standing with his clan members, all of the officers were together and fine. The youths behind them had all of their weapons out and looked like they had battled something previously.

    "It said that after clearing the first stage, we were to move to the fortress defense stage."

    One of the officers replied while wondering what that meant, but that castle-like structure looked like a fortress. There was no one in the surrounding area besides the Zhang Clan, they might have been the first ones clearing the first stage.

    "Mmm... very well, everyone get into formation we will approach slowly, keep your guard up."

 85 Chapter 85

    Two days prior:

    Zhang Liu collapsed to his knees while holding onto his belly with one hand, the other was used to push himself off the cold floor as he tried not to vomit. The teleportation had twisted his insides making him feel like he had just finished riding some over the top rollercoaster. Some of his friends weren''t as lucky as he could hear Zhang Hong barfing right next to him, though he was still wearing his mask.

    He quickly gathered himself, moving off the floor wondering where they ended up in. He glanced about and could see the clan elders assessing the situation while the juniors were picking themselves off the ground.

    "Quickly, everyone gather up, The General is missing!"

    Everyone quickly jumped up to their feet, getting into formation as they all practiced. They did a headcount and everyone was there, but their Patriarch was missing. The elders used their detection skills to scan the area, but couldn''t find their leaders aura signature anywhere in the vicinity.

    They were in a circular cavern, the ceiling was about ten meters high and filled with stalactites. The place behind them was blocked and there were five corridors in front of them, leading to the unknown. Every corridor had a number above them and was lit by some torches and similar glowing fungus that Zhang Dong had come across.

    "Everyone, check your equipment and gather with your lieutenants."

    Said Zhang Zhi who was the second in command after the Patriarch, taking up the mantle in his absence. The Zhang Clan had designated a chain of command for situations where people got killed or split up. Matt didn''t want to have clan members arguing on what to do, splitting up or infighting when one of the leaders was missing. The chain of command was quite rudimentary, starting with the first platoon and the twentieth was the last one going in order.

    Zhang Hong had his helmet down now, rinsing it with some water that he took out of his spatial ring. No one really thought there was something wrong with that, as they didn''t know that their patriarch was having problems with those at this moment. The twenty lieutenants gathered up at the five passages, they had a choice to make. Should they split up or move into one passage and hope for the best.

    "The Patriarch said that we shouldn''t split up, or at most split the teams in half if we had to."

    Matt warned his people about the splitting up trope, which frequently weakened the whole group. Most of the time the smaller groups would encounter some overpowered monsters and get wiped out, due to having less manpower. Other times they would set off traps which ended in a similar fashion. Luckily, the Zhang clan members had their patriarch''s detection skill so they decided to look into the aura around the entrances.

    There were a lot of demonic and death energies around four of the corridors, with one of them having significantly less of them. This was the fourth corridor and after some deliberation, everyone agreed that they wouldn''t split up and try to follow this path together. The passage was surprisingly wide and the ceiling left a lot of room to maneuver as well. The first three platoons were in the front with Zhang Zhi''s team at the front, Zhang Jie''s team was in the middle with the rear end guarded by the last platoon.

    The sounds of their boots on the hard rocky floor could be heard, they walked for hours without anything happening the long corridor just continuing without end. Everyone was vigilant, but after trekking for so long they were wondering if this blasted corridor would ever end. Suddenly you could hear a strange crackling sound, everyone stopped in their tracks. They looked around but couldn''t see anything in front or behind them, but then they looked up. There were many holes in the ceiling, those openings were giving off the strange noises.

    They spotted the holes just in time as a greenish liquid was discharged from one of those openings, the people jumping to the sides as they couldn''t activate their defensive formation in time. The moment the strange liquid came in contact with the floor it sizzled and started to dissolve the bedrock. The Zhang clan members then saw many centipede-like creatures slithering out from those holes. They were all about two or three meters long and started pouring out of the openings like a tide.

    The cultivators managed to remain calm while getting into the defensive formation, quickly activating the water shield with about half the people in the large group. The rest that were the designated long-range attackers pulled out their weapons and trinkets. Some of them had bows, others had staff like weapons that aided with their Qi management. They started firing off their long-range attacks, blasting the creatures with pressurized water that mostly took the form of water serpents.

    The insect monsters spit their venom on the shield but couldn''t get through it. The creatures got whittled down quite fast by the organized defensive and offense combination, the monsters weren''t that strong either just somewhere at the Qi condensation levels. There were quite a lot of them, falling down from the roof gnawing on the watery shield to no avail. The officers didn''t have to act, so they just remained vigilant only acting if something stronger showed up.

    The creatures kept coming for quite some time, the large hall quickly filled up with the creature carcasses which started dissipating into bubbles not so long after. In the end, a stronger version of the centipede monster arrived, it was about ten meters long and in the foundation establishment stage. It was taken out without any problems though, while the Qi condensation members did their thing Zhang Zhi pulled out his katana and bisected the creature in one go, showing off his swordsmanship in the process.

    The monster attack wasn''t anything dangerous, but without this shield, they might have been done in by the venom that the creatures used. They suffered no casualties this time around, showing off their teamwork in the process.

    "Strange, these creatures are just vanishing... no beast cores either..."

    The people were bewildered by this but they moved on, not wanting to wait here afraid that there might be more of these beasts. They continued walking for hours, getting attacked by the insect monsters on occasions. The further they went in, the more intense the fighting got, the creature''s levels and numbers had also increased.

    At the end everyone had their hands full, the officers had to chip in as they fought the larger monster centipedes that thrashed around, causing rocks to fall on their heads. Soon enough they could see the light at the end of the tunnel, prompting them to increase their pace. They ended in a room that looked similar to the first one, it was circular and had more tunnels leading out of it. But there was also a spring to the side, this spring had Qi recovering properties. If Matt saw this room, he would probably describe it as a safe zone.

    More than half a day had passed since they set out, the juniors were feeling slightly tired so this would be a good spot to rest up. There was enough space to set up their tents, people took turns in guarding while everyone got to rest for a couple of hours. They were still in a closed-off dungeon with limited light, so they had no idea if it was day or night time.

    "Where do you think Master is? Hope he is alright..."

    Zhang Xue asked her brother while munching on some bread.

    "I''m sure he is fine, Master is the strongest!"

    The boy replied while shaking his fist at the ceiling, then just bit into his own piece of bread.

    "I wonder if the other clans are also stuck in a place like this..."

    Zhang Bao chimed in, as all of the 9th platoon members were sitting by a makeshift fire, eating. Everyone was in deep thought, the place looked gloomy and they wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

    "Stop overthinking things, just focus on the mission."

    Zhang Tai replied as he stood up, getting ready for more marching through new corridors. The clan elders were examining them with the same method, it seemed to work out the first time as the monsters weren''t overly powerful. Soon everyone packed up and they headed into the corridor that was the safest, what waited for them was more monsters. This time around it were skeletons, but the Zhang clan members made quick work of those. Without the need of keeping the defensive formation up, they could just unleash their wrath on the braindead monsters.

    This pattern continued, they passed into another save zone, rested up and then moved on to fight a different type of enemy. They were lucky enough to never run into a corridor filled with traps or a dead end, probably all thanks to their detection technique which was the MVP of this expedition. After close to two days they ended up in a similar circular room, but this time around there was only one corridor leading out.

    This seemed a little fishy, but not like they could turn back now as they felt that this might be the last one. Everyone got ready, with weapons drawn they all went in. The moment they entered the passageway unlit torches started lighting up, the passage went up and they all saw the large number of torches getting lit. It looked like something was inviting them to go there, this corridor was a lot shorter than the other one only taking five minutes of time to get to the end.

    They didn''t get attacked by anything on the way up, this was the first red flag. At the end, there was a large room, bigger than the rooms with the springs in them. There was a big closed gate right opposite where they came out, but there wasn''t anything in this room. They looked up and to the sides but couldn''t find anything out of the ordinary, some people stayed in the corridor while others went to check out that gate. It was quite sturdy, it didn''t look like much but they could tell that damaging this thing would be impossible for them.

    They decided to gather everyone in the room, trying to brainstorm the next move. But just at the moment when the last person entered the room, they heard a rumble. The passageway that they came from quickly closed itself as a giant rock wall slammed the thing shut. Everyone was at high alert as they got into their defensive formation. Quickly putting it up, not even waiting to see if it would be necessary.

    They could hear strange clicking sounds and gears working as the whole room was rumbling. At first, they thought that perhaps the gate was about to open, but then some members looked up and could see that the ceiling was splitting apart.

    "Above us!"

    Everyone reacted, the defensive formation running at full capacity as some kind of creature descended from above them and slammed into their shield. The monster was really ugly, looking like a fusion of man and a scorpion. The lower half was a scorpion while the top part was humanoid. It had a hideous head with many sharp teeth protruding from its mouth, its tail flailing around and slamming into the defensive formation that shook from the impact. The creature was holding a weapon in its humanoid hand, that looked like a torn off pillar, it also possessed two claw-like appendages below the human torso. The monster''s size was immense, it would be able to easily hold a person in one of its claw-like hands. Though the bigger problem was, that the creature was giving early stage core formation energy fluctuations.

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    "Don''t falter, switch to the attacking formation!"

    The lieutenants knew that the only way to defeat this monster was their large Spirit Serpent Formation, with everyone taking part. The monster kept pounding on their defensive formation, but they had trained to quickly shift between the two as well. The shield rippled, pushing the monster back for a couple of seconds before it started compressing back towards the Zhang clan cultivators. The monster flew back slightly, its large claw-like legs forming a skid mark as it got pushed back. The water-energy started taking the shape of a water serpent that towered over the boss monster.

    The two large entities roared at each other, before charging out. The biggest problem for the Zhang members was that even though the room was large, there wasn''t that much space to maneuver for this large battle formation of theirs. The water serpent slammed its head into the other creature''s body while it tried to dig its crab-like claws into it. The formation was quite stable now and it would take more than that to take it down, also the way to get rid of battle formations was going for the cultivators inside and not for the energy construct itself. The creature was a bit too dumb for that, as it kept slashing at the watery body that just mended itself back.

    It was looking good for the Zhang clan members, all their training came into fruition as the large serpent tail sent the creature flying into a wall. They slithered away, while the monster was momentarily stunned through the impact. The water serpent opened its mouth, gathering up energy as it charged its finishing move up. The boss monster didn''t recover in time as when it looked at the enemy with its many eyes, it only to saw a blue beam coming its way. It raised those large claws to defend its upper body but to no avail, as the beam attack possessed an attacking power over the early stage of core formation quickly dissolving the monster into fine particles. To the Zhang member''s surprise, the wall behind the monster didn''t suffer any damage from their most powerful attack. The monster was slain and the cultivators rejoiced, but then they heard a strange robotic voice.

    "Area 7 Girtablilu has been defeated, the first stage has been cleared. Please continue to the tower defense stage."

    The members looked at the dissipating monster, the closed gate opening soon after the strange voice delivered the message. The people had no other place to go but forward, so after eating some Qi recovering pills the headed to the second stage.

 86 Chapter 86

    A monsters head rolled off its shoulders and plopped down to the ground. A silver-haired man was standing to the side with a sword over his shoulder. The night had passed and the female''s fever had gone down, he had moved out to gather up some larger leaves. He managed to make a makeshift bed for the girl so that she didn''t need to sleep on the cold rocky floor and placed a large boulder at the entrance of the cave so that no strange creature would wonder in. He ripped up his self regenerating robe to make a blanket, but that left him bare-chested yet again.

    *I''m going to catch a cold like this...*

    He came across a scouting party composed of some goblins and hobgoblins which he promptly sliced apart. He decided to pay them a visit, maybe there would be something that would explain the situation at that goblin encampment. He was a bit apprehensive about leaving the woman back in the cave, but she should be okay for the time being. The monsters didn''t really show any good tracking abilities, they didn''t even find them after a whole night had passed.

    "I guess it''s time to slay some goblins."

    He vanished from the spot and appeared up on one of the tall trees. He started jumping onto the thick branches, heading towards the enemy headquarters. He noticed a pattern in how the monsters operated in this ''training ground'', they tended to react to noises and started attacking you the moment you got into their line of sight. Well, at least the more stupid ones did the ones above the core formation and with special classes had some intelligence to them. The goblin chieftain, for instance, didn''t chase after him and the girl leaving it up to his followers instead.

    *Well, maybe its a boss monster and needs a special trigger to aggro?*

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    He started thinking about the monsters as MMORPG mobs, that had a limited range and wouldn''t chase you after you got out of it. Maybe someone from earth was reincarnated here and he made this place to work as a game? This would probably be something that he would do if he got bored enough with time.

    Matt came to a stop, he was back at the front gate of the goblin encampment. The small green skins were leaning up against their makeshift gate, sleeping on the job with some rusty looking spears. He scanned the area again, wondering if something stronger than a goblin chieftain would be in here.

    *Well, I guess I can let loose here...*

    He formed a fist and raised it up, delivering a blow to his peck looking as it turned to golden metal at the moment of the impact. The enemies he would be facing shouldn''t be able to pierce his metal-like skin so he could test out his techniques without worrying. He nodded to himself and took out his sword, forming a thin layer of lightning energy around the bladed part for added sharpness. He jumped up, causing the large wooden branch to snap in the process. Lightning energies gathered around his frame and expanded as he activated his newest Heavenly Lightning Terrain technique.

    The sleeping sentry didn''t even react before he got bisected by the energy sword, the downward slice forming a fissure on the ground as the wind pressure and lightning energies continued on, crashing into the large wooden gate. The makeshift doorway burst open, many large splinters raining down and delivering some residual damage to the unsuspecting goblins inside.

    Matt heard some kind of horn being sounded, large amounts of green midgets poured out of holes in the ground and from the large wooden shacks in the surrounding area. They were greeted by electrical discharges the moment they entered Zhang Dong''s lightning terrain. The technique was less powerful due to the Qi dissipating properties of this area but it still worked as intended passively delivering damage to the invaders while Matt delivered the finishing strikes with his sword.

    He was constantly aiming for their necks or hearts, each strike meant death for one of the green attackers even the more powerful hobgoblins couldn''t do anything against this human intruder. It was more or less a one-sided massacre, blood spraying everywhere but soon dissipating into nothingness along with the summoned monsters. The goblin chieftain was sitting in his makeshift throne, looking at the human attacker while gnawing on some kind of bone.

    Soon enough though, he roared out in fury the scream causing Matt to halt his actions momentarily. He had taken out most of the hobgoblins and shaman goblins in the vicinity, maybe this was enough to trigger this mini-boss to action?

    "Oh, are you approaching me?"

    The monster''s small beady eyes went red and it snorted something in an unknown language at the human, Matt kind of imagined what his reply was. The goblin chieftain was about the same height as Zhang Dong, he had some strange tribal tattoos all over its green skin. There was a big gash from his left eyebrow going up to his lip, letting you see some of his teeth as it hadn''t healed fully. The monster was carrying a huge bladed weapon, it looked like a slightly elongated cleaver with a hooked part on the tip.

    The monster kicked itself off the ground, quickly closing the distance between itself and the attacker. Some smaller goblins that were in the way got trampled and turned into meat paste instantly. Matt didn''t feel like evading as he took the attack head-on, the ground trembling under his feet as the monster''s cleaver collided with his sword. Matt didn''t budge a muscle as his feet remained firmly planted on the rocky ground, the monster gnashing his teeth at the human in front and then giving out another outcry.

    "Ugh, your breath stinks."

    The goblin chief tried using a bite attack but it was unsuccessful as he received a punch to his face instead, the monster''s nose was now indented as he flew backward and crashed into a wooden shack. More goblins appeared to back up their leader, but they weren''t much use after getting sliced up by the enemy''s blade.

    *I feel like I could keel these trash mobs faster if I had a second sword...*

    He picked up a goblin sword from the ground, it used to belong to one of the hobgoblin warriors so it was a bit better than the rest. He went into a stance, holding one of the swords higher and the other one lower. This felt a bit awkward, the monsters dashed at him but he just started dancing around them quickly slicing the weaker monsters apart. This did indeed make him kill the monsters faster, but he felt that he lost some measure of control and his defense suffered as he had to pay attention to his second sword as well now.

    *Maybe it will be better if I put a third one into my mouth...*

    He looked at another sword that was on the ground, the handle was just wrapped up with something and didn''t look sanitary at all.

    *Ehh... think I''ll pass...*

    He threw the borrowed sword at one of the goblins impaling it to a wall and then heard a monster roaring. This was the Chief that burst out, swinging his blade at Matt. He looked slightly different, he was now a head taller and all red. Muscles bulging and an angry face as he tried to overpower his attacker once more.

    *Is this the second phase?*

    Matt glanced at the monster, but it was still in the late stage, it had the berserker prefix added though. He was slightly more powerful and faster, but not nearly enough to bring this cultivator down. He sparred with the goblin Chief for a while, using the creature as a training dummy. He didn''t have anyone to spar with back in the Zhang Clan, so this would be a good training session. But after a while, he found the monster''s attacks to be quite sluggish and easy to evade or parry. It was more brawn than brains so the pattern was quite easy to get used to, so soon enough he delivered the finisher sending the beast''s head up into the air.

    There were still some monsters left though, so he used this chance to test his another attack out. He placed his palms together making it look like he was praying, his Heavenly Lightning Terrain technique started closing up decreasing in size and gathering around him. The lightning energies inside the terrain started acting up though, becoming more random and chaotic. The Qi started getting compressed more and more while the enemy goblins charged at him. The moment they closed in on him, he separated his palms making a ''T'' like pose with his palms pointing upwards.

    The energies burst out with an explosion of lightning energy, everything outside where he was standing lit up like a Christmas tree and was surrounded by bright blue energy. The goblin silhouettes vanished within the energy dome that was formed, quickly dissolving into fine particles as he delivered a wide-area attack. After the energies dissipated, he was standing on a little podium of ground, everything within a wide radius was blasted into nothingness. There was a large hole around him now, some burnt up hatchets and other broken items. Anything past that was blown back as well, he destroyed the upper encampment of the goblins in one attack not leaving much behind in the process.

    "Wait..."

    In his battle excitement he forgot that he wanted to search this place for clues, he scratched his cheek while looking around the desolated area wondering if anything of value was left behind.

    "Well... luckily no one saw that..."

    He started going around the place, managing to find the boss monsters hatchet weapon that was of a high earth grade. He also managed to find a fan type weapon suited for wind elemental users, this made him think back to the lady that he saved, this probably belonged to her. He was glad that it survived his explosion. He didn''t find much more of note besides that, the goblins were all dead now. He even went into one of their burrows, but most of the tunnels had collapsed after his qi explosion. He didn''t really want to dig through the debris, and the fan weapon made him think about the sleeping woman that he didn''t want to leave there for more than he had to.

    *Time to go back, there were some fruits on the way here, I''ll get them for that girl, she might be hungry.*

    After being here for a week, he started thinking that his clan members were probably in another area altogether. This was probably a place to test the party leaders, making them fight without having an army to back them up.

    *Though, still wonder what those guys are up to... nothing left but to move forward.*

    He thought to himself while going back to his temporary state of residence.

    Back in the cave, Feng Liena was dreaming about her childhood, she was running around with a ball in her hand tossing it at her father who did the same in return. She was smiling wide, hugging on her daddy while enjoying her day to day life. But then things changed, she was taken away the scenery changing. She was now ten years old, a woman was screaming at her making her do various exercises, shouting that she had to get strong for the clan.

    The Feng Clan was a Matriarchal one, this meant that the ones on top were all women and they didn''t allow men into the upper echelon. After a woman from the Feng clan got married to someone outside a deal was made, every female offspring was to be sent back to the clan after they reached the age of five. This was a favorable agreement for both parties as regular patriarchal clans preferred offsprings of the male gender, so they were okay with sending the females back while receiving the boys in return.

    The girls were trained hard, causing them to be rough and rigid. The Feng clan didn''t really care about having their cultivators be very womanly, as power was the driving force. This was also the cause of their appearance, most of the girls didn''t want to be treated like jade-like beauties. Thus they produced the more tanned gyaru look, to mixed reactions of other people around them. They also tended to be quite tomboyish and aggressive.

    Feng Liena opened up her eyes slowly, she felt quite refreshed for some reason. She remembered that she was captured by some monsters, but the rest was a blur. When she opened up her eyes she saw a large man above her, he was bare-chested and reaching out with his hand to do something. She reached out to him, placing her hands on the man''s cheeks. The silver-haired man had a strange expression, that quickly turned to shock as the female cultivator gripped those cheeks with all her strength and delivered a headbutt straight to his face.

    "The hell do you think you''re doing!"

 87 Chapter 87

    Matt had returned to the hideout with some fruits and water in his hand. He placed the cleaver he had gotten and the two green fans that belonged to the woman on the side. He looked at the sleeping beauty and noticed that the makeshift pillow he created from his robe and leaves was to the side, so being the nice guy that he was, he tried to move it back under her head. That was when she woke up though, her face quickly switched from one of surprise to one of rage as he felt his nose get hit by her forehead.

    Feng Liena noticed that she made a mistake as the moment her head connected with the ''pervert''s'' face, she felt like she headbutted a lump of spirit iron. He did get a bloody nose due to the hit, but she got a lump on her head as well. She fell back and finally noticed that she was covered in bandages all over, the wound on her thigh that the snake monster had bitten in was mostly gone.

    "God damn... that hurts...what was that for?"

    Matt wobbled back due to the sudden hit, his nose all red, luckily no bones were broken. Liena looked at the cave, her robe was to the side still covered in some blood but there were signs of it getting washed. She noticed the man''s robe that was ripped all over, the bandages clearly came for that. There were some scattered fruits on the floor and she remembered that there was someone that looked like this guy back before they entered the secret ground. The gears started turning in her head as she looked at the situation, she moved her head a bit to the side, her mouth twitching between a smile and a thrown.

    She slowly recalled what transpired yesterday, the snake bite, the goblin attack and the soothing voice that called out to her during the rescue. She then just moved her hands to her hips and started laughing.

    "Oh ho ho, sorry there little bro. I thought you were just some pervert."

    Matt looked at the woman that started laughing like some old man, blood was running down his nose. He was a bit surprised that she managed to injure him through the headbutt.

    "L... little bro?"

    Feelings one''s age through their aura wasn''t anything special, so the woman knew that the man in front of her was younger. She looked at her robes that were to the side, Matt didn''t actually know how to wash things properly so he kind of soaked them in the river with not much success. Then set them to the side after drying them out with the use of his Qi abilities.

    "Ah, could you turn around?"

    He wanted to ask her some questions but then saw as she grabbed her robes from the side. Those robes were slightly torn up from the goblin attack. Normally he would be able to fix them in his crafting abode, but his system still wasn''t letting him in there.

    "Ah..sure..."

    He nodded and turned around, wondering if he should just leave the cave but as he was about to do so, the woman started speaking.

    "You were with one of the other clans right? What was your name again?"

    Matt stopped in his tracks as the woman spoke, the rustling of clothing happening right behind his back. She had gone from hostile, right to being quite buddy-buddy, guess she liked to do things at her own pace.

    "Yes, I''m from the Zhang Clan, the name is Zhang Dong..."

    He didn''t turn around, he already saw the woman naked so didn''t really feel embarrassed or anything, just wanted to be courteous. The girl hadn''t introduced herself yet, so he tried not to say her name that the system already showed him. He had a clear idea about Liena''s capabilities, she might have been only in the late stage of core formation but she had a higher graded cultivation method.

    "Zhang Dong... think I heard that somewhere... oh, you''re that young brother that trashed all those clans single-handedly. Never liked those old coots, they always gave me those lecherous looks. You can turn around."

    Matt craned his neck back, he had some questions he wanted to ask the woman. When he looked at her, she was just standing there and munching on a peach-like fruit that he found. He tried it out previously, it was quite rich in spiritual energy and was sweet. But as he was moving his hand up and opening his mouth to speak, Liena spoke up first once again.

    "I must thank you for the timely aid, but I could have gotten away myself!"

    Matt was holding his hand up high, his index finger outstretched as he wanted to say something but couldn''t quite put his thoughts to words. His mouth opened but then closed again as he watched the tanned woman stick her chest out, proclaiming that she would have been just fine.

    "Uhhh... s-sure..."

    Matt didn''t really know what to think of this person, he thought she would be the silent jade-like beauty type. Or maybe, some sensual older sister type. She felt a lot more chipper than he expected, it felt more like he was talking with a dude than a chick. She even started punching the air with her small fists, showing off her battle strength as wind elements gathered around that cute fist of hers. He thought that this lady would be a lot more violent after the first headbutt. Most of the time in novels, they would misunderstand the protagonist and start battling or calling them a pervert. This girl on the other hand after the initial misunderstanding caught on quite fast and figured out that he was the one that saved her. The problem was the little brother part...

    "So you see little Dong, you just need to leave the rest up to big sis Liena. If you follow my lead, I''m sure we can get through this blasted forest in no time!"

    *The hell, little dong?*

    This needed to stop if it continued he would be a designated henchman of this older sister. He didn''t really mind if she tagged along with him, but it would be another thing if it was he that would be tagging along with her. Soon enough, he would have to carry her stuff around and act like a retainer.

    "Okay, let''s get one thing straight Feng Liena. I''m no little Dong... I''m more of a Big Dong... no wait... that came out wrong. Let''s just forget about the names."

    He moved his hands over his chest and leaned back against the cold cave wall, making his face look solemn and all cultivator like. He tried furrowing his brows to look extra serious and menacing.

    "I have been wandering around this forest for about a week now, you''re the first person I''ve come across. Do you have any clues as to where we are? I think this might be part of the test that the immortal that made this place came up with, I reckon our clan members are in a different section taking part in a different type of test."

    Feng Liena moved her thumb to her chin and looked with her eyes to the side as she contemplated. Matt looked at the woman, was that steam that was coming out of her ears? The woman wasn''t much of a thinker, the old cultivator lady and her retainers did most of that, she only needed to cultivate diligently. So, she just stomped her foot on the ground making the rock below her shatter as she shouted out.

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    "Ahhh... who cares! We just need to beat up some beasts and move forward! Don''t worry little Dong, I have it all figured out!"

    She proclaimed her finger pointing at the ceiling as if she wanted to point it at the heavens. Matt realized that his first party member wasn''t all that bright, he sure hoped that the woman wouldn''t be a burden. Abandoning people wasn''t his style, so he wondered what would be the best way to move forward. He tried asking about some other things, but the moment he spoke up...

    "Miss Lien..."

    "Big Sis!"

    "Missus Lie..."

    "Big Sis!"

    "Lien..."

    "BIG SIS!"

    He dropped his head, the woman was probably used to getting called elder sister back in her clan. He wasn''t sure why she was so adamant about giving up her title.

    "Fine! Big Sis Liena... how about we travel together, I''m sure we can achieve more if we travel in a group. The elders from the other clans must be around here somewhere, maybe we can find them before those beasts get to them."

    The woman crossed her arms over her own chest, copying Zhang Dong''s way of standing. Though due to being quite stacked, her forearms squished into those two mountains making Matt''s heart skip a beat. She nodded a couple of times while looking to the side as if she was considering his proposal.

    "I agree, but on one condition!"

    "Which is?"

    "I''m the leader and you have to call me big sis~"

    He wasn''t sure why the woman was acting like a middle schooler but due to being an introvert he was getting tired of the prolonged conversation that was going nowhere. The woman didn''t seem that stuck up, was she really the stuck up young Matriarch that denied any men that approached her. She sounded quite friendly, well besides the headbutt part, but that was an understandable reaction in that situation. He just shrugged and nodded at her request, he didn''t really care about things like being ''Team leader'' at least his new companion was cute.

    The two people headed out, Matt constructed another water bottle so that Liena didn''t have to drink from his. It felt a bit uncomfortable when he was making it as she kept staring at him when he was skillfully wrapping the vines around the bamboo bottle. Did this woman never go outside or something, she was like a little kid with stars in her eyes looking at the construction process.

    They started running into more monsters as time passed, Matt could detect their life signals so after getting an okay from his new big sis he was now the scout. The woman didn''t get to fight that much as Matt still wanted to get the points from the kills, even though they were minor.

    There was another strange phenomenon that they came across. After killing some trashy mobs, they turned to spirit bubbles as always. Soon enough though, he felt a high concentration of similar energy particles. He looked at the spot it was coming from and could see a monster getting created or summoned in that spot. The fresh creature looked around and went on its way like it was a natural thing.

    *They have a respawn time as well? So there is no way to kill them all?*

    He wondered if the goblin town he previously cleared out would be populated again. This would be a good thing if he had time to farm for things like this high grade hatchet weapon. He took it with him not as a weapon, but as something that he could absorb later. The regular creatures only had lower graded gear with them, only the boss monsters had the good stuff with them.

    While adventuring forward the two people spotted something, it was a giant pillar of fire just shooting into the air along with a gust of wind that indicated an explosion. The two looked at each other and quickly headed in that direction, it looked like other cultivators were fighting. They arrived at the spot after a couple of minutes only to find a charred corpse and gore bits all over the place. The torn-up robe had a familiar-looking emblem on it.

    *Isn''t this the emblem that pimp guy''s ship had? Did he get killed, or was it another member from his clan...*

    That person had more ships with him and back in the teleportation chamber, Matt made a mental note to count how many clans were participating. His clan took out just one spot, Feng Liena''s took up two with the busty big sis here and with the baked potato granny that she came with as the second core formation expert. The red-haired male came with two other core formation cultivators which left him with three spots. The remaining spots were taken up by two other clans, with two spots each. The Zhang clan was considered the weakest from the point of these other clans as they only brought one core formation expert with them.

    "That''s one down...I hope we find the rest before these monsters get to them..."

    The explosion was fresh, so Matt could sense a fight in the distance. He followed the energy reading quickly, hoping that he would be there on time.

 88 Chapter 88

    Matt slung the large cleaver weapon over his shoulder and headed out while Feng Liena followed after him. He could feel multiple beings in that area, they were mostly in the core formation. After the two arrived closer to the scene, they could see the battle unfolding.

    The first person Zhang Dong saw was someone he was familiar with, he could see his name thanks to the system and it was Huo Qiang. It was the red-haired man that he saw before entering the secret ground. There was another person with him, an older looking gentleman with mutton chops that looked injured. He was wearing the same clan pattern on his torn up robe, it being of the same clan that the burly red-haired man belonged too. The two were standing back to back while surrounded by some monsters, it weren''t goblins this time around but orcs. There were quite a lot of them and Matt could even see an ogre amongst the group. Most of the monsters were in the middle stage but there were some in late stages of core formation.

    The two cultivators were both in the late stage of core formation, so all things considered they were quite strong. There were many green skins that were evaporating into dust after getting slain but they just kept coming at them. Matt wanted to jump in and help the two guys out, but when he looked to the side, his big sis was just scoffing and walking in the opposite direction.

    "W-wait, where are you going? We have to help them..."

    Matt asked while looking between the battle zone and the female cultivator that had furrowed brows and a rather cute frown.

    "Pff, just leave those bastards be, we don''t need to help people like them out."

    The woman moved her face to the side, Matt caught on fast deducing that there must be some animosity between her and the people that were fighting. Though this didn''t really sit well with him, the more party members they got the better their chances of survival would be. He was sure they could talk it out in the end, if not he could always show his hand to reel them in. He tried out some reverse psychology to get his team leader to follow him into battle.

    "Ah, it''s fine to be afraid elder sister. There are so many of those monsters, it''s only natural that you are hesitating. Just leave this to your little brother, you can just watch from afar."

    You could see the pink-haired girl fuming with rage the moment Zhang Dong insinuated that she was afraid of the monsters. He didn''t stay long enough to hear her complain as there was no time, he just bolted for the battle area and felt that the lady followed behind him soon enough, at least she could offer him a bit of range support with those wind techniques.

    The two fighters weren''t aware of Zhang Dong and Feng Liena as they were fighting for their dear life. The two belonged to the Huo Clan, this was a fire element type clan with the younger-looking youth being the strongest son of the current clan Patriarch. The man next to him was one of his bodyguards that his clan sent out with him to this secret ground. The dark palm sect had requested help from them and promised riches and even cultivation resources if they managed to figure out the testing grounds. Being the proud clan that they were, the Patriarch decided to send quite a force consisting of the three strongest core formation experts from his clan beside himself.

    They all miscalculated that the whole expedition thing was a hoax and that the dark palm sect didn''t actually expect anyone to return from it. Being the stuck up clan that they were, they expected riches and an easy payout even though it was known that the previous exploration attempt failed. They naturally thought that the reason was that the people sent were just too darn weak, the Zhang clan was just a middle-sized clan and the Huo Clan was a grade above it in strength even before the previous one lost most of their fighting potential.

    Huo Qiang was quite lucky in the beginning, he found one of his clan elders just a couple of days after being spirited away into the wilderness. After about a week they even found the second one as well, so now they were all together and fighting with the monsters in their own little group. But, the creatures just kept coming and coming. They had to constantly move and fight, the monsters were everywhere and they were getting harder to defeat the more time passed.

    The life-saving trinkets and talisman started getting used up, they only had a few out the rest was locked in their storage rings. Soon enough they came across the large Orc tribe village, the three masters weren''t that good at sneaking around so they were spotted by the green skins while trying to avoid the settlement.

    The monsters poured in like moths attracted to the flame while the three tried to escape, but they found themselves surrounded. One of their clan members tried buying them some time so that they could escape. He burned his cultivation base making himself burst into a flaming inferno opening up a path for his two clan members to escape. The plan didn''t work though as even though they managed to run away from that group another one was waiting for them around the corner and they were surrounded by them again.

    "What''s wrong with these beasts? Don''t they fear death at all?"

    The red-haired man said while the gauntlets that he was wearing on his hands glowed red. He delivered a devastating blow to one of the nearby orc''s sending the creature flying back, it''s head broken as its body collided with a close-by tree. The two cultivators were quite strong, but the monsters just kept swarming them not caring for their own safety whatsoever. The two men were getting tired slowly, their spiritual energy was getting drained as they landed attack after attack, killing the monster mobs one after another in quick succession.

    "Young Master, you must save yourself. You are the future of the clan, you must not perish here!"

    The mutton chop beard elder said, his fists were also covered by some kind of glove weapon along with his legs. From the way the two were carrying themselves, it looked like they were close range specialists. The older man had a robust build as well, his body was already battered and bruised from the prolonged fighting. He was tasked with protecting this young master of his, he was a one in a million genius of the Huo clan, his only fault was that he was quite the womanizer.

    The elder was contemplating doing a suicide rush as the other clan member, but before that could happen he heard a strange sound coming from afar. It sounded like thunder and lightning, but there were no clouds above them. The monsters were focused on the other two cultivators so they didn''t pay attention at the white-haired cultivator that was charging at them from behind, coated in lightning.

    Zhang Dong burst to the scene, swinging the large goblin cleaver with one hand and his charged up sword with the other. Feng Liena just stood up on one of the large trees and started blasting the creatures with her ranged attacks, not keen on getting into a close melee fight.

    The orcs finally noticed the other intruders as they were flanked by Matt''s charge, he managed to decapitate a couple of them with his two-sword style that still needed some work. The Huo clan cultivators saw this as a chance and started battling their enemies with more vigor as some backup had arrived. They recognized the white-haired man from the clan assembly but didn''t know why he was helping them. They were sure about one thing, this Zhang Clan Patriarch was a lot stronger than they had thought, by the way, he was cutting into those monsters, he must be in the great circle they thought.

    "Thanks for the assistance brother!"

    Huo Qiang shouted while charging up his fist, you could see small red dots gathering around the man''s fist. The metallic gloves he was wearing were made of a silver looking alloy, they had various runic patterns etched into them and as he gathered the fire energies they gave of a crimson glow as well. He struck a nasty looking orc with an open palm strike, caving the monsters whole chest in and blasting it back into the orc group that was charging at them.

    The fight continued, the bodies of the monsters continuously vanished with the help of the Zhang Clan Patriarch and his lovely helper that was pouting in the back. Soon enough the large ogre appeared, it went after the red-haired man while swinging a tree, using it as a club. Qiang''s punch connected with the makeshift weapon, the tree catching fire and turning into a mass of splinters.

    Mutton chops was doing a bit worse than the rest of the group, he was still in the late stage but if you ranked everyone here, he would be last in terms of spiritual energy. He was already battered as he and the other retainer were being overprotective of their young master and they used their bodies to defend him. He was about to get impaled by a similar-looking hatchet weapon that one of the orc warriors was aiming at his head, but just before it landed a wind blade came from afar and deflected the attack, this was enough for the man to land a killing blow on the creature that attacked him.

    He looked in the direction the attack came from and saw the Feng clan matriarch, she was standing on one of the branches and looking quite haughty. The battle continued, the cultivators managed to wiggle out of the spot that they were surrounded. This gave them some leeway as they didn''t need to watch their backs anymore and could unleash a wider range of attacks.

    The monsters weren''t letting up though, but with time they got whittled down by the combined might of the four cultivators that started working as a team. Matt looked at all the weapons that the monsters dropped, if he could just gather those up he might be able to reach the great circle with his body refining skill. Though he didn''t really want to start absorbing it with people next to him, plus he would need to carry the pile of hatchets and strange-looking weapons with him.

    *If it only didn''t take so long to absorb one of these...*

    "Well, if it isn''t Feng Liena, have you reconsidered my proposal?"

    Huo Qiang asked in a cheery tone as he walked over to the busty gal. Matt could see the woman''s expression changing from a neutral one, to one of rage and disgust. He didn''t know that a beauty like her could furrow her brows that much, that frown was quite impressive.

    "I would rather marry a donkey than someone like you! How many concubines do you even have?"

    Feng Liena stomped the ground while scoffing at the proposal, the red-haired man just looked at her and shrugged.

    "Oh, just about ninety nine, you could be the hundredth one~"

    He laughed to himself while looking at the woman whose face started going red, she was really fuming. She even took out her battle fans and went into a battle stance, the mutton chop uncle intervened putting himself between his young master and the woman.

    "Halt, you will not harm the young master!"

    A fight was about to break out, the old guy was taking his job very seriously and he would pounce on the young lady the moment she showed animosity towards his young master. Matt just facepalmed while looking at the scene, guess these people weren''t good at working together. He raised his fist up into the air it crackling with lightning, he activated his avatar form on it along with his condensing skill. He didn''t need to cover his whole body with the technique, being able to use it on separate body parts which cost him less spiritual energy.

    He slammed his fist into the ground, making the group of three turn their heads. The slam caused the ground to shake, the residual blast kicked up a storm, the people using their forearms to protect their eyes from the sand that was blown up.

    "Enough! Stop fighting, we need to work together to get through this... don''t you get what this place is by now?"

    Matt made sure to add some spiritual energy to make his voice sound extra menacingly, his fist glowing and discharging electricity into the surroundings.

    The three people gulped a bit after witnessing the strike, they clearly knew that if something like that landed on them they would turn into meat paste. They realized that the white-haired man was clearly the strongest from this group, probably at the great circle of core formation.

    "Little Dong... didn''t know that you were this strong... big sis is impressed!"

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    Matt wanted to run up and bonk the pink-haired dolt on the head after hearing that, she kind of ruined his cool move with just a few words. He gave out a sigh and moved over to the group, he wanted to ask some questions and also force everyone to cooperate as he was still sure that this was a place where you couldn''t just do things alone.

 89 Chapter 89

    In another place.

    The Zhang Clan members approached the large fortress. The walls were immense making the cultivators feel like tiny ants, the moment they came close to the large gate it started shaking. The people took up their combat stance, ready for battle. The doors opened up from within, the loud creaking noises made some people from the group feel quite uncomfortable as they fought the urge to plug their ears up.

    They thought that perhaps some enemies would burst through that door, but after they opened nothing but silence greeted them. Zhang Zhi waved his hand forward taking two squads with him, forming a small scouting party. The insides were quite barren, the cultivators couldn''t feel any life coming from the surrounding.

    The rest of the group slowly crept in, there was still a chance of a surprise attack coming like from those centipede monsters. Also, a boss monster might appear in that closed-off room, so they kept vigilant as everyone entered the large empty structure. The outside was quite basic, consisting of four walls connecting to four towers. Each wall had a large gate in the middle, it was made from some strange material and quite resistant. The fortress looked unsuspecting, the only thing out of the ordinary was the place it was in and its size.

    The inside of the structure had an inner area, the structure looked like a smaller castle that was protected by more walls. The Zhang Clan members started looking around, they found barracks that had basic living quarters where they could sleep in. There was a kitchen area as well as a large well that was also close by, so they wouldn''t run out of water anytime soon. The kitchen had a large storage area which surprisingly had some food in it, there were formations that kept it cool and from rotting.

    Zhang Zhi and the other officers went into the castle-like structure, which had many smaller rooms and one larger hall. The moment the people walked in they heard a strange sound, green light filled their eyes as something appeared out of thin air. It was a miniature version of the fortress, just made from light. The people backed away, looking at the green projection, if Matt was here he would probably be able to figure this thing out as it was something a gamer would find interesting.

    These old fashioned cultivators didn''t know what they were looking at, there was a panel with some numbers in the corner. There were some blue dots spread out throughout the hologram, and there were exactly 220 of them. More people came into the room, in hopes of figuring out this strange spiritual treasure. The officers went closer, Zhang Jie was there as well and being quite curious she poked at the panel where the points were, this prompted it to glow and show her a tiny miniature version of a ballista with the number 25 hovering above it.

    The people were surprised, the small siege weapon could be picked up by them but when they let it go it vanished and appeared back next to the display panel. After investigating more, one of the people dragged the weapon to one of the towers the hologram that was red started turning green for some reason. When he let it go, the weapon appeared to be stuck to the tower now. Soon enough a commotion could be heard outside.

    "What''s wrong? Report!"

    A junior member appeared soon enough, it was a familiar-looking chubby fellow by the name of Zhang Hong.

    "Reporting sir! Just a moment ago we felt a surge in spiritual energy by one of the towers and a crossbow like weapon appeared out of thin air!"

    The foundation establishment elders looked at each other, then to the miniature version of the fortress. They quickly looked outside one of the small windows and could see the weapon now being placed on the tower wall, ready to fire and with some ballista bolts included. They tried repeating the process and managed to place another one of those siege weapons on a different tower. But when they tried doing it once more on the third one, they couldn''t pull the small weapon hologram anymore.

    "...Wasn''t this number higher previously..."

    Zhang Jie said while looking at the control panel, the number was, of course, the number of points they had for the building. They figured out that this number correlated to the one above the ballista, they had 15 points left and it cost 25 to build.

    "But how do we increase this number now... and is there a use for those weapons out there..."

    The people examined the siege weapon, it looked a bit strange in the way that it couldn''t be shot manually. It was closed off and they couldn''t insert any of the bolts that were lying next to it. Later on, the clan would find out how these tower defense items worked, but for now, they all headed inside.

    Junior members were stationed on the walls and towers, but the whole fortress was just too huge so they had to spread themselves thin. This thing was clearly built for more than two hundred people to run, they needed at least a thousand people for it. The first night went by fast, nothing happened no monster attacks and no enemies in sight. The cultivators started wondering if the voice had something else in mind with the second phase. The elders were in the control room, figuring out the game like controls while the juniors looked at the gate opening and closing on their own.

    Just as the next day was coming to a close one of the sentries noticed people walking towards them. Everyone peeked out from the safety of the fortress, they could see a small group moving towards them. The group was filled out by tanned ladies with way too much makeup, they looked disgruntled and tired. From the 220 strong group only about half of them remained.

    "Open the gates, help the wounded!"

    The gates were opened, the Zhang Clan was quite good at the healing arts and they also had various restorative pills. Their Patriarch ordered them to support the other expedition participants if it was possible. They were told to offer assistance, but react accordingly if the other clans or cultivators were hostile.

    The dark-skinned females were on their toes as they saw the large gates opening and cultivators pouring out. They recognized them to be one of the people that came with them to the secret grounds, mostly due to the eye-catching gear that made them look like a bunch black power rangers.

    "Don''t worry, we are here to help, come inside of the fortress for treatment."

    Zhang Jie said while moving in with her platoon along with a couple more. The Feng clan members looked at each other and nodded, there were a lot of injured among them. They thought that if the other clan was hostile, they wouldn''t offer them any help in the first place and just slaughter them instead.

    "The Feng clan offers their respect."

    One of the older cultivator women bowed with cupped hands while all of them headed inside. Most of the deaths were from the Qi condensation members from the Feng clan. They went through a similar dungeon like the Zhang Clan, but they weren''t prepared as well as them for the things that were inside. Somehow they managed to get to the boss room while using up quite a lot of defensive trinkets and losing some of their members on the way here. Some died to traps, some to the monsters that kept pouring in.

    The last boss was a snake-like creature, spitting venom and thrashing its tail at the female cultivators. They managed to slay it with the help of some battle formations and treasures that allowed them to deliver an attack at the core formation level. Without the help of their treasures, they would have been wiped out by the strange-looking creature.

    The Zhang Clan offered their help, placing the most injured people in the barracks while offering them their healing arts. They kept their pills to themselves, mostly worried that they would run out too fast if they used them all willy nilly. Luckily most of the cultivator women that survived to this point, weren''t in critical condition. Most of them would recover in a couple of days, with some meditation and aid of the water-based regeneration healing arts that the Zhang Clan implemented.

    As time passed more and more of the other cultivators started showing up, most of them being in a sorry state. Life in this world was harsh, most of the cultivators on top didn''t really care about their weaker clan members. You really had to show that you were worth it, for anyone to throw a bone your way. The other way was through family ties, but even then the most promising offspring usually monopolized everything from his or her lesser siblings.

    The Qi condensation members of this expedition were the most likely to be tossed aside. The losses were immense among that power bracket. Even though the Zhang Clan started off with the least amount of members of all the participating powers, they didn''t lose anyone while the other people burned through their defensive and offensive treasures to survive their boss battles.

    The most people belonged to the Huo clan though, they did have 660 members participating. Though their numbers were cut by more than half, one team only returned with about thirty members. If you did a headcount, there were 220 Zhang Clan members, 326 Huo clan members, 233 Feng clan members. From the remaining four participating parties, only one team from each returned amounting to about 250 members.

    The moment that the last person set foot in the fortress, the people heard the strange robotic voice once more.

    "Attention, the second stage will commence in exactly twelve hours."

    "Please get ready for the first wave."

    The message repeated itself for a minute before silence fell on the cultivators, everyone looked at each other a commotion ready to break out. What was that strange voice, what was the first wave? From their experience, they knew that it wasn''t anything good.

    The Zhang Clan members were the first group to arrive, so they explained a couple of things. The Feng clan members showed to most respect for the help, but the rest was a bit reserved. Everyone from the top cultivators gathered in the big hall with the hologram to discuss the next step. Everyone got clued in about the strange magical treasures, the clan also revealed that they thought that the blue dots were the people that were around the fortress. The other people were a bit suspicious that this clan with the strange-looking combat robes, was just revealing all of their secrets, but they were just following the instructions of their Patriarch.

    "That is why I hope we can all work together, the strange voice said that something will start in twelve hours, we need to prepare and station our people on the walls."

    Zhang Zhi chimed in, while some other older-looking cultivators contemplated their next move. There were too many separate forces here, no one knew if they wouldn''t get stabbed in the back by the other people in this room if push came to shove. The Zhang Clan wanted to spread people around the walls to prepare for battle, they were the only force without casualties so they could head out at any moment.

    "How about we station out people on the walls... we found a lot of bows and arrows stored in the fortress..."

    The leading figure from the Huo clan was a grizzled old man, his beard was white and he had multiple scars on his face. His frame was imposing and he didn''t look like someone that would follow orders.

    "Don''t think that just because you were here first, you can order us around. The Huo clan will wait and see what this ''wave'' is, then we will decide."

    He scoffed at Zhang Zhi, spitting onto the ground before turning his back and walking to the side. The other fire clan members came to their leader''s side, they outnumbered the Zhang clan two to one with their foundation establishment elders so they didn''t really fear them.

    The leading person from the Feng Clan was an amazon looking woman, her midsection was covered by armor with her legs and arms exposed letting you see her bulging muscles. The brown skin just made her veins pop out even more.

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    "Well if it isn''t old man Tao, don''t mind him. He was born constipated like that."

    She laughed out in a loud voice, making a lot of people uncomfortable in the room.

    "But I agree, lets put our clan members on the walls and wait for this wave."

    She gave Zhang Zhi a wink while licking her lips, the man felt a shiver run through his body when the almost seven-foot-tall woman did that. Though she seemed friendly enough and ready to cooperate with their members. Soon two camps formed before the first wave, one consisted of the Zhang and Feng clan, while the Huo clan absorbed the remaining members mostly by threatening them with sheer force.

    "The first wave will commence in 5...4...3...2...1..."

    The robotic voice proclaimed and almost instantly the cultivators could hear rumbling in the distance.

 91 Chapter 91

    Back in the jungle area, the party of four changed to five after they came across a granny hiding in a hollowed-out tree stump. As they were walking next to the stump, she had noticed her Matriarch amongst the group which prompted her to peek her head out. This almost caused Huo Qiang to punch her as the granny''s face was similar looking to a goblin female.

    "Wait it''s me Feng Maling! Stay your hand!"

    The grandma shouted out while still being stuck in her hiding place, she wouldn''t be able to dodge the incoming punch if Qiang went through with it. Luckily the man jumped back, looking to Feng Liena with question marks hovering above his head.

    "Ohoho, you were fine grandma?"

    Feng Liena acted a bit surprised that the elderly woman made it out alive in one piece, mostly due to the old woman having a cultivation base in the core formation middle stage. The woman was good at hiding though, even Zhang Dong didn''t pick her up with his enhanced senses.

    Matt squinted with his eyes as he looked at the old woman, she had really wrinkled up brown skin, which looked like the type of color you got from overusing spray-on tan. She wasn''t very good looking and the smudged mascara that made her look like she was crying didn''t help either. He had the urge to dump some water on the woman''s face and rub that mascara off but held it in.

    "Why wouldn''t I be alive!"

    The granny managed to escape the tree stump, on which her butt got stuck after trying to squeeze out. She rolled forward and quite smoothly landed on her two feet. Matt wanted to hold up a ''10'' number and clap his hands, the old lady seemed to be quite nimble even for her advanced age.

    Feng Liena shrugged and stuck her tongue out at her clan member, the elderly woman shook her cane at the busty Matriarch. The cane and robe that the woman was wearing, made her look like some occult wizard. Matt didn''t say anything just yet, as he just looked at the two women bickering. He wasn''t sure what kind of relationship the two had, but it made them look like close family by the way they were interacting with each other.

    After a moment of some back and forth between the two, the woman gave out a cough and looked at the cultivators around them.

    "Little Liena, I see you are traveling with the Hou clan young master... and this is..."

    Feng Liena immediately jumped in, moving closer to Matt and patting him on the shoulder.

    "This is little Dong, my little brother!"

    Gloom filled Matt''s face at the mention of his ''little'' title. He thought that the granny would talk some sense into the strange Matriarch but the woman just squinted at him, her hand moving to her cane as she got closer.

    "Are you sure... he...?"

    Feng Liena just stuck out her overdeveloped chest and did a sideways peace sign over her eye, then stuck out her tongue in a strange pose that Matt only remembered some manga or anime characters doing back in his earth days.

    "The Zhang Patriarch... could you give me a moment with the Matriarch..."

    The old lady asked while the three men looked at the Feng clan members with strange expressions. Matt watched as the two moved away from the group and behind some treas, he had question signs in his eyes not knowing what this was about. He sat down on the tree stump that the old lady popped out from and strained his ears, trying to listen in on the conversation the two women were having.

    "... yes, it was just like in the ancient texts..."

    He could hear the two talking, it was mostly the young lady saying something about some old scriptures.

    "Oh? so he carried you like in the writings of the great ancestor? "

    "Yes, yes... he even..."

    Matt continued eavesdropping as Feng Liena recounted their first meeting, but he had no idea what these old ''texts'' or this ''great ancestor'' was. Supposedly his rescue was something that those texts were describing, or prophecizing but when he tried to listen in some more as he tried to figure the situation out a booming voice next to his ear almost made him fall down from his seat.

    "Hey brother, I think we shouldn''t stay here too long."

    The voice belonged to his new self proclaimed brother Huo Qiang, the young master had apparently taken a liking to Matt after the rescue party. After some bonding time which consisted of constant battles against various fantasy-like monsters, he started calling him brother. He even offered one of his younger siblings as a concubine to bring their clans together, though his gyaru sis didn''t take to that offer kindly and he had to pull the two parties apart again.

    "Ah... sure, after they are finished talking let''s move out."

    Matt rubbed his neck slightly before standing up, he gave up on the idea of listening in to the conversation now as it seemed to be over. The two women returned, Feng Liena beaming with a smile while the lady looked at Zhang Dong with a mixed expression.

    "If it is so... I approve."

    Feng Maling cupped her hands and gave a bow to Zhang Dong, the man not really knowing what this was about along with the ''approving'' part.

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    ''What are these two talking about... am I missing something here?''

    The two apparently came to some kind of conclusion during their conversation, something probably related to those ancient texts. He didn''t really feel like those things were important at the moment, as there were still some people missing. From the ten core formation elders, five were here and one was dead. This wasn''t as bad as it looked, but considering that if he didn''t arrive to save them they would probably be all dead by this point, besides the granny that knew how to hide.

    They all headed out, the granny was the weakest member from the group and was more a backline attacker compared to the men in the party. They decided to keep the two ladies in the back along with mutton chops elder, that Matt forgot the actual name of and was embarrassed to ask about again.

    Soon enough they spotted another casualty of the secret ground they were in. It was a mangled up corps of an unknown cultivator, which left them with three more potential survivors. They decided to rest up for the time being, no one was sure how long they were here anymore the day and night cycles kept changing. Matt managed to shoo his big sis away, for the time being, telling her that she should take care of her grandma while he cultivates for some time.

    She gave him a cute pout, then repeated the same motion she did the first time he saw her on the flying ship and stormed out. He gave out a sigh and squatted down on the floor, there were a couple of machetes and axes scattered around all in various grades of the earth grade. He was slowly absorbing the scattered monster weapons from the hunted beasts, he found them to be slightly less potent for the progression of his body refining skill than the ones he was able to make himself of the same grading.

    ''Maybe it has something to do with how they are made... I get fewer points for slaying these monsters as well."

    His progress was slow but he was at about thirty percent now, soon enough his body art would pass his regular cultivation. The time required to advance his regular cultivation technique was just too much, so this was the fastest way to get results. His body was giving off a golden sheen, it illuminated the cave that he was sitting in the people outside could feel their ''team leader'' cultivating inside getting goosebumps from the strange energy fluctuations the part of the cave he was in was giving off.

    Back outside Feng Liena exited the cave passage that Matt was cultivating in and headed into a different section. They had found this monster dwelling not long ago and decided to settle in for the night after clearing out the creatures inside. The busty woman walked to a separate cave room, that the granny was sitting in a lotus position. She gave out a sigh and sat not so far away from her clan member.

    "Were the texts wrong... I don''t think he is willing..."

    The old lady opened up her eyes and replied while still sitting in her cultivation pose.

    "You must not doubt the teachings of our great ancestor young Matriarch."

    Feng Maling was skeptical at first, but after seeing Zhang Dong''s high cultivation and how he just bulldozed through monsters that she would have trouble fighting one one one, she believed that he would be a fitting partner for this young Matriarch.

    "The teachings are clear, maybe you must create a new starting point as the text proclaimed"

    The baked potato announced in a wise tone and shut her eyes as she tried to rest up, her Matriarch thought about a couple of things and came to some kind of conclusion before departing, her face showing an odd determination that didn''t fit her current character.

    "Yes, I will create a new opportunity!"

    After a couple of hours, Matt was done with absorbing the weapons. His golden skin glistened even more and he was sure that he would be able to reach the great circle soon. He hopped back to his feet and stretched out, he was a bit sweaty so he decided to wash up by the spring, which was nearby the cave they were staying in.

    While he was walking through the cave corridors he felt a life signal close by, it seemed to be Feng Liena by the Qi imprint. He wasn''t sure what she was up to, but she was clinging to the wall waiting for something.

    ''Is she waiting for me? Guess I''ll act surprised?''

    He was bare-chested at the moment, so he put his robes back on even though he was still sweaty. He whistled a bit to himself as he approached the corridor in which his favorite big sis was waiting for him, wondering what this was about. At the exact moment that he peeked out from around the corner, the girl came rushing at him.

    She had a very cutesy way of running at this moment. Her arms were pushing into her chest, with her forearms to the side. She was waiving them around with her feet shuffling forward at an amazing pace, this made her chest bounce quite a bit, thus successfully making Matt focus his attention at the display. She was holding a piece of flattened fruit in her mouth for some reason and running right at him.

    "Oh no, I will be late...Kyaaaa"

    She bumped into the large bewildered man in front of her, she bounced off of him and landed on the ground with the piece of fruit flying out of her mouth. Then she just sat there, her legs bent a bit so he kind of could see the part between them. Still, there was some cloth covering the important parts, this made him swallow hard before shaking his head and finally reacting.

    "Uhh...Are you alright?"

    He wasn''t sure what to do as he kind of instinctively reached out to help her off the ground while trying no to look at her undies. Feng Liena blushed hard as she grasped his hands back, Matt could have sworn that he saw stars in her eyes the moment he reached his hand out to her.

    "Oh silly me, I didn''t see you there~"

    She stood up from the ground and dusted her posterior off, but before he could ask more questions she said that she was in a hurry and had to go. The man just rubbed his head and shrugged, leaving afterward to get himself cleaned in the nearby spring. While he was out, his elder sister was contemplating her next move as this was just the beginning...

 92 Chapter 92

    Matt noticed that his ''sis'' was acting even weirder than usual. She kept insisting that he eat some of the food that she made, though by the looks of it it just looked like some nuts and berries she found in the forest. She even tried feeding some of those berries to him, treating him like a baby.

    "Say Ahhhhhh~"

    Matt evaded the feeding attempt, the woman was holding some sticks that were used as chopsticks. He started seeing a pattern in this woman''s actions soon enough.

    ''It''s as if...''

    She bumped into him with some food in her mouth, she tried feeding him some homemade food, she kept falling down while trying to act all cute for some reason...

    ''Aren''t those just bad romance manga tropes... are those the secret texts ...''

    The gears in his brain started turning, this would explain why the clan women all looked like Japanese gyarus. Maybe the old ''ancestor'' was someone that actually lived there, maybe due to the total worship these cultivator nuts have for their ancestors they decided to copy her looks.

    ''Well saving a girl from bad guys is a popular trope in novels... those two did say that the way I carried her was important too..."

    He wasn''t sure what this woman wanted from him before, but now he had the reason to believe that it had something to do with romance. The things she did and the way she acted sounded like stuff a manga protagonist would do, the going to school and the two leads bumping into each other was a really old one at that.

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    ''Why do these people have to take everything at face value...''

    He wasn''t sure how this female clan ended up with this mindset exactly, did their ''ancestor'' play some kind of prank on them, or was it some kind of weeaboo nut instead. The woman even tried luring him into peeking at her when she was taking a bath, though he didn''t take the bate and just evaded that flag the other day. He started getting worried, would she move on to worse tropes, like those bipolar ones and he would end up getting assaulted whenever he glanced at the girl''s cleavage.

    ''I need to nip this in the bud otherwise, she might end up stalking me later on... or even turning into one of those murder heroines that stab people for looking at her love target...''

    He wasn''t sure how he should go about this, how do you explain to a cultivator bimbo that the thing she is doing is total hogwash? Would they be seriously offended if he told them that their ancestor was an idiot? Or that they just found her manga stash and interpreted it wrongly... maybe he could go with that angle.

    ''Ugh... I still hate talking to people...''

    He groaned and palmed his face, contemplating on the bs that he should tell these two Feng clan members, would probably talk to the two at once otherwise they might talk themselves into some nonsense later when he isn''t around. He found the two going through some large leaves, the elderly lady was pushing vines through it, it made the large leaf look like a green apron. The younger girl with the healthy tan was looking at some coconuts, Matt didn''t really know where she got those from or what she needed them for either.

    Matt loudly caught into his hand to get the two ladies attention.

    "Could I have a word with you two, it''s about your Ancestor and those ancient texts..."

    The two women looked at each other, their brows furrowing as they stopped doing their preparations. The two just nodded at Zhang Dong and followed them into the cave, somewhere where the two Huo clan members couldn''t hear them. The two then looked at the white-haired cultivator, that was standing to them with his back and looking slightly upwards, his hand resting on his chin.

    "I overheard your previous conversation about your ancestor, Firstly, I have to apologize for eavesdropping on you two. Secondly, I think you are interpreting the teachings of the senior wrongly..."

    He didn''t want to talk while facing the two for two reasons, one he looked more mysterious that way and two he was bad at keeping eye contact and he might break character if they stared him down too much. The tranquil will technique didn''t do much for his sweaty palms. First to speak out was the granny, giving off a somewhat grumpy and annoyed tone.

    "You dare? How did our Feng clan wrongly interpret the teachings of old, the old texts have been passed down through generations, they have been throughout studied by the previous Matriarchs, are you saying that they were all wrong? Do you even know what the old texts are?"

    The granny started getting quite angry, this man was saying that the old seniors were wrong. That they somehow translated the texts wrongly. She wasn''t even sure if this man knew what the secret texts were, there was nothing like it in this world so she was skeptical of his knowledge, but then he spoke up.

    "You might refer to the ancient texts as texts... but in reality, they are mostly drawings... with the writing portion placed in white bubbles of sorts... aren''t they?"

    The Zhang Clan Patriarch cut her off

    The woman stopped, Feng Liena also looked curious. The ancient writings were in manga form, this form of art was something foreign in this kind of world setting, thus the two women were quite surprised as the man talked even more.

    "Is it mostly about young teenage girls and boys, the girls wearing short skirts, everyone wearing a uniform and they seem to go to some kind of place of teaching where they spend time in a group between twenty and thirty, everyone having a desk..."

    Matt wasn''t doing much besides describing the usual high school setting that most of those manga''s had. The uniforms varied but the school remained the same, there would always be some recurring things that he could mention while keeping the rest vaguer as he had no idea about the core characters in this story, but he was sure that the female lead was a gyaru.

    "How could you know that... did you sneak into our clan and steal out secret writings!?"

    The woman''s eyes were turning bloodshot, even Feng Liena was looking strangely at Matt that didn''t like where this was going.

    "Nothing of the sorts, I''ve just come across similar secret writings in my travels, so I just thought I could offer you some insight into your own."

    The two women looked at each other, Feng Liena nodded and replied in an uncharacteristic mild tone.

    "Please continue."

    Matt swallowed hard as this would be the point in which he had to explain everything to them.

    "I also came in contact with similar secret writings, in it, there was a certain youth he was carrying a strange rectangle bag in his hand and rushing to the stated place where the was tough by his elders..."

    "I wondered why the ancient elders created it, was there some kind of secret technique buried in the teachings? I wondered and then also tried following the instructions, but then I realized that it was mistaken!"

    He grasped his fist tightly, looking at it for more dramatic effect.

    "The seniors didn''t want me to follow the secret texts literally, it was all a test! In reality, they wanted me to follow my own path. Pave it with my own two hands and awaken the greater Dao that slumbered in me..."

    He moved his hands apart, the greater Dao of lightning radiating from his being as the two women gasped.

    "So you see, I think your ancestor wanted someone from your clan to create their own way. Following into the footsteps of your seniors is a noble cause, but only when you follow your own Dao the real path will lay in front of you."

    He wasn''t sure what he was rumbling about, but the two women had strange solemn expressions on their faces. Was it working? He wasn''t sure, but he at least hoped that Feng Liena would stop bothering him with her silly antics.

    "Well, this is all that I wanted to discuss, maybe if you pave your own path you might awaken the greater Dao of wind, instead of using those derived techniques that you are cultivating at the moment..."

    He quickly left the room, leaving them with some vague explanations hoping for the best, well at least it couldn''t get any worse than this, right? Feng Liena stopped interfering with his affairs after that, mostly hanging out in the back with a complex expression on her face.

    Later that day Matt relaxed and thought to himself about his surroundings and this secret ground. He had gotten used to life in this strange jungle, the monsters capped out at the late stage so he didn''t have any problems with those. He was even able to defeat people of that level when he was at the middle stage mostly with ease. Time went by and they kept exploring, they even started drawing up a map on one large leaf so that they could keep track of the places they visited. They had to do this, as this place was highly disorienting and huge in scope.

    Soon enough they came across the last survivors, though they wouldn''t last for long as they were tightly bound up in spider webs. If it wasn''t for Matt''s aura detection capabilities he would probably think that the people inside those cocoons were already dead, but he could clearly feel life force radiating from them, though it was quite dim.

    The young fire lord wanted to jump right in and trash those monsters, but due to the fiery nature of his attacks, they had to change plans. The webs were highly flammable, so one wrongly placed fire uppercut could incinerate the cultivators that were paralyzed in the spider webs. There were quite a few of those human-sized spiders up in the trees, the webs were spun all around them and one false move would alert those monsters.

    Huo Qiang wasn''t out of the loop though, it would be a waste to not use his skills that were clearly the bane of these spiders. They only needed to get the people out of there first. The plan was quite easy, the three men would distract the monster spiders first while the women snuck up to where the captives were.

    It didn''t take much to set off these creatures, as the moment they poked some of those webs and made some noises they appeared from the treetops. They were spitting venom at them, wiggling their spider legs in various directions as they came at the trio. Spiders always gave Matt the creeps, there was something deep down that made him fear that form even back on earth. This made him fight at a distance, firing off multiple Qi filled sword strikes that sliced and diced the large arachnids to pieces.

    Zhang Dong didn''t notice the looks the two men were giving him as they looked at his swordsmanship. The man himself got all of his skills thanks to the system so he didn''t think anything of it but to the two the superb mastery of the art was mind-boggling. This man was about thirty years old and he had already mastered sword intent.

    The system had a strange way of inserting the knowledge into his brain. It was as if an old pro boxer picking up some boxing gloves and throwing a couple of punches after years of rest. The knowledge and skill were there, but it took some time for all of it to come back to him. The techniques that he bought came with the required knowledge to perform them, the sword arts had a requirement of sword intent so after practicing for some time he naturally was able to use it.

    This sword intent was the most basic one, but even then he would probably have some large sword sects trying to recruit him as a disciple if they knew that he was able to do that at such a young age. Matt knew that his fighting strength increased by quite a bit when he was wielding his sword, but he didn''t really correlate it to the sword intent that let him chop up his enemies mostly in one clean cleave.

    Soon granny baked potato sneaked up to where the cultivators were being held captive, she had quite a nifty technique to fade into the surroundings. Thanks to this she was able to cut up the web that the two were hanging from with the help of Feng Liena. They carried the two to safety while the men unleashed on the monsters. Huo Qiang unleashed his fiery wrath, setting everything ablaze around himself, the screams of the spider monsters could be heard almost instantly.

    The spider webs were even more flammable then expected, thus the trees they were connected to them were quickly burning with them. The forest fire continued to burn, the spider creatures scattered escaping the flames the group of cultivators didn''t give chase as the reason for the attack were the two wrapped up people.

    After they brought them to a safer location they removed the white outer shell and saw two pale-looking men inside. Their veins were bulging out slightly from spots where the spiders injected venom into them. The elderly lady was handy for such occasions as she had extensive knowledge about healing. She found out that the two males were only paralyzed and should recover within the next 24 hours. The two were wearing a different kind of robe, making Matt think that they weren''t from the same clan or party. Both of them looked to be in their late fifties with a cultivation level in the core formation middle stage.

 93 Chapter 93

    The two men regained their consciousness, they were indeed from two separate factions and one even mentioned that his clan brother had been slain by some other monsters not long ago. This brought the number of core formation elders up to seven, three had passed away in the jungle filled with game monsters.

    The first man had a full beard and black hair, his stature was average the same as his height. His hair was all over the place, the days in the jungle weren''t kind to this man as he looked a bit sickly probably some side effects from the spider venom. The second gentleman looked like a Shaolin monk. He had six dots on his forehead and a long white beard that went to about his navel, he was even wearing large round beads around his neck.

    The first man''s name was from a clan called the Kwok clan, and the baldy wasn''t from a clan at all but instead from some kind of small Buddhist sect. It was quite a low-level sect, core formation cultivators were the strongest warriors that they possessed. The name of the sect was Tranquil Lotus Sect and it was also participating in this expedition to earn some resources and favor with the dark palm sect.

    Matt''s attention moved to the dark-haired elder though, he was grasping his hair tightly, eyes bulging out and red, his brows furrowed.

    "Blasted Dark Palm Sect, they lied to us... we are doomed..."

    He kept holding onto his head and trembling, he was seemingly in shock as he kept mumbling to himself and not really paying attention to the group that had rescued him. He was firmly slapped into shape by the Huo clan young master, that was getting annoyed by how he didn''t even thank them for the rescue.

    "What are you mumbling about you old fart, get a hold of yourself, what is this about the dark palm sect?"

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    The man looked up at the crimson-haired man, then at the other people that were staring at him as he let out an uncomfortable sounding laugh.

    "Ah ha ha, don''t you understand... they played us all... there will be no reward... there is no treasure, we will all die here..."

    Everyone looked at him suspiciously, the man knew something that they didn''t.

    "Oh, why would you say such a thing?"

    Matt chimed in moving closer, as he was afraid that his new brother would do something drastic to the man that lost his marbles. The man just looked at him and took out some kind of jade, it looked like some kind of more advanced communication jade but it was a bit cracked. He threw it on the ground and started talking, even without the other people having to ask.

    "The Sect contacted us a couple of months ago, they mentioned this forsaken place and promised treasures and riches if we took this communication jade with us and reported what was in the secret ground to them."

    "We didn''t think much of it, we only thought that we would go in and leave. They must have blocked most of the information about this place, we just assumed the previous people were incompetent..."

    The man slumped onto his knees, clearly not thinking that he could get out of this alive.

    "But there hasn''t been any word from outside and these monsters just keep coming, they never stop."

    Matt placed his hand on the man''s shoulder thanks to his tranquil will he was able to somewhat calm other people down. The calming feeling washed over the nervous cultivator, that slowly started to calm himself down.

    "Calm down, Everyone knows that we were probably sent here as some kind of experiment, but if we stay together we still stand a chance."

    Kwok Xun looked up at the man that had a strange positive outlook on things, he could feel that the cultivator was quite powerful, probably being in the great circle of core formation but he wasn''t quite sure. He wanted to believe him, but after having spend weeks running away and battling strange monsters he was just tired.

    "You should listen to brother Dong, but we can also just leave you here if you are going to be a hindrance."

    Huo Qiang chimed in, Matt''s brows furrowing as he started threatening the dude that had PTSD. Though it showed some effects as after calming down, the man went red in the face with rage and jumped up.

    "Me? a hindrance?"

    He glared at the younger crimson-haired man, who was just grinning back not really caring one way or the other. In his opinion it would probably be better to just leave this guy here, why would they need someone that was a coward? Though when he looked at Zhang Dong, looking for approval he found the man staring daggers at him which made his smile turn upsidedown.

    ''What are you doing you meat for brains, I even managed to calm him down and you riled him up again.''

    "I''m sure you were through a lot, but so were all of us, before brother Dong came and rescued us all."

    Feng Liena moved in, she was carrying herself a bit differently than usual. Matt expected her to threaten the guy, or even try to give him a couple of smacks. Instead, she was quite calm, she was talking softly while keeping eye contact and with a gentle smile on her face. Was this her normal character when she dropped the female lead act? She also called him brother without the little part, which was a sign of progress.

    While the tanned beauty was talking, he glanced to the baldy on the side. The man was remaining silent while sitting down, he was clearly in a cultivation position and by the Qi signature, he was trying to heal his wounds. When he noticed Matt''s gaze on him, he just nodded while clasping his hands, probably just his way of saying thank you.

    Kwok Xun looked at the lady, then back to Huo Qiang who turned his face to the side, seemingly embarrassed when the woman mentioned that he was rescued by Zhang Dong as well. The man let out a long sight before nodding and turning to Matt, he made a decision.

    "Well, if you are willing I will accompany you."

    The man proclaimed while thinking that he didn''t have any other choice if he wanted to survive.

    The group got reorganized, they had seven members now which meant that the overall battle strength had increased. Matt wasn''t sure how to arrange the group this time around, but he decided to put the girls in the middle, the two new arrivals were in the back with mutton chops elder and he and Qiang were in the front.

    They tracked along and finally, they spotted a change of scenery. There were two massive mountain ranges to the side, going straight up into the clouds. This mountain range formed a path of some sort as the path to the sides was blocked by them and the path forward was getting narrower with each step. It looked like the secret ground wanted them to move between these two mountains soon enough they figured out why.

    There was a clearing, in that clearing stood a massive monster. It looked somewhat like a snake but it had two large legs protruding from the front part and the middle body part was a lot thicker than the rear tail part, it also had two serpent heads. They were a bit away from the thing that looked like the guardian of this area, behind it was a large gate embedded into bedrock.

    "I bet the next area is past that gate... we either have to beat this monster of sneak past it?"

    The group looked at the monster while thinking about possible ways of getting through. Matt didn''t think sneaking was an option, the gate would probably only open after the monster was slain and busting through it would probably be more difficult than killing the boss that was guarding it.

    Netherserpent [ Core formation late stage ]

    ''Hm, only in the late stage?''

    Matt thought that a final boss would be stronger than the minibosses like the goblin chieftain he came upon in the jungle.

    ''Maybe the jungle part is harder than the actual boss?''

    The thing was just standing there, probably waiting for trespassers to get into its domain. The party of cultivators was eager to move on, they spent many weeks in that godforsaken jungle and just wanted to get out of here. Matt couldn''t really see any problems in attacking this monster as it didn''t pose much of a threat so he decided to move forward along with the strongest members of his party to back him up.

    Firing of range attacks was still not working out so the warriors had to get close and personal. The moment they got into what the monster deemed as its territory, it gave off a loud roar. It thumped with it two huge legs making the ground shake, but instead of running towards them it opened up that large snake-like mouth.

    Everyone was a seasoned fighter so they knew what the monster was doing, part of them dodged to the left while some to the right as the breath attack was fired off by the green beast. One snakehead was breathing regular crimson fire, while the other was blue in hue turning the ground to ice the moment it connected.

    "Can you get its attention?" Matt shouted out.

    "Leave it to us, brother Dong!" Huo Qiang replied as he moved in closer towards one of the heads along with his retainer.

    Feng Liena moved over to the other head with the other cultivators, pelting it with weakened ranged attacks the serpent head snapping angrily at them as they came closer.

    It didn''t take long for Zhang Dong to move closer, he waited for the monster to fire off its breath attack at his party members. Soon the time came, sword Qi formed around his longsword that gave out a humming noise as if it was resonating with his energies. Just as the left head closed its mouth, moving slightly upwards to charge its attack up he moved in. He stacked his condensation and avatar form onto each other for a speed an power boost, vanishing from everyone''s sight for a fraction of a second and appearing behind the monster head that he was aiming at, the sword already having drawn blood.

    The monster''s head flew up into the air and flopped onto the ground, green blood gushing like a geyser from the stump. The monster''s remaining head quickly looked at the giant wound, eyes all read as it looked at the person that delivered the blow. The man in question only looked at it, a smile on his face.

    "Shouldn''t you really be looking at me?"

    The monster, of course, didn''t reply as it was getting ready to burn the puny human with its fire breath but before it could do that if felt something coming from behind. When it turned around, it saw a fist clad in fire coming right for it the creature couldn''t react and got sucker-punched right on the chin. It fell backward, its lower jaw popping out if the joint and just flopping against its elongated neck in a gruesome fashion.

    Matt didn''t really need to do much now, the other cultivators overwhelmed the monster with sheer numbers. It couldn''t use its mouth anymore or use its breathing skill either. The serpent quickly turned into a punching bag, the ending came after Liena managed to decapitate the remaining head with the help of her battle fans.

    The heads remained on the ground, the monster was slain and unmoving.

    "Haha, there still might be hope."

    Kwok Xun declared while giving one of the giant heads a kick. But Matt was still remaining vigilant, the large gate wasn''t opening and he couldn''t really tell if the monster was really dead. He should have delivered the last hit, then he would know when the system gave him a prompt but now he could only wait and see.

    Suddenly he felt something and quickly shouted.

    "No... get back!"

    Kwok Xun turned to Zhang Dong who was charging towards him, not knowing why. But when he turned to the head that he just kicked he saw something bursting out from it. He didn''t have enough time to react, only being able to watch as a metallic glint was swiping towards his neck. He then heard a sound of metal colliding with metal as Matt intercepted the attack that came for the cultivator''s neck.

    What was standing there was a human-sized snake man, holding two large sabers and locked in a battle of strength with Zhang Dong. The smaller monster somehow jumped out from the cut of head of the previous slain beast. The same happened with the other severed head, the two snake men were both giving of different auras, one of fire while the second of ice.

    "I''ll handle this one, go help the others with the other one..."

    Matt managed to push the creature back, he already noticed that it was a lot faster and more diverse with its attacks than the regular Netherserpent. Luckily the remaining body didn''t seem like it would be turning into more monsters. These two were just slightly stronger than the larger beast and the surprise tactic would only work once, the peculiar thing about these two creatures was that no matter how much they stabbed and maimed them they just wouldn''t die.

    If they chopped off its head again, it would just grow back instantly. The wounds on its body regenerated at an astonishing pace, the cultivators were slowly losing their stamina and Qi during the prolonged fight.

    ''Are these creatures immortal? How do we beat them?''

    Then an idea popped into Matt''s head as he moved. He sliced off both of his hands and legs, slamming it down to the ground, his foot placed on the monster''s chest as he held it down on the ground.

    "Hey, quickly cut off the head of the one you are fighting!"

    Matt shouted at the other cultivators, that didn''t think cutting its head would do anything but the team leader was saying it so they had to try. The moment the decapitation happened, Matt sprung into action. He cleaved downwards on the thrashing monster that was regenerating its limbs, being sure to decapitate it at the same time as the others did the other beast.

    Just as planned the moment the two heads rolled onto the ground, the monster''s bodies started shaking. There was no regeneration anymore, the fight was over as the bodies dissolved into nothingness leaving only the sabers behind.

    "Finally..."

    The large gates started creaking open and the cultivators could finally see what awaited them behind them. What it was, was a world filled with lava and a giant castle in the distance.

 94 Chapter 94

    The large gate-like door slammed itself open, the moment that happened you could feel the change in heat as the warm air started surging from the created opening. Matt didn''t receive any points for slaying one of the snake-men, maybe it was the system acting up or maybe the thing they were fighting wasn''t considered a normal beast.

    "Hoh..."

    Everyone''s mouths opened wide as they saw a narrow path in front of them, there was lava coming out from the sides and dropping down into what looked to be a giant lake below. The path in front of them went on for a while, bending a couple of times before you could see a giant castle-like structure in the distance. This time around, there was a clear path towards the next destination the lava was everywhere so they couldn''t really go anywhere besides forward.

    Before they moved onwards Matt looked at the large sabers that the creatures dropped, they were quite high quality and there were four of them. Though he picked up the two that the monster he was fighting had on it, the other two were picked up by his companions. He was about half done into the great circle with his body refining technique by now, these two weapons would probably add quite a bit. Even more, if he got four of them, but the items were already gaining new owners.

    The mutton chop elder took one, while the other one got snatched by the new guy. He was thinking about getting them to cough those items up, but on second thought the new guy lost his weapon on the way and the Huo clan member earned his keep already. He would probably have a hard time beating the previous boss if he was alone, you have to share the loot some times, he thought to himself. He wanted to propose a short break so he could absorb the weapons, but the door started slowly closing itself.

    "Damn... will those monsters revive or will this entrance be blocked for now..."

    They had to make a decision, there could be other places like this that they could enter or they could be lost in the jungle for eternity. Matt didn''t feel like he wanted to gamble on that so everyone rushed inside the lava chamber.

    "I---it''s'' hot..."

    Feng Liana aired her robe a bit, sweat running down her neck and making her cleavage glisten in the red light. Everyone felt that this place was really stuffy, the two Huo clan members weren''t as uncomfortable as the rest though.

    "Hah, this heat is nothing!"

    Huo Qiang proclaimed as he strode inside with large strides. Matt''s body refining skill was keeping him safe from the heat, but he wasn''t sure about the rest.

    "I think we shouldn''t linger here, that castle over there isn''t that far, let''s go there just stay vigilant, we have no idea if more beasts are going to show up while we are crossing."

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    They were in a disadvantageous position, the path was about ten meters wide but the drop-down was close to one kilometer. Even if they survived the drop, the burning hot lava would probably burn them to a crisp.

    This was closed off space, the door slammed itself shut behind them soon after they entered. There was clearly a ceiling with many sharp stalactites coming out of it. The walls around them had openings throughout which lava was rushing down, filling up the flaming hot river below them that run on both sides of the bridge they were walking on.

    They were about halfway through without anything coming out to bother them. The large castle started getting closer and they could now clearly see what it was. It was situated on an island surrounded by a lava lake, the path they were on was leading towards the gate. It was quite sharp looking with many pointy towers coming out from the structure with the middle one being the largest of them.

    They weren''t able to digest its looks as the moment they passed the halfway mark something started rumbling. They could feel the rocky bridge shaking below them, something was clearly wrong.

    "Oh no, the bridge is collapsing"

    Feng Maling shouted as she pointed behind them, in the distance from where they came from the bridge was collapsing. Sections of it just started crumbling and falling into the lava river below them. Everyone started running with all their might, quickly going towards the ominous-looking structure on the island.

    Matt looked back and could see one of the cultivators falling behind the others, it was the baked potato of a lady that was huffing and puffing, clearly running wasn''t her strong suit. Being the gentleman that he was he stopped and backtracked, he grabbed the woman like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder and bolted for the fort in the distance now having to catch up to the rest of the cultivators.

    "Ahh... Zhang Patriarch, you have my gratitude!"

    "Don''t talk or you might bite your tongue, I''m going to increase my speed..."

    Matt replied while gathering spiritual energy in his legs, his feet made deep indents in the rocky ground as he pushed off with long strides quickly catching up to the remaining running cultivators with granny in tow. The whole place was shaking and crumbling, but everyone managed to make it the last one being the monk-like character whose sweaty head looked like a shiny marble.

    "Sabbe satta dukkha pamuccantu..."

    He took off his beads and started doing some chants, a holy aura surrounded his being as it washed away his anxiety. The people had unwillingly charged into the large castle-like structure, the gate was open but the bridge leading up to it had crumbled as the rest.

    "At least this place isn''t crumbling..."

    Matt noted while he placed the granny that he was carrying back on the ground. The woman was blushing a little bit, but he couldn''t really tell due to her dark complexion.

    Feng Liena run-up to the two, her finger pointing up as if she wanted to say something but stopping mid-sentence.

    "Ah... uh ... thank you for your help brother Dong, granny isn''t the youngest anymore..."

    He wasn''t sure why the woman was having a hard time talking now, guess the previous conversation was showing some effects as she wasn''t acting all hyperactive anymore. Matt just smiled at the woman and nodded.

    "No problem, you can count on me!"

    He replied while looking at the girl, she, in turn, covered her mouth and giggled a little bit.

    "He he, brother Dong is really reliable."

    The reply came with a cute smile, which made Matt stare slightly.

    ''What''s with this comfortable atmosphere all of a sudden?''

    He just nodded and tried steering the conversation away from himself and to the lair of potential monsters they were in. He couldn''t feel any life signals for now, but a monster could just be summoned out of thin air here so they have to be warry of their surrounding.

    "How about we check this place out, don''t stray too far away from the group though we don''t know if there are any more beasts here."

    Huo Qiang''s retainer chimed in while holding onto his new saber weapon. He looked like he was eager to chop someone up with that thing. There wasn''t much inside the structure, the area looked deserted. The structures around here looked old and shabby, there was dust everywhere and no sign of life anywhere. In the middle of the castle-fort stood a giant spire-like tower, there was a large door there with peculiar familiar writing.

    *Those who enter here abandon all hope.*

    The door had a palm drawn on it, probably something used to activate the opening mechanism so, for now, he told everyone to not go near it. This was also a tower structure, so there would probably be some levels with increasing difficulty.

    "I think the next part is behind that door in the middle, I propose we rest and recover our Qi for now and then try opening it. We might not have time to do that later."

    Matt proposed, wanting to absorb those two weapons that he got and it was also good to take a breather for the other people. No one had anything against that, the cultivators already gave up the motion of working separately here there were just too many strange things around for one or two people to handle.

    Everyone scattered to their own corner to prepare for the next battle, but before Matt could start absorbing those weapons the more friendly version of the Feng Matriarch came over to chat with him again.

    "Could I have a moment~?"

    She said in a cheery voice, Matt just stood up from his lotus position not really having a place to sit down comfortably for a chat so the two just stood there opposite each other.

    "Sure, how can I help sister Liena"

    Guess he could drop the big sis part and just go with how peers talked to each other in this world. They were both in a Patriarchal position in similar clans.

    "Could we talk about the ancestral scriptures?"

    Matt gulped a bit, not really wanting to talk about those as he wasn''t really sure how those people interpreted those manga panels like that.

    "You see, the texts were incomplete but they were supposed to guide us on the path of Dao..."

    Leliana asked while sitting on a more well-kept piece of the castle wall.

    "Um, well the texts that I saw were similar to yours. It''s not like everything that''s in the secret scriptures is false, you just need to look into them on your own... and pick out the truths."

    Matt replied while trying not to show his sweaty palms, arms behind his back as he stood straight up hoping the woman would buy his response.

    "Oh, truths..."

    Liena looked to the distance, appearing like she was thinking about something for a moment, uncomfortable silence filling the surrounding which prompted Matt to speak up.

    "F-for instance... your lovely darkened complexion, It''s a lot better than the pale one most female cultivators stand by... like you get a lot more vitamin D3 ... it''s good for your health and will progress your Dao further..."

    Matt kind of trailed off at the end, his voice getting fainter as he wasn''t sure what he was even talking about.

    ''Why are you talking about vitamin D3, you dumbass!''

    "Vitah-min Dee Tree?"

    ''Does he mean that I need to be steadfast as an unmoving tree... or bend like a slim tree that survives even great cyclones. Is that the name of some kind of secret technique... D-did he say I had a lovely complexion?''

    Feng Liena thought to herself, while Zhang Dong wanted to hit his head on the nearby wall.

    "Tee hee~, you sure have a way with words brother Dong. Maybe the texts weren''t all that wrong, I''ll have to examine them once more when we return."

    She looked at him while covering her mouth with her sleeve, she then walked away after excusing herself with a proper bow. Matt wasn''t sure what the cultivator woman took out from his nonsense response, but at least she looked happy when she was going away. After the coast was clear, he gave out a sigh and went back to cultivating managing to absorb the two weapons within the hour. His body refining progress jumped up by ten percent, these last boss weapons were a lot better than the ones he found along the way in the jungle.

    ''Guess it''s time to check that tower out... will it be that hell motive... think limbo came first...''

    Everyone gathered up in front of the large locked door. Matt nodded as they decided that one of the weaker members would try to place their palm on the door. They didn''t want their strongest members to activate any traps as they needed them for fighting. The monk volunteered for this and after placing his palm on the door they heard gears moving as it opened up.

    The moment the door opened a peculiar sweet fragrance hit their noses, Matt covered his mouth and churned his cultivations to stop the fragrance from going further into his body, not knowing if it was poisonous or not. Then they entered inside, the inside looked quite high class. It was only a short hall at first and another door inside, they tried opening it but it wouldn''t budge probably because not everyone from the group had entered through the door just yet.

    "Okay let''s go then..."

    The door shut itself behind them, the red carpet on the wooden floor guided them forward as the previously shut door finally opened. Inside it looked like a ballroom, many crystal chandeliers lit it up and there were some people dancing inside. Matt narrowed his eyes, the people were wearing fancy dresses but there was something peculiar about them, they had horns and thin black tails

    [ Incubus (Core formation middle level) ]

    [ Succubus (Core formation middle level) ]

    They were dancing in pairs around a certain woman. The woman had larger horns and a larger tail, her eyes were glowing in a red hue. She was wearing something that looked like a Victorian-era dress, with a lot of space to see her ample cleavage, that corset was doing wonders for it.

    [ The Sin of Lust ( Core formation Late Stage+(Half Step Great Circle)) ]

    ''Wait, never saw that plus sign before... Sin of Lust? did they mix up the genres?''

    Matt was expecting the nine levels of hell, but it looked like he would be getting the seven deadly sins instead.

 95 Chapter 95

    Matt eyed the lady standing in the middle, she had a demonic air around her. She was looking straight at them, there was an alluring smile on her face. The other people in the room were dancing to the old fashioned music in the rather large hall, Matt wasn''t sure what this was about but before he could think about it more, one of his party members moved forward.

    "Hoho... what a beauty!"

    It was Huo Qiang, he had a strange look in his eyes while staring at the alluring woman in the victorian ere dress. Matt took the time to look at his horny brother''s status, he was even starting to drool while staring at the busty succubus.

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    [ Huo Qiang [ Core formation late stage ] ( Charmed ) ]

    He thought that he had managed to pass the will or fortitude check, he wasn''t sure himself as he didn''t really play those kinds of games back in his day. Besides the hornball that had close to a hundred concubines, the member from the Kwok clan was starting to pant the monk was chanting as some kind of energy shield formed around him giving off a golden light. Qiang''s retainer was somehow holding up, but he was shaking a bit as well the women in the group seemed unaffected.

    "We shall not fall under your demonic plot, foul demon!"

    The monk proclaimed as the golden light surrounding his body burst forward encompassing the whole group. Matt could see the charmed status vanish after the shield formed around them, Qiang staggered forward while rubbing his head not really sure what was going on.

    "Huh? What was I doing?"

    "Well, I think you almost went and proclaimed your undying love to that demon lady over there"

    Matt replied to Qiang''s question while pointing at the Sin of lust, after the monk formed the protective shield the woman''s seductive gaze turned to one of rage. The music stopped and every succubus and incubus in the room looked at them.

    "Insolent creatures!"

    The horned lady shouted out as her body got surrounded in a shadowy aura, covering her whole body and only leaving the face out in the open. The aura looked like gray liquid and it moved around her limbs quickly switching to a darker and sinister coloring. The reason for it was soon revealed as the clothing that the demonic woman was wearing switched from a classy lady dress to something out of a bondage dungeon.

    Matt gulped as he heard the loud whip cracking, the woman''s high heels clicked on the floor as she moved slightly forward. She was wearing a skin-tight black latex suit, with a window to display her tightly squeezed bosom.

    "Watch out, they have some kind of ability that deludes your mind, you might attack others around you if you aren''t careful."

    Zhang Dong shouted it out while pulling out his longsword, he moved forward he wasn''t affected by the charm debuff so he could go out of the shield and fight it out with the demonic woman. Though there were quite a lot of those lower monsters to clean up too, would be difficult if he had to face them on his own. But luckily he wasn''t alone and one of his party members had just the thing for this occasion.

    "Everyone, take a talisman it will protect you from the demonic influence!"

    The monk was coming in handy, he had carved out some talismans from some leaves that he plucked from the forest area. Thank''s to his foresight everyone in the group was able to attach an evil repealing talisman that would temporarily shield them. How much those would hold out was unknown, but it was probably better than having them remain in that small golden shield while he got whipped around by the angry-looking horned lady.

    The first stage of the tower was turning out to just be a boss area, there were around fifty of those dancing demons. Their clothes were also transforming to look more latexy getups. What was different about their apparel was that they had their faces covered, looking like gimps with spikes attached in various places. The men of the group were quite shocking, having a large metal spike right between their legs which made Feng Liena look away in disgust.

    When the battle started the Sin of lust gave out a shrill scream, shattering all of the crystal chandeliers in the area. She gave her own followers a couple of good whips with her weapon, the creatures screaming out in ecstasy as the pain washed over their backs.

    "Kill them all my lovelies, make your Mistress proud and you might get rewarded~"

    The gimp army charged out, everyone looked invigorated at the mention of a reward from their Mistress. Matt wasn''t sure who designed this place, but he wanted to give him a couple of smacks. They were outnumbered by quite a bit, but luckily the boss of the area decided to use her minions first while sitting back in a throne. Her legs were crossed over one another and resting on the back of one of her minions, the high heels were digging into the incubus'' back and drawing blood, but the person in question looked quite ecstatic.

    ''Should I engage the boss alone or should I help the others and whittle them down with them...''

    He wasn''t sure if the people behind him could handle the assault of the gimp troop. He wanted to believe in them though, during the jungle part they showed to be capable and there was even the monk with good anti demonic abilities.

    "Can I trust you with those creatures'' minions?"

    He asked the other cultivators, the boss wasn''t all that strong judging by the system message but if they truly thought that they needed his help he would play it safe.

    "Fear not brother Dong, we will handle these trash demons, go and give that bitch a good thrashing!"

    Huo Qiang spat on the floor as he got to the bitch part, he looked quite angry due to the fact that he got charmed before.

    "Leave it to us, young Patriarch."

    Replied the old lady, while already gathering wind energy into her staff.

    "That''s reassuring."

    He gave the people a smile then turned around, looking at the charging monsters. Some of them were running on their hands and feet, some were clawing their way onto the walls and ceiling as they tried to surround the group from all sides. Matt ignored them as he pushed his Qi into his legs again, he used his body as a battering ram and with a thumping sound took off running.

    The wooden floor burst open the moment he charged forward, the monsters tried to block his advanced but they just lost their limbs in the process. He burst through the small wall of latex-clad people and aimed his sword at the sitting seductress, but just as he was about to strike her down, his sword encountered a hidden barrier.

    "Ufufu~ What''s the rush little piggy? Why don''t you play with my lovelies first~?"

    He smashed his fist into the barrier but to no avail and then jumped back as one of the incubus men tried swiping at him with a clawed hand. The monsters around here looked like beings from a fetish video, they had hooks going into their flesh that was getting pulled apart. Some of those hooks were in their eyes or in their mouth as well, they truly looked grotesque.

    ''Guess I have to clear out those guys first...''

    While Matt was battling the hellish guards his cultivator friends were doing their best as well. The monsters were quite strong all things considered, but luckily they were attacking without any tactics just rushing in blindly. They were still at a disadvantage though, they were outnumbered and there wasn''t really any place to run. The hall was quite large, about the size of a football field but even though there were windows to the sides they were indestructible.

    They found that out the moment they tried flinging one of the monsters outside. They expected the glass to shatter but instead, the gimp''s head burst like a tomato after it made contact with the transparent material. This was clearly a sealed-off space, either they would kill the monster or they would die instead.

    Matt looked back while smacking a monster to the side with a well-placed kick, shattering its body in half while electrocuting it at the same time. The others were holding out, the Feng clan members were good at blasting the gimp rush back while the Huo clan members were quite adept at setting them ablaze. The new sabers were showing promise already, as many heads were rolling around on the hall floor.

    "Enough!"

    The woman on the throne shouted just as Matt managed to slay the last one of her guards, the barrier vanished and she strode forward. Her hips swayed side to side, but that wasn''t all that was swaying with them. At this point, Matt was mostly immune to womanly charms as those so he just gripped his longsword and defended himself as the woman''s fingernails extended and she tried to tear his face apart.

    "Who are you... you''re the first one that can actually talk..."

    Matt asked while evading a couple of high heel kicks to the face and groin area, the latter attack made him sway backward while sweating.

    "Silence pig, you could have had a pleasurable demise, but now you will only suffer!"

    She clearly didn''t want to talk, or couldn''t if she was actually a real person with a mind was still up to debate. Matt wanted to pry some answers from her, maybe she would be more willing to talk if he cut off an arm or two...

    His eyes started glowing in bright blue light, electricity forming around him as he got more serious. He activated his body refining skill, perceiving the surroundings in slow motion. Soon the attacks rained down, the monster woman was quite fast and the whipping attacks were quite hard to read, but soon enough she found herself with her weapon arm missing after Zhang Dong got a good shot in.

    "YOU INSIGNIFICANT PIG!"

    She looked quite mad, her body started executing a terrifying aura as it glowed in purple light. The next attack was a lot harder to receive as Zhang Dong found himself getting pushed back, instead of the whip the Sin of lust used her remaining arm and legs raining down a barrage close-ranged blows.

    ''She suddenly powered up... similar to when a boss monster loses half of its HP and goes into a second form or changes its attacking pattern.''

    She was quite fast and strong, but still, she wasn''t in the great circle stage while Matt was content on fighting experts at that level without a problem at this point. Soon enough the monster''s head was flying through the air, the only injury he suffered was a rip to his clothes and some cut hair while he was dodging, maybe a shorter haircut was due.

    The moment the monster was slain the remaining mobs disintegrated into colorful lights. The cultivators behind him gave off a sigh of relief as they also managed to survive the predicament with minor injuries.

    "Congratulations on passing the first floor, you may now proceed to the library, the next floor will open in exactly 24 hours."

    The voice sounded quite robotic, like something a text to speech app would sound like. A new door appeared out of nowhere with a sign '' Library first level'' the cultivators that he was with were bewildered by the strange voice, but Matt kind of knew what it was about.

    ''This is probably some kind of resting area between the levels, might also be a safe zone.''

    "I think we should go inside not like there is anything left in this room for us."

    The monsters had vanished and there were no weapons left for him to take with him, after some deliberation everyone headed through the door to the so-called library. What greeted them were books, scrolls, and manuscripts, quite a load of them.

 96 Chapter 96

    The door behind them vanished after everyone passed through it. The group found themselves in a corridor at first, torches on the sides as the only thing they could do was walk forward. Soon enough they could see some light at the end of that corridor and they were greeted to rows upon rows of books. A peculiar feeling washed through the people here, their stamina and wounds were recovered almost instantly after going through the library entrance.

    ''This is an actual safe zone... would be nice if it also had a save point''

    The so-called library was quite circular, the long shelves of books formed rings around each other as the collection expanded outwards. In the middle of the large library hall, there was a large circular tube. The tube went upwards and into the ceiling, in the middle there looked to be something akin to sliding doors and a number ''1'' above it.

    ''Is that an elevator...?''

    It looked like a normal elevator, it had all the required buttons like the ones that opened and closed the doors. While the other cultivators were glancing at the books, Matt walked up to the elevator and pressed the button that should open it but nothing happened.

    ''The doors aren''t opening... maybe it''s locked until we clear the other levels?''

    There were seven buttons on that elevator, which correlated to the seven deadly sins theme of this test. He left the elevator for now, as after poking every button nothing was happening. He then heard some of his companions speaking out.

    "These books are all for Qi condensation practitioners... but the quality is astonishing!"

    He looked at them going through some scriptures, their eyes focused as they were going through the old knowledge. Matt didn''t wait much before he picked up one book and used the help of his system to scan its worth.

    [ Crimson Phoenix Immolation Palm (First Scripture) [ Mortal High Grade ] ]

    ''Oh, it is indeed a high grade technique for a Qi condensation manual... and only the first part of it...''

    He glanced over it, his system gave him more statics than just the grade of the technique. He also had the option to save it to his system library without having to actually absorb the knowledge outright and get a migraine while doing it.

    [ Name: Star Phoenix Immolation Palm(First scripture)

    Meant for: Qi Condensation Cultivators ( 6+)

    Grade: Mortal High Grade

    Requirements: Fire Affinity C+ grade and up

    Qi usage: Moderate-High

    Description: This art has been designed with close combat in mind, the practitioners gather their Qi into their palm transferring it into their opponent''s body during a clash. The inserted Qi wrecks havoc inside the enemy''s body burning them from the inside. The correct use of this art will produce a Phoenix tattoo on the practitioner''s palm. Further scriptures allow the summoning of an actual Phoenix that aids in the attack. ]

    ''This doesn''t look bad... quite deadly as it''s an internal attack, it might even go through someone''s body refining defenses.''

    He started going through the manuscripts closest to him, they were all for practitioners in the Qi condensation and they were all above the mortal low grade. He looked up at the bookcase, it had the symbol of fire above it this was probably why everything in this section was for fire-based cultivators.

    "Think this section of the library would be fit for the Huo clan."

    Matt brought this to attention as Huo Qiang came over. He and his retainer''s jaw opened up wide as they read the previously picked up Crimson Phoenix Immolation Palm, but this wasn''t even the best one amongst the techniques that were lined up there. There were various ones, punching arts, kicking arts, ones for using weapons even regular cultivation manuals that were probably above anything that the Huo clan had in their own library back home.

    "This is a treasure trove of knowledge if we could bring those books back with us..."

    The two men had sparkles in their eyes as they went through some of the displayed cultivation manuals. Matt was a bit less optimistic than the two as he didn''t think that the person that made this place would just let them clean the library out. He was more inclined in thinking that they might be able to take a couple of them later, or even worse as they would get none. With the second option, they would probably have to focus on learning the desired art in the limited time period they had in this library.

    "I wouldn''t get my hopes up, I bet they immortal senior that gathered all these books here wouldn''t just let us take them with us."

    Well, this was just something that the others had to contend with, Matt, on the other hand, could just copy everything into his library with a couple of clicks. Thus he did that, while his party members were going through some scriptures and old texts he started poking them while they were still on the shelves.

    [ Fist of the Supreme General [ Mortal High Grade ] ]

    [ Do you wish to copy this text to the system library? ]

    He clicked yes and moved over to the next book repeating the motion over and over again. The people in the large room were a bit bewildered as they saw Zhang Dong move his finger up in the air while tracing his other finger through the lined-up books. Was this some kind of technique to find the best secret text or something? They didn''t want to ask as the man looked quite focused, his fingers were moving at an amazing speed while he was squinting.

    ''Damn... is there no faster way to do this... there are thousands of books here... this is going to take a while.''

    He was familiar with this procedure already, as he did the same thing back at the Zhang Clan library. Though the clan''s library wasn''t as huge as this one and didn''t have all these varying cultivation arts. He even found some lightning-related techniques here, focusing on copying them down as he frantically went through the entire place, he had to get everything down in those 24 hours, he might not have a second try.

    He was soon like a blur, hands kicking up winds as he copied everything down without even reading what the skill was for. Everything was going to be shoved into his database, he dreaded the day when he would have to write everything down or use jade slips instead. Thanks to this library being so orderly and circular, he was sure that he wouldn''t miss anything if he just went in order. Time soon passed and the next stage was upon them.

    Zhang Dong managed to finish the ''plagiarising'' procedure an hour early, so he had some time to think about the new stage and rest up. As the 24th hour ticked down the scenery became a blur. There was no voice or message the scenery just switched to a small room with another door in front. Everyone looked surprised, they were just reading some scriptures contemplating the basics and foundation of their techniques as they got teleported here, the books that they were studying just evaporating into nothingness as they found themselves in a sterile room.

    "I guess they won''t let us take those books out of there, guess that was expected."

    Matt mentioned his theory to the others while going towards the door in front.

    "Hope everyone is ready, there are probably be more monsters inside and I bet they will be stronger than the previous ones."

    Everyone got ready while Zhang Dong grabbed the handle and swung the door open, soon enough everyone stepped through the door. They were greeted with a flash of bright light and a scenery change. The first thing that Matt noticed after taking a step in that the ground was strangely squishy.

    ''Ugh... what is this?''

    He grimaced as he looked at the scenery, the ground and walls looked like they were made from pink flesh. They were in some kind of corridor once again but it looked to be alive.

    "Are we in some kind of beast''s belly?"

    One of the cultivators asked while poking the flesh wall, it was warm to the touch and when you sliced it blood would gush out. There were no spasming or trembling that would accompany attacks to someone''s insides, so maybe they weren''t inside some creature just some badly created scenery.

    ''The person that made these trials sure has some strange fetishes...''

    Matt thought to himself, but as he wanted to move on Kwok Xun started grasping his stomach.

    "What is this feeling ...s-so hungry... "

    He was looking at the fleshy walls in the surroundings with reddish eyes and drool coming out of his mouth, this prompted Matt to look at his status screen.

    [ Kwok Xun [Core Formation middle stage] ( Starvation ) ]

    ''Yeah... figures, seven deadly sins...''

    Luckily they had the monk with them, he was surprisingly good against curses and debuffing effects like they were encountering in this place. Soon a golden shield surrounded them once more, letting Xun sigh out after the horrid longing to eat the fleshy walls subsided.

    "I think these trials are going to amplify the humanly desires... how many of those talismans do you have on you...?... you never told us your name..."

    Matt asked while looking at the monk that was chanting.

    "You may call me Bankei. Forgive me, but I only have a handful left and I don''t have any more materials to make more."

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    He said respectfully while holding the barrier up, Matt rubbed his chin he seemed to be unaffected by the mental game like debuffs probably due to his previously acquired skill that protected his mind.

    "Brother Bankei, how long can you keep this golden barrier up?"

    "I can sustain it for twelve hours, longer if I have something to replenish my spiritual energies."

    Zhang Dong nodded while looking to the side at the other cultivators.

    ''Think that should be enough... it''s not a very hard skill to learn and I already upgraded my Impartation of Knowledge to a high degree.''

    The answer to the problems was quite easy, he had the skill and he could easily pass it on to others. So he didn''t wait much, before moving over to his first ''victim''.

    "I''m going to pass on a secret art to you now, it will protect you from the strange afflictions that these trials are putting us under."

    He was a bit ashamed that he didn''t think about it sooner if they were placed in a boss room from the get-go it could have turned out quite badly. Kwok Xun was the first person that was left with a migraine, grasping his forehead after Zhang Dong poked it with his finger.

    "T-this is... truly astonishing... my gratitude!"

    He bowed to Zhang Dong before going down into the lotus position to cultivate this skill. Soon everyone besides the Bankei was down on the ground, trying to cultivate the Tranquil Mind technique, there should be no problems with the debuffs later on after they were done.

    ''I sure hope that this place doesn''t have a timer on it or something...''

    Time passed and the cultivators finished at a varying degree, the youngsters like Huo Qiang and Feng Liena were the fastest, showing that their high cultivation stage at their current age wasn''t just for show. The slowest was Feng Maling which caused the tanned Feng Matriarch to blush a bit in shame.

    The effects of ''starvation'' was now gone even though Bankei pulled back his barrier, they could move. The monk didn''t need Zhang Dong''s cultivation technique as his sect had a lot of skills that shielded them from demonic influences. Matt passed it on to him anyway, he would feel bad if the guy was the only one not profiting while having to hold that barrier up for so long.

    The team moved forward, going through the fleshy corridors as the second trial ''officially'' begun.

 97 Chapter 97

    The second trial wasn''t anything out of the ordinary, at least not for Matt. The boss monster looked like a giant head of an obese person with tentacles coming out of its neck area which it used to move and wiggle around the main boss room. He was already 90% sure that the person that designed this so-called tower trial was someone from Earth. If they weren''t from Earth they must have either came from a very similar place or they visited it for an undisclosed amount of time.

    The monster went through some generic boss phases where it ducked its head into the fleshy wall and started attacking everyone with its tentacles. While doing so the main body couldn''t be damaged and the cultivators couldn''t do anything besides dodging. It was even telegraphing some of its attacks which allowed the people to dodge with ease. Soon enough the monster was dead and they were taken back to the library.

    "That went rather well brother Dong, I''m sure we can get through this trial and get the treasure at the end! But even this Library here is already a treasure trove, only if it weren''t only techniques for Qi cultivation juniors."

    Huo Qiang furrowed his brows a bit while picking up a fire elemental cultivation technique from the side.

    "Oh... I think there will be more than only those..."

    Matt said while walking up to the elevator, Feng Liena next to him as she was curious about what he was doing.

    "Do you know something about this magical door, Brother Dong?"

    She asked while glancing between the elevator and him curiously. Matt smiled a bit as that face that she was making was kind of cute.

    ''I sure hope this works, otherwise, I''ll look a bit silly...''

    He pressed the button to open up the door and waited. Soon enough the doors opened themselves up and revealed an open area inside.

    "See, now it opens. I bet we can go to the second level of the library with this elevator."

    The people gathered around him, slowly going inside and looking at the buttons that ranged from one to seven.

    "So this is called an elevator? What a strange name... how do you know this, Brother Dong?"

    Feng Liena asked, her face beaming with curiosity while Matt''s palms started to sweat.

    "I ah... left my clan for ten years and traveled the world, I came across a lot of ancient ruins and found a lot of wisdom that described things like these here..."

    Feng Liena clapped her hands while smiling up to Zhang Dong as if she bought his excuse.

    "Ah, that explains why you are so knowledgeable about these trials. When we get out I must also travel the world and visite those sites!"

    The girl pumped herself up a bit while the old lady from the side started shaking her head.

    "You must not young Matriarch, you are supposed to lead our clan now, we can''t have you going around visiting strange dangerous places!"

    The old woman was clearly against it, the happy expression vanished from Liena''s face and got replaced by a cute pout. That was not something a woman in her forties should probably do, which made Matt chuckle a bit.

    "Brother Dong you laughed, how could you!"

    She pointed an accusing finger at the man that tried to cover his face up with his sleeve.

    "I don''t know what you are talking about Sister Liena... you sure it wasn''t Brother Qiang?"

    Qiang looked from the side, eyes narrowing as he looked at Zhang Dong.

    "Hey, don''t get me involved in this!"

    The atmosphere in the elevator became a bit lighthearted as the cultivators started laughing, soon enough they heard a beep and the door opened up to a similar-looking library room. The people spread out to see what was on this level, Matt grasped one book and was surprised when he read the title.

    "Oh? It''s an encyclopedia about basic herbs found in the world?"

    "Hey, these aren''t combat manuals or cultivation manuals, they are books about various occupations."

    This level had the basic knowledge required to be an Apothecary or an Alchemist that forged pills that cultivators were so crazy to devour at astonishing rates. This wasn''t all though, there were crafting manuals, manuals about the anatomy of the human or beast body that would help you become a beast tamer or a physician.

    "This is even better than the first level... if we could only get this out of here..."

    Huo Qiang lamented while going through the books, he knew well that these books were a treasure trove of wisdom that you could build a strong clan or sect on. What was an Apothecary? It was someone who could make magical pills that increased the rate of someone''s cultivation. There were various pill formulas here that even though they were most suited for Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment cultivators, were quite the gem.

    This wasn''t all, there were formation array manuals ones for aspiring blacksmiths with a lot of blueprints for defensive and offensive treasures. There was everything to start you off and set you on the path of a master in a given occupation.

    Even though this level was even better than the first one, the people here gave out a sigh. They were mostly combating oriented cultivators, none of them would really profit much from these manuscripts and ancient texts. Still, they still dabbled in a couple of occupations so they could use this time to read up on things they got stuck in.

    Zhang Dong just did his thing in copying over every last book into his system library, he didn''t even know how many points he would have to spend to get these kinds of resources from the system cash shop.

    ''Jackpot!''

    "Ah, if you want to get back to the other level just press the button with the letter one on it, it will bring you down there. When you want to get back here, just press the number two."

    He gave out the information, maybe the other cultivators wanted to read up on the combat arts more than about forging pills or swords. So hours passed and everyone diligently read, well everyone besides Zhang Dong that was running around like a madman and waving his finger around in rapid motions.

    "Cookie clicker skills, don''t fail me now!"

    The people didn''t know what he meant with that, but he looked absorbed in his task so they left him alone. He was a reliable asset to this ragtag team of cultivators, but he still had his quirks but that was normal as most high-level cultivators were eccentrics. Or so thought the other eccentrics in the group.

    So passed the days, the group had been in the secret ground for over a month now but they were still hanging in. They kept finishing the trials which followed a similar pattern. Sometimes they had to move through a larger area killing of monsters or gathering items that would open the path to a boss area. On other occasions they were dropped into the boss room from the start, having to cope with the sudden attacks.

    The library levels started opening up as Matt gained more and more books into his library, on the third level there were more combat and cultivation manuals but this time around they were for Foundation Establishment cultivators. They were of superior grading than what the people had in their clan''s back home ranging from lower-level earth grade all up into the perfect grade.

    As expected on the fourth level there were more pill forging formulas and blueprints, they were on a higher level than the ones that were on the second level. The items produced from here could very well be used by core formation cultivators which made a lot of them try to memorize the pill formulas that increased someone''s cultivation rate or replenished their spiritual essence.

    "Maybe if I carve this formula onto my thigh I can take it out with me..."

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    Some of them had some crazy idea''s, Matt just smiled as he went through the whole library finishing up a lot faster than before as the higher the level of the library was, the fewer books there were.

    On the fifth level, they encountered their first boss monster that was in the great circle of core formation. This was quite the angry-looking beast looking like a behemoth, which fit the Sin of Wrath name quite well. The area they were fighting it was in a colosseum, they even had some strange skeleton-like creatures in the stands cheering at them while they battled the ferocious-looking beast.

    The team of cultivators were already used to fighting these trials, so even though the monster''s power was above them they weren''t afraid. They knew that they only needed to support Zhang Dong by activating various game-like mechanics around the stage, they already knew their own strengths and weaknesses everyone kind of having a sense of comradery as they were even able to joke around in the midst of battle.

    Soon the beast was slain and everyone returned back to the library, the new level finally having cultivation manuals that could be used by these elders. Everyone frantically searched for the best cultivation method they could find, hoping that they could remember them. They even begged Zhang Dong for a part of his robe on which they could write it down with their blood as they knew that his clothes could regenerate.

    After hearing that Matt wanted to tell them that he could remember the cultivation arts and that he would write it down for them later. But on second thought, in their stead, he would probably write it down himself for safekeeping, even if someone else offered to do it instead. Always better to have a backup plan, he could share some knowledge with them later.

    ''Envy and Pride left, this monster had an extremely hard hide, it took a while to pierce its defense.''

    ''Think the only reason we made it this deep in, is due to not being affected by the mental attacks.''

    If he were to get a berserk status like in the Sin of Wrath stage, he could very well wipe his entire team out by himself in a fit of rage. The whole party would probably tear each other apart.

    ''Think Envy would give some kind of jealousy debuff, probably you wouldn''t be able to trust each other and get paranoid. Not sure what Pride would do though... being too prideful to ask for help?''

    He had some free time as he wandered through the library levels, hoping to find more stuff than just the books, to no avail though.

    ''I''m close to the great circle with my body refining, but these blasted bosses aren''t dropping any items...''

    While he was saddened by the fact that he had no weapons to absorb, he looked at a metal candleholder. It was quite elongated and only had space for one candle, it looked like you could clobber someone good with one of those. He focused on it, his analyzing skill getting activated as he was spacing out.

    [ Candleholder Club Middle Earth Grade ]

    ''What?''

    He quickly snatched the thing from the table it was standing on, the library having various tables and chairs in which you could rest and read in peace. He instantly checked if there was a reaction to his body refining absorption skill and to his surprise the candleholder was reacting.

    "Yes...YES!!!"

    He shouted out, luckily the people around were already used to his strange outbursts so they didn''t seem bothered. He snatched a couple of those candleholders as quickly as possible as he didn''t have much time and took the elevator down to get even more. He moved into a more secluded place and started cultivating diligently. The metal from the item started melting as it flowed into his body, increasing his body by refining percentages and pushing it towards that hundred percent mark.

    "Body refining great circle, here I come! Golden candleholder body awaken!"

    He cheered while thinking if there were some metallic plates or ashtrays that he could also absorb.

 98 Chapter 98

    The Envy trial was over, the boss monsters weren''t really hard to beat if you took care of the afflictions that the stages gave you. Matt felt like he was cheating with his skills, but not like he was complaining as on the fifth level there were core formation manuals. On the sixth level, there were more crafting, forging and pill formulas reaching towards things core formation and even some nascent soul experts could profit from. His cultivation nut buddies were drooling at the books that they were holding, some were of the Heavenly rank. Matt was holding one of those cultivation manuals in his hand, this was the third part of the series and he hoped that he would find the last one on the next level as well.

    [ Name : Supreme Thunder God''s Penetrative Nirvana Finger ( Third Tome )

    Meant for: Core Formation (Middle Stage+)

    Grade: Heaven Middle Grade

    Requirements: Lightning B+ grade and up

    Qi usage: High

    Description: Finger attack focusing the cultivators lightning Qi into their fingertips. The longer you charge this attack the stronger it will be, possesses supreme penetrating power. ]

    ''Looks good, but who came out in that name... I feel like the FBI will come after me if I use that on someone.''

    He didn''t think he would be able to find some techniques that were better than the ones he bought of his system store. But there were ones of heaven grading mostly the lower one but still. The number of books on the fifth and sixth levels was quite limited so he didn''t need the whole twenty-four hours to copy them down.

    First came the body refining though, he had pried every metallic object from the walls or ceiling that had some weapon sounding suffix and prefix. He didn''t expect that the items around here would have a grading, who would expect to find earth graded items scattered here. But even then he didn''t find much besides the candleholders or some metal quills.

    While his friends were on the sixth and fifth-level scrambling to write things down, or remembering them he was on the second level cultivating. This was the one that no one really visited, having the most basic crafting manuals on it that no one really wanted.

    He could feel the warm metallic substance enter his body as he felt the familiar feeling. He was breaking through, his muscles tensed up and his body started shining brightly. He looked like a golden statue that had been polished and spotlights were pointed at it. After the breakthrough, he glanced at his status screen, which he didn''t really bring up for quite a while.

    [ Name : Zhang Dong

    Affiliation : Zhang Clan

    Spirit Points : 423267

    Cultivation Base Qi: Core Formation [Late Stage 2 %] (Empowered Lightning Core)

    Cultivation Base Body: Core Formation [Great Circle 0,5 %] (Golden Body)

    Techniques: Empowered Lightning Qi cultivation art, Golden Body Arts, Thunderlight Sword, Thunder Movement Art...

    Dao: Dao of Heavenly Lightning, Dao of Smithing and Crafting

    Other: Senior Aura, Impartation of Knowledge, Mentor''s Eyes, Apprisal... ]

    ''Well, my cultivation base didn''t increase at all... but the body refining is finally up there. I wish I could get that upgrade though...''

    He still had some candleholders on the side, luckily there were some chandeliers here and there so the place wasn''t all dark. But it was certainly darker than what you expect from a library building.

    ''I bet the guys have some magic arts to see better or spirit up some glowing whisp for it...''

    Matt went back to cultivating, the remaining items not really pushing his cultivation forward that much as he was earning fractions of percentages even from earth middle graded items. He would take what he could get, couldn''t really complain about the free items but he knew that he wasn''t getting to the nascent soul anytime soon. The description on his body refining also had a new line in it, he required a heaven graded item to advance after getting 100%.

    ''Here is hoping there will actually be some tangible rewards on the 7th level.''

    Time winded down and the group soon found themselves at the last stage. They were walking down a curved set of stairs while the surroundings were just a starry void. There was a large platform above them where they were walking to, lights appeared on the side of those stairs that looked like blue Wisps. The whole place was dead silent the only things that could be heard were their footsteps and breathing.

    "This should be the last one, wonder what my clan members are doing now..."

    Matt said while walking ahead a couple of steps, he was in the front so he couldn''t really see the other cultivator''s expressions. The others were reminded about their own clans, they hadn''t seen them for over a month now and had no way of knowing if they were still alive.

    "I''m sure the junior members made it through, Feng Daiyu might not be the brightest but her strength speaks for itself."

    Feng Maling proclaimed while looking at her worried Matriarch that was deep in thought after hearing Zhang Dong mention his own clan.

    Soon the group was at the top, the stage was round and there was nothing on it besides one thing. A person was sitting on a large throne, looking at them while resting his cheek on his right hand. His legs were spread apart, his eyes wide open and red in coloring. He was looking at the group of people, seemingly annoyed at the cultivator''s late arrival.

    "It took you long enough..."

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    [ Sin of Pride [ Core Formation Great Circle ] ]

    The man looked quite bored as he leaned back in his throne, he looked like someone in his thirties. He was wearing a red robe and had horns coming out of his head that curved inwards. His hair was white just like Matt''s and he was of similar stature as the lightning cultivator.

    "Let me congratulate you on reaching this point in your journey. Not many people manage this feat."

    He didn''t look like he would be getting up from his throne anytime soon as he just switched the hand he was leaning on to the other one and continued babbling some exposition.

    "Most people never get the Sin of Greed, I congratulate you on resisting your natural predisposition."

    Guess he was talking about how cultivators in this world would murder their own family just to get that one pill which pushed their cultivation forward a level. The trial he was talking about just showed them some powerful treasures, they were supposed to fight each other for them. But they were just illusions that were easily dispelled by Matt''s mind technique, but he wouldn''t tell the boss that the trial debuffs and tricks were useless against his Tranquil Will.

    ''Think I need to invest in better mind fortifying techniques, they will probably be crucial if I ever visit other secret grounds like this. The people making those always like to test people by showing them illusions or things like their worst fears to test them."

    The boss started recounting all the trials, congratulating the whole group while they looked at him trying to measure his strength.

    "This one is strong..."

    Huo Qiang mentioned while sweating a bit from the overbearing aura that the Sin of Pride was giving off.

    Matt wasn''t quite sure, but thanks to his level up in body refining he was content on defeating this monster in a one on one.

    "After saying this...you have two choices..."

    The man finally stood up from his throne, his arms going behind his back as he stood like your regular senior cultivator.

    "You may face me together, but if you do that you forfeit further rewards. The second option would be to face me in a one on one battle, if one of you manages to defeat me, you may take one item from the seventh level."

    The man grinned and spread his arms as he looked at the people in front of him.

    "What say you? Will you attack me all together like a bunch of cowards, or are there any warriors amongst you that are up to the challenge?"

    Some of the male cultivators behind Matt went red in the face after they got called cowards, but after feeling the man''s aura they decided not to go forward just yet. While the people were hesitating behind him, Matt took a step forward chest straight up, his steps slow and steady.

    "I''ll face you..."

    The horned man looked at Zhang Dong that was approaching him, his eyes scanning his opponent that was only in the late stage of core formation.

    "You sure are a brave young man, are you sure about this?"

    Matt walked forward, getting closer and closer while hearing the other cultivators shout at him from behind.

    "Are you sure about this Zhang clan Patriarch? This might be a trap."

    Feng Maling chimed in while trying to look at the surrounding area if there were any other monsters around.

    "Yes brother Dong, maybe you should reconsider?"

    Feng Liena said while looking worried, the idea of the treasures was tempting but it would be better to play it safe.

    Matt stopped for a moment to think about it, but for some reason, he didn''t feel like he would lose. When he looked back to when he arrived in this place, he couldn''t remember a situation that he couldn''t just fight his way through. He had an easy ride thanks to the system so his ego was quite inflated at this point, the trial of Pride was made for people like Zhang Dong. He only suffered minor setbacks which were mostly due to his inexperience in fighting, but due to passing the jungle and having fought his way through it with ease he was feeling confident. So what if this was the creature''s plan? He was sure that he could just bulldoze through him like he always did.

    "Well then, let the trial begin!"

    The Sin of Pride smirked while a translucent dome of energy appeared between the area he and Matt were in and the area where the others were. Everyone looked on nervously as the two combatants moved closer to each other. They knew that Zhang Dong was strong, probably the strongest core formation cultivator that they had ever seen, but he was making a rookie mistake now. He was letting himself get pulled into the enemy''s scheme, it would be much safer to fight him as a group. Still though, if he won they would be getting more rewards, on the other hand, if he died they would probably not be able to defeat this monster even in a group.

    "Why are the young always like this."

    Feng Maling shook her head while looking at the youth that like many others before him, wasn''t thinking with their brain and with their muscles instead.

    "Let''s believe in brother Dong, he is strong!"

    Huo Qiang cheered while poking the shield that appeared before him, after the smack he felt a repelling force that pushed him back.

    While the others sighed behind the barrier Matt was now standing in striking distance of the so-called Sin of Pride. The man was quite handsome, well built and smiling at his opponent while looking confident. The two stared at each other for a good few moments before the boss spoke up.

    "Are you going to just stand there? Here, I''ll give you the first one for free."

    The man laughed at Zhang Dong while turning his cheek to the side and pointing at it, it looked like he was willing to receive a hit without dodging. Matt raised his brow at this display and shrugged, guess this guy was really sure of his strength he would have to bring him down a peg.

    Matt could feel that the restrictions that he felt back in the jungle area weren''t that strong inside this barrier. He could probably let loose in here, while thinking like that he started gathering energy into his fist. He pulled his fist back, blue lightning energy gathering into it as he charged his attack up.

    Matt''s robe and the man''s fluttered as due to gathering so much spiritual energy wind was getting kicked up. His muscles bulged as he moved his arm backward, he was going for a normal punch with all his weight behind it along with some lightning energy. The Sin of Pride looked at the large fist that was getting charged up, Matt wasn''t sure what he was thinking about but it didn''t seem that he was going to dodge.

    ''Prideful, huh?''

    The punch was finally thrown, a loud booming sound resounded inside the barrier as the fist filled with energy connected with a face. Matt could feel his strike going through, but he was surprised. The man''s face was extremely hard, even with his body refining skill at the great circle he felt the attack down to his bones.

    The man was forced backward, but he didn''t fly as Matt expected but slid along the ground with his feet firmly planted on it coming to a stop after about ten meters. His face was turned to the side and you could see a red mark at the spot that Zhang Dong punched him. Sin of Pride moved his hand to his jaw, rubbing it slightly a grin appearing on his face.

    "Nice hit!"

    He spat out some blood while cracking his neck slightly, his hand on his jaw as he rubbed it slightly.

    "Hey, I had an idea! Do you want to play a fun game?"

    The man looked quite excited now, his eyes were wide open as he moved back to where he previously was. He moved his hand back, in a similar motion that Matt did and looked at his opponent.

    "It''s quite the fun little game~"

    He replied with vigor in his voice, like he found something interesting.

 99 Chapter 99

    The ground shook, Feng Liena covered her face with the sleeve of her robe as she looked at what was happening inside the barrier bubble. She saw Zhang Dong receiving a devastating right hook right to his face. His face was bounced backwards and it looked like it would leave his neck and fly into space while he staggered. The residual shockwave from the devastating stroke tossing up a storm as even the sturdy floor was slowly showing a sign of cracks.

    Zhang Dong shook his head a bit as he looked back at his opponent who was grinning widely. He was bleeding from a cut lower lip, the blood slowly dripping down onto the floor and his clothes. He looked quite happy though, moving his hand backwards and then crossing his hands over his own chest as he smirked.

    "Your turn~"

    Matt looked at the Sin of Pride, not really sure how the situation turned this way. He was having a good old fashioned slugfest with the guy. The man wasn''t blocking and neither was he, they were having a competition of strength and resilience. Something was pushing him forward though, the more he saw the demon man smirk and smile the more he wanted to slam his fist into his face.

    Another devastating blow landed, the opponent slid backwards yet again his jaw even getting dislocated as he lost a tooth from the exchange. Matt didn''t rejoice though as the fist that he hit the man on the face was hurting like hell.

    ''Go down you fuck!''

    He screamed internally while his enemy moved back into place, he could dodge the fist, he could putt out his sword or use some tactics, yet something was compelling him to power through it. Did he suffer some kind of status effect that was making him so prideful, or was this how he really was deep down inside? He wasn''t sure, but he thought that he would lose dignity that he thought that he didn''t have if he gave up before the other person did.

    Soon thirty minutes had passed and the two were just going back and forth, hitting each other. More and more they ended up on the ground, but both of them kept standing up burning passion in their eyes. If Matt didn''t know better, he would think that he turned into some kind of meat-headed protagonist that never gave up. Always having to face their enemies in a fair fight, their will unbroken.

    While the two were continuing their punch out, the other cultivators looked at them with mixed feelings. Most of the men kind of understood why the Zhang Patriarch was sticking to this approach, while the girls thought that he was an idiot for getting pulled into the enemies rhythm. Though all of them agreed on one thing, the man was really resilient none of them felt like they could take one of those punches and be able to get up as well as he did.

    "Do you think he can win it?"

    "I''m not sure, they look equally matched... what monsters..."

    "They have been at it for an hour, is their stamina infinite?"

    "Let''s hope the boy manages, don''t think any of us can face that monster..."

    The people chattered while standing close to the barrier, they had gone around it hitting it in various placed wondering if they could help Zhang Dong out. They didn''t find a weak spot that they could slip in though, this barrier would probably hold off a nascent soul master. They could only twiddle their thumbs and wait for the silver-haired man to win this.

    ''Ah damn, my face hurts... is my nose broken? Will my teeth grow back if I lose any...''

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    He staggered backwards falling onto his ass, his opponent huffing and puffing as he was showing signs of fatigue. Well, not like he was better off though, he was bleeding from his nose and mouth only thanks to reaching the great circle in his body refining he was surviving this somehow.

    ''Think my body is harder than his, but he has a stronger healing ability...''

    He would knock the Sin of Pride further back, breaking some bones in the process as his face was all bloody by this point. The problem was that after they switched turns, the man would start healing up and his broken jaw, chipped teeth all grew back into place. He, on the other hand, didn''t suffer as much damage but it was slowly accumulating.

    ''I guess that''s was his plan, force me into a battle of attrition that I can''t win. But did he think that I would last this much...''

    The boss monster wasn''t grinning as much now as he was before, the two had been punching each other for over an hour now. Both of them had dishevelled hair and bloodied clothes, but the Sin of Pride was looking slightly worse than Matt was. He also stopped taunting him after each hit, he would shout some cocky phrases here and there but he was dropping the act now, his brows furrowing as Matt moved back into place with his fist ready to slam into that face one more time.

    Matt gathered more energy into it, he still had some left in his tank as he was smart enough not to go full throttle from the get-go. This looked like a turning point, or just a scheme of the other man to make Matt show his cards. Though he didn''t think that would be the case, as going by the theme of Pride the Sin of Pride should be too prideful to pull any sneaky tricks on him

    The fist shined in a blue hue, lightning energy filling the space around him as Zhang Dong applied his condensation skill along with his avatar form just targeting his fist. Thunder resounded through the area as his wide fist smashed into the enemy''s nose, shattering it on contact. The man''s arms and legs remained stationary while his body was pushed back which made it looked quite comedic. The boss monster flew back, making a nice arc as he hit the throne that he was sitting on at the beginning of the stage.

    The last punch took quite a bit out of him, his hand spasming and his veins bulging due to the condensation techniques side effects. Luckily the enemy wasn''t moving for some reason, he looked like he was sleeping on that throne with his head slumped forward.

    "Umm... I win?"

    He raised his fist upwards while being slumped forward and barely standing up on his own two feet. Matt was close to passing out himself, he wasn''t sure how many punches to the face he took but he hoped that he didn''t get permanent brain damage now. He slowly walked over to the passed out Sin of Pride, not knowing if this was over or not. When he was leaning down, the man suddenly opened up his eyes which made Matt stumble back and almost fall on his butt once more.

    "Buahahaha, It''s my loss!"

    The man smacked his thigh like he was having a jolly good time, though he was looking quite awful as Matt had destroyed quite a bit of his face during the punching contest.

    "Congratulations oh Prideful one, you may receive your reward now!"

    Suddenly he started turning into small spiritual lights like the other summoned monsters when you defeated them, his face still showing a dumb grin.

    "Hope you can entertain me again when we meet anew. Enjoy your reward while you still can, prideful one"

    Matt didn''t get to ask about what he meant with that as he soon vanished and the barrier surrounding the area vanished. This wasn''t over as the throne opened up and a small chest rose up from the sitting spot. It wasn''t a large chest, something that you would use to store some jewellery at most. After opening it up he found a strange black cube inside.

    [ ??????????????????????????????? ]

    ''What is this?''

    The system couldn''t analyze it and it was extremely hard, even when he gripped it with all his strength the thing wouldn''t budge a muscle.

    ''Maybe it''s some kind of key? Guess I should watch out for cube-sized holes.''

    He shrugged and placed it in a side pocket of his robe, but just after doing that he collapsed to his knees. He didn''t think his injuries were that bad, but the moment he felt the relief of beating the enemy his body started shutting down. He slumped forward, face planting on the throne out cold while his companions rushed in to check upon him.

    He suddenly woke up while resting on a large leather couch, books around him as he was back in the library building.

    ''Ah, guess I''m not dead... but my face still hurts...''

    He stood up and found Feng Maling studying some kind of occult looking book.

    "Oh hey, how long was I out?"

    He asked without thinking much, but the woman ignored him her eyes focusing on the thing in front of her as if it was something required for living.

    ''Wait... how long was I out...Fuck!''

    He knew that this was the last level, it looked different than the previous ones. But this meant that he was out for an unknown amount of time and didn''t get to copy any textures down, he might not make it in time. He started quickly running and poking the scriptures, realising that they were mostly in the heaven grade. On this level, there were both cultivation manuals and ones for crafting and pill making. The amount was less than on the lower levels but he didn''t know how much time he had left, he had to copy them down as soon as he could.

    ''Wasn''t there supposed to be some kind of reward as well?''

    While Zhang Dong was shuffling through the books, his clan members were still stuck in the fortress. They had spent a whole month at this location and it looked a lot different than before.

    Firstly, the shape of it wasn''t square anymore or at least the outer walls changed. They had been spending their days killing a monster wave each day, the stronger the monsters the more points they earned for clearing them out. The cultivators figured out how the treasure map in the form of the hologram worked and had placed an octagonal wall, that surrounded the old square ones.

    On the new wall, there were other weapons there beside the ballista. There were cannons placed lined up on the walls, shooting out blasts of condensed energy. They required specialised ammunition that was carried over by the Qi condensation cultivators. At the spots where the walls connected to each other stood defensive towers, more cannons and ballistas being placed there. Inside of them, there were people, wielding some weapons like rapid firing spirit crossbows that they also could exchange for points.

    It looked like they were doing fine on the outside having constructed a larger fortress that was there before, but the atmosphere in the control room was a bit different.

    "We used up all of the resources on repairing, the next wave will be starting in an hour, it''s going to be worse than the previous one..."

    One person proclaimed while glancing at the hologram of the fortress, the number of points being in the single digits, the amount not enough to buy even the simplest self firing weapon.

    Zhang Zhi, Huo Tao, and Feng Daiyu looked tired, they had been actively participating in defending the fort, it wasn''t strange for the walls to crumble and they having to bunker back behind the ones deeper inside.

    "The number of core formation beasts in increasing, there was one more this time around too, it almost got through the inner walls."

    "That formation that your Zhang Clan possesses is really astonishing, Brother Zhi."

    Huo Tao declared while rubbing his beard, the Huo clan had long thrown out their misgivings about the other cultivators here. After having thought for a month everyone realised that they had to work together, otherwise they would all surely die. There was some tension in the beginning, even some deaths due to some misgivings, people fighting each other out of stress. Luckily the people somehow managed to get past that first hump, mostly due to the Zhang Clan listening to their Patriarch order and not retaliating as much and instead trying to work it out together.

    Teamwork had a limit though, the ferocious beasts were getting stronger and stronger even though they could fortify this base of theirs, they were slowly faltering. Something was coming, past the 90th wave, the time of rest had decreased each time. This would be the 100th one, and they were expecting something big.

    "Final wave will commence in 5...4...3...2...1..."

    After the robotic voice resounded everyone gulped hard, the people that weren''t injured were manning the walls and towers looking out into the distance. The terrain was already destroyed, the ground bulldozed by all the previous monster waves. Soon people heard thumping noises coming from the distance soon enough four giant silhouettes could be distinguished each monster larger than the other as they came from all sides.

    From the East came an azure dragon it was floating slightly above ground as it moved forward. From the south flew a vermilion bird, spewing fire as it charged forward. From the west, they saw a white tiger charging right at them while up north was the largest beast a black tortoise lumbering towards them, the immense shell it had didn''t look like it could be pierced by anything.

 100 Chapter 100

    The 9th Platoon was standing in one of the towers, on their side was the large white tiger. It wasn''t alone though as there were many smaller feline type beasts moving in front of it. The giant monster strolled while yawning like it was bored that it had to even leave its nesting place to take care of the bug-like cultivators.

    "Great ancestors, in what realm is that beast?"

    Zhang Jie looked at the far away monster with her looking glass, the spiritual energy coming from the large tiger beast was immense. This kind of aura belonged to someone at the top of core formation, but she wasn''t sure if it was in the late stage or in the great circle.

    "This doesn''t look good... everyone get ready, fire when they are in range!"

    The junior members were ready, they had been doing this for a month already some of them were injured from the previous battle. Zhang Peng had a really large canon and was holding it against his shoulder, making it look like he was carrying a rocket launcher. Zhang Hong was to the side, he looked a lot slimmer now than previously, mostly his upper body that turned all that fat into muscle. Still, his battle robe was protruding at the belly part.

    Zhang Teng and Bao were to the side, gathering ammunition in the corner making sure that they had enough before they had to return to get some more for their brothers and sisters. Zhang Yuu and Mii weren''t here with them as they went to the barracks to help out with the injured, their healing arts having progressed quite a bit during this hard month of battling.

    Zhang Ai and Xue were holding crossbows that had a part that you could load bolts into, they were just making sure that everything was in place before placing the weapons against the small windows in the tower they were in and taking aim. Zhang Tai and Liu were sitting in something that looked like a cockpit, they had something that helped them aim the cannon that they were operating as these cost a lot fewer points than the ones that were automatic.

    Soon you could hear cannon fire, the monsters exploding into gorry bits as they were hit by the metallic shells. The whole place looked like a more futuristic fortress, with spotlights shining and heavy artillery getting fired from it by the cultivators inside. You could see gyaru girls running around with boxes in their hands, quickly restocking the used up self-working ballistas.

    Explosions filled the entire place, the monster wave didn''t stop as for every beast that exploded during the charge two more came from behind it and like a tsunami they got closer and closer finally arriving close to the walls. But before the creatures could start climbing and devouring the people inside an energy barrier appeared to block their path. The monsters scratched it with their claws, bit into it and just charged at it in a fit of rage, the energy bubble wouldn''t be able to stop them forever.

    The biggest problem were the flying enemies, the largest of them looked like a phoenix made from fire. It was circling above the large fortress casting a shadow over it, while the people inside tried shooting it down with their spiritual cannons, to no avail as it was out of range. They had to leave it alone for now as the smaller flying beasts started slamming into the transparent energy field. They turned into hedgehogs due to the many crossbow bolts that the defending cultivators fired into them.

    It looked like they were in a standstill for now, but that was only due to the boss monsters not really moving in. The monsters stopped and watched as their minions attacked the castle in an angry rush, the only huge beast that was constantly moving was the turtle that was almost as big as the whole fortress that the cultivators were defending.

    Time ticked down and minutes turned into hours, the monsters still kept coming. The people inside recognized a lot of those beasts from the previous waves but due to the increased firepower and defensive structures, they went down a lot faster than before. Soon enough the monsters from the previous wave made their appearance, prompting the elder members from the clan to head out into battle.

    The battle looked bleak as the first defensive barrier got breached and the cultivators had to flee into the inner fortress. The automatic weapons were quickly destroyed or they run out of ammunition as the beast burst forward. It looked like it would be a repeat of what happened on the previous wave, the Zhang Clan members were already in their serpent formation firing off their breathing attack to bring down one of the core formation beasts that made its way past the barricade.

    Everyone was desperately fighting for their lives, but the most powerful monsters were still just sitting outside the first wall and waiting. Only after the beasts moved into the inner sanctum and were defeated once more the ones outside moved. The tiger roared out loudly prompting the remaining feline beasts to part ways for it, the same happened on all sides.

    "Damn, there is no place to run and those beasts are still coming..."

    Zhang Zhi propped himself upwards, the last attack that he performed along with his clan members having drained his reserves. The last wave was bad enough, but even though they defeated the monsters the path was open. All the walls were breached, just a couple of cannons remained with some leftover cultivators still reloading and firing them off at the enemies.

    "Was it impossible to win from the start?... I have failed you, Patriarch"

    Huo Tao lamented while blood was running down his face, the man having a hard time keeping conscious after taking a serious blow from an angry-looking beast.

    Feng Daiyu was to the side just sighing, they put up a noble fight but this looked like it was it for them. The monsters outside just needed to move in, to dish out the killing blow. Their strength was immense and even if they had the power of the fortress behind them, she thought that they had a slim chance of coming out on top.

    A bit outside the inner sanctum in one of the partially destroyed towers the 9th platoon was still fighting. Monsters started flooding inside and they were battling them with the help of their weapons.

    Zhang Xue and Liu combined their lightning attacks to send one of the leopard looking beast tumbling back, letting Zhang Peng smash his fist into its spine taking it out in the process. They all looked injured, sweat running down their foreheads and dripping to the floor along with their blood.

    Zhang Jie was to the side, holding onto her belly a monster had pierced it with its sharp claws before she could take it out. She was getting nursed by one of the girls, Xue and Liu quickly ran up to her worry in their eyes.

    "Mother!"

    "Leave me... I''ll hold them off, you must reach the inner fortress with the rest of the clan members."

    They got separated from their clan members when the beasts burst through the walls, so they were sitting ducks for the incoming monster cats. The thumping of the largest one getting louder and louder as it approached them at an increased pace.

    "No we can''t, we will survive this together."

    Zhang Xue replied with tears in her eyes, her mother glancing up at her children that she held dear to her heart. They were her pride and joy and she only came here with them to keep watch, but this would be the end for her. She would stay behind in the hopes of a miracle, even if she could just buy them a second of more time it would be enough.

    "Silence, this is an order. Get back to the inner sanctuary!"

    She glanced at the other platoon members with a stern face, which prompted them to grasp the crying girl pulling her back from her mother. Zhang Jie nodded as the others started evacuating, her eyes meeting with her Son''s on the way as he hesitated as well.

    "Take care of your sister."

    The youth didn''t reply and just made a small bow and then turned around leaving, a small tear running down his cheek as he lamented. The woman stood up going further up onto the tower, her wound was just patched up but it was enough for her to last a few moments. She saw beast charging her way, their teeth sharp and their claws long. She was holding on to a chipped sword and plunged it into the beast''s eye as it tried pouncing at her. The weapon snapped in half as she tumbled to the side, her battle wound opening up.

    The monster slummed after its brain got pierced by the weapon, turning into bubbles of energy soon after. The woman leaned about a cracked battlement looking back seeing that her children were running back they would probably make it to the other clan members. She smiled but was startled as she heard a startling deep growl.

    She turned to see a large feline eye just staring at her, the white tiger had made its way to the tower she was in. The beast was immense and wouldn''t have trouble in gulping her down in one quick bite. The woman coughed up some blood and looked up into the sky, eyes soon closing and a smile appearing on her face.

    "I''ll be joining you soon dear, Jie''er did her best..."

    She was tired, tired from all the fighting, tired from all the bloodshed. The moment she accepted her impending death her legs gave out under her and she slumped on the ground. The beast just gave out a snort that made the woman slide backward and hit the wall, more blood coming out of her mouth in the process.

    The beast looked at the small bug in front of it, why wasn''t the little human trembling like it was supposed to? The proud tiger didn''t understand while the bug was smiling and just waiting there. But it wouldn''t refuse free food, the woman was of a higher cultivation level and looked quite yummy. Its giant maw opened up wide, the teeth being almost as large as the human that they were going towards. The beasts warm breath hit Zhang Jie''s skin and some saliva dripped on her body, soon the mouth would close devouring her whole.

    "KRRACCKKK!"

    The monster felt something slam into its head shattering its giant teeth in the process. Its immense body flew backward slamming into the destroyed wall and bouncing further and further. It kept rolling and bouncing in a comedic fashion soon leaving the premise of the outer fortress walls that it came through, its mind dazed as the hit rattled its brain, stunning it momentarily.

    Zhang Jie felt the wind hit her face, pushing her further back into the wall she was leaning but nothing besides that. The pain didn''t come and she didn''t feel the monster''s breath upon her anymore, which prompted her to open up her eyes. What she saw was a giant blue fist in the spot that the monster tiger''s face was previously in, lightning energy crackling from it.

    "P-Patriarch?"

    She said in a daze while staring at the avatar form that she knew that her clan Patriarch used before. It was a bit bigger than the one he used when he saved the clan from the impending doom before, but it was clearly him.

    "Sorry for being late, leave him to me. Take this and go back to the rest of the clan."

    A recovery pill dropped on her head, right between her eyes which she quickly gobbled up a relaxing feeling washing over her body and her cracked bones and wounds quickly recovering. She looked as the lightning giant moved towards the equally large white tiger. With each step the giant took lightning energy shoot out, incinerating the lesser monster in its path.

    "It''s the Patriarch!"

    Zhang Dong''s appearance and overbearing aura was hard to miss, the Zhang Clan members cheered out loud as they saw their leader sock the beast tiger in the face sending it flying backward. Matt was the first one to arrive but soon enough the tired foundation establishment and qi condensation cultivators could see other core formation experts appearing, each one of them attacking the four beasts that were in similar stages as them.

    Feng Liena and Feng Maling headed towards the flying monster, everyone had recovered the usage of their storage rings so they could finally use their flying swords once more. Huo Qiang and his bodyguard went towards the dragon while the remaining two decided to stall the slow-moving turtle monster, they didn''t think they would be able to crack its shell but they could buy some time till Zhang Dong and the rest took care of the other beasts.

    "It''s the young master!"

    "The Matriarch and the elder are still alive!"

    "We are saved!"

    Everyone cheered out loud as they saw their seniors arriving in the nick of time. Some of them were still missing but this was a massive confidence boost to all of the cultivators.

    While Matt was running towards the tiger Zhang Jie quickly returned to her own clan members, Xue clinging to her arm and crying her eyes out once more.

    "Xue''er you need to stop being such a crybaby, Mother is fine thanks to the Patriarch."

    She replied while looking into the distance, the white tiger was in a chokehold thrashing around and trying to bite at the large lightning construct that was holding onto it tightly.

    "Master is finally back!"

    Zhang Liu had stars in his eyes and a grin plastered on his face, the faith that he had in Zhang Dong was slowly going into overdrive. The rest of the Zhang Clan members weren''t far behind as they looked at the kaiju battle happening in the background, the white tiger suffering a slam that made the whole secret ground tremble.

    "Everyone gather up, assume the formation we are going to support the Seniors!"

    Zhang Zhi stumbled forward, still fatigued from the previous battle but reinvigorated by his leader''s appearance. Everyone shouted out in unison as they assumed their position, soon the water serpent was formed. Zhi realized by the battle that the Patriarch didn''t need any more help, so instead, they headed for the firebird, their water elemental serpent being just the thing to counter its fire attacks.

    There were still smaller beasts around, so the cultivators barricaded themselves in the innermost wall of the fortress. Using the remaining ranged weapons as well as engaging the monster in hand to hand combat. The monsters were finally getting pushed back, the sounds of battle filled the surroundings.

    Matt rammed his fist into the tiger, sending his sharp chompers flying into the air. He could tell what the theme of these beasts was from one look and from which directions they were coming from.

    ''The four guardian beasts huh, not a bad choice I guess...''

    He thought to himself nonchalantly while delivering another full power punch to the beast''s side, sending it tumbling to the side. The beast didn''t look like it would be putting up much of a fight against this overpowered Patriarch but he couldn''t play with it for too long as the others weren''t as strong as him.

    He started getting smaller and smaller, the tiger was on the ground shaking its head while recovering, he had enough time to deliver a finisher. He pulled out his sword, the weapon radiating with spiritual energy as it expanded into the heavens. He held his longsword with both hands, eyes closed and right at the time when he opened them he brought the sword downwards in a slash.

    "Sever the Heaven!"

    He shouted out, while the energy beam traveled downward. The monster could only look on in shock as the sword strike descended from the sky before it could evade to the side it was bisected the ground forming a chasm the moment the sword energy hit it. Lots of dirt and dust got flung into the air as the first monster got slain.

    [ Guardian White Tiger Slain (Core Formation Great Circle ) 90000 points earned ]

    Matt rubbed his nose a bit, blushing slightly due to shouting out the attack name before preforming it.

    ''Hope nobody heard that... embarrassing.''

    The first beast fell, its two sides splitting and falling opposite each other. The peculiar thing was that the monster didn''t turn into energy bubbles like the rest of them, but Matt was sure that it was dead. It was cleanly sliced in two parts, there should be no way of it to recovering its previous form. Also, there was the system prompt, and he even earned a good amount of points.

    ''I should go help the others...''

    He thought while hearing a rumbling shout, he looked into the distance and saw Huo Qiang standing in a karate like stance. His bodyguard was keeping the monster dragon busy, it looked like it had already suffered some damage but so did the two other cultivators. The red-haired brother was gathering all of his spiritual energy into his fist strike, clearly taking his time while his clan member distracted the beast.

    "This new technique... I only managed to cultivate it to a minor achievement but it should be enough...Take this beast!"

    "Flame Emperor''s Pure Yang Destruction Fist."

    Matt stumbled forward after hearing the long name of the attack that Huo Qiang threw at the monster. The moment the man punched out you could see some kind of flame giant show himself behind him, it looked like a transparent hologram and he was taking the same stance and had the same facial expression as the cultivator in front.

    The mutton chop elder fled to the side as he almost got hit by his young master''s attack, he tumbled to the side. The flame fist cleanly landed on the dragon''s head promptly turning it ton mincemeat and filling the whole area with fire energy. There was a huge explosion that made everyone look in the direction.

    "Heh... not bad."

    Matt smiled as he saw Huo Qiang passing out after throwing that fist attack at the monster. His new friends were a lot stronger than expected, the two women battled the giant bird slicing its wings with their wind attacks, the water serpent spewing beams out of its maw interrupting the firebird when it tried to counter-attack.

    The turtle, on the other hand, was getting its face slapped around by a big Buddha statue. Bankei had gathered his remaining sect buddies and went into a formation of their own. The statue looked golden and had six arms, it was hovering above ground while in a sitting position delivering strikes to the monster''s head that tried snapping at it.

    Matt decided to go for the Turtle now as it looked a lot sturdier than the bird that was getting its feathers plucked by his clan members and the Feng Clan ladies.

    It didn''t take long for the cultivators to successfully eradicate every remaining monster in the area. The hardest one to kill was indeed the turtle as even though its attacks were weak, it was really hard to get through that shell. After the phoenix look-alike fell, everyone gathered up and started blasting the thing from all sides, soon enough the shell broke and the beast fell.

    "We did it!"

    "Wooo... I''m alive!!!"

    "It''s over right? This is it? I want to go home..."

    People shouted out, cheering loudly their wounds didn''t hurt as much now when they had victory on their minds. Everyone was tired, most of the fortress was in shambles wall chunks were everywhere. Just as Matt was ready to shout out to his clan members the robotic voice resounded around the area once more.

    "Congratulations on completing the 100th wave... The bonus stage will start now."

    "Bonus stage?"

    Matt blinked wondering what this was about, but then he felt that something was happening to the giant monster bodies.They started glowing and condensing into small balls. The four spheres then shot out into the air gathering in one spot and fusing with each other. There was a giant shockwave that kicked up storm like winds and the cultivators felt a massive surge in spiritual energy in that area.

    "No... this is?"

    "I-it can''t be..."

    The energy was far greater than what a core formation cultivator could have, so everyone gulped as the area where the orbs fused together started showing an outline. Soon enough a large shout resounded through the destroyed testing grounds.

    "Buahahah, I told you that we would meet again, didn''t I, oh prideful one?"

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    The man was the previously fought Sin of Pride, but he looked a bit different. His body, as well as his face, was all red, his hands looked more like claws and his horns that were previously meager were quite large now. He looked like a textbook demon, sharp teeth white as pearls and an armor of red covering his whole body he even had large bat-like wings growing out of his back while hovering up in the air. But that wasn''t the problem though.

    "N-nascent soul? How could this be..."

    [ Demon Lord [ nascent soul early stage ] ]

    "I must thank you for setting me free, I don''t get many opportunities to stretch my wings~"

    The demon smirked while filling the area with its overbearing demonic aura.

    "Set you free?"

    Matt asked while looking up at the monster, he was feeling the brunt of that force that was making even him tremble.

    "Oh, did you forget about the little game that we had? I hope the rewards were worth it~"

    Matt groaned, the reason that the bonus stage started was probably that he blundered and accepted the pride monsters offer. How could he know that even when winning it, it would bring doom upon him and the clan later on?

    "Well, not like I made the rules, hope you can entertain me for a bit~"

    The demon shrugged while grinning and charging out, he was so fast that he vanished from Matt''s field of vision and appeared behind him in a fraction of a second. Demonic wings kicking up massive winds that sent everyone close in the area backward, everyone was sent flying in various directions while the demonic being looked at Zhang Dong. The attack was clearly aimed at the cultivators beside Matt as he was mostly unaffected but everyone else was tossed aside.

    Matt took on a fighting stance, the demon in front was in the nascent soul realm, could he even damage him? The grinning demon crossed his muscular arms over one another and just waited there, his head turned to the side as if he was beckoning him to strike his cheek just like when they had the punching contest.

    Matt clenched his fist if the monster was willing to let him deliver a strike he would put everything into it. He gathered all of his spiritual energy into his right arm activating all skills that would let him enhance this hook. His forearm bulged out, veins protruding from it. His whole arm started crackling with lightning energy, the Qi getting pushed forward as the glow on his fist got brighter. He jumped forward ready to strike, the monster unmoving as if it didn''t care about the puny attack that this human was preparing.

    The ground trembled under Zhang Dong''s might, he charged forward each step leaving a large hole behind, the other cultivators only seeing a white blur flying towards the demonic being.

    ''BOOOOMMM!"

    The whole place shook as the strike connected, hurricane winds blasting everything to the side, people looking on in awe. Nothing should be able to survive a hit like that, this strike was extremely close to the nascent soul level even a master like that shouldn''t come out unscathed, or so they thought.

    "Hmm... is that all?"

    A demonic voice could be heard which made everyone shiver, after the dust cloud subsided everyone could see what actually happened. Zhang Dong was kneeling down on the ground, holding his right hand with his left. The right fist in question looked mangled up, the skin was torn and some fingers were broken.

    "Argh..."

    Matt screamed out while grasping his hand, did he punch an iron wall or something. His hand was broken and bleeding, he looked up at the demonic being the man in question looking quite smug. He didn''t have time to recover as a swift kick sent him flying back, the demon finally attacking.

    "Ehh, I had high hopes for you, but you are this weak?"

    Matt bounced a couple of times before managing to regain his balance, his good hand digging into the hard bedrock as he slid backward and finally came to a stop. He got kicked in the chest and felt that his ribs broke in a couple of places, he spat blood onto the ground and looked in horror in the direction of the monster that was flying towards him.

    He grasped his sword, pushing all the energy that he could muster into it. When the demon got into his domain he released a barrage of sword strikes applying the same technique he used to slice up the Cthulhu like creature. The demon just walked forward, looking relaxed as the sword energy collided with his body. Matt expected to see blood but instead of slicing the demon apart, his sword broke into tiny fragments after it got smacked by the red monster''s large hand.

    "Pathetic."

    Another kick landed to his side, he tried blocking it with his good arm but it got folded in half along with his body as he got blasted to the side. He screamed out in pain, blood spurting out of his side as he tumbled along.

    ''Fuck, it hurts.''

    He couldn''t move his other arm at all, it was just dangling like a wet noodle while he gathered himself up. The monster was just toying with him now, he had no way of retaliating. He was flung around the area like a punching bag, his legs soon broken while the demon grinned from seeing the previously prideful cultivator finally having a look of despair.

    "That''s it! Those eyes, that''s how you are supposed to look! Despair more and grovel!"

    He held Matt up with one hand, delivering some backhand and forehand slaps to his face before tossing him to the side and stomping on his legs some more. The man below just a broken mess now, tears, snot, and blood coming out of his orifices while he squirmed.

    "Quickly, support the Patriarch!"

    Some cultivators charged out from the side, but with a small gesture from the monster''s wings, they tumbled backward like paper planes in hurricane winds. Their low cultivation levels not being able to resist the overpowered monster in the slightest.

    "Hah, little worms..."

    "L-leave them alone!"

    Matt shouted while coughing, he pushed his broken stump of an arm into the ground as he was trying to stand up but the only thing that greeted him was the monsters swift kick that sent him flying once more, his chest denting inside as most of his ribs got broken. He ended up somewhere on his back, he had no strength to move at all, his vision was blurry and the pain was getting unbearable.

    "You care about those insects so much? Bahaha, then watch them die!"

    The demon grinned even more and strode towards the other cultivators, leaving Matt down on the ground so that he could watch as he killed those pesky humans.

    "Haven''t had so much fun in thousands of years, I must thank you, my friend. I''ll be sure to kill them slowly~"

    The monster laughed out loud while eyeing some of the cultivators that were further away. Matt''s vision was fading as he was close to passing out, he had no way of saving anyone his body was beaten and battered.

    ''Is this it?... Am I going to die?... why was I even brought to this place?... I don''t want to die... I still haven''t done anything...''

    His mind was filled with thoughts of failure, he lamented his incompetence if he wasn''t so stupid and didn''t take the monster''s offer. Why did he always fail in everything, his life started flashing through his mind, a life of loneliness and mediocrity. Even with this system, he was unable to change his destiny. He started laughing, more blood coming out of his mouth as he chuckled at his inability.

    "I''m sorry everyone..."

    He wanted to apologize to the people that put their faith in him, he truly felt like he let everyone down. Everyone would die and he felt that he was to blame, maybe if he was a little smarter, listened to the wise words of the senior members or if he tried a bit harder, it wouldn''t have ended up like this.

    But suddenly in this moment of weakness, he noticed something to the side. It was the cube that he received after the seventh trial, it must have bounced to the side after he got smacked by one of the demon''s attacks. It was slightly cracked, its outer shell filled with spiderweb-like fissures.

    ''W...what...''

    The cube was giving off some kind of strange aura from all those small cracks, it was faint but it was still there. Like a man grasping for glass while falling from a building, he inched his broken body forward. He got closer and closer, not really sure why he was even bothering but something was pushing him forward, telling him not to give up.

    [ Spirit energy source detected, do you want to absorb it? ]

    He moved his arm upwards, his bones were broken in several places and he felt excruciating pain, but he needed to tap that yes prompt.

    [ Starting absorption process please standby... error ... an abnormality has been detected ... system overloading... ]

    He saw his status window that was a bit blurry, the points were shooting up by an unexpected amount.

    [ ''893291....1263145... 4678231...8523135...'' ]

    He didn''t just twiddle his thumbs though after the absorption process started he felt that his body started getting healed. He didn''t know why it was happening but he was going to make it count, he quickly brought up his up cultivation window spending the required points on the golden lightning option.

    His body started crackling as lightning energy got summoned, this wasn''t all though he started dumping all the remaining points into his cultivation base just as fast as those points increased they diminished. He was nothing but a glowing light in the distance, the energies filled the area as this body began changing.

    In the distance the Demon was holding onto a certain young man, this young man had peculiar salt and pepper hairstyle. The demon was interested a bit as he and a younger girl had charged at him with murder in their eyes.

    "Ah, you are his disciples... wonder what face he will make if I kill you in front of him..."

    The monster grinned but then felt something strange, he quickly tossed the brat to the side not caring if he was dead or alive and took flight.

    "What is this..."

    He saw an energy sphere floating in the air, golden lightning was shooting out and randomly destroying the surrounding areas. The demon got closer but then quickly retreated the moment he felt something being off.

    "Holy element!?"

    He wasn''t stupid, he knew that it had to be the puny man that he had trashed a moment ago. Was he breaking through? If so he had to be stopped. The demon''s eyes started glowing purple as he took in a deep breath, his chest expanding. He opened up his mouth, a beam of purple light shooting out and aimed at the cultivator inside the energy sphere.

    At least that was the plan, but just before firing off his ranged attack he felt various spiritual energy attacks coming his way. They were coming from the various half dead cultivators from the area, trying to use the moment that the demon wasn''t alert as a last-ditch effort attack.

    "YOU DARE!?"

    The demon shouted in anger as his beam whizzed past Zhang Dong by a hair, the cultivators in the area slumping down tired. He was about to lash out at them but then turned around, Zhang Dong was hovering up in the air, looking different than before. The demon could feel that disgusting holy aura coming off of him, golden light and lightning bolts were randomly shooting off his body and the golden aura that he was now producing made his white hair seem yellow.

    "Nascent soul?... no...not quite?"

    Matt had no more points to spend, he poured them all into his cultivation and body rising both of them to 100%. But this left him with absolutely no more to spend so he couldn''t further upgrade his cultivation into the nascent soul realm.

    ''This will have to do... not it will do!''

    The demon looked relieved that even though the man in front of him got stronger, he still was only at half step into the nascent soul. Matt was done playing though, he would go 100% from the get-go, not leaving the monster any chance as he had a way to temporarily bridge that gap.

    He clenched his fists shouting out while quickly activating his avatar technique as well as his condensation art, his body turning slightly larger and making him look like a man made from pure golden energy. The demon looked bewildered at the sudden increase of power and before he could react he felt a strong smack to his face, the hit-making him burrow into the ground a kilometer from the spot that he was previously in.

    He quickly burst out from the ground, rage on his face as he scanned the area for his opponent. He was greeted by a swift kick to his face as he was turning around, tumbling backward his nose bent in an awkward position.

    "YOU WORM!"

    He shouted while glaring at the golden human that was charging towards him once more, he punched out trying to catch the enemy unprepared but got caught in a clean counter punch instead which sent him back into some rubble. The creature found his opponent to be faster than him, he started getting forced into a defensive stance as Zhang Dong''s kicks and punches rained down on him. The addition of the holy element in the attacks was weakening the monster even further.

    Black blood rained down on the ground, sizzling and burning everything in its path as the monster coughed up copious amounts of it, just like Zhang Dong did when he got previously thrashed. Matt was in a hurry, he knew that he had precious moments before he would suffer the backlash of the skill he was using, he could already feel his veins bulging and his internal organs ready to burst from the stress.

    He bit down on his lower lip, shouting out loudly as he delivered a massive hit to the monster managing to blast its shoulder to bits. The demon flew backward grasping his side, his arm along with the shoulder got blasted to the side and the holy energy was preventing him from regenerating.

    "YOU DAMN INSECT!"

    The monster''s eyes glowed purple once more, he was preparing to fire off another of those ranged attack. He was taking his time in gathering the spiritual energy into his lungs but Matt wasn''t being idle either. He grasped his right wrist with his left hand, his index finger on his right hand pointing upwards as he gathered copious amounts of energy into it. This would be it, this would be the last attack that he was going to put all of his soul into.

    Everyone looked on in shock as they saw the two face each other, they knew that something big was coming. Everyone scattered, hiding behind walls or using all of their defensive trinkets hoping for the best. Soon Zhang Dong pointed his finger at the monster and he in response breathed out, a giant wide beam of purple light was heading at the golden cultivator.

    In response a beam attack was released from Zhang Dong''s finger it was the finger art that he leaned back in one of the levels of that library. This was the strongest attack he could muster up in this situation. His once muscular body started getting thinner and thinner as the beam slammed into the wider one and started pushing against it.

    "DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE, YOU DAMN WORM"

    The monster shouted as he as well was withering from using up all of his energy in this attack. Matt was sweating profusely but he couldn''t give in, he would kill this monster even if he had to die. He mustered up everything he had, all of his life force was pushed to bring all of those skills that he was using to a new height. His finger beam expanded in girth as it penetrated through the purple light and slammed into the monster''s chest penetrating right through him in one fell swoop.

    "I---IMPOSSIBLE.... I... I AM... IMMORTAL..."

    The beam burrowed through him, the holy energies invading the monster''s body and incinerating him from the inside turning him into dust soon after the attack passed. The monster was slain and the beam hit something in the distance. The generated explosion looked like a small atomic one as it produced a giant shockwave.

    "I... I... I d-d...did it..."

    Matt managed to mutter some words before the backlash came, all of his blood vessels burst open making him look like a ripe tomato. He couldn''t move a muscle and started to fall down from the sky like a deflated balloon. He crashed into the hard rubble down below his vision getting blurry. He could hear people running towards him, shouting some words but he wasn''t sure what as his hearing was giving out.

    The Zhang clan members that ran up were looking at their fallen Patriarch, he looked kind of peaceful a small smile on his face. Which was a stark contrast to the state of his body was in, he looked like a starved beggar. His disciples gathered around him, trying to hold his hand that was losing its warmth.

    They gathered around him, forming the strongest healing formation they could muster up anyone that was adept at healing was trying to help. But to no avail, the man''s life was fading and they could not do anything about it.

    ''Hah...''

    ''I hope everyone is safe...''

    ''I''m so tired... I''m just going to sleep for a bit...yeah... sleep...''

    Soon he couldn''t feel any pain, all of his senses shut down leaving him only with his thoughts which were slowly fading away. He was a bit sad that he couldn''t do more, but this was fine those guys should be safe now he was sure that the people from the other clans would help them out in the future, he could rest easy.

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    ''Critical error detected, host body in critical condition trying to restore bodily functions....''

    ''Host beyond saving, switching to transfer protocol, transferring remaining resources to origin point''

    ''Error...error...program is getting overwritten resource transfer aborted...''

    ''Anomaly in system detected... error...''

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    ''....overwriting original programming...''

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    ''Transfering all remaining resources to life saving protocols... prioritizing host survival...''

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    ''Insufficient resources... removing ''Devouring seed protocol'' from the system...''

    ''...Altering system... please wait... removing redundant subsystems...''Cash shop protocol'' removed....''

    ''System rebooting''

    ''Activating life saving protocol...''

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    .....thump...

    ....thump....thump

    ....thump....thump....thump....thump

    ...'' Heart rate restored... host stabilizing...''

    The Zhang Clan members were kneeling around their Patriarch, crying their eyes out while something strange happened. They were sure the man had died a couple of minutes ago, his heart had stopped and they couldn''t feel any spiritual energy from his dried up core. But suddenly they felt something, the tinies spark igniting deep within his depleted core, he was coming back to them.

 102 Chapter 102 Start of Volume 2

    A young girl was looking around her surroundings, she could see sunlight coming from a small window, the metallic rods placed in it casting a shadow on the ground. She wasn''t the only person in this room, there were several other girls of various ages leaning up against the walls. Some were hugging their own knees, some of them were crying, some just spacing out wondering how it came to this.

    The young girl stood up, she was in a closed room that she was brought here by some scary uncles. She was dragged here while kicking and screaming, being sold off by her own family members that weren''t able to meet ends meet. This wasn''t something rare, human trafficking and slavery was quite common in these parts. If you didn''t have a strong family backing, you could very well be snatched up in the night and sold at some shady auction house.

    This was one of such places, the girls were brought here in the night and spent the rest of it locked up, worrying and not knowing what would happen to them. The most you could hope for was being sold to some rich clan member as a servant, but some families would beat you to death for any small mistake you made. There were no rules set up for the weak, the only way for them to subsist was to not stick out or beg.

    The girls in here were mostly people from the surrounding villages, the clans would tax the farmers exorbitantly, taking well over half their earnings. They would leave them with only enough food and resources so that they wouldn''t die of starvation. But they were quite inflexible, if the crops turned out to be bad, the farmers still had to give the same amount which in return made them starve. If you resisted, you would be lashed and strung up in front of the village as a reminder of who was in charge.

    Ling Ling here was one of those cases, there was a drought this year so most of their rice fields dried up. The tax collectors weren''t having any of it, if the farmers couldn''t deliver the required amount of rice they would have to pay out of pocket to cover the losses. She was one of the daughters from the village that got sold off, the people in it rather doing that to girls than boys that were better at working out in the fields. Everyone knew that it was unreasonable and tyrannical, but no one cared about a couple of dead farmers.

    The girls in the room ranged from ten to sixteen, they were all young. Some of the lucky ones would be picked up by merchants or some rich families that needed some workers, their life wouldn''t be that bad. But the unlucky ones would be sold to brothels as toys for the rich young and old masters.

    "I want to go home... what will happen to us?"

    Sobbed one girl on the side her hands hugging her torso as she was cold, the only thing on her was old robes that weren''t keeping out the cold dungeon air. Ling Ling, on the other hand, tried pushing the large door, it had a tiny opening at the top with more metal bars in them, but she wasn''t tall enough to reach. The door was wooden and reinforced with some metal here and there, much too sturdy for any of the girls that had no cultivation to break open.

    The girl could hear some people coming closer, this making her and the other people in the room move back. Soon they heard sounds of heavy footsteps, two large men were going through the corridor grinning and thumping on some doors that had other potential slaves in them.

    "Hey brother Bo, the new ''goods'' arrived today, right?"

    "Right right, brother Weng they should all be in the last cell."

    The two men walked slowly while talking witch each other.

    "Have you heard, some trouble with the ruling clan, something happened last night."

    "Ahh, you know those clans they always like to fight with each other, we''ll just have to bribe them as we always do."

    The two men grinned at each other as they strode towards the room that the young girls were in. Soon the girls inside trembled as they saw two old uncles staring at them through the small gap in the door, their eyes shining with lust.

    "Ahh, it''s such a tragedy that old fatty never lets us play with the merchandise."

    "Haha, better not let him hear that you called him like that, you''ll be lashed to death brother."

    The two men laughed out, their voices echoing through the hallways, they were ordered to check the new girls and bring them over to a separate room for inspection. The person that owned this slave-trading establishment was known as Old Fatty Mu. He was quite the ugly looking fellow and had a really short fuse, he was well aware of this nickname and would lash out at anyone that mentioned it around him.

    "Yeah, he even beat one of the working girls to death when she mentioned something about a diet."

    "Hah, yeah such a shame."

    The two slammed the door open, the girls scattering to the walls as they looked at the two scary uncles. The old master had a peculiar taste, he would inspect the girls one by one himself. Most of the time they came out unscathed, but sometimes he would beat or force himself on some that he was keen on.

    "Don''t be scared of this brother little ladies, I''m not going to bite."

    One of the men said while licking his lips, his face making him look like a hungry wolf. The unlucky one came out to be Ling Ling, one of the men grabbed her arm and pulled her outside the cell door. They shut the door behind them and headed out, the girl squirming but unable to resist.

    While passing some other cells she could see old, young, and malnourished people with the light in their eyes long gone. She tried resisting, but the more she did the more the strange uncles yanked on her arms.

    She was tossed into a new room, this one looking cozier than the rest. It had a large bed in the corner, a desk with a large chair behind it. It looked like an office where you would do business. On that chair there was a person sitting, well the girl had to do a double-take as the number of chins that this person had was astonishing.

    "Mister Mu, we have brought you the goods, have fun with her."

    The girl tried to turn around to run once more, but one of the men held her hands while the other grabbed a metallic collar from the side. They put the item around her neck before pushing the girl down to the ground. They left soon after, the girl looking back to the large man in the chair.

    "No use running girly, it would be better if you realized in what situation you are in."

    He moved out his fat hand, his sausage-like fingers having many golden rings on it. One of these rings began glowing in a chilling light. The moment it did some strange patterns started appearing on the girl''s collar, soon enough she felt pain running through her body. She screamed out while grasping the slave collar that she was now wearing, the pain subsides after a moment as the man moved his hand away.

    "I bet you are smart and understand what that is, if you''re good no harm will come to you, but if you''re naughty... then... Bwe he he..."

    He licked his lips while moving of his chair, his belly jiggled around in an obscene fashion as he slowly walked towards the girl. The shock collar worked like expected, the poor girl had tears in her eyes and her legs were shaking. She was terrified and unable to more, just looking at the ugly man moving towards her.

    "That''s a good girl, let uncle Mu take a good look at you."

    He moved closer, the girl frozen allowing the man to grasp her hair. He walked around her, leaning his fat round head closer as he examined the scared farm girl.

    "Not the prettiest thing, but I bet the other ladies can fix you up later. Guess I can pawn you off to a wealthy man as a plaything, or we can send you to the pleasure district you are old enough now."

    The girl finally mustered up some strength to smack the man''s large hand away, scooting back as she shouted out.

    "D-don''t t-touch me...y-you... fat pig!"

    She moved backward, straight into the wall while the man''s eyes started going red, but not just that his whole face was in the color of a tomato.

    "W-what did you call me, you damn wench!"

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    If there was one thing that this man didn''t like, it was being called fat. His forehead was showing a large pulsating vein that looked like it would burst at any moment. The man had a whip strapped to his side which he promptly pulled out, in his mind, this girl needed some discipline.

    "Ten...no... twenty lashes! I can''t damage your face, but the rest is fine, get over here!"

    He used the ring to shock the poor girl that tried to flee, making her spasm on the ground. He was ready to give her a good throughout lashing.

    ''THUD...THOOOMMM..."

    The room was sealed and soundproof from both sides, so the man didn''t hear that noise which was the main shop''s door being slammed open. Soon strange cultivators in blue robes burst in, the bodyguards and slave merchants looked frightened as fighting broke out. The slave shop wasn''t a big one, so the quality of the guards was quite low, even old fatty Mu was just in the foundation establishment early stage.

    The azure cultivators made short work of the weaker group, sending them flying against the walls. They put strange-looking bindings onto their arms while forcing their wrists behind their backs. Some of them remained behind while another group run further in, two peculiar looking people in the front were wearing even more distinct robes and stuck out like a sore thumb from the others.

    Back in the lower soundproof room, fatty Mu was preparing to punish poor Ling Ling but before he could do that the door burst open. One of his guards flew in and crashed into the desk, splinters flying everywhere.

    "What is this! How dare you! Do you know who I am!? I''ll have you all killed!"

    The mad fatty looked at the intruders, a person in a strange robe walked in. It was dark blue and he was wearing some kind of weird mask that was covering his face. The second person was clearly a woman due to the curvature of her body that was showing thanks to the robe being more form-fitting than a regular one.

    "Shut up you damn fatty! Take this!"

    An aura in foundation establishment early-stage burst out and the woman of the group charged at the bewildered fatty. The man snorted and used his whip to attack the charging woman, but she skillfully evaded his attack sending a palm strike towards his chest. The man screamed out in shock, this was clearly a seasoned fighter, not someone like him that mostly gained his cultivation thanks to expensive pills and elixirs.

    The woman''s attack coiled towards the fatty like a snake, smacking him good and sending him flying like a sack of potatoes. The man crashed into that already damaged desk and buried the passed out bodyguard under a mountain of his flesh. The woman cultivator looked at the trembling girl on the side, then looked back at the man that was coughing up blood.

    "Pigs like you deserve death!"

    She picked up the whip from the ground and started whipping the fatty with it. The man that was standing to the side moved his hands to his helmet to remove it. His facial features making him look like a snake, his eyes quivering as he looked at his clan sister delivering divine punishment to the slave trader.

    "Sister Ai, we are supposed to take them alive, don''t kill him, this was ordered by the Patriarch."

    The woman quickly stopped as she heard the Patriarch being mentioned, the man was beaten and bruised the whip leaving a lot of bloody marks all over his rotund body. This was Zhang Teng and Zhang Ai, the members of Platoon 9. They were fulfilling a new mission that was given to them by the clan elders. They were wearing their old battle robes, but there was one thing that was different.

    Both of them had a shield-like emblem stuck to the left side of their chest, there was a craving of a city on it with some words under it that read ''Police Department'' and ''Moonlight City'' under it.

 103 Chapter 103

    The old fatty groaned and squirmed on the ground, unable to move his bloated body hurting all over after being trashed by the Zhang Clan sister. Zhang Ai removed her helmet, her hair was in a bun to make it fit in. This was one thing that she didn''t like about these battle helmets that the clan produced.

    "I remember... still he needed a good thrashing!"

    The woman gave the already beaten and bruised man a kick with her foot and only then moved back. While Ai was still by the old guy, Zhang Teng tried to help the girl up, but his snake-like features and his long tongue were giving the poor frightened girl a scare.

    "It''s okay, don''t worry this older brother will protect you!"

    He smiled brightly, or so he thought his smile looking like a pervy grin that sent shivers down Ling Ling''s spine. Zhang Ai shoved her clan brother to the side, quickly moving between him and the frightened girl.

    "Brother Teng please stop, you are scaring the little thing."

    "Scaring? How could anyone be scared of my valiant appearance!"

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    He stuck out his chest proudly, standing tall as if he was trying to show off his good features.

    "Listen here little girl, this older brother here is quite famous, I am one of the heroes from the Zhang Clan, I even helped our glorious Patriarch fight it out with a ferocious demon cultivator. It was a tough battle, but thanks to my quick wits our Patriarch managed to land the killing blow on the nascent soul cultivator!"

    Zhang Ai looked at her clan brother, squinting her eyes and sighing inwardly. This wasn''t the first time that the man told this to others, the story was more exaggerated the more he talked about it. At first, he only mentioned taking part in the expedition and making it out alive, but soon he was turning to the hero of the story, he even had the gall to mention the Patriarch in this blatant lie.

    "Hero? Helping the Patriarch?"

    "Don''t believe his lies little one, this brother here passed out under some rubble when the demon cultivator appeared. Only after our Patriarch slew the monster of a cultivator we found this useless brother under it. He even soiled his brand new robe that our clan painstakingly fashioned for us, the stench was horrendous!"

    The woman still remembered the appearance of her clan brother, he was in quite the silly position slumping forward with his posterior in the air. You could clearly see stains through the partially broken up robe, it had suffered some damage in the fighting his posterior positioned in such a fashion that you could see it all.

    The man blushed instantly, throwing hands above his head as he tried defending himself.

    "Sister Ai... you jest, nothing like that happened... you have no proof... don''t listen to this older sister little one, her intellect diminished due to her chest being so big."

    The two started arguing with each other, the girl looking shocked. She started relaxing though, the two looked to be close comrades and the comedic way they were talking with each other diffused the tense atmosphere around here, the young girl even started laughing.

    "Pfff...."

    She soon moved her hands to her head, not wanting to sound rude to the powerful cultivators that saved her. The Zhang Clan duo looked at the young girl, then to each other and simultaneously turned their heads to the side while blushing.

    "A-anyway, let us take this collar off you first."

    They removed the ring that was controlling the slave collar from the sausage-like fingers of the man, which wasn''t an easy endeavor. The little magical treasure was kind of a master key, it could deliver shocks to the slaves but it also could unlock the collars without having to pry it off their necks.

    While the two were doing that, another clan member moved in. He was a Qi condensation practitioner and was wearing a more regular looking robe. The thing that stuck out was the peculiar-looking hat that he was wearing, yes it was a regular looking police cap that you saw on earth. It even had a police shield emblem in the middle, signaling this man''s rank.

    "Reporting to Sergeant Ai and Teng, we have found captive people in the levels below, we have taken care of all the bodyguards and they are being held on the upper floor."

    This was something that their Patriarch came up with, the group was called ''Police'' the name sounded quite strange to these cultivator nuts but what their Patriarch said was considered sacred. Their belief in Zhang Dong was borderline cult-like after he managed to save them, the people that were at the secret ground had a firm image of their glorious Leader etched into their mind now.

    There were four ranks in this institution, the regular members were police officers. After them came the police sergeants that started up from the foundation early stage all up to the late stage. When you reached great circle of foundation establishment you were promoted to a police Lieutenant, there was also a Captain that was the leader of the whole group. He was the strongest cultivator at the police station and would mostly be someone of core formation.

    It had been two years since the expedition, the two were in Moonlight City and they were the first batch of the cultivators here. Yesterday they arrived with some core formation elders to take over the city that their clan once owned. The clan that ruled it was still the Cheng Clan, the Patriarch from that clan had even managed to reach the early stage of core formation.

    They weren''t afraid though, the Zhang Clan wasn''t the Zhang Clan of old. In these two years, they had recovered all of their strength and even went beyond what they were capable of. They had more core formation elders now all thanks to their glorious leader that provided them with miraculous pills and improved their cultivation techniques even more. Breaking through for those people that were stuck at the great circle of foundation establishment was just a matter of time now.

    "Begin the rescue operation, prepare the blankets and the recovery pills for the feeble ones and gather everyone in front of this slave-trading shop, we need to do a headcount. Examine everyone, ask if they have families they want to be returned too if not, follow the previously established procedures."

    The Zhang Clan had many new rules now, the Patriarch founded many new institutions the Police was just one of them, he even set many new clinics and even schools were being built for the regular people. The cultivators were a bit apprehensive about some things, why should their Zhang Clan spend valuable resources on the lowly masses.

    Their Patriarch''s words were final though, something about bringing the happiness of the populace up being quite lucrative for the well being of the entire clan. They couldn''t really go against the leader though, so everything was being set up and the all-around atmosphere around the Zhang Clan owned cities was skyrocketing.

    "It''s a shame that that old Cheng clan fox and his brats got away."

    "Yes, they must have realized that we took care of all of their spies in Spirit Spring City. But I''m not sure if they can flee far, our Captain should be on their trail."

    "Ah yes! Captain should be able to chase them down!"

    Zhang Ai clapped her hands, being reassured if it was that man he should be able to catch those fleeing Cheng Clan members and bring them in for questioning. Since the expedition, it was that man that improved the most just a shame that he was already taken.

    The said Cheng Clan Patriarch and his no-good young master of a son Cheng Tong, were on a flying ship. It looked similar to the one the Zhang Clan used when they were going to the secret ground but it was smaller and instead of a dragon it had a crane on its beak.

    "Haha, you''re great Father you knew that those bastards from Zhang Clan were coming for us, we managed to flee with most of our treasures too!"

    The chubby man was sitting on a big chair a bit away from the ship''s helm, looking at the passing scenery. He knew well that this day was coming and it was coming soon, he prepared a flying ship and brought all the core members of the clan on it before the bastards from the Zhang Clan attacked.

    "Leave it to your old man Tong''er, those idiots can have that blasted city we''ll just keep our heads low for now, but don''t worry your old man is already an expert, taking over another city won''t be a problem!"

    The man was sipping on some spirit wine, a busty lady attendant was pouring it into a tall glass while sighing inwardly. She would rather stay back in that city that was liberated by the Zhang Clan, she heard the rumors that slaves like her were treated a lot better in Spirit Spring City. But she could only dream, the slave choker visible on her neck and the Patriarch having the control ring on his finger.

    "Yes father, our clan will flourish and then when we can have our revenge against those bastards, that Zhang Xue is quite the beauty too..."

    One of the other young masters said while sitting next to his father, Cheng Tong was only the third son so he was sitting a bit to the side of his two elder brothers that were enjoying the view with their father.

    The Clan Patriarch moved his hand upwards and yelled for them to stop the flying barge, he noticed that there was a cultivator on a flying sword directly ahead of them.

    They slowed down, soon enough they could see the man''s appearance clearly. He was standing on a black flying sword and holding a large black blade over his shoulder, it was similar in length to the man himself. His hair was styled into a ponytail and it was wrapped up with some bandages. He had some stubble and a blade of grass was sticking out of his mouth.

    "Halt, In the name of the Zhang Clan!"

    The people''s eyes bulged, this cultivator had chased them down here and was from the blasted Zhang Clan. The Patriarch gritted his teeth but then took a closer look at the younger-looking man, he was only in the early stage of core formation and he clearly only achieved it recently.

    "What, is it only you? You gave me a scare there... move if you don''t want to die!"

    He moved from his seat, his core formation aura filling the area. The man wasn''t a core formation expert for long, but he had reached this point a year ago so he was confident in defeating this inexperienced cultivator.

    "Oh, are you resisting? The Patriarch ordered your capture, you will not escape! Take my blade!"

    He moved his blade over his head, water energy gathering all around him as the blade pulsed with might. He was going right into it, no more questions would be asked. The Cheng Clan Patriarch looked behind him, he was still standing on the ship, this would be bad.

    "Wait, you idiot! All the treasures are on this ship...Nooo!"

    He couldn''t explain much more as he saw a water blade moving towards him, the attack transforming into what looked to be a water dragon and roaring out as it charged at the cultivator and all of the people that were still on that flying ship. This ship wasn''t made with the intention of battle and the steering was limited, there was no way to evade the fast incoming attack.

    The Patriarch quickly mustered up his own attack to block it, he still believed that the man shouldn''t be that strong the treasures had to be protected. But as soon as his palm strike went against the raging dragon he felt his hand breaking, like a tennis ball hit by a racket he bounced to the side and was embedded in the ground below. The flying ship, on the other hand, was sliced in two, the people standing on the lower level could even see the cultivators on the other part looking at them as the ship slowly slid apart.

    This man was, of course, Zhang Zhi. He flew towards the core formation cultivator, leaving the flying ship''s remains up to his juniors that were flying in a smaller ship behind him.

    "Stop resisting!"

    He punched the man over and over again, thumping sounds filling the area while the creatures that lived there escaped in various directions. The Cheng Clan Patriarch was treated like a rag doll not even able to mutter a word.

    ''Brother I''m not even resisting, why are you whacking me so hard, do we have some kind of old grudge?"

    While this was happening a familiar-looking man with white hair was standing in the now taken over Cheng Clan building. He was looking at his system window, the points were going up as the ownership of the city went over to his clan. He looked out into the city, remembering his adventures here and about what happened in that secret ground two years ago.

    "Hah, it''s already been two years..."

 104 Chapter 104

    Matt looked at his system screen, it had changed slightly after the fiasco that was that secret ground. He walked slowly through the large compound, there was far too much space here. He didn''t know why people liked to live in such grand luxury, he still preferred smaller apartment-like spaces.

    ''They sure like to live it large... well not like my own clan is any different. Maybe I should make some budget cuts...''

    He laughed to himself as he was now part of the dreaded ruling class, he was still new to this but the system was coming handy. The system showed him the all-around happiness of the people living in the city he was considered the lord of. He could see the crime rates, the death toll even how clean the area the people lived in was.

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    ''But, this place is just terrible...''

    There was color shading to signal the places in question, red indicated that it was dangerously low and not somewhere people should be living in. Then it went to orange after that was yellow and finally green. The colors also varied by how bright or dark they were.

    ''Spirit Spring City wasn''t as bad as this...''

    He gave out a sigh while walking, there were many people shuffling around this place searching for resources and hidden areas that the Cheng Clan was hiding. Matt didn''t really bother with things like that, he left it to the juniors. He also sent Zhang Zhi in hot pursuit of the fleeing Cheng clansmen, he was still somewhat amused that he got them to wear those police uniforms. He hoped that his plan to change the way the people operated in those cities would go through.

    He was still someone that grew up in the twenty-first century, he was used to things like plumbing and not having to see horse shit all over the road while walking. The sanitary situation in this world wasn''t all that great, no one really minded doing their business in the bushes. People also did their deed in a bucket and then threw it outside the window or even on the street.

    ''Operation plumbing will have high priority in this city.''

    He flew upwards on his sword, it looked a bit different than before as he reforged it himself. He was still thinking back how much of a drag it was to learn all those techniques again. He wasn''t sure why the system changed but it looked like it removed the training wheels from itself after he was trashed by that demon dude. He started recalling what happened back then, he still felt that he should have died after that final battle.

    He woke up back in Spirit Spring City, naked and submerged in some kind of water tank with healing liquid. This was some kind of special healing chamber used in times of need. He didn''t look as malnourished as he was after the fight, having recovered most of his muscle thanks to the nourishing liquids in that healing tank. After his discharge from the watery healing facility, he received a report about what happened back then after he passed out.

    The robotic voice congratulated them for passing the trials, the elders could even keep one secret book from the library when they left. This happened after he had that punching duel with the pride demon. All of them were awarded one book of their choosing, they could take it with them. This wasn''t much of a prize for Zhang Dong, as he already had everything written down in his system library.

    He decided to just offer the other cultivators his manual instead as he didn''t need it. He even taught them rock-paper-scissors so they could decide who received the bonus manuscript. In the end, the old granny from the Feng clan beat all of them and took another wind cultivation technique for her and Feng Liena''s clan. He still chuckled as he remembered how much Huo Qiang was pouting after his loss.

    There was no reward for the junior members, soon after the stage ended the whole place started shaking and everyone began teleporting outside. Everyone expected to receive a good patdown by the Dark Palm sect when they got out, the heaven graded manuals that the elders received were in danger of being discovered and snatched.

    They were teleported onto the same platforms that they used to get inside the training ground, but something was off. It looked deserted, they couldn''t see any Dark Palm sect cultivators around at all. Everyone was startled, wondering if some powerful beast whacked those powerful cultivators, worrying if they were in danger or not.

    Everyone gathered up together and headed out of the teleportation chamber, backtracking as they still remembered the way that they used to walk here. They arrived at the place that the large door was and finally found some people in that room. Those people were wearing the Dark Palm sect robes, but their cultivation was rather low. When they saw the Clans returning their eyes almost popped out of their sockets, or at least that was what the Zhang Clan members recalled.

    Apparently the door started to suddenly open itself, probably because the trial was finished. The Dark Palm cultivators quickly reacted as they brought everyone above the foundation establishment early stage into this main room. Then something strange happened, the door slammed open and a giant suction force was directed towards the cultivators in that chamber. No one could resist it, not even the nascent soul elder that was with them.

    Every sect member was sucked inside of it, the door quickly closing itself afterward and only the weaker members of the sect were left to guard it. The clans still had six core formation experts with them besides the injured Zhang Dong and even many foundation establishment members in the great circle.

    The remaining sect members knew that they had the sect backing them, but it would be unwise to threaten these cultivators that could easily slaughter them while telling some lie about what really happened. The clans decided to leave the sect members alone, it would be better if they didn''t have some kind of nascent soul uncle coming to their clan demanding to know what happened, the sect members could explain it themselves later, without bringing unnecessary risks.

    But with this, they were able to keep all of their rewards and return safely. The weakened sect expedition party couldn''t force them to stay there at most they could report it to their higherups and have the clans searched later, but they knew that they wouldn''t find anything afterward. The important thing now was, to monitor the sacred ground and wait for their elder to return with good news. They would send some words to the main sect, but it would take a while to produce another large team like the one that was sucked inside the strange door.

    Zhang Dong was the most injured of the group, the other clans could have used this opportunity to rob the Zhang Clan of their riches but they decided to aid them instead. They guarded the injured man, that was carried by his own clansmen Feng Liena and Huo Qiang sticking to him closely as they considered him a fellow comrade by now.

    Afterward, everyone pulled out their transmission treasures and contacted their clans so they would escort them back. The friendly clans even helped the Zhang Clan to bring their Patriarch back to the city, afraid that some core formation cultivator might try their luck on the weakened Zhang Clan.

    He ended up in his clan''s version of the intense care unit, which was the strange tank filled with green liquid. He was in it for about three months before he woke up, even then he was feeling drained and it took him another month to make a full recovery. He had trouble walking and eating, but at least he had lots of time to check out his new system setting.

    He didn''t find it out till later, but he couldn''t earn any more spirit points for slaying people or monsters. For some reason, this main feature was removed, but he could still absorb spirit stones and convert it to points, though the gains were worse than before. The cash shop was gone too, the icon vanished from the main window screen and was nowhere to be found.

    He wondered why this happened, was it because he suffered a near-death experience or did his level up to a peak core formation expert had something to do with it. How would he even craft more weapons or items if he couldn''t buy any more schematics he thought, this prompted him to check things out in his crafting abode.

    His eyes went wide as the once small crafting space was several times bigger and looked more like a blacksmiths lair now. There were large cauldrons, various hammers and tongs lying about. Also, he spotted things that shouldn''t be there, like a classical looking pill furnace. But this place was supposed to be for crafting weapons and armor, not pill making or so he thought.

    The place had many more things, but also others were missing. The window to the crafting abode changed, the familiar graphical interface was gone replaced by something else. There was no way to bring up the previously implemented shop to buy resources or crafting schematics. But there was a research window on the side, when he brought it up he could see all the things that he made and all the crafting schematics that he previously bought.

    There was also some kind of separate number there, it was at zero for now and had the letters ''CP'' next to it. Soon he found out what that meant. The dancing game that he ''loved'' so much was gone, this meant that he was supposed to craft the items the old fashioned way. Using the items that were scattered in this room along with the crafting techniques that were infused into his brain.

    He still was the holder of the Dao of Smithing and Crafting, it turned out that it wasn''t just for show. He tested things out, making the simplest of daggers. His hands just moved on their own as if he knew what he was doing, still, his movements were awkward and unpracticed so he ended up with a middle graded common weapon. He thought that the Dao''s were only good for lowering prices, but they actually made him very proficient in anything related to them.

    Thanks to this test, he noticed his ''CP'' increasing. He later decided to call them crafting points, he would earn them each time he created something, was it a weapon, an armor piece or a magical treasure. He even received them for creating pills and elixirs, but he wasn''t so good at that, the Dao of pill concocting was something separate to the crafting and forging one. But this was something that he could learn later, he had all the required manuals stashed away.

    The crafting points could be spent on many things, like regular upgrades to the new crafting abode. Better hammers or better smelters, but the most useful things he could spend it on were upgrades for the schematics and for any crafting related skills that he possessed. For instance, if he had basic metallurgic skills, he could craft the required amount of daggers and then use the points to make that skill better, the knowledge would flow into his mind just like when he bought it through the store.

    Previously he could have just bought himself the skills and techniques he required in that cash shop, but now he had to put in the work. He realized that there was a big difference in learning skills in this new way. He had to work his way through, learn the lesser skills before he could receive the better one at the end. This made him a lot more proficient in them, having built up a good foundation through the process.

    Also, he received bonus points if he created something without requiring the system''s schematics. He also could spend the points so that he would receive a bonus to the crafted item, it could be random or something precise depending on the number of points he spent. He also had the whole library of high-quality manuals in his system, it was still there and he could absorb the knowledge whenever he required. He held back on it though as he thought too much knowledge might fry his brain if he just tried absorbing everything at once.

    Besides that, he could still upgrade his cultivation level like he could before the skill tree was showing him that golden nascent soul option that was next in line for taking. Though that would take a while as he had a whole hundred points and couldn''t get easy ones by slaying monsters. There were a couple of ways that he could do it though.

    First was just plain old capitalism, snatch as many spirit stones as he could get his hands on. He cold craft items, sell them or even obtain a lot of cash for the more harmless techniques that he could write down from his library.

    The second one was playing with his clan window, he could earn passive points through improving the living conditions of his people. He would also win bonuses for things like their all-around strength, loyalty, happiness. This looked like a lucrative endeavor as gaining points without having to do nothing was always appreciated. The hundred points he had now were all gained through this method as he was out and recovering.

    The third was his disciples, but he wasn''t betting much on that one. It looked more like a side gig, the points that he received from them breaking through levels were rather low.

    The fourth one was kind of similar to the first one, he could still absorb beast cores for points or any other spiritual artifacts of that sort. So he could still hunt, or go on treasure hunts.

    Due to this, improving the living environment of his people started. He started creating things like schools, clinics, police stations to keep the order going. He was already at the hundred percent mark with this cultivation and he just needed to gather points for the next jump. For now, he could spend his time improving his skills, while the points slowly ticked up. If he managed to build up a good base of operations he should be able to rake in those points in the future.

 105 Chapter 105

    Matt had spent the bulk of those two years relearning his crafting techniques. He had to actually do it manually but the gained knowledge opened up new ways and opportunities. There was one particular nifty perk of the new system, he could reverse engineer weapons and treasures that other people made. He had a chance of receiving crafting points through that but also the schematics for that item. It mostly depended on the ranking of the items and how the system rated his current skills.

    For instance, while being a Novice Blacksmith, he couldn''t really earn anything from items that were above the common grade. He gained those schematics by depositing the item in question into a special smelter, it would burn the item up and then signal him if he received something back. He could also use it to gain a percentage of resources that the item was made from in return, so it wasn''t a total waste even if he failed.

    So came the grudging task to work himself to a semi-reliable craftsman. There was a difference between having the knowledge in your brain and actually doing things with your hands. He fumbled around constantly, hammered items into unrecognizable lumps and atrocities pulling his hair out at night as he burned through the resources.

    The system ranking was self-explanatory it started from the Novice rank, then went Apprentice, Adept, Expert, Master, and Grandmaster at the end. He thought that the ranking names would be more eastern styled but they were exactly like ones from a certain RPG game he used to spend countless hours on back in the day.

    There were also separate occupations for each crafting classes like Blacksmith, Apothecary, Alchemist, Armorer. For instance, Alchemist was more geared towards making liquid elixirs while Apothecary was your usual pill maker, the former was more popular around this world than the later both had their good and bad parts.

    The Alchemist''s elixirs were harder to brew, even small deviations and mistakes would turn your elixir into black sludge but when you made it right you received something special. In response, pill making was more lenient you just ended up with a pill of a lower grading that had a certain level of toxicity to it. If you took too many of those toxic pills your cultivation would suffer later on and without some special cleansing pills, you might even remain stuck at a realm with no way of progressing in the future.

    But time is what Matt had plenty, he couldn''t reach the Nascent Soul level without gathering ten million points and regular cultivation would just take far too long. He also feard that he could blunder while breaking through such an important realm and suffer some consequences if he did it. The system only updated his cultivation method after he upgraded it, so he didn''t have the nascent soul version of his method in his brain just yet.

    He spent those two years on crafting, due to having many manuals geared towards healing and forging he was able to increase his knowledge in certain Daos. He couldn''t tell if there was a bonus in the system to having multiple Daos anymore, he could see his progress in his status screen. It was always nice to have a tangible number attached, it showed him if he progressed or if he was stuck in a rut. After the two years, his Status window looked something like this.

    [ Name: Zhang Dong

    Affiliation: Zhang Clan

    Spirit Points: 8973267

    Cultivation Base Qi : Core Formation [Great Circle 100%] (Devine Golden Lightning Core)

    Cultivation Base Body : Core Formation [Great Circle 100 %] (Golden Body)

    Techniques: Devine Lightning Path Cultivation Art, Golden Body Arts, Thunderlight Sword, Thunder Movement Art...

    Dao: Dao of Heavenly Lightning, Dao of Smithing and Crafting...

    Other: Senior Aura, Impartation of Knowledge, Mentor''s Eyes, Apprisal... ]

    When he went into his Dao section you would see :

    [ Name: Proficiency:

    Heavenly Lightning (Greater) :100%

    Smithing and Crafting (Greater): 100%

    Pill Making (Greater): 20%

    Alchemy (Greater): 16%

    Holy (Greater): 50%

    Water (Greater): 25%]

    The interesting thing about the status screen was, that it only showed him the greater Daos, so, for instance, he could click the Water Dao section and it would show him all the lesser Daos that he learned. He was part of the Zhang Clan so in his free time he decided to learn some of their techniques. So you would see the Dao of Rainwater in that section, ice-related Daos would also be featured in there.

    He earned the Holy element Dao knowledge thanks to his upgrade of the cultivation technique. His elemental affinities were also going upwards the more he immersed himself into the Daos, the only thing holding him back was the lack of time. Thanks to the various manuals of the heaven grade he could progress at a fast rate, but even then it wasn''t that easy. He couldn''t just absorb the knowledge from the manual and be a Grandmaster at it from the start.

    Just like with his crafting skills, he had to make his body and soul experience the various spiritual energies from the Daos. Take his time to digest and contemplate before reaching an epiphany. But after grasping that essence of the Dao he was able to process and learn the skills from it at a rapid rate.

    After immersing himself in the techniques he also noticed that there was a difference in rankings to them. The system gave him the bare-bones knowledge letting him move into the novice level without problems. There were various ways that people in this world rated the level of their proficiency in skills like minor success stage and greater success stage. Matt preferred the grading of the system gave him, the RPG like mechanics were much easier to digest.

    It went the same as with the crafting ranks, starting from Novice all up to Grandmaster. Six stages of proficiency, if you got it all the way up to Grandmaster a lower graded technique could start competing with a higher graded one, even jumping one larger stage in power.

    He could instantly bring his skills up into the Novice stage, it took some training to move it into the apprentice stage but it was still fairly easy. Adept was the staple stage you wanted to be in, it wasn''t so hard to earn it but it let the practitioner wield his techniques with moderate competence. He set out to obtain all of his skills to this level at least, he even earned some system points for training and getting his proficiencies up.

    For instance, the Supreme Thunder God''s Penetrative Nirvana Finger attack. When he used it against the demonic being it was at most at the apprentice level, if he managed to push it up to the expert level he probably wouldn''t have had to burn through his life force to win that battle.

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    Thanks to his Lightning Dao Mastery all lightning-based techniques came quite easy, still, he would have to train for quite a bit to take them all the way up to Grandmaster. For now, He aimed to bring his most used skills up to expert status. He was also a bit worried that he was spreading himself too thin. It always came down to time, at least the system was helping him upgrade the skills if he needed too which made them more powerful and easier to absorb.

    Back in the present Matt nodded at some of his clan members that passed by him and gave him the usual ''Oh god it''s the glorious Patriarch'' Bow. He wondered if he could do something about this mindset, maybe in a hundred years the people could stop bowing to everyone they met, operation handshake would take a while.

    He had some things to do as he went into a secluded room and jumped into his crafting abode.

    ''I''m glad that I have this thing with me now, otherwise, I would have to spend all of my free time in here slaving away.''

    He patted a furnace looking contraption that was standing in one of the rooms of his new crafting castle. The area was a lot bigger than before and it had separate rooms for crafting and forging of other items. He was standing next to a very important item, it was something like a 3D printer.

    This was quite the nifty little thing that he discovered while examining his new crafting base. After he manufactured an item it would be graded, there was the main grading and the advanced one. This here 3D printer was a time-saver, he could insert the created item into one part of it and the 3D printer would copy it down. It required resources to copy things, you could just put them into another slot. There was also a size limit, but he could upgrade it further to counteract that.

    The product that came up would be of lower quality than the original though, but he could spend crafting points to upgrade this contraption. So by now it only dropped a couple of those advanced grades, in the beginning, it would even drop from a high grade all the way down to a low grade.

    ''Took quite a bit of crafting points to get this going, but now I don''t have to produce all those police and military uniforms myself.''

    The thought back to all those sleepless nights that he spent creating the police caps, the etching of the emblems was quite time-consuming as well.

    ''Xue finally reached the early stage of foundation establishment, I promised to gift her something if she managed to do it within the year. Damn kids progressing faster than their own master!''

    Zhang Liu was close to reaching the middle stage now, he was slightly ahead of his younger sister but she was quickly catching up. The girly being the youngest foundation establishment cultivator that the clan had brought up. Their progress was slowing down though, it would probably take some time till they are ready to burst through to core formation.

    Things were hectic at the start, so he couldn''t really focus on his two cute disciples that much, he was more concerned about points at that time. Only later was he able to actually reevaluate his approach, he couldn''t just give them random skills and techniques that he used. They both had different proficiencies and talents.

    Xue was proficient in the Spear, while Liu was good with the Saber. He had already produced a perfect graded Saber for the youth not long ago, he remembered that he was really worried back then as he didn''t fully grasp his crafting skill yet at that point. It was a bit of a drag that none of them were proficient in swords, he would have to train in those himself if he wanted to pass down any input that he had.

    Luckily he wasn''t required to do that, the kids were fine with receiving some manuals and the crafted weapons. Everyone in this world understood that people were different and your master wasn''t required to give you everything. They needed to tread their own path in life, he was just supposed to partially guide them along.

    "Well then, let me get this over with!"

    He was already an expert blacksmith at this point and he used a technique that didn''t require much hammering to produce strong weapons.

    "Guess I''ll make it a normal leaf-shaped blade and the tassel will have a sky blue color to signify the Zhang Clan."

    He used some spiritual energy to move the required iron ingots to the desired spot in front of him. He learned a certain crafting skill thanks to the seventh level of that trial tower, it was a high grade technique that required the utmost concentration. He moved his fingers like a conductor his lightning energy flowing into the blocky piece of metal.

    It was heated up and quickly turned into a red hot liquid while hovering up in the air. Then with a couple of flicks of his fingers, the lump started extending slowly taking the shape of that leaf-like blade tip. Soon a spear shaft flew in from the side, Matt was sitting in a lotus position eyes closed and his arms moving around slowly while concentrating.

    The shaft was made from special wood, it was much more resistant than regular steel. The flaming tip and the spear shaft embedded themselves into each other as the process continued. The resistant hair of a formation establishment beast was used as the tassel, the weapon coming together nicely as the process was finished.

    Matt whipped the sweat from his brow, this skill made things easier and faster but it was quite taxing on his cultivation. The harder the materials the more time he had to spend on them. But thanks to this, he saved copious amounts of time and he could train his Qi manipulation while crafting as well.

    "There, that should do it... let me just put my emblem onto it... and done!"

    A little lightning bolt was embedded into the blade, showing that it was something that he made. He still liked to mark things that he made himself, good marketing was key. People liked to buy up his custom made stuff like hotcakes and thanks to that he almost had that ten million points to reach the next level of power.

    ''Soon...''

 106 Chapter 106

    These past two years had been more or less peaceful, but Matt knew that it wouldn''t take much to break this illusion of peace. He didn''t know what happened to the Dark Palm sect members back in the secret ground, they had some spies in the nearby cities to scout things out. But they weren''t giving them any good reports, the area was still on lockdown. No way to know if those guys found that immortal technique back there that they were hoping for or not.

    He had to stay vigilant, there was a small run-in with their force not long after they escaped that secret ground. But they were mostly just interested in the things that happened transpired at the secret ground. He wasn''t sure what the other clan''s said to them, but Matt thought that the Zhang Clan wasn''t strong enough to go against that sect just yet. But that could change soon after he obtained those ten million points.

    There was contradicting intel about how many nascent soul cultivators that sect had, but it shouldn''t be that many. It wasn''t one of the giant sects that had their headquarters in the most spiritual energy-rich locations on the continent but it wasn''t the weakest either. One thing was clear, the only way he could hope to resist them was to reach the next level of power.

    He was somewhat confident in fighting a nascent soul expert at the early stage. If he compared that monster to the elder that greeted him before they went into the secret ground, then the monster was stronger. The Sin of Pride was also a dual cultivator, those regenerative and defensive capabilities were only beaten thanks to his new holy attribute being the bane of demons and devils.

    He had gotten a lot stronger since then, the condensation skills and his avatar form were all trained up to the expert levels which let him last in that empowered state for a lot longer now. But that wasn''t the answer, at most he could hope to take out one nascent soul expert in a fair bout. But if there were two, or if they knew his weak point and stalled for time he would probably lose.

    ''Ah, if I didn''t train my Tranquil Mind up to the Master level I''d probably be a shaking mess by now.''

    The life of the glorious Patriarch wasn''t that easy, he was constantly reminded that thousands, no millions of people''s lives depended on him. Sure he could be like the other rich and powerful cultivators and not care about the general populace. But that just wasn''t him, he couldn''t just abandon everyone and flee when things got tough.

    ''Well, I guess I should check up on the others and see how they are doing with the next stage of the plan.''

    He strode to one of the larger rooms of the old Cheng Clan compound, they had started setting up their base of operations here. His retainers were already waiting for him, ready to give their report.

    "So, how are things proceeding Kuo?"

    The man was holding a communication jade in his hand and then looked to the Patriarch, he was already reporting while preforming his perfect graded bow.

    "Reporting to the Patriarch! Captain Zhi has apprehended the Cheng Clan Patriarch and is heading back here, we also managed to capture the rest of their clan members but a couple of them fled into the surrounding forest and are hiding."

    Matt rubbed his chin while listening to the report.

    "Oh? Weren''t they fleeing in a flying ship, shouldn''t it be easy to just capture them all on it?"

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    Zhang Kuo fixed his glasses slightly while a tiny bit of sweat formed on his forehead.

    "Captain Zhi destroyed the ship and sliced it two halves before the rest of the pursuing team could give him support..."

    Matt blinked and scratched his cheek slightly, thinking back to what he said to the man before he charged off to battle.

    ''Hm... guess I shouldn''t have told him to bring them back at any cost... or the part with whacking them good if they resisted...''

    Zhang Zhi was a powerful cultivator, already in the core formation stage and at a fairly young age. His only bad trait was, that he would take everything literally. He would follow up on any order with the utmost care, from Matt''s point of view the man had kind of a Patriarch complex. The way he bowed and how his eyes shined whenever he ordered him to do something, was slowly giving him the creeps.

    ''I bet if I ordered him to wear a pink tutu, he would think its some powerful spiritual treasure that I''m gifting him to further his cultivation. Though it was surprising to hear that he was getting married that time, he even has a kid already.''

    Matt wasn''t in the tower defense section for too long, but a certain power couple was born from it. It was Zhang Zhi and Feng Daiyu, the woman was truly massive the word Amazon perfectly describing her, those chiseled abs were quite astonishing. Supposedly the two hit it off back in the training ground, he didn''t know anything specific but whenever he asked about how Zhang Zhi met his wife he looked depressed.

    Later on, it would be revealed that the woman sneaked into his bed chambers after one of the more hard-fought battles. She didn''t take no for an answer and devoured the poor Zhang Zhi''s chastity the man was still pure and innocent even at forty, his only purpose in life being cultivation. The child was born out of wedlock and they only found out after the woman''s belly was already large. Zhi was quite an honorable man, so he decided to get engaged to the amazonian woman that became Zhang Daiyu and was back with their daughter in Spirit Spring City.

    "That''s troublesome, but he made this mess so he should clean it up. Tell him to form a search party and bring the other Cheng Clan members back, we need to show the people how we treat criminals like them."

    Normally what happened in this kind of world would be a clan cleansing, every member of this clan would be captured and killed. Matt wanted to change that, he wanted to gather evidence and then put people up on a trial. The death sentence wouldn''t be the only thing they could do, sentencing to hard labor was also an option. Making someone a criminal slave wasn''t out of the question either, they would work with a slave collar slowly paying back their debt to society.

    ''Luckily we have spiritual treasures that can tell if you are telling the truth, this makes the whole thing a lot easier.''

    Thanks to treasures like these he didn''t really need to create occupations like lawyers. The process would be nice and smooth, but others could still temper with those treasures so they still had to watch out for swindlers. Thanks to his new gained crafting potential he could come up with various new treasures that could emulate things that he knew back from Earth.

    One such item was making its way into the City Square, the common people were looking at the Zhang Clan that used to be the rulers here, quite interested in what they were doing. There was a chubby statue being removed that was a spitting image of the man Zhang Zhi whacked today. It was being torn down to make way for a large fountain, or at least that was what it looked like.

    Thanks to spatial technology that was also improved by Matt''s crafting knowledge, they could set up the new magical fountain.

    The fountain was circular shape at the base, inside of it were four pillars with dragon heads coming out of them. On those pillars was a smaller cauldron, the water inside of this fountain was radiating blue light and even the regular people felt that this thing wasn''t simple.

    "What is that, a fountain?"

    "Are they from the fabled Zhang Clan? Think their Patriarch is here, maybe he''ll sign my manuscript?"

    "Why would he do that?"

    The area was abuzz while the Zhang Clan cultivators finished up, they inserted something shiny into a slot in one of the pillars which made the whole thing glow for a moment. The spectacle subsided soon after, the dragon heads spitting out water after the magical item got activated.

    Suddenly something happened, the cauldron that was smaller in size than the whole fountain but still quite large began to light up. The water inside it gave off a deep blue coloring which soon lit up the whole place. The people gasped as a pillar of light shot up into the sky, everyone within the square could see the bright beam of light.

    This wasn''t over though, inside the beam of light they saw a person. It was a rather handsome man, due to the coloring of the water he was in a shade of blue. He was standing up straight, his hands behind his back making him look like a seasoned veteran cultivator. The commoners gulped as the man looked quite lifelike as if he was going to jump out and give them a throughout thrashing.

    "Greetings people of Moonlight City, my name is Zhang Dong and I am the Patriarch of the Zhang Clan that you see before you."

    To the people''s surprise, the man in the fountain started to speak, it was even the widely talked about Zhang Clan Patriarch! Everyone moved closer, their ears perking up as they gathered, they felt truly blessed for having such an expert talk to them.

    "Fear not, My Zhang Clan isn''t like the previous Cheng Clan, we will treat you right."

    He reached out with his hand, gesturing to the Zhang Clan members that were dressed in the new police uniforms.

    "These members from my clan will keep order in the streets, they will be stationed in a separate building soon."

    "Even while I''m speaking to you, they have rescued countless good people from slavers and hooligan''s alike."

    The man moved his hands behind his back and struck a valiant pose, the people not really knowing how to react to the whole spectacle as they didn''t expect anything like this.

    "I''ll leave you with my Junior Sister, she will be the one delivering the news in the future. May you live long and prosper."

    The so-called Zhang Clan Patriarch then moved to the side and bade his farewells to the masses, in his place appeared quite the lovely lady. She had quite the nice curvature, was wearing glasses and had a strange form-fitting robe. It was just an ordinary female business suit, with a miniskirt that Matt fashioned after the image of newscasters from his old world.

    The woman bowed to the people, looking quite professional while doing it.

    "Greetings this sister''s name is Zhang Meifen, I''ll be reporting the news in this city from now on."

    The people of this world had no idea what was going on, the motion of daily or weekly news was something that they didn''t know about. Most information was distributed by word of mouth and there were some information agencies doing it for a steep price.

    "Following the capture of the Cheng Clan members, we will be conducting a trial..."

    The woman started talking about the new trail system, about how slavery would be forbidden and anyone that took part in it would be sentenced to hard labor, you could even have your cultivation crippled. While the lady was doing her thing, Matt moved back to the side he knew that he needed to throw in some words there as the leading figure, he even thought he did a good job all things considered.

    ''Hm, think I''m getting less stressed from these public appearances, when I did this back at home it was scarier.''

    This was something he came up in his free time, what was better than a television to bring your message across. He fumbled around in his crafting fort, trying to make something that would produce an image with sound and finally was able to produce this fountain-like hologram. This would be a great propaganda tool as well, he could slowly bring his clan''s image up while diminishing the image of other powers if there was a need for it.

    This was just a prototype that burned way too much spirit energy, but he was planning to set up more portable TV like items into the people''s homes. Maybe he could make something like the internet in the future. They just needed to expand their infrastructure, he had two options. Either to supply the spiritual power with something like cables, or fashion them in such a way that the treasures would absorb the residual Qi in the surroundings.

    He wanted to go with option two, but he would need to lower the energy requirement first and make the items more compact. For now, this would do. The Moonlight city restoration project had just taken off and it was going well for the Zhang Clan, but they still had some pesky mice to take care of.

 107 Chapter 107

    The people started whispering amongst each other, the fountain hologram had finally been turned off, the new ruling clan and their members had left the square. No one dared to utter a word or question them about anything, they were still afraid. The Zhang Clan used to rule this city before, but even then they weren''t like this. They weren''t as bad as the evil Cheng Clan, but they still upheld the status quo.

    The woman in the picture explained a couple of things. That there would be something like the ''police'' patrolling the city, this was easy to understand as they were just guardsmen in strange uniforms. The other things were a bit odd, the woman said that some of the taxes would go to something called ''health care'' and you could sign up to a clinic and get yourself checked out by a physician without having to pay. The taxes would cover the expense instead.

    "Are they testing us or something, this sounds too good to be true..."

    Some of the people whispered after the threat of the powerful family was gone. They having left after doing their strange announcement.

    This wasn''t all, besides the police and free clinics for the masses there would also be a school. This wasn''t just a martial arts school in which you could earn some low graded techniques, no. This would be something that youths from a young age could attend, learn how to read and write and even have some free standardized techniques and cultivation manuals to choose from. They even said that the promising students would have an option of being invited into the midst of the powerful Zhang Clan.

    "Yes, why would they want us to join their family, wouldn''t that just lower their prestige?"

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    "But what if it''s true... It wouldn''t be bad to have my little Wang''er to learn something from such a powerful clan..."

    "Yes, if even one of my brats could join that clan I would be set for life!"

    The people''s reaction to the things that the Zhang Clan was offering was mixed. They wanted to believe in the families'' goodwill, but they were also afraid that those places might have some shady dealings. It wouldn''t be much of a stretch if they had their kids enroll in that ''free'' school and then some Zhang Clan uncle would come demanding payment, their kids could even be captured and turned to slaves.

    Most of these people were from the first up to the third level of Qi condensation, this was the realm the vast majority of regular people reached. The bottleneck past the third level was just too hard without having the backing of a clan and their knowledge. It was a risky move to attempt it on your own a lot of people crippled themselves while struggling to force their way through.

    "Wonder what the other families think about this..."

    "Not like they can go against the Zhang Clan, anything is better than those blasted Chens."

    "Hope that Patriarch of theirs has a slow death... his bastard kids were always bullying everyone, how many young girls lives did the end?"

    The people started rumbling about how the old clan was trash, their bravery kicking in at the moment the city was taken over by the new power.

    The Cheng Clan wasn''t the only family clan in the city though, it was only the strongest. This city was far too large to have only one big faction to run it, there were many smaller family clans around that were just controlled by the big overlord that was the Cheng Clan. This wasn''t anything new, the same thing was also true back in Spirit Spring City. You could say that the Cheng Clan was the Dark Palm sect to these lower clans, but now it was replaced by the Zhangs.

    In this city, there were three other powers. There was the Xing Clan they were mostly involved in the more shady businesses having stakes in the pleasure district and the gambling spots around it. Then there was the Kuan Clan they were responsible for the food supply and the farming areas around the city, they would go to the village areas and transport the rice and wheat while taxing the farmers. The last were the people from the Situ Clan, they had a monopoly on the medicine in the area most of the clinics and apothecaries belonged to them.

    The three factions kept themselves at bay, but if they ever worked together then they could have been able to compete with the Cheng Clan. That clan in question was focused on strength, so they didn''t really need to spread themselves thin with many establishments. They collected taxes from the lower three clans and protected them in response, acting like the military of the city. So they were more like a mafia family that was collecting protection money while running some shady businesses on the side.

    But now there was a new tiger in town, the old families used to work with the old Zhang Clan but that family didn''t really exist anymore. The new Patriarch was making things clear after one of the businesses owned by the Xing Clan was raided. It was the place old fatty Mu was the owner of, they didn''t even come to the Xing Clan to work things out before going into action.

    In a certain secluded place, there were three men sitting around a round table. They were looking at the map of Moonlight City, some red marks drawn on it, one in the spot of the slave trader Old Fatty Mu.

    "What are they thinking, are they trying to squeeze my Xing Clan for spirit stones?"

    Xing Deng the Xing Clan Patriarch spoke up, his fist slamming onto the table while his brows quivered in anger. The people sitting at the table were the Kuan and Situ Clan Patriarchs, the three had called an emergency meeting after the leading family was taken down. They didn''t like each other, but when their livelihood was being taken away they would work together.

    "My people reported that they want to give free medicine to those useless commoners, preposterous!"

    This was the Situ Clan Patriarch named Situ Rong who earned his living by overpricing all medicine that his businesses made, if some renegade pill maker popped up in the city he would be either recruited under this family or removed from the city.

    "Damn Zhangs, they want to lower the taxes on the blasted farmers as well and they want to reexamine the quality of the food we produce!"

    This was the Patriarch of the third family Kuan Yin, he was also angered. The taxes would be lowered and his family might even have to pay fines if the food didn''t meet the Zhang Clan''s standards.

    "This is just blatant bullying!"

    "We must make a decision brothers... do we lose face or do we strike back..."

    Xing Deng asked while leaning back, in his mouth was a large cigar and he looked more like a mafia boss than a cultivator. He was the most ruthless from the bunch, he had no qualm in using people as slaves or selling them off for body parts.

    "Brother Deng speaks wise words, but I don''t think we can fight this clan openly... their Patriarch is just too powerful, he easily defeated Tsai Fang."

    Situ Rong spoke up, the man looking like a middle-aged man with the top of his head balding but with some hair on the side.

    "But we got word that he was injured after they returned from that secret ground, the state of his cultivation is unknown and he rarely leaves Spirit Spring City."

    Kuan Yin chimed in, he was holding a fan covering part of his face he looked the oldest with an unhealthy skin complexion and sunspots. All of them were cultivators in the great circle of foundation establishment. None of them had a core formation expert in their family, but even those kinds of experts could be bought out.

    "I say we wait it out, for now, no reason to stick our heads out just yet. Maybe the Zhang Clan will come around, it might be some scheme we don''t know about."

    Said Situ Rong while looking at the town map, hoping that he was right.

    "If they still don''t change their minds, then we could hire someone to take care of their Patriarch... I bet if we combine our resources we could hire a powerful expert, I think Brother Deng should have someone in mind?"

    Kuan Yin asked while looking in Xin Deng''s direction.

    "Hm, you speak wise words. It''s too soon to act and yes there was a strong expert making a name for himself, he even slew some beasts that were at the very top of the food chain. If I remember correctly... this expert goes by the name of... Lei Yinglo!"

    "Oh, that esteemed Senior! I''ve heard of his tales, he has made a name for himself by slaughtering demonic cultivators and beasts alike... but he won''t be cheap."

    "Yes, we might have to empty our coffers out, but if there isn''t any other possibility..."

    "That Patriarch is just a little brat if he doesn''t give us any face, then we don''t have to give him any either!"

    The three Clan Patriarch''s chuckled while looking at each other, Xin Deng sticking a dagger in the place that the old Cheng Clan villa was situated and now belonged to the Zhangs. They chatted for a bit more, talking about business-related things while they sealed the deal on their pact. They would wait it out, for now, while gathering information on the new enemy. They weren''t against a peaceful solution, but that depended on their bottom line and if the Zhang Clan crossed it or not.

    While the three Patriarchs were being their villainous selves an old man was walking down the street. He looked to be in his sixties or seventies with a long white beard, his physique was a bit wide making him look like he worked out at the gym a lot but his baggy robe hid that fact quite well.

    The man stopped at a new Apothecary shop that was also used as a clinic. He looked at the blue-robed men and women bringing in various items into the new shop, not even noticing the elderly man that was standing there. He coughed into his hand a bit to get their attention, one of the younger girls finally noticing him as she approached.

    "Greetings, how can I help you, Sir?"

    The girl asked while looking at the old fart, the man''s face was all wrinkled up but he looked quite friendly.

    "Ah yes, my name is Wei Hung. I think you should have been informed about me, little missus?"

    The man smiled while moving his hands behind his back, hunching forward slightly. The female Zhang member thought for a second and then a lightbulb appeared above her head.

    "Ah yes Senior, come come, we have been waiting for you!"

    She quickly run into the shop and clapped her hands together so that everyone would turn their heads towards the elder and her, then she spoke out.

    "Everyone, this is elder Wei Hung, he will be working as the physician in this shop from now!"

    This man had been hired to be the main physician and pill maker of this new free clinic. He would take care of the hard cases that the normal pills or elixirs couldn''t cure. From what the younger Zhang members knew, this man was an experienced doctor that was recruited for this job by the Zhang Elders, but in reality, he was their Patriarch in disguise!

    Matt knew that being too well known wasn''t such a good thing, if he tried walking through the streets of cities or land that he owned he would receive the dogeza treatment. People would line up and clear a path, their faces squished into the ground fearing his wrath. This was also the reason that he used the holograms wanting to appear friendly and approachable.

    Still, he knew that he couldn''t just go out and do his thing anymore, he had a certain status to uphold. This is where his disguise technique would come into play. He had improved upon it quite a bit, it now being able to mask his aura as well. He wouldn''t be recognized by anyone below the nascent soul level, even those would have problems in seeing through it in certain situations.

    Why would he disguise himself you might ask. Well, he wanted to improve the happiness of the people in the cities that he owned, but he couldn''t just do that as himself. It would seem strange if the Zhang Clan Patriarch just appeared out of nowhere and started teaching people basic skills or healing them with his pills and healing arts.

    The situation of this city was tragic, he was even losing points from the way this city was run now. He just bought a diseased animal and was supposed to heal it while parasites still festered in it. They might have gotten rid of the main culprit which was the Cheng Clan, but there were still more people fashioned from the same cloth.

    He wanted to pretend to be a lower level cultivator, seaming to be at the foundation establishment middle level. No one would suspect that an old doctor was the Zhang Patriarch in disguise. He could slowly scope out the area and gain some knowledge while also helping the sick and poor out in the process.

 108 Chapter 108

    Matt moved into the building, it was quite large and had more than one level. There was enough space to bring in multiple patients if the need arose. The shop had a bit of a different look than the other establishments around the area, sticking out due to the large glass door that slid apart when someone stood at the entrance.

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    This was something Matt made in his free time, wasn''t all that hard just required a pressure plate and some technical knowledge that he now had. The electricity for things like that could easily be replaced by spiritual energy and it didn''t really take much out from a lower graded spirit stone to run those doors for multiple months on end.

    After you went through the sliding door and heard a chime you could see a large reception area, a cute lady was sitting there also hired by the Zhang Clan as they didn''t really have many family cultivators to spare for tasks like these. There were a couple of junior members in here though and guards but no one really strong.

    They didn''t really think anyone would attack their shop in here, Zhang Zhi would be stationed in this city for now acting as the de facto governor. His lovely buff wife and their child would be joining them soon, the man was a bit apprehensive about this mostly due to not wanting to be separated from his man crush that was the Patriarch.

    Next to the reception area was the waiting area, there were a couple of long benches next to the walls for people to sit in but also a wider area with some tables where they could enjoy some tea while they waited for their order.

    There was a little window in which some apothecary workers were inside, they would be responsible for selling pills and elixirs. There wasn''t anything like a need for prescriptions in this world, anyone could just say which pills they wanted and if they had the money for it they would buy it. But, physicians still gave them out to people that didn''t know what they needed as a service.

    The way things worked in her were similar to modern times. People would go take a plaque with a number on it and then the lady at the desk would call it out, signaling that they were next in line. This was also why the small tea area existed so people could nicely spend their waiting time. Matt would like to have a digital counter and something that just automatically printed your spot in the line, but for now, this would have to do.

    There were some stairs to the side, they leading up to the second level of the building and into the physician corner of the clinic. There were more waiting areas there, beds all around and some lovely ladies dressed in white Chinese styled robes and nurse hats on their heads, also forced upon them by the Patriarch''s peculiar tastes.

    He would be stationed on this level, he had his own room with a bed to the side where he could treat patients one by one. There was also an open area with many beds outside, making it look like one of those military hospitals with just some drapes separating the patients.

    "Yaaawwwnnn..."

    Matt was sitting in his chair, slumping forward a bit. A crooked posture was one of his special abilities, this he managed to bring over from his old gaming days. So he was sure that no one would see through his elderly man disguise.

    ''Sure is quiet around here, no one showed up. Did that news lady deliver the message correctly?''

    Matt expected the sick people to claw their way in, demanding free healthcare as they did back in his earthly days. The waiting lines in his home country were always so damn long and you had to wait for hours to receive your checkup. But here, there was no one there. Everyone was just lazing around now, all the items and resources were already moved inside.

    ''Maybe the news needs to spread further, or we need to send someone to advertise in the streets.''

    He rubbed his beard, thanks to the disguise art he could grow it out quite nicely. He even had a nice fu manchu mustache to go with his beard.

    ''Well, I guess I''ll go make some pills if I don''t have anything to do now.''

    There was another reason for making this shop, his pill concocting was lagging behind his crafting skills quite a bit. He only needed some items to and he could create a heaven grade item, that he could absorb to push his body into the nascent soul. He had worked his actual crafting skills to the very top of core formation he just lacked the necessary resources to go further.

    ''Yeah, those sect bastards really double down on anything related to heaven grade materials.''

    It was ill-advised to create items in the nascent soul stage, whenever a practitioner fashioned an item of that level a peculiar aura would be produced. This aura could be felt by the nearby cultivators by miles upon miles, you would have sect uncles knocking on your door demanding you to cough the item up for some chump change in no time.

    ''Those sects sure are scared about their position aren''t they?''

    The same thing would happen if a person reached the nascent soul stage and was discovered. The only option for someone like that was either to run from the leading sect in the area or have enough backing to fight them off. If you were a renegade cultivator or came from a weak family, you would be chased down. Either killed by the sect uncles or recruited by them and closely watched, have some slave-like contracts forced upon you while they slowly brought you over to their side, one way or the other.

    He was somehow able to make lower graded earth pills at the moment, but even this feat was something that would make him into a master pill maker in this world. Anything that reached to the earth realm would be considered a treasure, the families would fight each other to get their hands on a pill of that grading.

    There was a logical explanation as to why, a low-grade earth pill was able to help someone reach the core formation early stage. This was enough for a weaker clan to be able to duke it out with the big boys, the Cheng Clan was in that category having spent quite a fortune for a pill like that which allowed their Patriarch to finally reach the core formation-level before the other three families in the area.

    This was also how Zhang Zhi managed to burst through his bottleneck. Matt managed to create a pill that pushed him into the core formation stage and that didn''t have that many side effects. But this caused the already nutty junior of his, to worship him even more.

    Wei Hung smiled at the bowing clinic workers as he headed out from his office, he looked around the empty rooms no patients coming in at all. But he wasn''t that surprised, he knew that people were naturally suspicious and untrusting in this world. Even more in this kind of town where you might be robbed in broad daylight. He already knew that his small police force was having trouble in keeping up with the reports, there was just too much shady stuff happening around here.

    There was a cellar into which he headed, this was a designated brewing room for him. No one would bother him here even if someone was on death''s door as cultivators were really serious about their pill making. They were quite afraid to anger a pill making master during his or her work.

    ''Well... let me get to work...''

    He looked at the items spread out here and smirked, he wouldn''t actually be using these second-hand goods for his work. He had his crafting fortress for that and a designated brewing and pill forging area in there. This crafting abode had somehow integrated itself into his system, he could upgrade it even without having to buy the next version at the cash shop like before.

    He closed the door behind him and put up the sign that he shouldn''t be disturbed. He then closed his eyes, his body began to glow slightly and then vanished from the spot he was standing in. Matt appeared in the center of his crafting abode, the air around here was surprisingly refreshing. He had a similar copying device for his pills, but it wasn''t as upgraded as the one that he used for weapon crafting. Each crafting related profession required a different one which really pained him when he had to spread his crafting points out.

    ''Hope it won''t blow up in my face like last time...''

    Crafting pills required a pill furnace, they came in various shapes and sizes. The one that he had in this room was a green jade-looking one. It was standing on three legs and had an oval shape. It had the yin and yang symbol on it from four sides and a lid with which you could close it. If you wanted to make elixirs, you needed a cauldron instead. He had one of similar quality in another part of this room, it was quite large and golden.

    "What should I practice on today... think the people would really love more of those Core establishing pills."

    He had made a Water Core Founding Pill for Zhang Zhi, but he went through quite a bit of exploding furnaces. The things liked to burst open and hit his face whenever the temperature was off. It was even harder to fashion this pill as it had the greater Dao of Water truths inside of it, it would be a lot easier to make one that gave a cultivator a lesser Dao core instead.

    ''Good that it worked, but it was probably more due to the superior cultivation manual...''

    He had upgraded Zhang Zhi''s cultivation method, thanks to the library from that secret ground Matt could combine the heaven graded manuals with the ones that his clan members used and derive better cultivation methods. This was also another feature of the new system, well more of this crafting abode that had a library section a certain magical item with which you could combine texts.

    It didn''t look like much, it looked like a desk with many smaller drawers in it. You put the text in there and then a popup window would appear in front of the contraption. You could spend points to combine the two techniques, add more so that the grade would improve. The costs were decreased if you put in a lower graded item and a higher graded item to receive a middle graded one from the combination.

    For instance, if you grabbed a mortal grade Zhang Clan staple technique and popped a heaven graded one into the drawer. The system would show you if the techniques were compatible, and if they were you could cheaply receive an earth graded manual from it. You even could play around with the settings, letting the system improve the attacking potential or defensive potential of the skill. The inserted books would be lost in the process, but for Matt, that wasn''t a problem as he could write them all down again anyway.

    ''Come to think of it, that feels a bit like cheating... but not my fault that they left so many techniques back there.''

    This worked only to a certain point, it depended on how good the best technique that he had for combining was and if it vibed well with the other technique manuals in the mix. From what Matt understood the system checked if there were faults in the techniques in reference to the other ones used in the process. So if he threw in hundreds of similar technique manuals, the system should work out some kinks and he would receive an improved version. But there was also a margin of error and he could receive an utterly trashy technique, that would kill you the moment you tried cultivating in it.

    Matt was now sitting opposite his pill furnace, some herbs already in it as he heated up the crafting utensil with his Qi. The purer your spiritual energy was, the better your crafted pills came out and Matt had one of the best Qi purities around. The various herbs and spices circled around the pill furnace, jumping into it while the cultivator focused. He was past the stage in which he had to insert items by hand, his mind doing all the work while he focused.

    ''Keep the temperature stead... now comes the chilling star mushroom... d-damn added it too soon... need to add the inferno spirit grass to counter its effects now...''

    You could see the sweat running down his forehead, one of his hands touching the furnace while the other was pointing at the circling herbs above the furnace. Soon it started rumbling which made the young pill maker''s brows quiver, he inserted more Qi into the furnace trying to slow down the explosive chemical reaction that was taking place but to no avail. The lid suddenly popped upwards and black goo shot out in all directions, Matt''s face all black and his clothes ruined and stinky.

    "God damn it!"

    He looked at the mess in this room, he would have to either clean it by hand or spend his crafting points on it. This new system was truly without mercy for its current owner.

    ''Should I make some low graded elixirs to gain some crafting points... or clean it myself...''

    While the elderly man was focusing on scrubbing the stinky black residue from his pill furnace, someone burst through the sliding doors of the clinic. Some time had passed since it was opened and it was now closing hour, but the screeching woman rushed in while holding a little boy in her hands.

    "Please save my child, I have nowhere else to go!"

 109 Chapter 109

    It was close to closing hours and the elder that was responsible for the clinic was still down in the basement concocting pills, or so the workers that were working thought. The people that were gathered here were mostly hired help or regular cultivators, they didn''t develop a more lenient mindset just yet.

    Zhang Dong had ordered to help the people of this city and offer them service, but these two looked like beggars. The Patriarch didn''t realize that he worded his order in the wrong way. The workers thought that ''People of this city'' was about the actual citizens that paid taxes, if they saw a beggar they would shoo them away.

    "Please, this is a clinic, right? Is there a doctor around?"

    The woman wasn''t someone that the news about the Zhang Clan had reached, she just noticed the extravagant health clinic sign outside. All the apothecary shops and other establishments for healing that were owned by the Situ Clan had already turned her down. They would never aid someone that wouldn''t be able to pay those exorbitant prices that they charged.

    "I beg you, save my little Zhu''er."

    The people looked at each other and then to the mother, she was holding a 10 or 11-year-old child in her hands, the youth looked like he was trashed by someone. This wasn''t rare around these parts, if you bumped into some people without begging for their forgiveness it wasn''t strange to be beaten up to the brink of your life.

    "We are sorry the doctor is busy now, come back tomorrow..."

    One of the male workers replied while looking to the side, his gaze to the stairs going down to the basement where Wei Hung headed too. He was afraid that the old man might beat them up if they bothered him with two beggars like this. He really didn''t want to earn a caning by some old grandpa, he had gotten enough beatings by his own elders so he was adamant about reporting this to the man in charge. Those pill makers were a strange bunch, their furnaces would explode and they would blame it on the workers being too loud which broke their concentration.

    ''No way I''m dragging that old grandpa up here, he looked ferocious.''

    In Matt''s mind he was playing the role of a sympathetic old grandpa, but in reality, whenever he smiled his face would contort in strange ways making the people feel uncomfortable around him. They wouldn''t say a thing though, everyone knew at least one grumpy old elder in their life and knew well how to evade their wrath.

    "Yes, yes the old master is busy making pills, please leave if you can''t pay for healing pills or elixirs..."

    The woman only had a couple of copper coins on her, the rest were the torn up clothes. The child that she was holding was the only family that she had, her husband having been sold off as a slave after he gambled their money away in the casinos of Moonlight City. She was too old to be a working lady and had trouble finding a job only doing odd jobs.

    Times were tough though and the people were cruel, even when she cleaned and cooked for them they would only leave scraps and underpay her tremendously. Sometimes they would even throw her out without anything after her slaving away for a whole day, cooking and cleaning. Her boy was a little troublemaker too, always getting in trouble and making his poor mom worry.

    Due to the mother working all day the youth went unsupervised. One thing led to another and he joined the local street urchins that moved around the city stealing food and small change. Most of the time they managed to get away, the young kids far too agile and used to the backstreets to get apprehended. This time they weren''t so lucky, one of the older kids tried his pickpocketing skills on the wrong person that noticed it. Little Zhu was there keeping the pickpocketing target busy, but when the urchins tried running they got caught and were taught a tough lesson.

    The youth managed to drag his beaten body in front of the shack he and his mother were living, the woman shocked when she returned after a hard day of work. She had nowhere to go, her head down on the ground in front of the workers. There was no one in this blasted city that would do anything for free, it was always money. Her eyes were tearing up, she didn''t want to lose her only son that was the only thing that she had left in this world.

    "Please I implore you..."

    "Shoo, This clinic belongs to the great Zhang Clan, they don''t do business with moochers like you, now shoo!"

    In the worker''s minds, they were doing the right thing. They couldn''t let other people see some beggars and vagabonds in this new clinic, they were far too afraid of the Zhang Clan elders coming and reprimanding them for it. While the man in front was thinking that the woman started getting frantic, grabbing his leg and pulling on his pants.

    "Hey, get off me!"

    He was about to kick the woman away, his foot moving backward for the windup but as his foot was flying forward someone grabbed it. He started seeing things upside down as the person that was grasping him by the ankle lifted him up into the air. He soon could see the lower areas of the robe that Wei Hung was wearing, the grandpa having caught his kick mid-strike.

    "What are you fools doing?"

    The man looked at the worker that he was holding with a raised brow, he had come out of his basement-dwelling, disgruntled after having to clean up the mess that he made. He then heard some screaming and noticed the crying woman on the floor grasping one of the hired helpers. What were these people doing, weren''t they supposed to help the injured people instead of injuring them themselves?

    "Ahh... s-sir... these beggars just showed up, but don''t worry we will remove them from this esteemed clinic in a moment."

    Wei Hung''s face started deforming the moment he heard them call the people beggars and that they were going to kick them out. He even noticed the beaten-up child, bruises and cuts all over his body the weeping woman just there not knowing what to do.

    "You damn buffon, who told you to remove them, huh? You are supposed to help everyone and I mean EVERYONE!"

    The worker was flung against the wall after the enraged elderly man chucked him to the side, not caring if he was okay or not. He then looked at the nursing staff that had conflicting expressions on their faces, not really sure what was going on.

    "You and you, bring the boy up to the second level and wash his body with the cleansed spirit water, I will be there in the moment!... Well, DON''T JUST STAND THERE WITH YOUR MOUTHS WIDE OPEN, MOVE!"

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    The elder''s scream made everyone flinch and scatter to work, the boy was snatched and carried off to the second level the mother quickly following after the workers while bowing at the older man that just showed up.

    ''Damn savages...''

    Matt cursed inwardly, not knowing that even the people from his clan and the workers they hired would be this cruel. It was even a woman with a beaten-up child, how could people show so little compassion. He just couldn''t understand it, his brows were furrowed and his teeth clenching up he would have to investigate this later, for now, the boy was more important.

    Matt slapped his cheeks and went upstairs, blaming himself for the transgression that transpired here. The mother was to the side as the Nurses carried him to one of the empty beds in the larger rooms and started cleaning his body from the blood, grime, and sweat. The special water that they were using was something the Zhang Clan was known for, it had some weak healing and regenerative abilities and was good at disinfecting wounds to boot.

    The mother looked at the old looking man, he looked to be the doctor. He was a bit scary but was apparently willing to help her child, she wasn''t sure if there was an ulterior motive behind this, but she would give her life for her son if she had too.

    "Please sir, help my little boy."

    She pleaded, the man just looked at her while going over. He placed his palm on the woman''s shoulder, the woman experiencing a peculiar feeling when he did that. She could feel warm energy flowing into her body making her worries fly away as she felt really calm. She wobbled to the side where she was guided to the bench by one of the nurses, the man moved over to the boy that was on the table with only his groin area covered by a white cloth.

    Wei Hung took out a bunch of needles that were used for acupuncture, they were pure gold and looked quite costly. The nursing staff''s eyes went wide after seeing them, quickly being able to distinguish the item''s price. The man opened up his palm the needles started hovering up in the air which made everyone''s eyes bulge out even more as they had never seen a physician work in such a fashion before.

    ''This Wei Hung isn''t simple... he must be a master!''

    They thought to themselves while gasping, the metallic items hovered around the boy''s body as they homed in on the desired acupuncture points. They were slowly lowered into his body, the man just waving his finger around while his other hand was held behind his back as he performed the strange procedure.

    The people then saw the golden needles radiating golden light, the spiritual energy filling out the room and making everyone gasp some more. This was the holy element type spiritual Qi that Matt was now proficient in, the energy was slowly infused into the boy''s body his complexion quickly getting better and better as you could see his many wounds closing at a rapid pace.

    The people couldn''t believe it, what was this strange technique that this elder was showing them. The young boy was getting healed at a rapid pace as if he drunk some kind of high-quality healing elixir. They looked at this elder that was concentrating, not knowing how he ended up in this small clinic his skills were better off getting used by some kind of great sect.

    The needles soon hovered away from the boy''s body, the procedure ending rather quickly after the divine healing energies were distributed throughout the youth''s body. Matt could use a couple of healing techniques by now, but this one was the best one as he could directly insert the healing energies into the patient''s body through the acupuncture needles. This increased the speed of the process and was a lot better for people with internal injuries, this technique could even heal up some plugged up meridians.

    "He will be fine now."

    The old man stroked his beard while turning to the bewildered people that were staring at him as if he was some rare creature.

    "Also, all of you lot report to my office, I must have a word with you..."

    The nurses snapped out of their trance and looked at the man, his face was contorted and he was clearly mad. They knew that they were in for a beating or at least an earful.

    "Don''t forget to drag that one fool over too, slap him awake if he is still passed out, hmph!"

    He was going to give those idiots a good lecture, maybe even cut their pay for the week for this transgression. He wanted to show the goodwill of his Zhang Clan, show them how different they were from the other clans, but this was the result. Crying mothers and beaten children getting refused treatment.

    "Well...get moving, you buffoons, or I''ll dock your pay for the entire month!"

    "Oh no sir, show mercy!"

    The poor workers shuffled down and dragged the passed out man, dumping water over his face and smacking his cheeks till he woke up. Then they quickly rushed to Wei Hung''s office, they could take a beating, they could take getting called idiots and clowns, but they certainly couldn''t take not being paid.

 110 Chapter 110

    Matt looked at the child, it was covered up with a blanket and no more in critical condition. He wasn''t sure what kind of person would beat up an 11-year old like that, but he would certainly like to have a word with them. For now, he left then walked over to the mother, that was a bit out of it after he calmed her down with his technique.

    "The boy will be fine, he just needs to rest. He should wake up soon."

    The woman snapped out of it and looked at her boy, then to the scary-looking older man. She dropped down to her hands and knees, doing the usual head bobbing maneuver that made Matt uncomfortable, he could never get used to how quick these people went down to their knees.

    "Thank you, Senior, how can I repay you... I don''t have anything to repay you with, I can be your slave, I''ll do anything... even..."

    The grandpa in question moved back slightly after hearing the woman wanted to become his slave and even wanting to do extra services.

    "What? girly what are you even on about. This was free treatment, I don''t need any slaves."

    He turned around, still trying to keep his elder persona up. He swished his sleeves and moved so that she could only see the back on his head.

    "Haven''t you heard, the generous and magnanimous Zhang Clan is offering treatment free of charge, they are truly a virtuous family. If you want to be grateful to anyone, be grateful to them. I also heard that they are accepting children from broken homes into a special school, your child has some cultivation aptitude, you should go ask about it... and stop bowing your head already..."

    The woman didn''t look at him, just hanging her head down as if he would poke her eyes out if she dared to look at his face. But she soon moved her gaze upwards as the elder started talking about a special school and that everything here was free.

    "M-my son has potential?"

    "Ah yes, with the right schooling he shouldn''t really have trouble in reaching the foundation establishment realm."

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    He checked the youth''s potential, it wasn''t anything great just a C. But this was enough and slightly above average from what he could tell. Most people had potentials in the F - C range, with F being quite rare and people with that having zero aptitudes for cultivation. Though an ''F'' aptitude also showed up if people had some illnesses like blocked meridians that didn''t allow for cultivation.

    The ''C'' potential was the top one an average person could have, ''C+'' was the start for gifted people this would be the start of the gifted tear. ''S'' was the most you could have, the largest potential that Matt had ever come across was the one his two disciples had being at a ''B+''. So this kid was top at the average mark, which wasn''t bad at all.

    "F-foundation establishment?"

    The woman got dizzy, her child wasn''t even at the first level of Qi condensation the family not having any cultivation manuals at all. Though people reached that level naturally in their older teen years even without any manuals just by passively absorbing the rich Qi in the surroundings.

    "Ah yes, he''ll probably reach the first level of Qi Condensation soon, maybe even the second level, his body absorbed a lot of my healing energies, guess you could call that a side effect..."

    The woman gasped once more, there were a couple of the workers listening to the conversation from the side as they gathered waiting for their punishment.

    ''Side effect my ass, this is a big scoop!''

    The workers started to think, that maybe it wouldn''t be such a bad idea to go into some alleys and get themselves trashed by some hooligans. When the elder healed them afterward, maybe they could get through their cultivation bottlenecks.

    "But I need to get some things done, just stay with your son he should wake up soon."

    He walked back to his office, glaring at the workers from a side profile which made them get goosebumps. It was time to punish the infidels, he needed to show how things were run here and explain to them that they couldn''t just leave injured people outside in the cold.

    "Everyone into my office!"

    He walked in first, hunched over slightly and with his hands behind his back. He was getting used to acting like an old geezer, it was kind of fun he could have temper tantrums and the people just thought it was normal. He waited for them to enter his large office, there was enough room for everybody to sit down in a heel sitting position.

    Everyone was nervous, they had their back straight and knees tightly pressed while sitting down in this uncomfortable position. Their boss was sitting at his desk, just sipping on his tea while everyone was quiet and afraid to mutter a word. Finally, he placed the teacup to the side and spoke up, his voice stern and domineering.

    "Do you know what you did wrong?"

    The people looked at each other, no one really wanted to speak up but someone had to, one worker finally mustered up some courage as he answered.

    "W-we didn''t follow orders and caused the Elder to lose face?"

    Wei Hung''s face twitched a bit after he heard that reply, the people in the room not sure if that was the right answer but it seemed logical. The Elder and Zhang Clan wanted to look magnanimous for some reason, so if the Seniors came to that decision it would be a loss of face if their juniors didn''t follow through on that order. They didn''t realize that the answer that this man was looking for, was a lot simpler and he just wanted them to show some compassion.

    "Ho ho? So, it was all about me losing face now, is it..."

    The man rubbed his long white beard and glared at the people in the room. From his reaction, the workers knew that something was off.

    "Damn you people, show some empathy once in a while! This isn''t about saving or losing face you fools!"

    A teacup was flung at the wall, whizzing past the man''s face that did the reply, the tea leaves and the residual water in the cup making a mess on the wall.

    "Please Elder Hung, appease your rage, we were in the wrong, it won''t happen again."

    The members pleaded while bowing down again.

    "You''re damn right it won''t! But that''s not the point, you lot better listen well now. Helping people that have nothing isn''t wrong, showing compassion to strangers once in a while isn''t either. You must lose that backward mindset of yours, this is not how the Zhang Clan or this clinic operates!"

    He soon started lecturing them about the virtues of life, words like ''sympathy'', ''kindness'', ''mercy'' were just some that he threw out at them trying to make them understand his point of view and that it wasn''t a weakness to being a good person. But he wasn''t sure that he was getting through to these people, that just bobbled their heads at him, their expressions mixed.

    "And another thing, don''t be afraid to call for me, there is a little button to the side of the door of the room I do my pill concocting. If you press it I will know that you need me and I will arrive shortly, you will not be punished."

    He tried a couple of angles, presenting them with hypothetical scenarios.

    "How would you feel if your family got annihilated in some useless squabble about face and there was no one that helped you out. You could only die outside in the cold or get devoured by beasts, no one willing to give you a helping hand. How would you feel then, try putting yourselves in their shoes once in a while."

    "You might not know this, but the Dao of compassion is a powerful one!"

    He wasn''t lying, you had to be compassionate for the holy elemental energies to actually work. That''s why you mostly saw only people like priests and nuns using the holy healing arts, you had to have a vitreous hart for it.

    "Behold!"

    His finger glowed with a golden light, the area filling with comfortable holy energies that made everyone in the room feel at peace. They could feel their fatigue receding as they were gaining their stamina back.

    "Maybe if you show some warmth to your fellow people, you might awaken this power too..."

    He left them with something to think about, maybe if the words didn''t get to them. The show of an unknown Dao would, their eyes went wide as saucers the moment his finger started glowing. He would be happier if they realized that being nice to your fellow man wasn''t so bad. But if he could get them with the show of future gains, it would have to do for now.

    ''This will be a long process... I spend to much time crafting for these past years. Thought these people were getting better, but not much has changed.''

    "You can leave now, hope you learned something."

    The workers slowly walked out in an orderly fashion, seaming quite confused about what they had heard. Matt in his Wei Hung disguise just slumped into his chair, his hand going to his face as he did a normal facepalm gesture.

    ''Ahh... that was stressful... but I''ve gotten better at things like this now...''

    He didn''t suffer from stage fright as much recently, his fear of conversation had mostly gone away by now. He wasn''t sure if he just got used to talking to people or if it was the Tranquil technique at play. It being quite a quality of life one, the more he used the calmer he got and the less outside factors could affect his calm demeanor.

    ''I miss the old cash shop... most of the techniques I got from that library aren''t as good and I can''t even get points from slaying monsters.''

    He didn''t feel as motivated to battle other people or monsters since his system had changed. He could still get cores to absorb but those items were better used as crafting materials for armor or weapons, most of the beast he hunted were demonic ones that were bothering the people around the area that he owned. This also adding more daily point gains that were added to his system as his people felt safer.

    ''Ah, I forgot to get one of the workers to clean the wall...''

    He looked at the shattered teacup and the tea leaves on the ground that scattered into all directions after it shattered. His grumpy old man act had gone well, the people sure were afraid of him. He raised his posterior from the chair he was sitting on and went out, the moment he stuck his head out to see if one of the nurses was around he heard someone shouting loudly.

    "No, you mustn''t. Zhu''er you''ve just gotten better, you must rest."

    "Let go of me mother, you don''t understand, I need to go back... The others..."

    Matt raised a brow as he could see the boy squirming around in his mother''s grasp. He was trying to move down the bed but the woman was clinging to him tightly. The boy obviously didn''t want to hurt his mom so he only tried to push her away, but the woman wasn''t having any of it.

    "No! Do you know how much your poor mother went through, you can''t go!"

    "But the others, they are in danger... those cultivators are going to kill them!"

    The boy was a bit frantic, still a bit weak as the holy healing art wasn''t perfect just yet. It seemed that the men that had beaten him out would be heading to the urchin''s hideout, the boy heard them talk while they were giving him the beatdown. He wasn''t sure how they would track them down, but they apparently had some kind of tracking treasure with them and wanted to punish the little thieves. He was lucky enough to have played dead and them just kicking him to the side, then he barely made it back home and finally woke up in this clinic.

    "Oh? Who is going to kill who now? Could you explain?"

    The family of two stopped squirming and looked to the voice, it was the large elderly uncle that had healed the boy. He was standing there while stroking his beard, wondering what this was all about.

 111 Chapter 111

    Matt looked at the mother and son duo, were they doing some kind of comedic routine?

    The boy was still almost naked, at least they didn''t remove his underwear before the procedure. The youth in question looked at the old man beside the bed he was getting bear-hugged by his mother. He instantly knew that this man wasn''t simple, his disposition and sharp stare could only be attributed to experts. But in reality, it was only Matt squinting and trying to keep his elder act together.

    \"P-please... my friends are going to die... we offended someone that we shouldn''t have...\"

    The boy replied to the question, his voice trailing off at the end.

    \"Oh, who did you offend? Could you tell this friendly grandpa?\"

    The workers faces contorted at the ''friendly'' part, who was the person that threw that one worker at the wall. The poor guy then was slapped awake only to get lectured and then only get teacups thrown at him.

    \"Ah, bow your head boy, this Senior Uncle saved your life!\"

    The woman immediately pushed her son''s head down, making him bow to the man. The man in question just moved his hand upwards trying to signal to the two that this act was unnecessary.

    \"That''s fine, just doing what I was hired for by the Zhang Clan. I''m not sure if you have heard about the Zhang Clan, but they are quite the magnanimous people, yes they are.\"

    He made it sure to mention the clan whenever he could, he liked to spread awareness, branding was very important. They weren''t sure why this elder was mentioning that clan every other sentence, but not like they could ask him. The boy had some tears in his eyes which he was able to wipe after his mother finally let him be, soon he started talking and told the two the full story.

    \"Me and my brothers just wanted some coin for the little ones... the young master came out of the restaurant and he was already drunk so we thought he would be an easy snatch...\"

    The boy looked at his mom, not really wanting to tell her that he was out in the streets and stealing. But he was doing it mostly for the younger children, they had even some four-year-olds in his group. They weren''t abandoned but their parents died one way or the other, mostly offending some bigshots or getting in debt with the wrong people. He looked to his mother stuttering a bit as he saw her brows twitching.

    \"A-anyway, we tried doing the usual routine... I fell in front of the young master and just started apologizing to keep his attention on me... that was when big bro...\"

    Matt stroked his beard while listening, it was a regular stealing maneuver that you would see anywhere. Someone would bump into you then start talking loudly and shuffling about. While you were distracted their partner would move in from the back and quickly snatch your wallet or purse from your pocket.

    \"But you got caught, right?\"

    Said Wei Hung while glancing at the boy that lowered his head at the reply.

    \"Y-yes, the guard next to the master was very vigilant he moved between the young master as my big bro was reaching into his robe. Luckily he managed to jump back before he got caught.\"

    \"So, they grabbed you instead?\"

    \"Y-yes sir, I was on the ground bowing so I didn''t have enough time...\"

    \"That''s why I told you not to hang out with those brats!\"

    The mother was fuming, she had told her son not to hang out with that riff-raff. They were a known band of little bandits that robbed and plundered the streets. She didn''t want her only child ending up as those thieves, this was also the reason she was working so hard.

    \"I''m sure the boy had his reasons... right?\"

    The elderly man asked while trying to smile, but made the family duo flinch in fright instead.

    \"Y-yes! We only did it to feed the young ones!\"

    Matt went back to stroking his beard while the mom started reprimanding her son for being a little thief. He, on the other hand, was worried that they even had children on the streets below the age of five running around with no parents or supervision. Even more that they had to resort to stealing and burglary to survive.

    \"And another thing!\"

    The mom shouted out while smacking the head of her sun that looked disgruntled.

    \"Hm, how about you show this grandpa where those children are? I''m sure I can ''talk'' that young master out of harming them...\"

    He couldn''t let some young bratty young lord just beat up some pre-teen kids, he knew that those types would even resort to killing if they got offended enough. He stood up a bit straighter and tried striking a valiant pose complete with a bright smile so that the child would trust in this old uncle, but the only thing the kid saw was an old man grinning menacingly.

    \"Um...\"

    He looked to the side to his mother, not sure if he could trust this ominous looking elder. The mother looking between the two and finally speaking out.

    \"Y-yes... uh... if Senior insists Zhu''er will show you where they are...isn''t that right?\"

    She looked at the young boy, a bit of worry in her eyes. She was grateful for the help that this man had given her son, but she didn''t want him to involve himself further with those band of urchins. Her motherly instincts were telling her to take her son and run, but she couldn''t offend the elder man that helped them out, he also seemed quite powerful.

    \"Well, let''s not dilly dally for too long, little one, if we don''t hurry your friends might get hurt.\"

    The youth instantly steeled his resolve as the old man mention his friends getting in trouble. He quickly jumped up, his mother shaking her head as she could oppose the older man''s decision.

    \"E-elder please take me along!\"

    She asked out while her boy was already close to bolting down the stairs.

    \"Ah sure, you can come along, don''t see a problem with that.\"

    Matt didn''t mind if the mom tagged along, not like she needed to do anything and he felt confident in being able to protect the two of them. He also thought of alerting his new police task force for this job, but he knew that they were spread thin. Also, it would probably take them a while to get to this store, then take the kid out for the search. He was worried that the younglings might already be getting beaten up.

    \"Follow me, I know all the shortcuts!\"

    The little guy bolted for the sliding door, Matt just skipping along even though he didn''t look like he was going fast and his feet were moving slowly he had no problem in keeping up with the energetic child, the mom was trailing a bit in the back though. He went deep into the neighborhood, the buildings started looking worse and worse.

    ''Man, this sure is a shit hole...''

    He could see beggars supporting themselves against some building walls, their bodies dangerously thin. The buildings looked more like storage sheds after a while, the roofs probably leaking and if a storm came along they would be folded in half.

    ''Think I need to invest some money into renovating this section of town...''

    This part of town was the slum, while skipping along Matt brought out his system map to see in exactly what area he was in. The coloring was dark red, the worst color you could have. The health hazards in this area were the biggest, you could see human feces on the side of the roads and in the alleys.

    He wanted to stop and help a couple of people out, they looked in dire need of medical assistance or at least a warm meal. After he was done with this young master business he would go back to headquarters and have a team come clean this mess up. This wasn''t a problem for him at this point, he could cover the costs by making core formation-level items. He could probably even trade in some of those to the richer families in this city and they would do it instead, but he wasn''t sure he could trust them in doing a good job just yet.

    They were going quite deep into the slum area, the people were quite scary looking as he noticed a lot of them giving him the stink eye. He tried diffusing the situation with a bright smile, but to his dismay when he did that the people looked frightened instead.

    ''Guess they must be shy...''

    While Matt was skipping through the poop-filled streets of Moonlight City, wondering if he would ever be able to wash this stench away from the new boots that he was wearing a group of kids were shivering in the corner of a large damaged building. This looked like some type of old storage space, the wood had been eaten away by time and there were many puddles due to the water dripping in during the times it rained.

    A young man below the age of twenty was sitting on the back of another youth. That youth looked beaten, you could notice it by the number of bruises and his cut-up lower lip. He was on all fours and trembling, the other young man was sitting on his back with his legs crossed over one another using the other person as a chair.

    \"Hey, stop moving. A chair isn''t supposed to move you, cretin! Can''t even do that right you trash!\"

    The young man smacked the ''chair'' on the head with his hand and laughed out. This was the young master that was almost robbed by the street urchins, he was sitting on the back of the person that tried snatching his purse, this was the oldest member of the group and the big brother.

    \"If you don''t stop shivering I might decide to punish those little ones there, you wouldn''t want that to happen now would you?\"

    There were about ten other kids all gathered together and surrounded by five cultivators, this were the guards of this young master. They had a little nifty treasure that helped them track these people here, one of the guards specialized in tracking as well. It could home in on a person that was recently touched by the person controlling it, one of the guards had touched the boy as he was trying to grab the young master''s purse and so that''s how they found the little guy''s hideout.

    \"Young master, these kids won''t be worth much I''m afraid. They all look frail and lack any cultivation.\"

    One of the guards reported while looking at the children, they ranged from the ages of four to thirteen, the oldest being the one that his master was sitting on and he was just fourteen. They had miscalculated this robbery, the hidden guards weren''t noticed as they were of quite the high caliber.

    \"Damn, useless as always. Why is a bunch of trashes like you even in this city, not worth the dirt under my boots.\"

    He smacked the kid that he was sitting on again, thinking about what he should do with this bunch of useless urchins. He was mad at the new Zhang Clan, usually what he would do to people like this was having his people sell them for whatever they could to the slavers as criminal or debt slaves. The new power in town had decided to ban slavery though, this being a bit of a thorn in this young master''s side.

    \"Those damn Zhang Clan retards, why do they prevent us from making a living, not like you can do anything more with trashes like these. Though we could still sell them on the side, no one has to know... hehe...\"

    He finally got fed up and stood up from the youth''s back, giving him a kick to his stomach that sent him rolling over against a wall and towards the shivering children.

    \"L-leave big brother alone, you big bully!\"

    One of the younger children spoke up, it was a young girl that was now rubbing her brother''s belly while looking at the young master with tears in her eyes.

    \"Huh?, you dare look at this young lord with those kinds of eyes! You there, give her a good slap!\"

    He pointed to one of his guards, the man in question just nodded and moved in the direction that the child was standing in, ready to follow his master''s instructions. But as he was about to give the poor trembling girl a good smack he was tackled from the side by another youth, this youth came from outside and was little Zhu''er.

    \"Leave my junior sister alone!\"

    Well, the youth couldn''t really bring the adult man down. It felt like he hit a brick wall, the adult guard just standing there with vacant eyes.

    \"Get off me, you little shit!\"

    But before he could smack the child away he felt a chill run down his spine, he could feel someone looking at him.

 112 Chapter 112

    The men looked in the direction that the voice was coming from. The boy that tackled the man fell onto his butt, then quickly scooted to the side to protect his little junior sister.

    \"Who dares!?\"

    The young master looked at the old man, not knowing who he was. He had a long beard and looked intimidating, but looks could be misleading. The young master was just a lowly Qi condensation practitioner, not even that high up there at only the 8th stage. He liked spending his time drinking and partying with the ladies in the pleasure district not really one for training. That''s why he glanced to one of his guards, the man looked quite experienced and was in the middle level of foundation establishment.

    The guard scanned the elder with his senses, he could tell that the elderly man was also in the foundation establishment stage at a similar level that he was. But he wasn''t alone here, each guard here had at least a cultivation base of foundation establishment early stage and there were five of them against just one old guy.

    Taking their ages into consideration, the bodyguards were men in their forties and fifties and the opponent looked to be sixty or seventy. In this world, you could mostly tell one''s strength by the cultivation level and the age. An old age gave you hints that the cultivator wasn''t very talented and couldn''t advance past the stage that they were currently in and would probably be stuck in it for the rest of their life. This indicated that they should be weaker than younger cultivators at the same realm as they probably had more talent and vigor.

    The bodyguard gave the young master a nod, signaling him that he felt confident in taking out this elderly man. This youth wasn''t stupid, he knew that it wasn''t wise to offend unknown people, they could turn up to be some kind of old powerful monster. Still, you could offend risky targets but you just had to make them vanish from the face of this world.

    \"I''m not sure who you are old man, but you better scram.\"

    The young master proclaimed, while hiding behind his bodyguards smirking from the back at the elder that was about to get trashed by his group.

    \"Oh don''t mind me, I''ll be on my way soon. I''ll just take these children with me and we will be on our way, what say you?\"

    Matt didn''t want to cause a scene, no one was actually dead and he could make these cultivators collapse with a wave of his finger. He was planning on remembering the youth''s face, maybe getting his name out during the conversation and then have his police force bring him in. Playing a superhero was nice and all, but these people had to learn to trust the new faction in town to help them out in the future and not rely on random cultivators to help them out. He wanted to have the man serve a normal prison sentence, but things weren''t that easy and the kids were also thieves.

    \"Heh did you hear that men, he wants to take the poor kids home.\"

    The people that were standing there just burst out in laughter not taking the man seriously. They were feeling quite content, the man was even speaking to them respectfully probably afraid of a beating.

    \"Yes, you can take these kids for a mare... five hundred... no, make that a thousand spirit stones! How''s that for a fair price?\"

    The youth just laughed to himself, no one in their right mind would cough up a thousand spirit stones for some useless orphans.

    \"Oh, a thousand? Wait a moment sonny...I just need to check...how about these?\"

    The young master raised his brow at the old man''s response, it was as if he was willing to pay that amount for these street urchins. He looked at the man who was looking at a storage ring a glint in the youth''s eye as he saw that thing.

    ''That''s a high-quality spatial ring, where did that old fart get it?''

    The old guy then pulled out two swords, from a glance you could tell that they weren''t simple weapons and that they were made by quite the master blacksmith.

    \"Here you go, two high-quality perfect grade mortal swords, they should go for around five hundred maybe even six hundred spirit stones at the auction house, this should do, right?\"

    Everyone gasped as the old guy pulled out two shiny new swords, they were radiating that perfect grade aura and were extremely close to something at the core formation stage. The guards in the shed gulped, they wanted weapons like those but they were forced to use lower quality goods given to them by the clan they were from. This clan was the Xing Clan, which this young master belonged too.

    \"B-bring those treasures over...\"

    The young master said while staring at the two weapons, he just had to have them. Trading some brats for even one of those would be a win in his opinion.

    ''But where did this old man get those from and he probably has more things in that storage ring...''

    The youth was already thinking about his next step, should he risk offending anyone that was behind this old man or not. The man wasn''t wearing the Zhang Clan robes, so he probably wasn''t with that family.

    ''Even if he was with them, nothing will happen if he just vanishes...\"

    The Xing Clan had a bandit background so they were quite ruthless in their actions. From a young age, their offsprings were taught to never allow any loss of face and to be throughout with their actions. If you saw an opportunity for getting more power, you should go for it if the situation allowed for it even if there was a risk involved.

    \"Here you go sonny, now I''ll just take the kids and we''ll be on our merry way.\"

    The bodyguard grabbed the two blades and carried them over to the young master, the kid took one of them while the guard kept the other. Both of them could see that these were quality goods, neither of them had a weapon of this quality on their person. While the old man was walking towards the kids, seemingly thinking that the deal was made.

    The Xing young master had other plans, he was going to risk this. No one should miss one old fart, and even if they do they will be long gone and can blame it on bad luck. He gave his men a hand signal which the group knew well, they went to cut off all escape routes. The elder wasn''t really doing much, he was now by the kids petting the crying girl that was standing next to the boy that tackled one of the bodyguards.

    \"Okay kids, just follow this uncle outside I''ll bring you somewhere safe.\"

    All of the kids looked to Zhu that came along with this strange old fart, they looked to him if they could trust the man or not. The boy gave them a nod and a couple of reassuring words.

    \"Don''t worry, you can trust this Senior.\"

    The boy said while trying to aid his injured brother, that was badly beaten on the ground his ribs probably broken due to that last kick he received.

    \"Mmm, you''re not willing to let the kids go? But the deal was already made young man.\"

    The old man spoke up which prompted the kids to look at him, he was looking at the smirking young master. His men were pulling out their weapons while encircling the group some of them standing back in the case that they fled.

    \"You think I''m stupid, give me that ring of yours and we might let you live old fool!\"

    The kids started crying again, the younger ones hiding behind the older ones the grandpa in front. The old man in question looked at his hand, his high-quality store ring on one of his wrinkled fingers. He moved his hand so that the backside of his palm would face the young master, the ring visible to the youth.

    \"Oh, you want this little thing? How can I trust you that you would let us go after I give it to you?\"

    The youth was getting more and more confident in his decision, this man wasn''t bringing up any outside backing into the conversation. This meant that he probably didn''t really have anyone more powerful behind him but still, the old man was getting on his nerves as his tone was quite relaxed.

    \"Stop messing around you old fart, hand over the ring! We are done playing games!\"

    He nodded to one of his guards, the man charged forward. This man wasn''t the strongest from the group nor the weakest. This would be a test, they wondered what the old man would do. Would he use some kind of defensive treasure, would he charge in and try his luck in hand to hand combat, or would he try to run away.

    The old man didn''t move from his spot at all, he just looked at the incoming warrior. The bodyguard was holding a large saber with his hand, he swung it from over top his head like he was trying to bisect the elderly man that was just standing there. His weapon whizzed through the air, the children''s eyes not even being able to fathom the incoming man''s movements as he used some strange movement art, appearing like a blur in their eyes.

    The kids closed their eyes, they expected to see the poor grandpa getting split in half. They felt the wind pressure from the attack suddenly hit their faces, their hair getting kicked up. But that was it, they couldn''t hear the old man screaming or groaning. When they opened their eyes they saw something strange, the old man was holding the saber''s tip between his index and middle finger. The attacker''s biceps was bulging out indicating that he was trying to push his weapon downward, but the saber wasn''t budging at all.

    \"Ho ho, how ferocious, this grandpa almost had a heart attack, so fearsome indeed!\"

    The old man laughed and chuckled while the bodyguard tried his best to pull or push his saber away from the clutches of those two fingers. The elder then flicked his fingers, the saber that the man was holding got flung upward and lodged itself in his shoulder, blood spraying into the air and the man screaming out in pain.

    \"What are you fools waiting for, get that old fart!\"

    The young man screamed out, he didn''t anticipate the man to be so ferocious but he still had more guards one stronger than the other, they should be able to handle one old man. The muscular men charged at the man that in return slowly walked towards them, his facial expression not really changing.

    They attacked him from all directions, they had swords and spears heading for the man''s weak spots, the head, the heart, the solar plexus, and even his groin. But before the weapons could land they suddenly shattered into many pieces, the shrapnel heading in the directions that the attackers made their strikes. The sharp metallic parts embedded themselves in the men''s faces and bodies, quickly making them retreat and squirm out in pain.

    \"W-what are you idiots doing, kill him!\"

    The young master was fuming as he saw his men just scatter, wounds all over their bodies the old fart just standing there and grinning. The men tried standing up, but they were seasoned warriors and knew that this elder in front of them wasn''t even trying hard. He was probably hiding his cultivation level and could slap them to death if he wanted to. They groaned as their young idiot of a master wasn''t realizing that fact yet.

    \"Oh, you shouldn''t be that quick to murder people young man.\"

    Suddenly the youth felt some wind hit his face, the man just vanished and was now standing right behind him. He was holding onto the Xing Clan boy''s shoulder while talking.

    \"Don''t touch me, I''m the Xing Clan''s second son! If you touch me my father will kill you and your whole family!\"

    The youth turned around, the old man had quite the grip on his shoulder as he felt most of his power leaving him.

    \"Oh shut up you caricature of a person.\"

    *SMACK*

    The young master was slapped on the cheek and not lightly. His body spun around his arms floppy as the youth lost all power in his limbs the moment he received the hit, he made a nice arch and hit the shacks wooden wall and crashed through it right outside. He was instantly out cold and foaming at the mouth, some of his teeth knocked out.

 113 Chapter 113

    Matt looked down at his palm that just slapped the youth into the wall, he didn''t think he would make him fly that hard.

    ''He was weaker than expected... good that I lowered my strength... could have killed the kid...''

    He gulped, he misjudged how strong that young master was. He was still in battle mode from fighting his bodyguards so even though he meant to give him a gentle pat to the cheek, that would at most make him go down to one knee. He gave him a strong enough smack to make him comedically fly to the side while knocking out a couple of teeth in the process.

    ''Well, at least they are down and don''t look like they will be resisting anymore.''

    He glanced at the warriors that were clutching various parts of their bodies, the metal shrapnel had lodged itself into their flesh and probably hurt like hell. The kids were protected behind him thanks to his transparent shield, so they were all fine and dandy.

    ''Well then... what should I do now...''

    He looked at the disgruntled bodyguards that were squirming on the ground, trying to remove metal pieces from their cheeks. He could try to round them all up, make them carry the young master over to the police station. But there were these crying children behind his back, he was slightly afraid that the orphans would just run away if he wasn''t paying attention.

    \"Hey you there, what''s the Xing Clan second son''s name?\"

    One of the bodyguards that wasn''t injured looked up at the scary grandpa and quickly replied.

    \"T-the young master''s name is Xing Shie, please elder show mercy, the Xing clan will surly repay you handsomely.\"

    The man quickly bowed, hoping that this crazy old fart wouldn''t just kill them all. If they made it back to the Xing Clan compound they could get some backup and take care of this elder.

    Matt decided to just use his police force for the job, he also wanted to see how they would handle the procedure of apprehending a young master. He wasn''t sure if everyone was on the same page as he was though, after the fiasco with the lady and her son that his workers and clan members refused to help out.

    ''Hope they won''t take any bribes... but this would be a good opportunity to see if they do. It might be better if that happened now than later.''

    Matt didn''t kid himself, there were a couple of bad apples even back in Spirit Spring City, but they were far too afraid of him to do anything about him. Still, he knew that they were waiting for him to slip up, little schemers that they were. He already disowned the clan members that left the city during the time he was at that secret ground. He couldn''t trust people that just run away whenever times got tough.

    ''I need to open that school soon so then we can start indoctrin... training the kids to be good policemen, yeah...''

    Matthew knew that most people in this world liked to be placed in groups. They would stay loyal to the person that gave them the opportunity to better themselves, for instance by giving them some cultivation manuals and some resources to break through a realm or two. But there were always one or two of those scheming types, that everything was just a stepping stone for their way to the top.

    He had the young master''s name now, so he just turned around being sure to reply with a resounding snort to the pleading that the bodyguard was doing.

    \"Don''t worry, I''m not the one that will be taking care of you, I will be sure to report this incident to the brand new and glorious, Zhang Clan, Police Department!\"

    He made sure to pronounce the Zhang Clan name clearly, it would surely send the cultivators trembling in their boots. In reality, they didn''t know what the old guy was on about, they knew that the Zhang Clan was doing some strange stuff in the background, but they still thought that even they would just take a bribe and be done with it.

    He finally turned around the group of children, the enemies were slowly removing themselves from the old shed that was close to crumbling due to the release of the warriors fighting aura. The kids were still scared, tears in the eyes of some but some of the older ones had that glint in their eyes, like someone that had been through a lot.

    \"Don''t worry children, grandpa here will protect all of you, come with me, we need to treat your friend here first, then let''s all go to a nice restaurant, you probably haven''t had a warm meal in quite some time!\"

    The kids looked at each other, the younger ones were instinctively on board after the grandpa mentioned a warm meal. The older ones were more apprehensive as they didn''t really trust adults anymore. They didn''t have any role models and most of them had no older family members left alive or caring for them. The boy that Matt healed being a rare case that still had a loving mother with him.

    Luckily he had the boy to speak up for him this time around, otherwise, he would probably have to stuff the kids into his energy bubble.

    \"Don''t worry, we can trust this Senior, he healed my wounds too!\"

    Thank''s to the youth he earned some trust, the other kids looked at their older brother and nodded they knew him well enough to know that he wouldn''t lie to them. They were always worried about their beaten elder brother that was slowly succumbing to his internal injuries.

    \"I guess we should give this young fellow some first aid, first.\"

    The old man proclaimed while moving over to the collapsed youth on the ground. The kids parting to the side after they got the nod from their other brother that was vouching for the old man.

    \"Let''s see...\"

    Matt''s eyes glowed slightly, this was quite the nifty physician skill that let you see the internal injuries that a patient had. But could also be used during battle to notice your opponent''s weak points. He could see the youth''s shattered ribs, some lacerations, and the head trauma. He was still conscious though and it would probably be a problem to get him to insert those acupuncture needles into the frightened teen.

    Instead, he moved in closer and leaned over, he would use a less direct approach. This was akin to a regular healing art, he just placed his index finger on the youth''s upper Dantian on his forehead. The kids weren''t sure what this man was doing, but the moment his finger touched their brother''s forehead something astonishing happened.

    They could see the elder''s finger glow in an astonishing golden light. He was directing his healing energies through the boy''s forehead and gently guiding them through his meridians, which then dispersed them all throughout his body. This was a slower procedure than when he used his acupuncture needles. This one had to go from top to bottom in order, while the needles were able to disperse his healing energies simultaneously to all the injured parts.

    The youths never came across such a healing method, but they haven''t really seen many powerful cultivators in general. The injured youth started feeling lightheaded, his muscles relaxing as the healing energies washed over him. He felt like he was floating on a cloud, the healing art also having the boon of removing the pain while the body regenerated.

    Soon enough the child was healed, the kids rejoicing as they saw the wounds vanishing from their elder brother''s face. He was even well enough to stand up, looking at the palms of his hands some of the fingers that were previously broken weren''t hurting at all anymore, he only felt a strange tingling sensation like some ants were running inside those previously broken digits.

    \"W-what?\"

    He looked at the elder that was now standing up, hands behind his back and already in his master cultivator pose. The youth instantly dropped down to his knees and started bowing, the boy knowing well that this man had to be some kind of powerful master that the couldn''t offend.

    \"Well then little thief, you have offended some pesky people, how about you follow me along with your juniors, I''ll give you all a place to stay. But don''t think it''s going to be free, you''ll have to work for your wage.\"

    The boy stood up, his head dropping down as the elder mentioned the part about offending other people. He knew that his band or urchins had bit off more than they could chew. This was the young master of the Xing Clan we were talking about, that was a scary family to have offended. Normally they would have needed to leave this city, there was no hope for them after offending a powerhouse clan like that, but this Senior here was offering his help.

    \"Work? Wage? You''re offering us work?\"

    The youth was even more suspicious, who would offer work to a band of pickpockets with no background whatsoever. They had no value unless they showed some kind of talent for cultivation.

    \"Yes, just regular work, the Zhang Clan is creating an orphanage in this city, you will be fed and have a roof under your head. In return you''ll have to do various tasks, mostly cleaning out these ghastly streets from all this garbage.\"

    \"If you are old enough, you can even join the police academy they are making. You just need to pass some tests, you''ll get some cultivation resources and will be able to work for them if you are a promising recruit. But, let''s get out of here first, I promised you some food first!\"

    He was actually hungry himself, having quite an appetite for this world''s cuisine. The spiritual energy-rich foods were a lot tastier than the ones back on earth, he just couldn''t get enough of those.

    The children took the man up on the offer, but they still were thinking about running away if the opportunity presented themselves. They only really trusted themselves. Though they wanted those things that he was talking about to be the truth, they didn''t really like living in the slums with a leaky roof over their head, not knowing if they would have any rice to get by each day.

    They all wandered into the richer part of town, the elder was walking in front while some people whispered from the side. The first child and his mother were with them as well, the woman was also feeling uncomfortable due to her shabby appearance. She rarely came to this part of the city, mostly here to clean up after some young masters drinking spree as no one really wanted to tend to vomit.

    Logically they were denied access to the restaurant that the old man wanted to bring them over, but after the elder produced a big sack of golden coins the restaurant owners started singing a different tune. This gramps was loaded, the children got quite the feast as they even occupied one of the upper floors all to themselves.

    ''Man, they must have had it harsh...''

    Matt groaned inwardly as he saw those kids devouring the food, almost forgetting to breathe between the chomps they were taking. They were eating like this was the first meal that they had their entire life, snoot, and tears filling their eyes from the sheer happiness they were experiencing. Some of them even made a vow to follow this strange grandpa for the rest of their lives, Matt would probably sweat if he found out that peoples devotion could be so easily bought with some food around here.

    While the kids were eating, he took out a communication jade. It was already close to night time after he headed out from the clinic, so he needed to get these kids shelter. He notified Zhang Kuo, the man knew that he, the Patriarch was disguised as the clinic doctor at the moment. He ordered him to arrange shelter for these kids and also to make a report to the police unit, noting him down as the prime witness.

    \"Hm, things are all set now. I hope my juniors won''t disappoint me too much...\"

 114 Chapter 114

    The kids were a bit apprehensive to go with the Zhang Clan members, but the elder that saved them reassured them that it was fine.

    \"I''ll be at the clinic, for now, if anything happens you can just come running to this grandpa and he will protect you with all his might!\"

    He proclaimed to give the kids somewhere to go if things got rough, but he couldn''t really stay with them any longer. They would be placed in an orphanage and watched, they were still pickpockets so they needed to be punished so, for now, they would be on lockdown. They had a program to teach kids at a gated school, they would have a dorm to live in as well.

    The whole project was more or less a one package deal, with the orphanage, dorm, school, and various training facilities being at one spot. The kids would get basic education and even some basic cultivation manuals to get them going. The children could slowly adapt and after a certain period had a choice to make, they could either join the Zhang Clan as one of their lower-level sub-factions or just leave and do their own thing.

    Matt was planning to school the kids in the basics of pill forging, crafting and various other professions. He wanted to let the kids find something they were good at, so then they could find some work later on in their life. It would probably be easier to study under a master if the disciple had some proper foundations in the basics of the craft they were studying in.

    ''But let''s try not to put them in too much of a debt...''

    There was a small catch though. The kids were required to pay some of the tuition fees later on in their life, he wanted it to be free but after some calculations, the numbers just didn''t add up. Either he would need to cover the price himself, or have the people learning to repay the Zhang Clan later.

    He went with the second option, he wanted to teach the youths a lesson that nothing was really free in this life, but also that you should repay your debts. They would have ample time to repay it though and it was a reasonable price mostly for the food eaten, lodging fees and the teacher fees.

    Zhang Kuo was swift to organize the exchange, he couldn''t let his Patriarch waiting and soon a group of Zhang Clan cultivators was standing in front of the restaurant. They had their orders and meet with the clinic doctor in question but they didn''t know that it was their glorious leader in disguise.

    He got the children to come with him and that group, escorting them to the dorm they would be living in now. The new building was more styled in the earthly ways, with many smaller rooms with bunk beds. The kids would be staying here while some Zhang members taught them how to read and some basic cultivation methods. Those methods were slightly better than what other cultivators used, but still, nothing that would impact the Zhang clan''s hold on its power.

    Matt had upgraded all the core Zhang Clan cultivation methods, plus added a lot of the manuals he copied over from the sacred grounds. The new cultivators would be advancing swiftly with a high-quality foundation. Zhang Zhi was already a core formation expert and Zhang Jin moved over to the middle stage not long ago too. There were many members that were on the cusp of breaking through, but everyone had to reevaluate their foundation.

    With the new addition of the updated books, everyone had to go through a process of retraining. The cracked and shaky foundation pillars had to be repaired as much as they could before the practitioner could advance. This process was a whole more tedious for people at an advanced age who had this kind of shaky foundation, so mostly the younger cultivators would progress further. Some of those cracked foundation pillars just couldn''t be repaired without dumping in a lot of resources.

    At least that would be the normal outcome, but they had their Patriarch with those holy element powers now. He could somehow repair a damaged foundation pillar so if you were deemed worthy, you could advance further with the help of Zhang Dong. The process was slow, so not everyone could get that treatment at this time only the elders that came back from the secret ground would get treated. From the twenty that went in, fifteen returned with five of them dying during the beast waves or while fighting the demon cultivator.

    The kids looked at the grandpa that was waving at them, he brought them over to a strange place in which they were going to stay. There were some friendly people around, mostly women that were good at tending to the kids.

    \"Now stay with the elder sisters here, they will take care of you. Listen to them and don''t cause trouble.\"

    The old man parted with the kids and headed out. It was already late, the kids were moved to the rooms by the attending elder sisters that would explain how things worked there. Now the only problem was that Xing Clan''s young master, the police unit was informed and the old man that was the prime witness was now at the new police station.

    He was in the classic interrogation room, it even had a one-way mirror with some other police members on the other side. Before entering this place Matt could see his police-men working, they were bringing in some ruffians that were spouting the usual gibberish about being some big shot.

    \"So, Senior Wei Hung. Let me just go over it once more. You encountered Xing Shie in the city slums area...\"

    Matt was sitting opposite some unknown clan member that was wearing his police uniform, he was still trying not to smirk at the cultivation nuts wearing more modern clothes. They just read some questions down from a parchment about the encounter with the Xing family. They clearly were inexperienced, the man kept sneaking peeks at the paper not knowing that to ask about while taking notes.

    He was free to go afterward, they knew that he worked for their clan at their new clinic. The next step for them would be to apprehend the suspect involved in the beating, the suspect''s biggest transgression was the half beaten small boy that the elder healed as the other children weren''t as beaten up as that one was. But the normal officers would only bring him in, the judging would be carried out by at least a sergeant.

    \"Xing Clan, this could get ugly...\"

    One of the Zhang officers said while they were gathering people. They knew about that family and knew that it was one of the stronger ones that didn''t like to play by the rules.

    \"Think we might need the Captain to tag along with us...\"

    \"Well, we have orders to go with a smaller force first, then call for backup if they start resisting or deny us entry into their living area.\"

    Another police member said while fixing his police cap, he was reading things from some booklet. They had some basic procedures written down in there, like breaking down the door if the offenders don''t comply. There was no judicial system quite yet, so they didn''t have to say them their rights yet.

    The group of Zhang Cultivators gathered, they were somewhat experienced as they were doing this back home in Spirit Spring City. But back there no one in their right mind would ever oppose them, in this town things might be tricky at the beginning stages. The leading sergeant was one of the elders that survived the secret ground mission and were at the foundation establishment great circle.

    He took about ten people with him and headed over to the Xing Clan main mansion. They had to go through the pleasure district to get there, the mafioso like family not caring in the slightest that they had their main house in this kind of environment.

    While they were making their way there, the Xing Clan young master was back home getting treatment.

    \"Ah it hurts, my face... he damaged my handsome face! Father, you must avenge me!\"

    The youth was squirming while holding on to his face, the injury was still new and you could see a handprint plastered over one of the man''s cheeks. His pearly white smile was gone as a couple of his teeth got knocked out in the process, pills that could repair teeth didn''t come cheap so he would have to wait for some to be delivered.

    \"Calm down Shie, tell me again, what happened? It was an old man? Did he really just want to save some useless brats? He also had many high-quality treasures?\"

    The father was sitting to the side while some other people tended to his son, he couldn''t really wrap his mind around a friendly grandpa just wanted to help some kids out, that didn''t make any sense.

    \"Yes Father, he just came and started spouting some nonsense! He even gave me two good swords to trade for those damn kids, ow my face...\"

    \"Then you got greedy, you should learn to measure people''s strength better. Don''t depend on your retainers so much.\"

    The father took a puff from his large cigar, worried that his son was such a useless little shit.

    \"Yes, it was all their fault then need to get lashed to death, that idiot was confident in taking that elder in battle. I would have never offended him otherwise!\"

    The father nodded, he needed to make an example those bodyguards failed in their mission of protecting his son, they needed to get punished and severely. While Xing Deng was about to speak up one of his retainers walked in, moved over to him and whispered something into his ear.

    \"THEY WHAT?\"

    He stood up instantly, his hand moving into a fist as he crushed the cigar that he was holding.

    \"What do those Zhang Clan bastards want? Why do they want my Son to come with them?\"

    He looked at his injured brat and then headed out of the room, not knowing what these Zhang Clan members wanted but he wasn''t in a position to give them the cold shoulder.

    \"Let them in, get bring over our strongest warriors to come too, this might turn ugly...\"

    He wasn''t sure what they wanted his son for, but it probably had something to do with the old man that beat up his second son.

    \"Shie''er stay here and don''t come out and be quiet!\"

    He strode out, some bodyguards instantly appearing next to him half a step behind him. He relocated into the main room that he usually brought in guests, he sat down on a large chair and got himself a new cigar as well. He then waited for the other people to come over while going over the things that his son and his retainers reported.

    \"Now entering, the Zhang Clan... Moonlight City Police force?... s-sergeant...\"

    One of the Xing clan members announced the people that arrived, they were ten cultivators wearing dark blue robes with strange hats on their heads. Xing Deng instantly tried to measure their fighting potential, his retainers, and bodyguards stationed all around the room, they were there to jump in if a fight broke out.

    ''That sergeant cultivator is the strongest... the rest is weaker... not that much of a problem.''

    The current Xing clan forces could probably defend against these invaders. He himself could probably handle the strongest member from that group.

    \"Welcome friends from the Zhang Clan, please sit down and explain to me what you need with my Son?\"

    He wasn''t one to beat around the bush too much, some other people would probably try to butter up to these Zhang Clan members. He, on the other hand, wanted to know the main reason they were here and how much cash they wanted. From his perspective, this was just a way of the new clan to flex their cultivation muscles and they probably just wanted to extort some spirit stones or treasures from them.

    \"Let''s get straight to the point then, Mr. Deng. Your son is charged with assault on a young boy and a couple of other youths, he had beaten them severely almost resulting in death. He had some men with him that have the same charges.\"

    The commanding officer from the group spoke out, he was your regular looking cultivator elder that looked to be in his fifties or sixties. He presented the charges that the men faced.

    \"We demand you those men to us, they will be put on trial and their sentence will be decided later. I urge you to hand them over willfully as we will use force if you don''t comply.\"

    The man looked around the room, spotting the angry Xing Clan members that were taking a hit to the face right about now.

    \"I''d like to remind you, that our Captain is a core formation expert and if you resist we will have to call for him. You probably wouldn''t want that, now would you?\"

    The elder that was just speaking grinned widely while looking at the Xing Clan Patriarch, the man in question had quite the large vein popping out on his forehead just now. It was now up to him, would they resist or would he hand his son over to these cultivators dressed in blue.

 115 Chapter 115

    Xing Deng gritted his teeth while looking at the smirking Zhang Clan member in front of him, it would be easy to wipe these ten fools out, but what would happen after that. The mention of the core formation expert that they had in town was a strong enough deterrent for even this overbearing clan of mobsters. The Xing Patriarch calmed himself down, then leaned back in his chair to ask more questions.

    \"What do you mean with this? How much spirit stones do you want?, it''s my son we are talking about, won''t the Zhang Clan give me some face and forget about the whole thing?\"

    The Zhang Clan elder looked to the sides, knowing well that if a fight broke out they would be at a disadvantage. He wasn''t planning on just barging in and taking the boy by force, he would ask nicely first. If they couldn''t come to an agreement he would just retreat and ask for Zhang Zhi to make an appearance, or more foundation establishment warriors to make a difference.

    \"I don''t think you understand, this is an order coming straight from our own Patriarch. You will have an opportunity to defend your son, if he is deemed innocent than he will go free, if not he will be sentenced.\"

    \"Sentence? Opportunity to defend? What do you mean, explain.\"

    Xing Deng had no idea what this man was babbling about, no one really bothered with taking time in sentencing other people. If they were strong or had some backing then they would usually just pay up if they offended someone equally strong. If someone offended a stronger person with stronger backing they would be at their mercy and that was it. The cultivators at the top never cared much about the weak, they were far to busy with trying to reach that next realm.

    The man started explaining, he had it memorized down by now. How it worked was that the person that was found doing some shady stuff would be apprehended, if someone witnessed the transgression they would be used as witnesses. The witness would testify under oath, or to be precise under a formation that forced them to tell the truth along with the one that was getting accused. This formation forced anyone to say the truth if the cultivator''s resistance was too strong, they were other ways to weaken them so that the formation would work.

    The Zhang family member didn''t go into much detail about that part though, he mostly just mentioned that the Xing Clan Patriarch''s son was caught assaulting some street kids and almost killed one and that one particular elder witnessed the whole thing. They now would apprehend the youth and the father could come to his court case to see it happen.

    Xing Deng''s face contorted in various ways while the Zhang clan member explained what they were doing. He still thought this was some kind of joke and that the Zhang Clan was just doing it as a sort of scare tactic. Though they could be serious as well, he couldn''t take that option off the table just yet.

    ''Who is this witness... does that mean if the witness is gone then my son walks free?''

    The man had a particular way of thinking, he didn''t even think about bribing the so-called witness he instantly went with getting rid of him. This was one of the things these new policemen weren''t thinking about, witness protection. They should have probably taken the man in and given him some bodyguards, or just kept them at their police station that was well protected. They also thought that even with the missing witness they could just force the reported criminal to say the truth with their formation.

    \"So... you want my son... when will this so-called ''trial'' be held?\"

    The Patriarch in the room leaned back, the gears in his head turning already as he gathered more information about the police procedures.

    \"After we apprehend the suspect, he will get a court date... shouldn''t take longer than a week...maybe two...\"

    They already had many cases, lagging behind slightly. There were far more criminals in this city than expected and the roundabout way of dealing with them was causing the police force a headache. Would be a lot faster if they could just trash every criminal, then throw them outside the city or something.

    \"So, you''re not willing to just trade... your Patriarch has a strange way of doing things...\"

    He said without trying to seem too disrespectful, everyone knew that you couldn''t be impolite towards the clan leaders or against people stronger than them. He would relent, for now, he wasn''t stupid he knew if he denied them they would just bring more people next time and if he slaughtered them right here their clan might be the one being extinguished yet, he just didn''t have enough strength to go against them just yet.

    \"Fine... you can take him, but I want to speak to Senior Zhang Zhi, maybe we can work something out.\"

    He already knew who the stationed captain in this city was, he didn''t think this family would be so unreasonable. They were losing out on a lot of spirit stones, the just needed to ask for some protection money the old fashioned way. But now they were trying to imprison his son, he still believed that this was some kind of scare tactic to just milk his clan for more money. If not, he would be making arrangements for this so-called ''witness'' to disappear. From what they explained, this witness was a key figure to getting his son out of this predicament.

    \"Call Shie over and escort him to this so-called police station.\"

    He begrudgingly gave the order out, he hoped that spirit stones could make the Zhang Clan give him some face even if the verdict was not in his favor. But while the policemen were leaving with their captive along with the Xing clan escort, the moved one of his hands up which was a signal for a shadowy person to appear.

    The man was covering his face and looked quite a bit like a ninja, you could only see his beady eyes while the rest of his face was hidden behind a black mask.

    \"Find this witness and make him disappear, he can not make it out alive, do whatever it takes!\"

    The shadowy man nodded and vanished into the shadows, his cultivation in the great circle of foundation establishment. He wasn''t the only one though, more of those type of men started popping up from within the Xing Clan estate. They had various cultivation levels, all in the foundation establishment. This was an assassination unit that this family was known for, they had made many people that were causing trouble with this family disappear and they were going to do it once more.

    \"Gather everyone, this takes priority go interrogate the men that were with the young master, get his description, visit the site where the fight happened now, Go!\"

    First came the information gathering, they needed to know who they were dealing with. They didn''t have much to go off of, they could get his appearance and that he rescued some street urchins. He had a potential relationship with the Zhang Clan, having brought them over here. He might be a worker at one of their shops or even be a member of their clan, which would make things worse on them. They didn''t worry too much as they knew dead men tell no tales.

    They soon dispersed, gathering intel on the Senior that attacked their master. They got the description of his looks from their own clan members and gathered more information at the scene of battle. The beggars in the area were quick to tell them what transpired, not really wanting to have anything to do with this situation.

    They followed the trail to the restaurant that the elder brought the children too and then even figured out that they were staying at a new Zhang Clan compound, they couldn''t investigate too much further in as there was a powerful defensive formation keeping them out. After some time the trail brought them over to the clinic that the elder was stationed in.

    They asked around some more, the man was slowly getting famous. After healing the boy from his near-death injury, other people heard about it and decided to see what was happening at that clinic. Some more patients later it was confirmed that this man was quite an adept healer, he could cure all kinds of physical injuries like broken bones or deep cuts with just some acupuncture needles. This was clearly some master of the healing arts, the clinic even had potent pills that were a lot cheaper than what the Situ Clan was offering up.

    The assassins waiter outside the clinic in the hopes of trailing the man to where he lived and then doing their murder there. They were in a hurry but still, they waited, they couldn''t just barge into the clinic it could have some defensive formations or hidden experts inside. Though they felt confident in taking care of anyone that wasn''t at the core formation level without any problems.

    The man in question was tending to some patients, mostly old people with back problems. He just smiled as the elderly jumped up invigorated after their arthritis was all gone.

    Matt was slowly getting in the rhythm of working here, still, he didn''t really want to spend that much time acting as a clinic doctor even the pill forging was better than this.

    ''Ah, more and more people are coming in... guess I''m famous now... I''ll stay here till that kid gets sentenced, then I''ll get a new doctor to take my place...''

    It was all fine and dandy to help the weak and downtrodden, but he still had to worry about getting backstabbed by the Dark Palm sect or any other equally strong power. From what he gathered, the moment he reached nascent soul status all hell would break loose.

    The governing sects have zero tolerance for upstarts like him, they would swoop in swiftly and try to take him out. The best thing for cultivators that reached a nascent soul level would be to get some backing, otherwise, they would be in for a life on the run. But at a certain level, you wouldn''t really find opposition, if you managed to get to the late stage, sometimes into the middle stage that was enough for people to keep their distance.

    Even though the nascent soul sect elders were paranoid they were still quite cowardly and calculative. No one would be actually willing to fight someone that could injure or kill them in a fair fight. All those old foggies at that level were quite selfish so making them chase someone for a prolonged time was out of the question.

    But even though Matt could probably run away if he reached that level, his Clan would be eradicated in the process. For now, he would just keep it on the low, no one had to know that he was in the nascent soul level. He could wait till he could get more allies, the Feng Clan and Huo Clan were one of those.

    He already invested in those two young masters, the Feng Clan Matriarch and the Huo Clan future Patriarch were already in secluded meditation. They were already aiming for that great circle level, then afterward they could try to go for the Nascent soul level. Matt could gift them some good nascent soul cultivation manuals, but getting up to that power level without a system wasn''t quite as easy as with the other cultivation levels. This was a more significant change than just getting a core or some foundation pillars.

    You actually had to shatter your core for the nascent should appear. The nascent soul created would look like a little version of yourself just in soul form, even if you died at this realm your nascent divinity would remain behind letting you recover with time. So it was kind of second life of some sort, but forming a new body was quite tedious and mostly impossible without some external items.

    ''Kind of scared to go through it... I''ll have some kind of small infant soul living in me... that''s going to be weird...''

    Time passed and soon it was closing time, the clinic would open tomorrow. He wouldn''t stay here, he liked to wander around town and eat at the restaurants while trying to hold himself back from going into the pleasure district of the city. This time though, he had some unwelcome guests that were trailing him, he knew instantly that they were up to no good thanks to his rather high cultivation level compared to them. Their inferior trailing and hiding skills being useless against this here Dong.

    ''Well, they sure move fast... only a day has passed.''

 116 Chapter 116

    Matt looked around, he was still in a highly-populated area, should he go into a more secluded one or should he see what those people that were tailing him would do. He didn''t think they would attack him in a populated area, they probably just wanted to silence him. It was probably for losing face and so he couldn''t testify in the new court he was setting up.

    ''But yeah, my clan sure is useless... was hoping for at least someone to notice and shadow me from the side, no one is thinking ahead...''

    This would be a good opportunity for the police force to tail him as well, if someone attacked him they could swoop in and apprehend them. It would be a shut case and then they could even try to bring in that clan Patriarch for questioning. Though taking the head of a kind of strong clan would probably result in some bloodshed, but that couldn''t be helped.

    ''Would have been a good show of hand, would show people that we don''t look kindly at criminals that retaliate, but alas...''

    Matt wasn''t sure about these squad of shadowy figures tailing him, they were probably one of those death warriors he read in books. They would probably kill themselves sooner than getting apprehended by him. He had to swiftly capture them, but they might do some drastic things like swallowing their own tongue.

    The truth-telling formation had a weakness, if the person was very adamant about it, it would start divulging copious amounts of pain. This showed that the person was lying, but would also spring in if he didn''t reply to the question. A warrior trained for death would probably not talk and just die in the courtroom, so they didn''t make for great witnesses. Some stronger cultivators could probably just tank the formation''s painful treatment and not die.

    There was one other more drastic way to tell if someone was telling the truth or not, which was soul reading. This was an extremely hard technique to preform but it let the one performing it read the truth from the person they were using it on soul. This would leave the person dead outright though and you required a high cultivation level to not suffer damage to your own soul in response.

    When the technique was used the two souls collided against each other in a sort of battle, the one that came out on top could read the truth from the weaker one. It would destroy that soul in the process and the soul that won out, would receive some wounds. Due to this it was quite unsafe for the person reading it as well. It could lead to problems in the cultivation down the road, so it was rarely used only sometimes when there was no other way or maybe if someone''s life depended on it.

    ''Why do these things keep happening whenever I want to get some food?\"

    He was standing outside a restaurant the sun already going down, he sighed and walked on, he didn''t want to risk those cultivation hobos getting the people inside the establishment involved. He started going to a more secluded area of the city where the people living there wouldn''t get involved too much. He hoped that the assassins that were tailing him don''t chicken out as this was an obvious trap, who just wanders into an empty plot of land in the middle of the night?

    ''Well, these cultivator nuts are always very prideful they probably think this will be the perfect opportunity to kill me. Too stuck up to think that someone noticed their movements and is stronger than them. Though I''d rather deal with these types than with those that won''t show their fangs right until the end while letting their own family members die instead.

    That was indeed the worst type of person in these kind''s of worlds to go against. They would act all chummy with you, being some third cousin of the Patriarch from god knows where. Always losing against their own siblings but in reality, having some kind of strange technique that made them insanely strong. They would slowly build up their power base on the down low, then pounce you when you were on your weakest just to be sure that they could take you out.

    While he was moving through an empty alleyway he noticed some movement, he wanted to go further in and even outside the city if you could but these men weren''t willing to just tail him that long.

    ''Hm, did they notice that there was something fishy?''

    He could feel them moving in front of him, they had some kind of shadow art that made them blend in within the darkness of the night. He could feel their presence though, even without his detection technique the gap in cultivation was far too large. It felt like he was about to pick on some kids, but these men were ruthless killers he was already past the point of feeling bad about killing murderers. He still wanted the police to bring them in, but he wasn''t sure that these people would come quietly.

    It was creepy looking, he could see the shadows wiggling about like some kind of dark liquid was going through it. Inside that dark mass were cultivators just shuffling through the walls, they went past him probably to cut away his only route of escape. He kept on walking, letting them think that he didn''t notice something, but inside he was slightly mad that he couldn''t eat those nice meat buns at that restaurant he was going to go to.

    There were three people in front and three people behind him now, but those weren''t all of them. There were also two people on each side up on the buildings. There were exactly ten attackers, the weakest one was in the middle stage of foundation establishment and they even had two in the great circle, most of them were in the late stage though.

    Matt wasn''t sure if he should be honored that they sent such a big murder force after him, or if he should feel bad that these guys were going against someone that was half step into the nascent soul realm.

    ''Ah, should I just finish them quickly or play around...''

    He thought back to the time in the secret area, where he was a bit too prideful for his own good. It would probably not be a good thing to not take these guys seriously, even though they had no way to harm him, they could always try taking hostages while fleeing. They could even blow up part of the city if the scuffle got too obvious.

    ''I guess I should put on my business face and wrap this up.''

    While he was thinking that he heard something whizzing through the air, this was something that he was quite knowledgeable of. Every serious weeb would know what these things coming towards him were.

    ''Oh, throwing stars? shurikens?''

    They were coming from all sides at him, he could see them in slow motion spinning around while they flew towards all of the vital points of his body. These guys weren''t playing around, they were trying to snipe him with their throwing stars. He had a couple of ways to take care of these projectile weapons, he could even let them hit his body as he didn''t think they could pierce through his body refining technique. He could also release his aura to slow their approach or even use his shielding technique.

    He went for a more rudimentary approach though. Firstly he moved his hands upwards, stretching them out while examining where the first batch of shurikens was coming from. His hands were fast as lightning a normal cultivator would only see afterimages or even less than that as Matt in the form of the elder started catching the incoming weapons with his hands.

    The men from the shadows didn''t relent though, they kept at it the clinging and clanging of metal quickly resounding through the alley as Matt didn''t have enough space between his fingers to catch all of these projectile weapons. He started bouncing them backward, his palm strikes formed a sort of dome around the area that he was standing in.

    The assassins looked at the spectacle while sweat formed on their foreheads, they could barely follow this old man''s movements. The stronger ones from the group could somewhat keep up, but in the reality was that killing this elder wouldn''t be quite easy. They were even astonished that he wasn''t going down, he clearly smacked the weapons back with his hands, the shurikens were laced with poison that on skin contact would dull the enemies movements and render them defenseless within a short amount of time.

    \"The poison isn''t working, everyone attack together!\"

    Matt noticed before the weapon''s hit that there was some liquid on it, but his body was way too tough and resistant to be affected by such crude venom. There was a small pile of metallic stars next to his feet now, the enemies finally deciding to go into melee range. They charged from the back and from the rear while the assassin members that were on the roofs continued with the range attacks.

    He could now get a good look at these attackers, they looked quite familiar and the weapons that they kept throwing at them fit their appearance quite well.

    ''Damn, nice ninja outfits...''

    They looked quite similar to a certain ice slinging ninja game character, though their ninja robes were pure black with some metallic parts here and there. They had armguards on their hands and some shoulder guards as well, the part that covered their mouth was a separate piece from their hood part and it looked like it could function as a gas mask to boot.

    ''Guess I need to be wary of any strange fumes coming out from them.''

    The attackers had various ninja-themed weapons, there were the usual katanas here and there. One person had a hooked sword of sorts while another was holding on to that weapon that looked like a sickle attached to a chain with a weight at the end part of the chain. One was dual-wielding sickle-like weapons outright, he could even hear the top cultivators switching to other weapons which blew darts this time around.

    \"Quite the ferocious bunch aren''t ya? Did the Xing Clan send you to silence this old man? I''m not sure you''ll be up to the task though.\"

    The assassins didn''t reply and just charged in, they knew that this man was taking them lightly and they wanted to profit on his lax attitude. The attacks were coming from all sides and they knew how to work together, no one under the core formation-level could be a match for this group. But this was the problem, the man they were facing was a lot stronger than that.

    Just before one of their attacks was about to land and the other members were following up for a combo, the man vanished. The six ninjas came to a stop, their eyes bulging as they couldn''t see the old man anywhere he just vanished from the spot not leaving anything behind. Well, the shurikens that were on the ground were flickering now as if some electricity was got infused due to something.

    \"GAH! ARGH!\"

    They soon looked up, the man was holding one of their squadmates in his hand and by the neck. The other three were already falling down from the building and out cold.

    \"Always go for the support first!\"

    The men with the blow darts couldn''t even get one clean hit as Matt charged upwards while using his thunder steps. He had gotten it to such a high proficiency that it looked like he was teleporting at this point. The man in his grasp convulsed and twitched as he was getting choked out with one hand. He didn''t kill them just yet as for now he just infused them with his Qi to make them pass out, they wouldn''t wake out for quite some time with his superior energy interfering with their inferior one.

    The old man tossed the enemy that was now more or less a rag doll to the side. He then hopped off the building he was standing on and kicked himself off some bricks that were at the top part of the wall. His kick caused part of the wall to crack, he was soon back on the ground. He did a flip and landed on his feet, the ground shaking under the pressure and spider-like webs forming in the earth below.

    He kicked up quite the dust cloud and made a lot of noise, the assassin ground still went after him, failure was not an option and they would die anyway if they let this man go. The old man wasn''t as passive anymore though, before they could reassess the situation his fist was flying towards the strongest member of the group.

    The man didn''t have enough time to activate any of his defensive treasures nor to dodge this fast attack. He took a clean hit, his cheekbones breaking as he flew like a puppet with its strings severed towards the alley. He bounced and bounced as he flew further and further finally ramming into the side of the wall, out cold and a bloody mess.

    Soon his friends ended up in the same way, their faces were all battered and bruised this elder wasn''t playing around. Soon enough he was holding up onto the last member of the group. Matt pulled his mask down to reveal a forty-something man, the man was looking at him with fear in his eyes probably not willing to die here and now.

    \"So, you willing to answer a couple of questions, I''ll guarantee your safety if you do, you might even only have to work in a mine for a while instead of getting killed, sounds like a good deal, right?\"

    Before the man could answer the old man looked to the side, the grin from his face replaced with a frown. The assassin squinted with his eyes, trying to see who it was that came, was it help from the Xing clan? When he heard the voice though, he knew that it was someone else entirely.

    \"Stop right there criminal scum! Nobody breaks the law under our watch!\"

    Matt looked at the half beaten man in his grip, he had blood on his fists and looked like the bad guy in this situation.

    ''Awww, shit...''

 117 Chapter 117

    Matt was holding onto one of the beaten-up Ninja wannabes, the person looked like a man in their forties with a busted lip and a swollen eye from the smack he received from this old man named Wei Hung. He slowly turned his head to where the voices were coming from, to his dismay the Fuzz had arrived in the worst possible moment. It was as if he was the bad guy in this situation, all you could see were many people on the ground some of them were even twitching.

    He even had blood on his hands, which made him look even worse. The whole situation was noticed by a couple of policemen patrolling the city, they had heard a ruckus the moment Matt landed on the ground after he jumped off that building. These two people weren''t any regular police officers though, they were wearing uniforms that Matt was quite familiar with as he was the one that made them.

    ''Damn, guess I''ll have to go talk my way out at the police station. This might look bad, but I bet I can explain everything when we go back.''

    He was still the key witness in the case, the new police force should be able to figure out that the people here were trying to murder him so that he couldn''t testify. Though he wasn''t sure they were so good at detective work just yet.

    \"Ah, this can all be explained, I''ll come peace...\"

    He wanted to say that he would come peacefully but before he could do that the two ''officers'' charged at him.

    \"Quiet you scum, let go of that person this instant!\"

    A woman''s voice could be heard behind the mask she was wearing, it was quite the youthful sounding one as well. Her partner was running right behind her, giving her some backup.

    ''So, you''re not even going to ask what was happening and are just going to beat the suspect up from the get-go?''

    It didn''t look like diplomacy was an answer in this situation. The glorious Zhang clan Patriarch had a decision to make, would he let these two juniors smack him around, then maybe drag him back to the police station. He might be thrown into jail if he didn''t reveal his true self, but what would happen to these two. He was the freaking Zhang Clan Patriarch, the other clan members would probably never let this slide. Being disrespectful to the clan leader was akin to treason, they could be thrown out, be ostracised or worse.

    ''But what should I do... should I just run...''

    While he was thinking about his next move a heel was flying towards his head, he almost forgot that the two were coming for him. He stepped to the side, it looked like a very relaxed and slow type of movement but in reality, it was very swift. The woman flew past him missing her target, caught off guard as she flew forward with her momentum.

    \"Sister Ai, watch out, this elder isn''t simple!\"

    This was, of course, the duo that saved the young girls from the fat slaver. Zhang Teng swooped to the rescue, afraid that the elder would strike his clan sister while she was off balance. His hands coiled like two snakes, the strange attack making the youth''s arms extend in length. But before they could reach the elderly man''s face they bounced back, Teng''s hands snapped backward as if getting deflected by something hard.

    \"Hey, I''m innocent! These guys attacked me, aren''t you supposed to hear me out before you start attacking?\"

    He tried to reason with the two, but after knocking the snake youth back the sister that flew past him moved back into the fray. She pulled out a black tonfa, this was a standard weapon that came in various grades and sizes. Matt found himself dodging all of these attacks, the two youths were promising young talents but they were nowhere near his level of strength. The hardest thing for Matt was holding back, he didn''t want to hurt any of these kids, he could probably snap them in half with a flick of his finger.

    \"Stop resisting, you criminal scum!\"

    The two weren''t relenting though, he had to give it to those two, they were stupid but brave. Maybe if he played with them for a while they would tire out and then hear him out. He must have overdone it with the policeman guide that he made, guess it wasn''t smart to put that clause about going harder after criminals that were resisting.

    However, while he was thinking about his next move more people started showing up. He forgot that they all had communication treasures that would alert other coppers if some of their squadmates were in trouble and fighting. He was surrounded once more, this time around there were even more people as this alleyway was getting crowded.

    ''Are you serious?... For god''s sale, I''m your damn Patriarch!''

    He bit his lower lip, trying not to give these fools a good thrashing. But his passive attitude was probably making these idiots feel like they had a winning chance.

    \"Altogether, he is clearly at a disadvantage he can''t even attack!\"

    He was right, due to only dodging their attacks and smacking them away gently here and there, the junior members thought that the old man was just having a hard time evading them and couldn''t counterattack. He looked as many police uniform wearing cultivators charged at him from all sides, they were mostly using tonfa like weapons. A sigh escaped his mouth, the man finally having enough of this farce.

    \"Don''t get cocky now...\"

    The people were doing a joint combination attack that would rain down justice on this murderous elder, they could almost see him wincing on the ground and begging them for mercy. However, they suddenly felt a strange sensation like something was telling them to quickly escape. It was too late though, the elder''s facial expression suddenly changed and he moved his leg upwards slightly. He then stepped forward or at least that was what it looked like.

    This unthreatening motion was accompanied by a spike in the elder''s cultivation aura, the moment that foot touched the ground a sudden repelling force was produced. The magnificent combination attack that these cultivators trained for months was instantly broken, they were all sent flying backward as a shockwave destroyed any forward momentum that they had.

    \"C-core formation?...\"

    Everyone was down on their knees, the old grandpa that looked meek and weak just a second ago, now looked like a monster to these cultivators. They didn''t think that this man would be this strong, they finally realized that he was just playing with them and he could have killed them at any moment. The group of people looked up, their legs shaking a bit as they stood up, not really sure what to do.

    \"Have you calmed down now?... Can I finally explain mys....\"

    While he was talking he suddenly felt something, he quickly jumped up into the air only to see the ground beneath him explode into dust. The cultivators that were standing in the alley were of course hit by the residual blast, which caused them to fly in various directions, the buildings were already shabby looking but now the walls were destroyed as well.

    ''No... is it that idiot now...''

    Matt looked in the direction that the attack came from, his eyes squinting as he could see a man on a sword flying towards him. He knew this idiot samurai quite well, it was his number one fan Zhang Zhi charging at him with murder in his eyes.

    \"You shall not hurt these people, you criminal scum!\"

    ''But you are the one that almost killed them with that attack...''

    Matt noticed that this man didn''t think about collateral damage at all. This explained why he was okay with slicing the Cheng Clan''s ship in half. There were non-combatants on that ship, luckily none of them was killed but some of them were heavily injured. Luckily the cleanup crew had enough pills to heal the slaves on the ship, they brought them back to the cities afterward.

    ''What now...''

    This was slowly getting out of hand, he didn''t think his own people would start chasing him around town. For now he had to lead this idiot Zhang Zhi out of this city, so that he wouldn''t destroy it in the process of capturing him. He turned around and started hopping from building to building, the other man chasing after him while the juniors below groaned out loud due to having been caught in the aftershock of Zhang Zhi''s attack.

    \"Stop you criminal! This Zhang Zhi will follow you to the end of this continent!\"

    Matt was planning to leave the city, then show his trusted clan member who he really was and explain that he was doing a secret mission. But things weren''t working out, this man started swinging his sword around producing those flying dragon attacks of his. Buildings started exploding and people screamed in the streets, this guy was clearly ignoring others around him and just caring about the mission that his Patriarch had given him.

    ''Damn, he is holding back a bit... but he might actually hurt someone like this...''

    The rooftops were exploding and more policemen gathered as they followed their captain. The old man suddenly jumped really high and flew through the air, landing at an open plot of land with a lot of empty space around him. He then faced their captain, the policemen cheered their captain on as they saw the two ready to duke it out.

    \"Get him Captain!\"

    \"Show him what happens to people that go against the Zhang Clan!\"

    \"He was clearly resisting, we must bring him in!\"

    They shouted from the back while slowly encircling the spot that Matt landed, they were keeping their distance though as they knew that they couldn''t get involved in a fight of core formation experts.

    \"Surrender now!\"

    Zhang Zhi held his sword out and pointed it at the old man, Wei Hung in response frowned while looking around. He had enough, he didn''t care if his cover would be blown and he would look like some weirdo that dressed as an old man while being the clan leader. He couldn''t let these idiots do their thing anymore.

    \"You want me to surrender?... Me?\"

    Zhang Zhi prepared to swing his sword once more, but he suddenly stopped, no he even took a step back. The elder person in front of him suddenly looked a lot scarier than before. He could feel the elder''s power rising, it went way past the early level of core formation that he previously felt and shot up so high that he didn''t even know how strong this man was.

    \"You damn idiot, what do you think you are doing by destroying this city!?\"

    The man started floating into the air, his eyes started glowing with a golden hue. Lightning bolts fired off his body and you could hear the sound of thunder as he rose upwards into the sky above.

    \"H-how can this be?\"

    These cultivators didn''t really have much experience with nascent soul cultivators and Matt here was someone that was extremely close to the cultivation level of one. At this time they had mistaken the old man for an expert in that realm, he was even floating which was the staple of nascent soul cultivators.

    Zhang Zhi started thinking, who could this man be. He had a similar air to him as his Patriarch, this cultivation method was a dead giveaway. But what was the relationship between this man and the glorious Patriarch he thought? In his infinite wisdom he figured it out, this was the only logical conclusion in his mind, there was only one person that this elder could be.

    He quickly dropped down to his knees, his head hitting the pavement as he spoke out.

    \"Junior apologizes sincerely, I didn''t realize who this glorious elder was!\"

    Matt reacted with a sharp gaze, did he finally see through him.

    ''Well guess the jig is up, hope I can come up with a good explanation.''

    \"Well, glad that you understand.\"

    Matt nodded while Zhang Zhi replied.

    \"Yes, this junior didn''t realize that this elder must be the illustrious master of our Patriarch!\"

    \"Yes glad that you... wait, what?\"

 118 Chapter 118

    This wasn''t as silly as Matt thought it was. The cultivators here had limited knowledge about experts at the Nascent soul level. Even though Zhang Zhi was back there in the secret ground, the whole fight was quite hectic. They didn''t have time to measure the power levels of those two masters that were fighting, so when Matt flexed his cultivation it could seem to be at the nascent soul level.

    The other thing was the blind trust in the Patriarch that Zhang Zhi had. He would never think that Zhang Dong would take the form of an old man and just wander around the streets of this city. He thought that his Patriarch was busy cultivating or thinking about ten moves into the future of the clan.

    This old man looked to have the same type of cultivation method as their Patriarch, but due to Zhang Dong increasing his expertise in all of his cultivation arts, he was stronger than he was back then in the secret ground. So this mistake wasn''t as far fetched if you considered how these people operated.

    \"Grandmaster...\"

    ''I guess I''ll roll with it... better than explaining to them why I''m pretending to be some old fart...''

    He quickly thought back to the way a lofty master should act. Should he go with a more stoic approach, or act angry as the juniors didn''t give him any face. For now he just stuck his chest out proudly and played around with his long white beard, his eyes locked on the trembling core formation cultivator.

    \"Oh, I see that you have figured it out, little friend, took you long enough.\"

    Zhang Zhi just trembled and started sweating, his theory came true and he was speaking to someone that was even above the Patriarch. What if this show of disrespect from him would cause trouble to Zhang Dong, what if this old man punishes his disciple for having incompetent subordinates as him? There was only one thing he could do!

    Matt in the form of Wei Hung hovered up in the air, not quite sure what he should talk about but he wanted to talk about this cultivator didn''t care for collateral damage at all. But before he could speak out again the man below him acted out, he drew his sword and stretched out his hand. His face was resolute and his will was unshaken as he looked at that hand of his.

    \"This junior has made a grave error, please let this junior offer up a hand to appease the senior''s anger!\"

    Matt''s eyes bulged out and went bloodshot as he saw the man going for a slice. He was going to sever off his entire hand a bit above the wrist, this was some devotion to the clan right there. Matt quickly activated all of his skills to get as much of a speed boost as he could, the other Zhang Clan members that were standing around the area only saw the elderly man vanish.

    Zhang Zhi was aiming for his sword hand, he was quite devoted and wanted to let the old man know, that he was really apologetic. His swordsmanship was fast and decisive, but as he was feeling the cold dark blade against his forearm, it suddenly got stopped by something. This something was the elder man''s hand, he grabbed the entire blade it not even being able to nick his skin.

    \"You damn fool!\"

    SMACK!

    Zhang Zhi got slapped by the old man, the man quickly tasting blood as he staggered to the side. The smack wasn''t serious, if Matt was serious he could probably smack the head off his neck with one hit.

    \"What do you think you are doing? Did you even ask if I wanted you to do this? Don''t you have a small child? What would your wife and child do if their father became a cripple?\"

    The old man started shouting at the samurai looking cultivator, who was back down on his knees and rubbing his cheek. The other Zhang clan members just looked one from the side, not being able to add anything to the conversation and being too afraid to even try.

    They just looked as the old man started lecturing their Captain. Zhang Zhi perplexed and just nodding, not being sure why the old master was mad at him for trying to show him face by cutting off his hand. But after he heard him mention his child and wife, he shrunk back. He forgot that he had his own family besides the clan to think about, maybe he was too hasty in his actions.

    \"J-junior was wrong, please forgive me...\"

    \"Enough, I''m not mad at you... but you must start thinking before you act... think about other people that will suffer from your actions...\"

    Matt wasn''t sure what he should do now, the dismemberment of limbs kind of made him forget what he was going for in this conversation.

    \"Listen up... those people back in the alley attacked me, they were probably related to the boy that you apprehended, think it was the Xing clan. If you are going to run this ''Police force'' that your Patriarch created you need to do it right, you can''t just attack people randomly... also look at that...\"

    The old man pointed at a spot in the distance, there stood a destroyed building that Zhang Zhi sliced apart while he was chasing the old man. Some people were standing outside of it, tears in their eyes as their home was now destroyed.

    \"Go pay those people for that house, or repair it! Don''t forget to do the same with anything else that you destroyed!\"

    \"Also!\"

    He turned to the sides, every Zhang Clan family member was trembling in their boots as the elder master swept his gaze through the area.

    \"Harming yourself just to give me face is forbidden! If Someone from you tries to do something like this idiot here, I''ll have my disciple banish you and your closes family members from your clan, is that understood?\"

    Everyone just twitched and dropped to their knees, they quickly shouted ''Yes Grandmaster'' as a show of respect not wanting to get kicked out from this Clan of theirs that was on a fast rise. They were gaining momentum, their Patriarch was young and strong and he could only get stronger.

    \"Now, no word can reach that I''m in this city, so you must all swear under an oath that you will not tell this to anyone... but don''t die... dying is forbidden as well... old don''t kill anyone for trying to pry into my affair... still keep it a secret...\"

    Matt twitched, he was glad that he changed his statement at the end. He already imagined these cultivator nuts trying to silence anyone that was asking about this so-called ''Master of the Patriarch.'' They might even try to kill themselves over it if they misunderstand a situation and try to keep his secret by taking it to the grave.

    All the cultivators nodded in unison and swore that they wouldn''t bring this up anymore. They wanted to say that they would take this info to their death bed, but that was apparently forbidden by the elder master.

    \"Now... I bid you farewell...\"

    The man suddenly vanished, some static electricity left in the place he was standing just a moment before. The Zhang Clan members gave out sighs of relief, the old monster was finally gone and they could relax. They weren''t quite sure what the Senior wanted them to do, they shouldn''t talk about him which was fine, but they shouldn''t protect the secret with their lives. So it was fine to talk if someone smacked them around enough that it would threaten their lives? This was quite the lax secrecy oath.

    The night came to an end and the sun was rising again, the Xing Clan patriarch was looking out through a window already realizing that his men had failed in their task.

    \"Damn useless bunch of fools...report!\"

    Some other clan member that had similar looking ninja clothes as the assassins from yesterday stepped out, made a small bow with his hands clasped and started talking.

    \"Reporting to Patriarch, all of the men have been captured by the so-called ''Police Force'' of the Zhang Clan. The scouts report that they are held in a tightly guarded facility that is protected by a defensive formation. You would need a cultivator above the core formation early stage to hope of destroying this formation as it is very advanced.\"

    \"The elder that is referred as ''The witness'' is still alive, we assume that he was stronger than anticipated, probably in the core formation level. If not, then the Zhang Clan helped him and lured out men into the trap. I assure you, Patriarch, that those warriors would die sooner than speak any of this!\"

    Xing Deng waved the man away who in response dissolved into the shadows.

    ''Guess I''ll have to offer them up my son...''

    The man rubbed his chin, he still had his oldest son, he also had more of them so he didn''t worry that much. His fatherly love only went this far, if he had to choose between one of his sons and the family business he would choose the latter any day of the week.

    \"Time to wait it out, but damn Zhang Clan, you''ll regret this in the end...\"

    He was an old schemer and time was one thing that these cultivators had in spades, if he managed to reach the core formation level he would have even more. He could just wait for an opportunity to stab this clan in the back, or just hug some strong uncle''s leg if he needed to. He couldn''t really do much about it though unless he got the backing of the other two big families, even then the possibility, of winning was slim.

    \"With that Patriarch of theirs still out there, there is no hope of retaliation and they still have that Zhang Zhi, he took out that Cheng idiot.\"

    From what they knew the Zhang Clan only had three core formation experts at the moment, Zhang Zhi, Zhang Jin and Zhang Dong. If they were hiding more somewhere was unknown but it wouldn''t be odd if they had one or two more in reserve. None of these big families in Moonlight city even had one of those experts to spare.

    \"It''s just a small matter, as long as we have the pleasure district, our wealth is secured.\"

    The Xing Clan made their money mostly with slaves and prostitutes, they might have taken a blow with the slaves but they still had the women of the night. Those women didn''t fit the slave criteria even though they were being worked in a similar way. The Xing clan had another large venture, which was being loansharks.

    How it worked was like this, the women would take out a loan due to various reasons, mostly lack of food or place to stay. Then the Xing clan would hike up the percentages of the interests that came with those loans. The longer the women weren''t able to pay up the interest, the longer they worked for this clan. So, it was kind of a legal way that you could keep the ladies slaving away.

    They also made it sure that the women didn''t earn too much. If they received a lot of monetary compensation for their work they would be able to pay back the debt too fast, but every month the interest ticked down, the longer they took to pay the Xing Clan back the longer the family could suck them dry.

    The prostitutes weren''t the only people that they pulled in with their loans, there were various other ''loan slaves'' that they had, like ones that were used for arena fighting that was quite the popular betting addicts. He decided to at least wait till the so-called trial, wanting to see what it was all about, but just after a couple of days had passed some bad news arrived again.

    \"Bad news Patriarch! The Zhang Clan is buying out our loan slaves!\"

 119 Chapter 119

    Matt returned to his quarters in the previous Cheng clan main house, this was the room that he was supposed to be staying at and only a couple of people knew that he was running around town. He needed to think about his police force more throughout, he only wrote down some main points he remembered from some police-themed shows back in the day.

    His clan members were a bit violent in their approach, they kicked ass and took notes down later as well. This needed to change a bit, the collateral damage that some members caused while chasing down criminals was also a problem. The high-level cultivators were akin to supermen just busting through buildings, one badly placed Qi attack could cost someone''s life in the near future. Injuries were already happening constantly, like when Zhang Zhi split the flying ship apart without caring for any for the slave girls on it.

    ''I''ll need to write down a better guideline for them...also about that Xing Clan.''

    He grabbed a jade slip from the side, on it was the detailed information about what that family did and where they produced all their income from.

    ''Hmm... slaves...prostitution...gambling...debt collecting... quite the stereotypical mafioso or yakuza bunch...''

    That wasn''t all that was in there, there was also information about the other families.

    ''Situ Clan eh? They sound like a farmaceutical company from Earth... just hiking up the prices for things that cost close to nothing, guess they are a bit better than the previous one as they don''t force anyone to buy their stuff or threaten anyone. ''

    ''Kuan Clan just sounds like a stingy landlord, though they are going a bit overboard by forcing the farmers to pay up even during drought seasons.''

    The two other clans didn''t sound so bad on paper, they mostly just strongarmed people to sign bad contracts or milked the populace that had nowhere else to go to for food or medicine. He would just have one of his more intelligent people crunch the numbers and see what would be a good price. It was supposed to be a good price for both parties, so the farmers wouldn''t starve or the landlords wouldn''t go out of business either.

    It would be nice if he could replace everyone in this town with his own family members, but they didn''t have the sheer numbers for that. All of these cities were large and required a lot of manpower to manage. At most he could place some trusted people here and there to manage the things from the top, just keep the other clan''s up on their toes so that they don''t suck the regular people dry.

    ''The Xing Clan is considered the largest one from these three and they are the shadiest one as well.''

    He found that out just previously when he got attacked by ninjas, and they weren''t dudes with blue hair but actual assassin warriors.

    ''Hm, maybe I should make my own ninja unit...''

    He had an information and spy division, but he didn''t look much into it as his grandpa was responsible for those guys. He would need to have Zhang Jin fill him in.

    ''I only gave him some techniques that could be used for things like that, he sounded ecstatic back then...''

    He knew by now, that the cultivators were really crazy about new techniques. The moment they found something even half worthwhile they wanted to lock themselves up in a cave of months and train.

    \"Hmm... so should we continue with the Xing Clan... or shift our attention to the other two...\"

    There were plans in the works to lower the taxes, build free schools and free clinics around the city but the Zhang Clan hadn''t moved against the other two clans that much. At most they inspected their stock and told them to shape up before the next one came along. It would cost quite a penny to transport food from their own town, but it would stir up the monopoly that the Kuan clan had. The Zhang Clan was also proficient in making pills, so they could slowly edge the Situ Clan out, forcing lower prices onto the market.

    ''Not like they can threaten us if we lower the prices, if they want to survive they will have to meet us in the middle.''

    He could outright force the three families to work for him, even doing things like killing their Patriarchs if they didn''t listen. But he thought that it was better to do it on more peaceful terms, he didn''t want the Zhang Clan to just look like another group of bloodthirsty cultivators. The people would probably be happier if they knew that the ruling clan wouldn''t just react with violence in the time of some kind of transgression.

    Still, he also wanted his clan to earn their upkeep. It was always hard to find that fine line where the profit margins were high but the people working were still happy and content with their jobs. He was thinking about one certain thing that didn''t really exist in this world, this thing was the weekend... and days off work.

    Something like a Saturday and Sunday that were free was a foreign concept in this world, you were supposed to work all day every day or at least that what the landlords wanted you to do. What if he implemented a mandatory day off work, to spend with your loved ones or just chill.

    In his previous world, things like this were already tried. A certain business owner observed and created the weekend because the workers would work harder and spend their hard-earned money back into the company that they were working in. This was a win-win situation for both parties, soon enough it was widespread and became the norm.

    No one wanted to work ten or twelve hours a day for six or seven days a week. If they did that they were far too tired to spend their money on anything and just rested which was a blow for the economy.

    ''All up to the business owners if they give their workers a steady hourly wage, some of them have to work the whole day depending on the workload...''

    He wanted to boost the people''s productivity while lowering their workload, he would give them more time to enjoy the world around them while still making a profit as the workers would work harder at their jobs even though they worked fewer hours.

    ''This will also generate more opportunities, people will have free time on the weekends and will be able to spend all that hard earn cash!''

    Most regular people weren''t really able to enjoy things like theaters or concerts, not having money or free time to do that. But Matt was planning to convert that hologram technology into something more accessible, building a cinema wouldn''t be that far fetched.

    He had various crafting manuals, he could produce various weapon and armor pieces as well as magical accessories that shielded you from harm. It shouldn''t be that hard to produce something like a camera or a screen that showed those recordings, he just needed to find the right materials and make it work on spiritual energy, he was even close to producing a prototype but it was quite bulky making it look like one of those old-timey televisions, just ten times bigger.

    ''But I''m getting ahead of myself, let me clean up this mess with these three families first, after they are contained I can move along with the other plans.''

    He nodded to himself and placed the jade slip to the side, the thoughts of using slips like these as digital storage devices already crossing his mind.

    ''The Xing Clan sounds like the worse... they might be the hardest to deal with and might not want to change their outdated ways...''

    He rubbed his chin while sipping on some green tea, it tasted quite nice along with the honey made from some spirit bees.

    He looked back to the jade slip and brought out the information about loansharking, he was quite informed how things like these worked. They would hike up the interest rates the longer you didn''t pay it back, though in his old world you would mostly have to put something down of worth so that the company lending you money had something to gain even if you didn''t pay them.

    ''Guess the lives of these women are the thing they are after...''

    There was a shortage of food and necessities in this city, everything required coins or spirit stones. People died a lot and the women were forced into taking those loans to support their families if anything happened to their husbands. Though there were other reasons, like gambling and just badly made decisions or bad investments.

    Though these things were more or less legal in a sense. The people didn''t have to take those loans, no one was forcing them. But not like they really had a choice, it was either this or getting thrown out of their houses, starvation or getting turned into a beggar.

    Matt didn''t really have anything against prostitution, he thought it was a good source of revenue for the city. He just didn''t like that the working ladies weren''t getting much for their time, the pimps were taking like eighty or seventy percent of that the women earned in the day. If they caught one of them trying to sell her services on the side without giving them a cut, she would be beaten up harshly.

    ''Should I just force them to make changes, or is there any other way...I guess we could try that...''

    The escorts were low-level cultivators, mostly ranking in the ones that couldn''t get past the 3rd level of Qi condensation bottleneck. So most of their loans were taken in coins.

    ''Gold coins are easy to come by, if it''s not in spirit stones I think we can stomach it...''

    Even though he didn''t consider a gold coin to be much, even one was more than what a normal person could earn in a month. But if you took it into account that a gold coin didn''t even compare to low grade spirit stone at all, it wasn''t so bad. A lot of cultivators wouldn''t even trade spirit stones for coins as they valued cultivation materials way more.

    Matt had quite a lot of coins on himself, he had sold of various weapons of lower quality while bringing his crafting back up so he could cover the costs. He used up most of the spirit stone resources, but gold coins would be fine and this was an investment for the future as he was aiming to get more daily system points after getting the happiness of the citizens up.

    He took out his communication jade and called Zhang Kuo, after receiving a greeting he gave out his order.

    \"I want you to organize something for me. Get some people to go to the pleasure district, mostly target the working girls. I want you to buy off their debts, the women will have to pay it back partially at least but lower those insane interest rates that the other clans were forcing them to pay up.\"

    \"That''s not all, they can still work in their old profession but they would take most of the cut. Also set up the usual, in case they have nowhere else to go.\"

    They had a system set up for people that had no living quarters and no families to take them in, they could stay in some Zhang Clan made shelter. They would perform some manual tasks for the clan, acting as errand boys and girls, cleaning ladies or handymen. If they showed talent in martial arts they could even be recruited into the clan.

    \"Well then, I''ll leave you to it. As always, don''t try to be too forceful.\"

    Zhang Dong hung up as Zhang Kuo received the message. His brows showing a tint of sweat, the man seemed to be on top of things, but even he was getting tired from the strange requests that this new Patriarch was giving him, he needed an assistant.

 120 Chapter 120

    It was a normal day in the pleasure district, one of the managers in the store run by the Xing Clan was just coming it to work. They mostly started in the afternoon and worked too late at night. Not like managers like him did much, they were just there to greet customers and make the girls service the customers, if they refused they would punish them in various ways.

    This man in question was looking slightly bewildered as quite a bit of his working girls hadn''t shown up to work. He was quick on the uptake, he whistled after some of his goons and sent them to drag the women back here. The thugs were allowed to even hurt the working girls, they just weren''t allowed to damage their faces.

    Some time had passed and the goons returned, but the manager scratched his head as there were no women with them. Instead, all of them were carrying sacks with something in it.

    \"What is this? Where are the girls? The customers are waiting... if they don''t come now we will lose a lot of coin... and what is that?\"

    One of the hired guards walked over and handed the sack to the manager, he knew what was in those bags the moment he grasped it. He tossed one of those on a table and looked as gold and silver coins spilled out. The men workers carried all the cash inside, piling it up in one spot the manager''s eyes bulging out as he didn''t quite get where his hired thugs got all of this money.

    \"T-the girls paid off their debt... a-all of them...\"

    \"How can they all pay of their debt? Who is asking for trouble with my Xing Clan?\"

    The manager knew that this had to be some kind of plot, someone was buying out their prostitutes probably wanting to move them to another Bordello. While he was thinking about calling the main house for some help a certain man walked in.

    There were some female workers in the establishment right now, but they apparently didn''t get the memo about the Zhang Clan paying off the debts. That person was wearing a blue robe, this wasn''t a police uniform but an official Zhang Clan robe with their name sewed into the back part.

    He wasn''t alone though, there were some other members behind this man and they looked rough around the edges. The hired goons shrinking back after receiving the stink eye treatment that was boosted by their cultivation level.

    \"Hear me out!\"

    The man clasped his hands and with the aid of his cultivation shouted out, quickly bringing everyone''s attention to himself.

    \"We are from the Zhang Clan, by the order of our Patriarch we have come here. The Zhang Clan is willing to pay off everyone''s debt and you may stop working out on the streets. \"

    \"The debt will have to be paid and a small 5% fee will be added to it. But! It will not increase further, we have created an up to ten-year plan for you to pay it off! Let me repeat, no incentives will be added to this debt from the point it will be taken!\"

    \"You may choose to stay in this line of work, but...\"

    The Zhang Clan member looked at the manager of this whore house and smirked.

    \"The business owners are forbidden from taking more than 25% of your earnings, if they do so they will be treated as criminals and dealt according to the new laws. Also! The women workers may refuse any clients they deem unworthy or if the price that the business owner offers is too little.\"

    This was quite the hit to these kinds of business places, the owners milked the girls for about 80% of their earnings giving them enough to not starve to death. They even lowered the prices so that the female workers earned even less, all to keep them in debt for as long as it was possible. Now the girls could outright leave or take most of the earnings with them.

    The remaining women that were dancing out to the side or even ones that were in the back rooms heard it all. They instantly stopped doing what they were, some patrons were left with their pants down and cold air greeting their crotch.

    \"Sir, is this really true?\"

    The manager of this red light district business quickly run up to stand between the Zhang Clan cultivator and his working girls, his eyebrows going down sharply and quite a few ridges appearing on his forehead.

    \"What are you doing you fool! Get back to work!\"

    He was about to give her a good old slap, showing her who was in charge but before he could do that his hand was grasped by one of the bodyguards that came with that Zhang Clan cultivator.

    \"Halt!\"

    \"Aghh...\"

    The manager soon found his hand getting twisted behind his back and he was held down by his wrist. His hired thugs wanted to jump in but the Zhang Clan cultivators quickly rushed in between them. It looked like a fight was going to break out, but the goons clearly knew that they were outmatched by these stronger cultivators they were mostly just your usual riff-raff. Their cultivation was low and their techniques were quite bad, they had no chance against trained warriors that were backed by a strong clan.

    The previously speaking Zhang Clan member slowly walked past the business manager and over to the girl that asked the question.

    \"Yes young lady, we only require you to show us the binding contract that you sign and we will take care of the rest.\"

    He then produced a parchment of his own and showed it to the girls that were slowly coming over, their eyes sparkling with anticipation.

    \"This is the contract that out Zhang Clan created, please read it throughout but I guarantee by our Patriarch''s name that what I have spoken is true!\"

    Most of the girls here couldn''t read and that was also part of why they were duped by the Xing Clan. Some of them could though, one of them started reading through the contract and didn''t see any faults in it.

    \"But sir... it''s written here that you will find us some work... and that you''ll teach all the girls how to read and write... in something called a weekend course?\"

    The man nodded while taking back the scroll that the woman read.

    \"Yes, this is true. I''m sure you''re confused about that word but don''t worry it''s something our glorious Patriarch came up with!\"

    The people had no idea what a weekend was, but Zhang Dong was trying to push it through in the next couple of laws that he was working on. He would implement it here and back in Spirit Spring City, if it worked fine he would use that as a schematic for future endeavors.

    It didn''t take long for all the girls to leave with the contracts in hand, none of them really wanted to work in this place but they were forced to due to various circumstances. The manager was left with more sacks of gold and torn up contracts, he was even threatened by these Zhang Clan people that if they find them bothering the women again that they would be severely punished. He could only imagine how badly they would get beaten, maybe even killed.

    After a couple of days, word reached the Xing Clan main house. They were fine for now, they had an infusion of cold hard cash in the form of the payouts but the Patriarch knew that this wouldn''t last for long. They required those debt slaves to work for them for tens of years, those debts could be cleared fast if they gave them a fair price for the services but that wasn''t really the point.

    Xing Deng slammed his fist into a nice looking wooden table, the hit making splinters fly in all sorts of directions.

    \"They released all our slaves... they got to the prostitutes and are blocking out loans from getting through... the only thing left is the casinos...\"

    His empire was slowly folding on itself, he knew that the Zhang Clan was slowly eating them up and those casinos would follow suit soon after.

    \"I have to do something... my clan is at stake...\"

    He calculated that in a year or two he would be bankrupt, the steady flow of cash was stopping and he didn''t think that the Zhang Clan would strike a deal with him. He attributed it to the clan being in some kind of righteous faction, or at least their new leader being quite the idiot that didn''t care for profit.

    Soon he called one of his retainers to give him a throughout calculation of how much wealth they had left. He also organized a meeting with the other two clans that were bleeding money due to the Zhang Clan''s changes in the laws. He had to get those two onboard or they were all finished and would be forever suppressed by this Zhang Patriarch.

    In a different place.

    A man on a large black sword was hovering up in the air, he was holding onto a demonic beast core below him a giant carcass was laying down. This man had clearly defeated this large monster, the core was pulsating in the great circle of core formation signaling that this cultivator was of quite the high caliber.

    \"Well, guess that''s a wrap...\"

    The man jumped down from his sword and pulled out a machete looking bladed weapon. He started slicing and dicing the creature''s remains were getting cut up at a rapid pace. The man was gathering up the beasts remains separating the claws from the teeth. Those items could be sold off for quite the penny, the pelt would bring in quite a bit of spirit stones or could be used to craft a resistant robe.

    Not even the bones would be sparred as the only thing that the man didn''t bring along was the meat and flesh of the demonic being, that couldn''t really be used by him for anything unless he was a demonic cultivator.

    \"This core should be enough for me to get my comission~\"

    The man remembered that previously he used to bring the entire beast body and just drop it off at the doorstep of the person that he got the commission from. Now he knew better to cause trouble for the people that were paying up. He was, of course, the Zhang Clan Patriarch, but he was in his Demon Hunter disguise.

    His face was full of scars and he looked quite menacing, even his black robe got a couple more upgrades to look edgier than before. Matt kind of like this persona of his, as he could act like an ass. It was a bit funny how everyone shrunk back, but this was an important act letting him get a bonus from the bounties he was hunting.

    He returned to the city that he got the wanted notice from, the people at the gate just bowed to him as his renown had spread throughout the area quite a bit. He could hear the people whispering amongst themselves, which made him chuckle quite a bit.

    \"Isn''t that the famous Demon Hunter Lei Ying-Lo\"

    \"Shh be quiet, what if he notices you and thinks that you were being disrespectful...\"

    \"Wonder if he is taking in any disciples...\"

    \"Why would he take someone like you as a disciple, I would be much better!\"

    They chatted with each other, the man had more or less a good standing with the normal folk. There was a rumor that even though he was quiet and ferocious-looking, he had a heart of gold. He saved many people from evil cultivators or demonic beings alike. He was kind of a hero in the eyes of the common folk for that reason.

    But when he was going out with a bag filled with spirit stones and ready to bolt back to Moonlight city, someone stopped him.

    \"Senior Ying, please could this junior have a word with you.\"

    This wasn''t anything new, people would walk up to him from time to time asking for favors with monetary compensation. He would mostly turn it down though as it was mostly assassination requests, a lot of people thought that he was a contract killer. He lost out on a lot of cash this way, but he didn''t want to get involved in strange power struggles. Though this time he was taken aback, as the target of the assassination was quite peculiar.

    \"W-what did you say?\"

    \"Yes, the clans from Moonlight City would like you to punish the ferocious fiend Zhang Dong! We believe that he is a demonic cultivator in disguise, many young women had fallen to his demonic ways! We request your aid Great Senior, you are our last hope.\"

    ''Oh... boy...''

 121 Chapter 121

    Matt while wearing his demon hunter disguise wasn''t sure what to make of this, the man was bowing as a show of respect. But at the same time, he was badmouthing him, well he was badmouthing that Zhang Clan Patriarch. He was apparently an evil demonic cultivator, that raped young girls and drunk their blood during the full moon.

    ''Gotta give it to them, that''s some imagination...''

    This was clearly a ploy to get his demon hunter persona that was known for killing evil cultivators and beasts to slay Zhang Dong. The problem was that he was this Zhang Dong that they were talking about, he didn''t really want to commit suicide.

    ''Well, I guess I can just bring them in for trying to assassinate me... I''m my own witness... but wait...''

    He wasn''t sure how his public image would look, they would clearly deny it. Not like he couldn''t just pound those two clans to the ground any time that he wanted, the thing holding him back was his conscience and his public image. He didn''t want to look like a regular tyrant for the people and this was how a dictator acted.

    ''Guess I could pretend that I take the offer... but make it look like the three clans hired him to kill the benevolent leader instead, bet my popularity will spike, but will I have to kill off my demon hunter persona... ''

    This sounded like a good chance to milk these three clans, they were probably desperate enough to give him the bulk of their wealth in spirit stones which he could use to finally get himself into that Nascent Soul Realm. The problem was how he should do it, in other novels the protagonist mostly had a clone of some sort to help them out in situations like this. At most he could fashion an automated doll, but its looks were plain it would not pass for him in any shape or form.

    ''I guess I could go with the smoke and mirror approach... maybe use those holograms or just plant some speakers here and there...''

    He wasn''t sure about his acting abilities, but the people didn''t need to see the battle happening from close up. He just needed to kick up a big fuss and make the three clans believe that the two experts were fighting it out. It would be really easy to implicate the three families in the assassination attempt, so that everyone was on his side.

    Matt was really surprised that he was thinking about such a scheme, normally he would find things like these too bothersome to go through with. Now, he was just chuckling inwardly thinking about the dumb looks on people''s faces when he would be performing the show, he was slowly moving on from his shy shell.

    He looked at the man in his disguise, his facial expression changing into one of rage and discomfort.

    "Oh, is this true?"

    The bowing man bowed some more and nodded.

    "Yes my lord, the Zhang Clan Patriarch is a true demon!"

    He turned around, making it look like he was thinking hard about something, the man could see Lei Ying-Lo from the side.

    "If you are telling the truth... then I can''t let this go... but it won''t come cheap..."

    His eyes shined slightly as he mentioned the part about the payment, he wasn''t sure how much spirit stones the three clans had but he wanted them to fork it all up.

    "Ah yes sir Ying-Lo, the clan leaders will discuss the pricing with you outside the city..."

    Matt got the rundown by the servant, he would meet the three stooges outside in a secluded area. There they would discuss their dealings and the payment, he wouldn''t budge on that one and wanted to drain as much as he could from the old man trio.

    "I will inform the families that you have agreed to meet with them!"

    The man quickly run away, probably happy that he got a positive reply from this scary uncle. Matt that was standing there with a jade slip in his hand, the time and place of the meeting were all in there. It wasn''t that far away from Moonlight City, probably due to the fact that the three families didn''t have any flying swords to travel on.

    ''Soon I won''t even need this thing anymore...''

    He looked down at the black sword he was riding on, the item would lose its purpose after he leveled up as when he did he would be able to fly around like superman.

    ''Though flying around like that looks kind of silly...''

    He tossed the motion of flying with two fists forward back into his mind while he headed back to Moonlight City, he had to prepare for the show. He couldn''t really do it alone, so he had to pull Zhang Kuo into the mix. This man performed his job quite well and in return even got some top tips from this expert Patriarch of his.

    Matt noticed that the stoic glasses-wearing man sometimes made bewildered faces at him, like the time he ordered them to pay off the debt, or when he ordered to set up the free school for the kids. He was loyal but he still was an old fashioned cultivator nut, giving things out for free was something that he still didn''t understand all that well.

    He went back to his temporary room and took out some paper and a pen. He liked to write down his ideas and contemplate on them first. He made a short outline about what he could and couldn''t do in his little scheme. He clearly couldn''t have both of his personas out at the same time, some magic tricks would have to be implemented into the plan. Nothing too hard as the plan could fall through if he got too excited and made it harder for himself to pull it off.

    ''Think this could work... but it will be really cheesy...''

    He nodded and called his trusted retainer into the room, explaining his plan in detail. Zhang Kuo already knew that Zhang Dong was the famous Demon hunter. His brows furrowed slightly as his family head started explaining what this plan was supposed to be.

    "S-sir, wouldn''t it be easier to just bring them in..."

    The man was clearly confused, why do some strange charade when they could just bring those three family heads in for questioning. Not like they even needed to question them, with his own strength he could just order their execution or banish them from this city. No one would really ask any questions about it.

    Matt, on the other hand, felt like this could be quite fun. Plus, the people would know that the three families ordered a hit on him after it all played out. If he just ordered their deaths, the people might think that he was too overbearing and not any different than all the other aristocratic like family clans.

    Zhang Kuo was vetoed on the spot, Zhang Dong handed him some treasures that would be used for this charade and ordered him to prepare. He had already prepared the most important stuff for those and now just needed to go meet with the three Patriarchs that were trying to murder him.

    He zoomed out of Moonlight City, the rendezvous point was in a secluded area surrounded by forest and by a lake. There was a log cabin there not used by anyone, the three families didn''t want anything getting traced back to them so they set up the meeting on neutral ground.

    He made sure to look extra scary this time around, he had to make them feel like he meant business. That wasn''t hard though, he just needed to spill some of his aura out, his looks were already extremely menacing. He made sure to not use his lightning element or holy one, as that could have blown his cover.

    He was hovering above in the clouds, he could clearly sense that there were a lot of people hiding around that log cabin. The three family heads must have placed their bodyguards around the perimeter to keep people out, but none of them would be his match. He could sense three cultivators in that small hut, they were all in the great circle of foundation establishment.

    Kuan Yin, Xing Deng and Situ Rong were all waiting in that cabin. The inside looked quite nice as they made their servants clean this place up preparing it for the Demon hunter that was supposed to come soon. The three came to an agreement, they would hire this man to kill that pesky Zhang Dong.

    After the man was dead, some other powerful clan could be bargained with. They wanted something similar to happen like the time where the Zhang Clan was weakened after the first expedition didn''t pan out for them.

    "Do you think the man will do it? It might cost quite the penny..."

    Said Situ Rong while rubbing the bald part of his head, that was shining from the sweat that was gathering.

    "Do we have another option? If we don''t pay up now we will all be finished in a couple of years!"

    Xing Deng replied, the man was hit the hardest from the three Patriarchs here. The other two made their own calculations, they would take significant losses to their fortunes if they agreed to what the Zhang Clan was planning.

    "I have to agree with Brother Deng, those Zhang dogs clearly have something against us."

    The old man said while fanning himself some, he also took quite the hit to his stock. They were forced to pay the farmers more, and what was this blasted weekend thing, it would just bring in more losses for them.

    Their conversation was interrupted after they felt someone getting near, this someone wasn''t hiding his aura at all. They had some servants standing outside, so they just waited for now. Soon the door creaked open, a large scarred man entered their field of vision, his rough appearance made goosebumps appear on their arms.

    "Greetings Senior Yinglo! We thank you for listening to our plead for help!"

    Kuan Yin was the first one to speak up, a bright submissive smile plastered all over his face. The other two quickly clasped their hands and bowed towards this man, they could clearly feel his overwhelming cultivation.

    The man in question walked in slowly, not saying much as he just observed the three morons that had called him here.

    "So, I''ve heard you discovered a demonic cultivator in these parts, is this true?"

    Matt asked with his gruff sounding voice, the there cultivators just glanced at each other and started talking, this would be the moment of truth for them.

    "Tiss so, that monster Zhang Dong is a real fiend!"

    "We are sure that he has some kind of demonic treasures in his home, some of our people discovered it!"

    "Yes, we even lost family members to these monsters, they never returned back home, we are afraid that they have fallen to some kind of demonic ritual!"

    The three started talking, trying to convince this man to act without asking too many questions. They had more than just words to back it up though, one of them pulled out some kind of curved dagger. The weapon was clearly radiating demonic energies, Matt was surprised after he grasped it.

    "Our people managed to find this ceremonial dagger in one of the Zhang Clan compounds, then we quickly tried to inform you about it, Senior. Your fame precedes you, we are just simple cultivators we have no way of defending ourselves against such a strong demonic cultivator like the Zhang Patriarch, please aid us!"

    "I''m sure there are more of these foul treasures in the city, but we weren''t able to uncover the whole plot of that demonic fiend!"

    The three were quite crafty, this wasn''t the only demonic artifact that they had. They had their ways of doing things, bribing some servants wasn''t hard. They had planted various demonic treasures in the buildings that the Zhang Clan members were using, they were hidden there so that when this cultivator did his own research, he would confirm their story.

    This wasn''t anything new to Matt, as his senses were quite high so he noticed the strange artifacts getting placed around the buildings in the city. They were all low level treasures, that would be easy to dispose of. Moonlight city didn''t have its defensive formation updated yet, so something like this could happen.

    ''You crafty foxes...''

    He just nodded for now, while rubbing his chin.

    "If what you say is true... then the man must die..."

    The three just nodded, their scheme seemed to be working for now.

    "But... I''ll need a substantial payment in spirit stones for it, this Zhang Dong won''t be an easy opponent..."

    They all nodded once more, already knowing that it would be costly to hire this man, but it was already a miracle that they found someone that would face that monster of a Zhang Patriarch.

    "I''ll check if there really are demonic treasures or cultivators first, you have a day to get the payment ready. Hm, two hundred thousand low grade spirit stones should cover the expense...I''ll take one hundred thousand as a downpayment, sounds fair?"

    The three men almost collapsed onto the ground after they heard the price.

    "S-senior... please show mercy... that price is a bit..."

    Kuan Yin''s bald head shined even brighter as he tried to plead for a lower price.

    "What? Don''t have it? Fighting someone of that level won''t be easy... you don''t need to pay all of it in spirit stones, you can cover the rest with treasures or other materials like beast cores. You have a day to get it all ready!"

    The man snorted and then walked out of the cabin. The two hundred thousand stones were about the amount he needed to get a million system points. Before he would need half of that, but the system gave him fewer points now. This price was something that the three old schemers should be able to pay up, but they would probably need to empty all of their reserves, this was something he was counting on.

    ''You leeched this city for decades, now it''s time to pay up!''

 122 Chapter 122

    The door shut behind the demon hunter, the servants outside just bowed and looked as the expert jumped into the air. A big black sword appeared out of thin air under his feet and then he took off into the clouds, making the people watching envious of this amount of power. The three Patriarchs were left in the cabin in distress as the amount they were thinking was about half of what the man was asking for.

    "Damn... this man might be even worse than the Zhang Clan leader... and he wants it upfront? What if he fails, how will we get our spirit stones back?"

    "He didn''t look like he would take the job otherwise..."

    "Luckily we don''t need to use only spirit stones for it..."

    They huddled up, they needed to split the expense three ways and none of them wanted to pay more than they had to. They got their accountants on the job, this was an amount that they could stomach somehow but if the man failed they would be finished. If they cleaned up most of their inventory they could gather most of it, at least they only needed to give him the first part upfront, the rest could be gathered later.

    "Hope both of them kill each other!"

    They grumbled to themselves, in reality, they could somehow recover from the losses if they just worked with the Zhang Clan normally. They would not earn as much as before, but not like they would end up poor. They would still be wealthy, but their pride wouldn''t allow them to work it out with the other party, they would rather risk it all and come out on top than cower in fear below the Zhang family.

    While the three families were scattering to gather all the resources the demon hunter flew into town. He used his Wei Hung persona to move around town and discovered various demonic artifacts around the city. They were mostly low-level mortal weapons, probably the only thing these types of clans could get.

    ''Still, they got to some of the hired help... or they already had them in the bag from the start...''

    This was a new city they were now running, they needed the help of the locals for various tasks. It wouldn''t be surprising if some of the servants and workers had ties to one of the three larger families. Maybe they were in debt, a promise of lowering that would probably make them do this in a heartbeat.

    ''Not like these people feel very thankful to my clan just yet... have to give him some time...''

    He didn''t blame the ignorant masses that much, things just worked like that here. That didn''t mean that he wouldn''t punish anyone if they were caught doing it. He would give the people that helped the three families one more chance, after his little act that was about to happen he would take off the training wheels.

    ''If I was a real demon hunter I might have even believed these people.''

    Without doing much research Zhang Dong could fit a demonic cultivator template. He went missing from the clan for ten long years. He returned with some strange cultivation method that made him insanely more powerful than others. He also was managing to burst through realms like crazy being now in the great circle only after two years.

    Demonic cultivators were known for sucking away the lifeforce of other cultivators which prompted them to mostly have a higher cultivation realm than your regular cultivator. The downsides to these types of methods were, first the body count left, then the practitioner''s psychological problems. The demonic energies would corrupt their very being and soul, making them act like psychopaths that didn''t care about anyone but themselves.

    Zhang Dong was also rarely seen, this was due to him spending times cooped up in his crafting abode. When he actually decided to go out, he used a disguise like he was using now. So he no one really knew what he was up to these days, but not like other Patriarchal types of cultivators were very social either.

    ''Okay, let me get this over with.''

    He removed all of the demonic artifacts that were placed around the city, then went back to the meeting spot after the day had passed. The three family heads were waiting for him, each one of them having a spatial ring with various treasures in them. Matt counted about sixty thousand in low grade spirit stones, the rest were other various materials like spirit herbs, metals and beast cores.

    "We will need some time to gather more assets, I''m sure after Senior defeats that foul demonic cultivator, we will have everything ready for you!"

    One of the men mentioned while handing over his clan''s spatial ring, his hand quivering as he was parting with the fortune.

    "Hm... I''ll count it later... should be enough in here as a down-payment, but don''t forget to gather the rest after the deed is done!"

    The men nodded, they weren''t planning on cheating the man they were far too afraid of his power to even try that. They were curious how the demon hunter would handle this, would he lure the Zhang Clan Patriarch out. Maybe he would wait for him to leave, he probably would be going back to Spirit Spring City sooner or later. They all thought that such an expert had to have his ways of taking care of high profile targets like this.

    They looked as he rose up from the ground on his black sword and just flew back towards Moonlight City. The three looked at each other, wondering if he would use some kind of disguise to hide, he wouldn''t just go and attack him outright, now would he?

    Little did they know that Zhang Dong was the demon hunter, and he was planning to implicate them in the hit.

    ''Well, time to get this show on the road.''

    The three clan heads were still in the forest, returning from the meeting place at the log cabin. Suddenly they could hear a booming voice, this voice was familiar as it belonged to the man that they just hired. He was shouting while using his Qi to make his voice travel all around the area of the city and it even reached them all the way back here.

    "Zhang Dong come out! I know who you are, it''s no use hiding!"

    Everyone looked up into the sky and stopped anything that they were doing. They spotted an angry-looking cultivator in a black robe hovering right above Moonlight City. He was clearly here to cause trouble and apparently he was after the Zhang Clan head.

    "I know that you are a foul demonic cultivator, the Situ Clan, Xing Clan and the Kuan Clan have provided me irrefutable evidence! You must be cleansed by this Lei Ying-lo!"

    The Moonlight City residence started whispering among each other, they heard the man''s name and instantly knew that the name belonged to a famous demon hunter.

    "C-could it be true?... but wait... this sounds fishy..."

    "Yeah... would those three families even tell the truth..."

    "Sounds like a hoax!"

    The people didn''t trust those three clans one bit, there was far to much shady stuff around those three clans. While the people were whispering, the man on the flying sword looked down as if he could hear what they were talking about.

    "What? You don''t believe me? Why would those three established families lie to me? What could they possibly gain from this? Not like they are losing bountiful amounts of spirit stones due to the new laws or anything like that... Yes, no reason at all!"

    The citizens looked at each other, their brows twitching after the man continued to talk. Was he here to fight the Zhang Clan Patriarch or talk badly about the three families. He was also contradicting himself, speaking that the three clans were good people and then mentioning a good reason why they would want to kill Zhang Dong.

    "They clearly hired him to kill the Zhang Clan Patriarch... but what a strange fellow..."

    The people whispered some more, the whole thing was quite odd.

    "Now, Zhang Dong come out from your hiding place and let our fists do the talking! I''ll see for myself if you are a demonic cultivator during out battle, you won''t be able to hide your foul energies from this Lei Yinglo!"

    More people started gathering, a lot of people from the Police force were dispatched but they were sweating bullets as they knew that they stood no chance against this powerful uncle. Zhang Zhi was also moving towards that area, he had to protect the good name of his patriarch but before he could speak out he heard Zhang Dong''s voice instead.

    "Oh, why isn''t it the famous demon hunter, I''m quite intrigued that those three fools got you to agree to this... But if it''s a battle that you want, then a battle you will have!"

    The voice was coming out of the old Cheng Clan main building, the Zhang Clan leader was probably somewhere in it but people couldn''t really see him.

    "Patriarch, you mustn''t leave this to me!"

    Zhang Zhi shouted out, he wanted to at least face this man in battle first even if he would die the Patriarch could perhaps see the man''s fighting style, this could lead to a win later on when he faced him.

    "No need! What kind of person would I be if I let one of my junior members fight my battles for me?"

    "Demon hunter, face me behind the mountains in the East, we can''t get the city people involved in our fight, there would be massive casualties!"

    "Promise me this fellow Daoist, if I lose you will leave my Zhang Clan alone and this city as well, they have suffered enough!"

    Zhang Zhi got denied and Zhang Dong scored a couple of points with the public as he appeared to be worried about their well being. It was a given if two top core formation experts fought above a large city like this, there would be casualties and destruction.

    Zhang Dong''s voice that everyone was hearing was of course done with a speaker type treasure. He was holding on to the microphone while being in his demon hunter persona. No one could really see what he was doing, he just covered his mouth with his hand and spoke into the little treasure that produced the sound. The speaker was placed in a good spot and Zhang Kuo was guarding it, making sure that the plan doesn''t get discovered by other people.

    "Very well, you have my word. I''m only here for demonic cultivators."

    Soon, Lei Yinglo agreed and headed over behind those mountains leaving the city airspace. Then a sudden boom of thunder could be heard followed by a flash of light up in the sky. The people turned to it out of instinct, they saw the Zhang Clan Patriarch hovering up in the sky, golden lightning shooting out of his body as he also flew towards those mountains.

    Matt used an old magic trick, kicking up a fuss at one spot. While everyone was trying to find the source of the noise he quickly changed his appearance while being above the clouds where no one could see him. He then used his movement technique to get into that spot in a flash, making it seem as if he took off from the old Cheng Clan main building.

    Everyone heard the exchange, the three families were in distress as the cat was out of the bag and everything depended on that blasted demon hunter now. Why did he have to tell everyone that they were the ones that provided that evidence? It was obvious that they just wanted to use that as an excuse to kill this man off.

    Suddenly a loud booming sound could be heard, some strange beams of light rose up into the air as people could feel an overbearing aura flying their way.

    "Oh no, they are fighting... what strength!"

    "Can the Zhang Patriarch win? That Demon hunter is really famous..."

    "What are those three clan''s planning... hope Senior Dong wins!"

    While the people were talking among each other, Matt was punching some boulders into dust. He was kicking up a storm, shouting out loudly. He hoped that his mock battle with himself would come off as realistic, otherwise he might get embarrassed if his super sneaky scheme came to light.

    ''Think I need to work on my lines, they were quite corny...also how long should I keep this up...''

 123 Chapter 123

    Everyone from the Zhang Clan gathered in the city and they were looking in the direction of the faraway mountains. The aura fluctuations were quite chaotic and reached the pinnacle of core formation which made the regular Qi condensation people shake in their boots.

    "What a battle, shame that we can''t see anything..."

    The common cultivators could profit when two experts fought each other. They could see their techniques and get inspired which would allow them to reach a higher realm. So wanting to be there to see how those two monsters performed was quite enticing, but it was also very dangerous, one bad step and you could be flattened by a Qi strike.

    "You''re not half bad, Zhang Clan Patriarch!"

    "You''re not a slouch either, Sir. Demon Hunter!"

    They were a bit perplexed that they could hear the two men talking, it was as if they were shouting out in the direction of the City or something. Which was just what Matt was doing, both of his hands placed in a cone shape, his shouts were accompanied by some Qi so that his voice would travel far and wide.

    Luckily Zhang Kuo was smart enough to order the clan members to set up a perimeter outside the city, so that no nosy person would bother their Patriarch''s scheme which looked as if it was working. After some back and forth, the people started cheering out Zhang Dong''s name.

    They had considered the pros and cons and they came to the conclusion that it would be a travesty with the Zhang head perished here. What would come of these tax cuts and new laws, would the other three families gain back their position and bully them once more? An even more ruthless clan could even show up, which would mean their downfall.

    The three big Moonlight City clan heads were standing outside the forest, they were afraid to return afraid that the Zhang clan people would apprehend them the moment they tried to sneak in.

    "Blasted idiot! Did something eat his brain! Why does he have to implicate us too!"

    They were pulling their hair out, they didn''t think that the famous demon hunter would just waltz into the city and demand a duel with his assassination target. This would be fine, but he had to babble out that he was coaxed into it by them, a child would figure out during that speech that they were the ones that hired him.

    "Calm down... if he beats him then only that other core formation expert will be left... Judging by his temper he will attack the demon hunter..."

    "Yeah if he kills all of their core formation experts we will be in the clear..."

    The three talked while hiding behind some large trees, the loud thunderous sounds could be heard even from the place they were in. Their conversation got interrupted though, by someone they were talking about.

    "Oh? the other expert? Did you mean me?"

    Zhang Zhi was hovering on a sword above the group of cultivators, Zhang Kuo already filled him in on where the three stooges were hiding at. The location was provided by Zhang Dong, but no one besides Kuo would know about that little detail.

    "Don''t move, I''ll cut you where you stand if you try to run!"

    Zhang Zhi pulled out his sword and held it over his shoulder, the long blade glistering with water Qi which made everyone below him gulp in fright. The man in question wasn''t in on the plan, so he was still on edge as he thought that his clan head was fighting a ferocious opponent. He had no way of telling how strong that Senior Yinglo was, he was truly astonishing.

    The glorious Zhang Dong at this moment was leaning against some rocks, here and there he fired off a bolt of lightning from his finger which caused more noise than damage. He was munching on a meat bun and looking at the sky, quite relaxed. Here and there he would shout out or produce a loud roar which would make the people back in the city gasp in worry.

    ''Hm... is this enough? How long do experts fight for... I don''t really want to blow these mountains up for this silly play I''m doing.''

    He glanced around, the area looked quite silent as every creature in a ten-kilometer radius had scattered away. He was hoping that they don''t cause trouble for some villagers or something, he''ll have to send out a squad of warriors to check that out.

    ''Guess the Demon hunter will have to go out with a bang...''

    He wouldn''t kill of his other person but he had to make him lose in some shape or form. He had one ability that didn''t require him to be in the vicinity of it so he would go with that.

    The people in the city suddenly felt a surge of Qi, the power was truly immense. Out from behind those mountains they saw a bright golden dragon emerging, it was made purely out of golden divine lightning energies. It was truly immense a couple of kilometers in length and powered with Zhang Dong''s Qi.

    "Look... what is that! It''s flying into the air..."

    "That''s a giant dragon... wait is that a Daoist magic of some sort?"

    The dragon was roaring out and chasing someone on a sword, the man looked beaten up quite a bit his hair and clothes were disheveled.

    ''Is that the Demon Hunter? Looks like he is fleeing from that dragon...''

    The dragon shot of lightning bolts all around the area and flew right after its enemy. The fleeing cultivator couldn''t shake it off as they danced around in the sky. Finally, the people gasped as they saw the dragon''s mouth closing on the man, the cultivator dressed in black holding that mouth open as the two flew up into the air.

    The man looked like he was holding on for his life, not letting the dragon construct close its large maw on him. The two flew straight up into the air and vanished behind some clouds. Just a couple of moments later there was an explosion, the shockwave reaching the people standing outside and made their hair flutter in the wind.

    Everyone started looking and running to see what happened, the clouds were blocking the view but the explosion kicked up quite the strong wind which blew the white sky marshmallows to the side. The revealed the demon hunter, he was still alive but the top of his robe was no more.

    He was floating up in the air, covered in red which indicated that he took quite the hit from that.

    "You''re quite a strong fellow Daoist Dong, this is my loss... I have made a mistake you are clearly not a demonic cultivator, it would be impossible for a foul demonic cultivator to possess such divine abilities like these..."

    "That''s fine, we all make mistakes fellow Daoist Yinglo. You may leave with this experience, it would be a travesty if our land lost such a talented master such as yourself."

    A disembodied voice came from somewhere sounding like the Zhang Clan Patriarch, apparently, the demon hunter lost but Zhang Dong was letting him go.

    "My humble thanks, I should have known that those three clans were up to no good and placed those demonic artifacts to make you look bad!"

    "Yes, don''t worry my clan will take care of that."

    The two chatted for a bit before the Demon hunter swished away, he flew high up into the clouds and vanished from sight. Matt would wait for the coast to be clear before returning back to his quarters. Zhang Zhi and the others would take care of those three family heads their businesses would probably fall into his clutches now.

    The three Patriarchs tried to defend themselves, accusing Lei Yinglo instead. They proclaimed that he was the mastermind behind everything and that he even stole their money after threatening them. They would have a lot of time to explain everything in the court, the lie detection devices had proven to be quite the handy commodity which made the trials progress at a rapid pace.

    You just had to ask the right ''yes'' or ''no'' questions, which forced the truth out one way or the other. The only way to circumvent this procedure was not to talk at all, but almost no one could stomach that pain. This might feel like it was a bit tyrannical, more or less torture. But it got the job done and the truth came out easily.

    Still, the device wouldn''t kill a person a safety device was put in place after the death warriors that the Zhang Clan captured wouldn''t talk. They lit up like Christmas trees from the high voltage and almost died at the court hearing. If you refused to talk would just be incarcerated with no way of getting out, so there was no reason to take the pain unless you were covering for someone.

    Matt made sure to write out the penalties for any transgression, he knew how murderous these cultivation nuts were. He didn''t want them killing people for stealing food or some coin. The crime would fit the bill, the death penalty would exist for certain nut jobs like the demonic cultivators or cultists. Mostly you would get a jail sentence with some hard labor added on to it.

    Matt returned to his quarters after the night came, he was uninjured as the blood was fake. It was a contained explosion the Qi blast that resulted from it was dispersed into the air.

    The city seemed quite peaceful most of the goons and thug types were too afraid to cause trouble after what happened this day. The police were patrolling the city and the pleasure district was quite barren, it would take some time before some of the more raunchy establishments resumed with their work.

    He took a sip from his tea and sat down on a large beanbag pillow, he had one made just so he could laze around.

    ''Well, I''m making progress the daily points are going up!''

    He looked through his system window, the city was progressing and he could see the red area''s changing from red to yellow, yellow areas going blue and blue areas changing to a nice shade of green. This showed him that things were improving, getting everything into a nice blue color was the least he wanted to achieve, all green would be just a nice bonus.

    The city needed more work though, it was one thing to make it safer for the citizens and lowering the taxes to keep them happy. It was another thing to provide them with a steady job. This city needed something that they could use for profit. Like Spirit Spring City that had the Zhang Clan which had a good business in pill making.

    There was a plan of bringing some pill making masters over here to train people, setting up another division that would produce more income. There also was a plan in making other things, like daily necessities like plumbing. The construction of factories that would hire people to produce parts was already on the way. This would be a long term plan, but they were hoping to replace some outdated products with some easily manufactured treasures that worked on spiritual energy.

    ''Well, guess it''s time to go back to Spirit Spring, wonder how things are going back there...think grandpa sais something about a clan get together or something...''

    ''He said that it was for the junior members... sounded like some tournament, probably to show off your disciples.''

    Matt looked at the ring that he was holding, in it were the spirit stones and loot that he got from the three clans. He then looked at his current amount of points, a bright grin appearing on his face.

    ''Well, thing gramps can just go there instead of me, think it''s time to get ready to reach a new level!''

    He calculated that if he grabbed the remaining spirit stones that those three stooges offered him, he would have enough to absorb and get those ten million points. He needed to return to his home city and get ready, he would soon be in the nascent soul level he needed look over those nascent soul techniques he got from that secret ground. There was also something that he wanted to talk about with his two friends Huo Qiang and Feng Liena.

    ''Well, that Bankei guy wasn''t that bad, can bring him over too...that last guy felt a bit opportunistic...will have to think about that one some more...''

    ''Well, guess I''ll head out in the morning and tell gramps that they should go without me. I''ll just tell him that I''m busy with cultivating and can''t be bothered. Gotta love the perks of being the clan leader, can shove babysitting onto others, he he.''

    ''But I guess if I''m going to talk to those two, I should think about a good name first...''

    The man continued sipping his green tea while looking at the system screen, thinking that after he rose up to the Nascent Soul level, things would get hectic.

 124 Chapter 124

    A month had passed since the Zhang Clan recaptured their old city. At the moment the clinic people were bowing to an old man that had a fu manchu mustache and beard. They were giving him their farewells as he was leaving the clinic and leaving it to a new physician instead. He had stayed in the city for a bit longer, making sure that the police station was up and working correctly.

    He wasn''t sure if his people would be as lenient as he hoped them to be, so he made sure to stay and correct them during the judging processes as well. They weren''t perfect but it was in working condition, he would check up on them later but it looked like they were doing fine and sticking to the guidelines that he had written down.

    Thanks to the changes in the city, the Zhang Clan mine enterprise had gotten quite a bit more workers and they were quite cheap. The of course were the incarcerated criminals, now wearing slave collars, some of them having their cultivation crippled or lowered. Matt made sure that the criminals actually earned their keep and not just lazed around in prisons bored out of their minds.

    It was time to move on, he nodded at the workers and headed out his next stop would be the new Zhang Clan estate which was now occupied by Zhang Zhi the new city mayor who was also the police chief. His amazon wife had already moved here along with their child, he was just here to bid the two farewell.

    "Zhang Zhi, I''ll be leaving this city to you, be sure not to destroy it too much like last time..."

    He chuckled to himself, the samurai styled man blushed a bit as he recalled the day that he destroyed a couple of houses while chasing this Patriarch''s ''Master''.

    "Don''t worry about Master, you probably won''t see him again, he likes to keep to himself, so no need to feel down about it."

    He gave the man a reassuring pat on the shoulder and a Patriarch brand smile to go with it. A small energetic one-year-old was getting held up by a large lady, Matt just petted her head which made the toddler smile.

    "Patriarch, you should go visit the old Matriarch once in a while, she used to talk quite about your time in the secret ground before I left the old Clan."

    Zhang Daiyu said while holding the child in her hands, she was previously a member of the Feng clan but in this world women took on the names of the clan''s of their husbands.

    "Oh yes, didn''t want to bother her too much, I bet she is busy cultivating and all..."

    Matt gave out a weak laugh, not really knowing how to reply. He was somewhat interested in the Feng Clan Matriarch, but he didn''t really know how to court her. He had zero dating experience and the women in this world were far different than the ones back on Earth.

    "Oh, think she should be attending the Dao Festival at Jade Grass city, they always host it every five years and all the clans attend it, you should go visit it, Patriarch."

    The woman gave Matt a little wink before heading out with her child, he soon bade both her and her husband farewell as he was ready to head out.

    He already knew about the festival, but to be precise it was more of a tournament for the junior''s to attend to it was also quite a popular betting event. It was more or less a place to show of the skills of the younger generation, the age cut of was at twenty-one. His two disciples were going to compete in it, along with some other young members that med it to the foundation establishment level.

    You could compete at the age of sixteen, but no one was counting on you to win. Reaching the foundation establishment stage before the age of twenty was quite rare, but not that difficult if you had a clan backing you with cultivation resources. Zhang Dong gave the two the okay to take part in the tournament, but he would probably miss it as he wanted to finally upgrade himself to the nascent soul level.

    He counted the resources he had and came to the conclusion that after absorbing all of those spirit stones, he would probably need to wait a couple of days. After that, the system would give him enough passive points from the clan building section. He didn''t really want to go there and be stuck in some foreign town, this was quite the serious jump in power which needed to be done in secret.

    He knew that the Dark Palm Sect goons would be knocking on his door if they found out. He had just the spot to level up though, it was in the medallion treasure that blocked out any energies from sipping out of it. He could upgrade himself in there, then train some nascent soul techniques.

    ''I''ll probably be able to craft a Heaven grade weapon after I jump that realm''

    To make a heaven grade weapon you needed a couple of things, first were the materials that were very hard to come by as those sects liked to buy or steal them off everyone. The other thing was that it was extremely hard to produce a weapon of a higher realm than at what the blacksmith was at. It would be possible with some external help or some specialized treasures that fed the crafter spiritual energy, that was required to produce a higher-tiered item.

    So you would need like a team of core formation experts providing spiritual energy to the master blacksmith that was forging the weapon, or substitute it with some item that gave that crafter the required Qi energy for the crafting process.

    Also, heaven grade items were a lot harder to process for a weaker cultivator, took quite a bit of time to hammer that special spirit ingot into shape. It was even harder if you didn''t have a hammer that was also in the heaven grade, thus it was much easier to try it after reaching the nascent soul realm.

    Matt headed out, his flying sword was upgraded to a perfect graded earth treasure and with the boost in his cultivation he could make the trip in under a day now. He could probably do it even faster if he actually pushed his cultivation to the limit, but he wasn''t that much in a hurry.

    The people in the villages that saw him wooshing by just bowed out of respect, eyes wide open as the passing man produced shocking thunderous sounds. He made sure to fly high up in the sky, if he did it close to the ground he could do some damage to the fields and livestock.

    He left Moonlight City early in the morning and arrived at Spirit Spring City early in the night, the familiar scenery filling his field of vision as he made his return.

    ''Still quite the sight for sore eyes!''

    He breathed in the Qi rich air, the many springs in the city were glowing with light along with all the lanterns. The place looked the best at night, the illumination made it look quite otherwordly. He slowed down his descent, taking in the sights no one stopping him, the guards just bowed and turned their heads and went back to work.

    This city was his home and he was slowly treating it like that. The people also started growing on him, his old grandpa was quite the funny character even at this age he was sneaking out into the night trying to woo the young ladies that fell for his charade. He tried talking him out of it, but in return he got bombarded with questions about his own relationship problem.

    After he was settled in at his Patriarch position he was always bombarded by his Clan members with the question about getting married. His grandpa wanted an heir to the throne or something, he even got many marriage proposals from other Clans. His friend Huo Qiang was quite forceful, trying to push one of his sisters on him.

    The only clan from the area that didn''t send any eloping requests was the Feng Clan, that was due to the fact that the person that was suited to marry him was the Matriarch herself. She blocked any schemes that her granny had about sending the letters, Feng Maling finally gave up on that notion and just tried to bring it up whenever she met anyone from the Zhang Clan that could pass the message on.

    Matt was the type of person that the more you bothered him with something, the less he wanted to do it. So he locked himself up training his skills for the past year, trying to evade the looming danger of marriage and responsibilities.

    He descended into the main hall, the spirit water gushing all around him and revitalizing his soul. He expected his two disciples to pop out and ask him some questions, the two buggers always kept nagging him for pointers and insights into their Dao. Now that he actually took the time to practice his techniques he was able to point the two in the right direction, that B+ potential wasn''t just for show as the two absorbed the knowledge like sponges. Luckily training and cultivation was a slow process, so he didn''t have to spend that much time with the two kids.

    The one to greet him this time around was his cousin and the mother of his disciples.

    "Greetings Patriarch, glad that you made it back, how was Moonlight City?"

    They chatted for a while, he found out that he just missed them by a couple of hours the kids and other clan members headed to Jade Grass City for that festival thing.

    "The two were quite saddened that you didn''t come with them, but don''t worry they know that their master is a busy man. Also don''t worry, the spear arrived and Xue''er was quite happy with it."

    "Hah, well glad that they are keeping their noses out of trouble."

    Zhang Dong replied while talking to his family members, the woman was close to reaching the core formation level due to the betterment in the cultivation techniques and her latent talent.

    "Can''t be helped, but I''ll give them a little surprise after they return, think that the festival will take a week or two, right?"

    Zhang Jie nodded and wondered what this surprise would be, the two parted ways soon enough and Matt headed back to his room. He jumped into his cushy bed and looked up to the ceiling. His eyes on that status page as he was counting down the days till he hit that ten million.

    He already had a couple of magic techniques that he wanted to learn, he already absorbed the knowledge thanks to his system but performing techniques meant for a nascent soul cultivator could harm a core formation practitioner so he couldn''t really train them just yet.

    One of those skills was a giant sword formation, he would summon thousands of Qi blades that shredded into his opponent. The sword formation had some variations but was quite draining. There was one ability that let you summon a gigantic lightning bird, it looked like a phoenix only made from electricity.

    The old techniques could also be upgraded and used, his Avatar Form would reach new heights and the condensation technique would probably allow him to momentarily fight even stronger foes. He just needed to wait a couple of days for his points to gather, he had already absorbed all the spirit stones and beast cores that he could and now it was time to wait. But not like he was in a rush, there wasn''t anything dire happening at the moment and the kids were out of the house so he had lots of time to train and get stronger.

    "Soon..."

 125 Chapter 125

    Half a day before the Patriarch of the Zhang Clan returned, his family members were all packed and ready to leave. They were slowly boarding the large flying vessel. This flying ship wasn''t the same one that they used when going to the secret ground, it was a new and improved version with more space and better defensive formations.

    This one looked like an elongated galleon, the characteristic dragon head was at the bow of the ship. This flying contraption also lacked any forms of sails and was propelled thanks to spiritual energy and something called a floating stone that was placed in the middle of the ship as its core. The various formations etched into the spirit wood would propel it forward while placing the cultivators inside in a thin membrane. The membrane was more of a shield that kept the winds out during a fast flight, it was even strong enough to repel cannon fire. Though there was a limit on how much damage it could take and would give out under prolonged bombardment.

    There were cannons lined up on the side, the crew knew well how to use them in the times of battle. The middle part of the ship still had a steering wheel, but this flying galleon wasn''t made for fast maneuvers as it was mostly designed to go forward in a straight line.

    At this time Zhang Xue and Liu were sighing, they were expecting their master to come back to Moonlight City and come on this trip with them. The two of them didn''t get to see their master all that often, most of the time he handed them a new technique here and there, with his teaching method they could learn the basics of the new techniques in a flash.

    He was a very busy man though, they didn''t get too see him often and he vary rarely gave them practical lessons. Most of them consisted of them waiting for him to show up and then getting left with a splitting headache during the transfer of knowledge via his index finger. They were quite grateful that they gained so much knowledge, but the two wanted to get closer to their uncle never having time to just chat or repay him in any shape or form.

    This was why they were looking forward to the Dao Festival in Jade Grass City, it was held every five years and it was more or less a spot to show of your young disciples to the world. They wanted to make him proud by winning it, or at least making it into the top ten. There were no age brackets, so a sixteen-year-old could be facing someone five years older, that was quite the difference in experience.

    The two had quite a high opinion of their Patriarch''s skills. This was confirmed when they fought against their peers that were sticking to the water-based Zhang Clan techniques. Those techniques didn''t stand a chance against theirs, even though they were also refined by their Patriarch.

    "Wish Master wasn''t always so busy all the time..."

    Zhang Xue pouted a bit while looking at some people that were carrying provisions onto the ship, her brother standing next to her the two youths looking quite different than they used to.

    "Don''t be like that sister, he is the clan head, we are lucky that he even agreed to teach us."

    Zhang Liu replied but he wasn''t that convinced in his own words, longing to be praised by his Master that was the strongest person in the clan.

    The youth changed through these two years, mostly due to practicing that special body refining skill. His frame changed and he gained quite the attractive jawline and muscular body shape that quite a lot of ladies were found of.

    On the other hand, the Sylph physique that Zhang Xue was practicing turned her into an otherworldly beauty, her features turned from cute ones to more refined ones, her figure got enhanced quite a bit too boot. Whenever she walked she would make the men and boys crane their necks in her direction, but luckily most knew who her Master was and were far too scared to approach her or try something funny.

    The two were quite popular in their home city, but neither of them showed an interest in the opposite sex. The two just were quite the cultivation junkies and their Master was just feeding them more and more skills just to get them to leave him alone while he himself immersed himself in his own cultivation and crafting.

    "I heard that Master was going to be returning today, but he must have been held up by something..."

    "What, are you not happy with me coming in his stead?"

    Zhang Jin made his appearance, the old man seemed invigorated he had broken into the middle stage of core formation and the late stage wasn''t a dream anymore. The improved cultivation techniques that his grandson gave him were working wonders on his old bones. The downside of his recent boost in vigor was his attempts in courting more women, due to this the men of the family looked at this elder with awe while the women held him in contempt.

    "It''s not like that grandpa..."

    The two smiled at the older man who just moved onto the ship, his arrival indicated that they would be taking off quite soon. The two nodded and headed inside, they weren''t the only promising youths from the Zhang Clan that were on board there were other participants even some of their old friends from the 9th Platoon, but people like Zhang Ai and Zhang Teng wouldn''t be making it as they were busy with their police work at this time.

    Zhang Jin moved to his cabin before liftoff, Zhang Dong''s female retainer Zhang Ya was waiting for him just to check up some things before they all left.

    "Grand Elder, are you sure that it''s wise to keep the nature of the Dao Festival a secret from the Patriarch, he doesn''t seem to be informed about it that well."

    The old man looked at the lovely retainer and rubbed his chin before replying.

    "Yes, this will be for the best."

    He paused for a moment before continuing with his answer.

    "Dong''er isn''t that good with politics and he doesn''t seem to care much about face... It will be better if he doesn''t go to that city..."

    "I''m afraid that his kind heart could be his undoing..."

    "Don''t worry, I''ll be there nothing bad will happen or my name isn''t Zhang Jin!"

    The woman waited for a moment before cupping her fists and walking away, being the Patriarch''s personal retainer she didn''t like keeping secrets from him. But deep inside she too thought that the new clan head was a bit too soft. He very rarely showed off his superiority, if he did it felt kind of forced. You wouldn''t notice it normally but if you stayed around him for a prolonged time, his act would start to fall apart.

    The two parted, the ship started floating up and everyone outside of it was ordered to step back, the close families came to the dock area to wave at the promising youths that would be taking part in the friendly exchange. Though this was a friendly competition, some rivalities came to be during it, things could even turn bloody.

    Sometimes deaths occurred, the cultivators in this word took things like honor and respect very seriously. If someone was defeated by a person that was seen as someone weaker or of lower status it would be quite a hit to the face of the defeated cultivator and their whole family. Sometimes disputes broke out outside the ring, even the seniors fought sometimes with each other when their pupils suffered an embarrassing defeat.

    The Zhang Clan wasn''t afraid though, they had gained some fame lately mostly thanks to their Patriarch. They also had some backing now in the form of the Huo and Feng clan, so anyone from the clan''s there would think twice before trying to start anything with them.

    The people cheered at the youths that just waved from the flying ship that was leaving.

    "Show them what the Zhang Clan is made of!"

    "Make us proud!"

    "Be a Zhang!"

    People kept shouting while the junior clan members held their noses up high, they were the elite members of their generation heading off to battle the other strong families. They were in high spirits, their techniques were all overhauled by their new clan head and they reached new heights.

    The ship''s speed wasn''t all that great, at maximum, it could go at the speed of a core formation middle stage cultivator if you overheated the engines it could reach the late stage. It would take a couple of days to reach the destination, Jade Grass City city was located a bit further away than Moonlight City was and it was a neutral zone not ruled by any particular clan.

    There was a reason for that, it was under the control of the ruling sect in the area, the Dark Palm sect in particular. This was mostly the reason that it was picked as the gathering spot, as the weaker clans felt that the stronger clans wouldn''t do something overbearing if they were being watched by the sect overlords that ruled the land.

    The Dark Palm sect members stationed there weren''t really the core members though, they were mostly composed of outer sect disciples that didn''t really have any pull in it. Due to this, the sect people acted a lot more snobby as they had an inferiority complex that came from the fact that they were outer sect disciples. Because of this they always found a reason to show of, or act as if they had something stuck up their posterior. But they were still part of the large sect, so the people that were exposed to this behavior had to always give them face.

    There was about a week till the competition started, but it was advised to arrive a couple of days early. There were some procedures that every clan had to go through, each competitor had to get a number assigned to them and there would be a preliminary test heald before the fighting started.

    The tests were quite easy, there were various treasures that measured the cultivator''s strength, Qi amount and there was even a course to measure your agility. This was a must as if they let just anyone participate in the competitions they could spend a month or more. This world was large and the number of cultivators was immense. The number of small clans was quite immense and everyone could participate if they made it through the preliminary round.

    This was a big chance for the smaller clans to shine. The large sect had their members stationed there and even though they were just outer sect disciples, there were some sect elders with some pull. If a junior member showed some promise it wasn''t odd for them to get picked as a disciple by one of the elders. If they were exceptionally talented they would be sent to the main sect area to train, the ender that the disciple belonged too would be praised and rewarded accordingly for finding a talented person for the sect.

    While the clans and their contestants were slowly gathering into their flying vessels a peculiar scene was playing out in the city that the Dao Festival would be taking place.

    A particular elder with the Dark Palm insignia on his robe was pacing back and forth. He was a man that looked to be in his fifties, he had dark hair and quite the long crooked nose. It bent upwards and then made a sharp turn to the left, giving the man a peculiar look.

    "No good, no good... why is that person coming... this is just a small festival for those clan trashes..."

    He was holding a communication device, he had just received word that an important person from the main sect area would be arriving to take part in this year''s festival. The man didn''t know why, but one thing was clear he couldn''t offend this scary cultivator, if he did his life would probably be over.

    "We must get everything in order... damn is there enough time to prepare everything for his arrival?"

    The man activated the communication device and started calling his underlings, he had to prepare a grand welcoming party for this important visitor. They needed to get the best food ready, the best lodgings the best everything that they had. The problem were these random clans that would be swarming the city in a couple of days, they were a random factor any one of those people could end up offending the important people from the main sect.

    "Be sure to assign as many people as you can to our special visitor, we can''t let anything happen, I don''t care if anything happens to those useless clans, you have my permission to get rid of anyone!"

    The man put the communication device to the side, this was quite a big problem but also could be a blessing in disguise. This was a high ranking member from the main sect, if he made a good impression on him he might get a promotion. He was a big fish in a small pond now, but he longed for better cultivation manuals and an even higher position. This was all attainable at the main sect area, it boasted the largest Qi condensation and had a vast library of knowledge.

    "If everything goes right, I might finally be able to leave this backwater sinkhole!"

 126 Chapter 126

    The Zhang Clan flying ship moved through the air, most of the people were just sitting in their cabins cultivating but some of them were out and about, looking at the scenery that zoomed past them. It was quite the sight, the closer they got to their destination the greener it got, the city the festival was being held was famous for its lush grass fields.

    Spirit grass was a staple in this area and it was a very potent pill concocting ingredient. This was why it was procured by the ruling sect from the area, they wouldn''t let a green goldmine like this be conquered by any of the backwater clans in the area. The spirit grass export and price was regulated by the Dark Palm sect, making sure to have the people that they deemed unworthy to have to pay up more.

    This was an important ingredient, but it wasn''t super essential that''s why only lower-level members from the Dark Palm sect were stationed here. It brought in quite the penny but wasn''t as important as some other assets that the sect was defending, like a spirit stone mine that was far more of a flexible asset.

    This wasn''t the only thing that grew in this city though, there were vast rice fields, that added to the greenery. The whole area was more or less fertile land, that allowed most plants to bloom and grow. The name coming from the vast fields of green, that made the outside look like green jade.

    The Zhang Clan ship was close to reaching their destination, the youths on the deck were slowly coming out from their secluded meditation. There weren''t that many of them, the clan only chose the most promising members that would participate, some of them were well-known figures that made their fame from partaking in the expedition two years ago.

    The two most prominent ones were, of course, the Patriarch''s disciples, both of them had reached the foundation establishment realm before the age of twenty which was quite the achievement. Their salt and pepper hair turned mostly white after they formed their perfect Dao pillars, now they only had a large patch of hair at the forehead area that was pure black, the rest was snow white. Their mom didn''t come this time around, leaving everything up to their grandfather.

    Next in line was their senior brother, Zhang Tai. He was older than them but still made the cut, he was still quite talented. His potential was at a B grade, which wasn''t much below the two siblings. Thanks to his achievements he had earned better cultivation methods and the Patriarch even gave him a more fitting cultivation method as well as some manuals to aid him in with his swordsmanship skills.

    That was all the members that were from the old 9th Platoon, the rest were recruited for police work and sitting back in Spirit Spring City training up new recruits. There were a couple of other promising youths, but most of the juniors that were at the expedition were too old to participate now and the ones here paled in comparison to the three previously mentioned youths.

    "Junior Sister Xue how do you fare?"

    Zhang Tai walked over to the edge of the ship, his junior sister was standing there and looking at the lush greenery. The young man had a slight smile on his face, but it quickly turned around after he saw Zhang Liu standing next to her.

    "Ah, I don''t get a greeting, senior brother?"

    Zhang Liu asked, a cocky grin plastered all over his face. The two had built up a kind of rivalry over the past two years. In the beginning, Liu wasn''t a match for Tai at all, but now they were at exactly the same cultivation level and were more or less equal in strength. This was a slight hit to the face of Zhang Tai, having someone younger be his equal but considering that the person in question was the Patriarch''s disciple, he could somehow stomach it.

    "Well, if it isn''t junior brother Liu... don''t get your hopes up too much, I''ll be taking the number one spot!"

    He stuck out his chest, hands behind his back as if he was trying to imitate that Zhang Dong pose. He also glanced at Zhang Xue''s expression from the side, the younger girl caught his eye as the man was gunning for her affections. This was something her older sibling knew and didn''t agree with, thinking that this senior brother was far too pompous for his lovely sister.

    "Haha, I see senior brother has cultivated a sense of humor, I''ll be sure to congratulate you on your spot, after I''m the tournament winner!"

    Sparks flew between the two young men, the girl just covered her face with her long sleeve and started laughing. She took quite the joy from these two, they bickered and fought like an old married couple which was quite fun to watch.

    "Oh, you want to have a go at it?"

    Zhang Tai shouted out, his finger pointing at Xue menacingly.

    "I''ll be your opponent, anytime!"

    Liu replied while getting ready for some fisticuffs.

    "Brother, Senior Tai please calm down. Use that anger against the other clans that will be participating."

    She tried to defuse the situation, a bright smile on her face the moment Tai got a glimpse of it, he felt a devastating blow to his heart. His face went slightly red and he turned away, worried that the beautiful junior sister would find it funny and he wanted to come off as a gallant gentleman.

    "Ah, if junior sister says so..."

    "Hah, you always chicken out when Xue is around."

    Tai turned to glare at his junior brother once more, this time around he was more willing to give him a good trashing. The two released their cultivation aura which alarmed all the other people in the vicinity, but they weren''t going to jump in or anything most of the youths were just interested who from these two would come out on top.

    "Brother Liu you can do it!"

    "Brother Tai, don''t let that junior speak to you like that!"

    "Fight, fight, fight!"

    The two of them moved their palms up, Zhang Tai was holding his hand out, blue energy slowly enveloped his mitt. On the other hand, Zhang Liu placed his palm in a ninety-degree angle, lightning energy started crackling as he was preparing to receive his senior brother''s attack. But before the two could clash a booming voice filled the entire ship, which made the two fighting peacocks ferocity deflate like a poked balloon.

    "What are you two idiots doing, cease your squabbling!"

    This was Zhang Jin flexing his aura, which made the two youths drop down to their knees in an instant. The crowd on the side that was egging the two one just a second ago dispersed, doing it only after cupping their fists at their grand elder. The two didn''t get to leave unscathed as a lump appeared on their heads after the elder gave them a good smack.

    "Now, sit down and be quiet you two, we will be arriving shortly, can''t have the other clans see you two idiots bickering!"

    Zhang Jin glared at some other elder members from the clan that were previously in the crowd. They didn''t do much to stop the fight as they thought that it would be too bothersome. Also, no one really wanted to offend the Patriarch''s disciple as that was a fast way of getting yourself in trouble.

    The whole place quieted down afterward, the city was just a couple hours away and they could already see more of those lush rice and spirit grass fields. Some villagers were there, they bowed to the flying ship. Regular people would preform these acts of courtesy, flying ships were a sign of power as you had to have quite the amount of cultivation resources to buy or build one.

    Soon you could see the more refined architecture, many large pagodas were sticking out also in that green color which made the whole city look like a piece of jade. All the buildings were made this way, the pavilions and the palaces all had a green tint to them, the cultivators apparently liked the green jade theme that went with this city.

    At the front was a massive gate, people were lined up on one side and moving in while on the other they were moving out. This city was a coastal one too boot. From the front, it was surrounded by greenery while from the back by a giant mass of water. By the sheer size of the body of water, you would think that it was a giant sea, but this was only a really large lake. Things were larger in this world, so the lakes that were the size of an earthly ocean were quite common.

    This city was larger than Spirit Spring City and Moonlight City that boasted a population count close to ten million each. It was about twice the size of those, but it was still smaller than some main cities or the capital city that had a population of over one hundred million.

    The population was densely packed and the buildings were built high up, which allowed for such a huge amount of residents in one place. But such a high population brought in the usual problems, like a high poverty rate and rampant disorder. This was fueled by the fact that most ruling powers didn''t care about the commoners and let them handle their own disputes, as long as they paid their taxes and were courteous they were left alone.

    This made what the Zhang Patriarch was doing back in his two cities stick out like a sore thumb, the news was slowly reaching the outside area''s, it had a mixed reception with the crowd. Mostly positive from the poorer demographic, but they were also unwilling to trust the rumors. Their spirits were already broken, so they wouldn''t have faith in the news of a just clan that would tend to their needs with minimal recompensation needed. Still, the curiosity was there if things got too rough they might not be against trying their luck out there.

    On the other hand, the ruling forces were even more skeptical about the whole thing. For them, it looked like some kind of ploy to get people''s attention. It seemed like the Zhang Clan was trying to lure the downtrodden people in with the promise of milk and honey, then do something unfathomable once they were in their clutches. They just couldn''t get their heads around someone trying to help people with minimal or no gain in mind, that would just be something a fool would do. If it was true though, they just chucked it up to the Zhang Patriarch being far too young and uneducated for his position.

    The Zhang Flying ship moved around the city, which allowed all the people to get a good look at it. They had to fly around to land on the big shipyard in the lake, some of the other clan ships being already stationed there while others were just arriving as them. The descending ship slowly landed in the water, an anchor getting thrown out, the ship could very well function as a normal water faring vessel.

    They were finally here, people started descending and a man dressed in a baggy robe with a clipboard in his hand came out to greet them. He was wearing quite a large pointy hat and his beard was long and excessive.

    "Greeting fellow Daoists, from the insignia I can see, that you are probably from the Zhang Clan, right?"

    Zhang Jin nodded and let one of his retainers get the paperwork ready, they would get some accommodations and a guide just as any other clan. He didn''t think they would get much though, his clan was still considered one of the averages ones, the word of their Patriarch''s strength was still being questioned which made them quite the underdog. It didn''t help that he was rarely seen and most of his accolades outside were under his demon hunter persona.

 127 Chapter 127

    The junior members of the clan looked out of their ship, they were standing on the deck of the boat. There were other flying vessels slowly descending into the water below. The last part of the descent made the waves splash to the side which made their own ship shake. There were quite a bit of them anchored here, many unfamiliar clan insignias could be seen ones belonging to small and one to the middle-sized clans.

    The Zhang Clan was still considered a middle-sized clan, Clan''s like the Xing family from Moonlight city would be considered a small-sized one. Still, some of them had enough spirit stones to buy themselves a sky fairing flying vessel, this was a good occasion to show of their clan members and make some connections with the other families in the Dark Palm sect area of influence.

    The country this was taking place was called the Azure Dragon Empire, the Long Clan and the Azure Emperor were the ruling factions, but there were various other powerhouses scattered around it. In this world, the density of spiritual energy determined where people would set up their settlements.

    The more you traveled towards the Long Clan occupied area the denser the Qi condensation got and the easier the cultivators could progress. The Empire was divided into smaller state like areas where various powerful clans and sects ruled. Due to this, sects and clans wanted to set up their bases as near to the Long Clan area as it was possible, so those cities were always built close to the state borders. The further away from the border you got, you''d find weaker and weaker sects and clans residing there.

    The so-called states didn''t really have any particular names, they were just areas ruled by a powerful clan or sect. The area that the Dark Palm sect was occupying was about in the middle of the map, the land further in was the spot that was occupied by the truly strong forces, ones that even this sect wouldn''t be dumb enough to offend.

    But in response, the space that they occupied was deemed inferior for them, letting this sect grow in power while the powerhouses further into the empire fought with themselves, leaving sects like the Dark Palm one alone to do whatever they pleased. They wouldn''t care one way or the other what happened to them, they would only react if someone tried moving onto their territory.

    Thanks to this, these kinds of sects could flourish. They were deemed strong enough to not be worth the hassle of losing any troops if it came to blows, the nascent soul cultivators being a strong enough deterrent. Yet, the probability of them getting stronger was quite low as the better resources were all further into the empire, things like secret grounds were far more common there.

    There was also a thin balancing act that the more powerful sects had to go through. If they suddenly ordered a large chunk of their nascent soul cultivators to attack a sect like the Dark Palm sect, another powerhouse could use this and move in on their turf. So, unless something drastic happened they wouldn''t keep to themselves.

    Jade Grass City was one of the spots affiliated with the sect, they had a small force stationed here and even a direct line to the main sect. Though it would be used for emergencies, for moments of a revolt or if a particular strong beast attack.

    The bustling of the crowd could be heard everywhere, some people on flying swords were also buzzing about. They were all people in high places and with connections, normal cultivators were forbidden from flying on their swords above the city.

    Zhang Jin was still on the ship, one of his retainers was outside handling all that paperwork and showing them the proof that they were truly from the Zhang Clan. There was a small fee you had to pay to participate, this small payment was already too much to stomach for some smaller clans.

    There were about fifty junior clan members from the Zhang Clan, mostly everyone was twenty or twenty-one, and in the early stage of foundation establishment. There was no reason to take Qi condensation cultivators as they would never make it through the preliminary round of the test, failing at the first one where the all-around strength was measured.

    This was actually a high number, all things considered, thanks to increasing the ranks of their cultivation techniques the Zhang Clan was seeing a new renaissance. Their younger generation was profiting the most as it was easier to change things up before you reached the foundation establishment level. Creating superior pillars was far easier than reinforcing cracked or flawed ones.

    Zhang Jin knew well how things stood and that his clan would be sticking out with how much they had progressed. But he was betting on that, he wanted to show that his family was getting stronger this would make people think twice about offending them. He was well aware of the looming threat of the sect but he knew that they would do a thing unless it was related to a nascent soul level threat.

    At the foundation level, they had nothing to fear, their still had only three core formation cultivators which was nothing in the eyes of their overlord. Though, if they showed up with fifty core formation experts, the Dark Palm sect would probably start playing a different tune and engage them in combat.

    The accommodations were ready as the Zhang clan retainer moved back to the ship and gave the news to the grand elder, he in response clapped his hands to get everyone''s attention.

    "Okay you rascals, stay close together, and don''t get separated from the group at least till we get to our hotel, then you''ll be free to explore the city."

    The youths beamed with excitement, it was very rare for them to leave the main clan city and they were mostly cultivating diligently at their homes or cultivation caves. This would be a nice chance to see the world and have some fun, they all were snapped back to reality after their grand elder spoke once more.

    "But be cautious, I''m sure you are all excited but remember where we are, be courteous to the other clans and the sect, don''t cause trouble for me or the clan. If you offend someone from the Dark Palm sect or a strong clan, I won''t be able to do anything for you."

    The youths looked at each other, they knew well how this world worked. They were all highly regarded cultivators in their home city, but here they were more or less just country bumpkins. No one would bat an eye if they got stabbed in the back after offending some scary uncles or overbearing young masters.

    "Still, don''t bring shame to the Zhang Clan and the Patriarch, this clan isn''t a bunch of cowards, don''t let me see you tarnish our reputation!"

    It was one thing to be honorable and civilized, it was another to just let people spit in your face. The elder''s words were clear, if you meet someone from a stronger affiliation you should bow your head, but if it''s someone of an equal status you are not allowed to defame the clan, losing face was not allowed,

    This was also the reason that Zhang Jin didn''t want Zhang Dong to be here. The juniors seemed to have more common sense than his grandson, that if push comes to shove would probably offend their sect overlords. Zhang Jin knew how to maneuver things which got difficult, there was no shame in bowing your head to someone stronger than you, it was the way of this world. He feard that his grandson would blunder and cause a scene that could cost him his life, he wasn''t quite ready to take the next step.

    "Well then, let us depart!"

    The youths started moving in an orderly fashion, there were also members of the elder generation with them. They were all quite proud of how their youths were progressing, they knew that at their age they weren''t nearly as strong.

    They were slowly guided towards the main lodging area, people in various colorful robes were gathering there. The youths didn''t recognize the patterns or insignias at all, the cultivators were from various sects and clans that were scattered around the area hoping to make a name for themselves.

    "Have you heard, apparently this time around the winner will receive fifty middle grade spirit stones!"

    "Fifty? But that''s like fifty thousand low-grade spirit stones... I''m getting even more pumped up!"

    While going in you could overhear people talking, besides the name recognition that you would gain from winning the tournament, you would receive quite the hefty sum of spirit stones. This amount was enough to fund your own small clan, you could probably build a small city with that amount as well.

    The top ten participants would earn prises and even be allowed to join the Dark Palm sect if they so wished for. This wasn''t anything strange, it was normal for clan members to study at sects. They were sworn to secrecy but that didn''t mean that they couldn''t protect their family members and improve their status. The sect wouldn''t bat an eye if they shared some rudimentary techniques with the lower clans though, but the higher ones were forbidden from getting passed on outside the sect.

    The building the clans were staying was huge, it was a giant pagoda in an octagon shape. It looked to be able to house tens of thousands of people inside of it, with various levels outfitted filled out with diverse equipment. There was a dining area, an auditorium for lectures and even a casino, betting and gambling was quite popular in this world, probably due to the fact that it was a way to gain easy money and all these cultivators liked taking high risk, high reward bets.

    The thing was over a hundred stories high, there was something akin to an elevator installed. There were various platforms outside the pagoda balconies, they would slowly float upwards after you pushed some spiritual energy into them. They were only designed to move in a certain way so you couldn''t use them like a flying sword. The requirement of spiritual energy was quite low, thanks to that almost everyone could use them. This was all thanks to something akin to spiritual energy batteries that were embedded to the floating platform, the platform only required a small jolt of energy to get moving.

    The clan was situated at about the 30th floor, due to the fact that they had to switch those platforms constantly it took them thirty minutes to just reach their lodging. The higher the level of the hotel the more pristine it was, the pagoda was thinner at the top. That''s where the penthouse suite was, it boasted the best qi gathering formations and was made from the best materials on the market, but it was reserved for the utmost important guests.

    It had quite the view as well, letting the person staying there enjoy the jade green scenery below. At this time some people were staying in this apartment, they were brought here by the Dark Palm sect elder that was panicking just a couple days ago.

    Two people were in this penthouse apartment at the moment. One was a handsome young man, he had the usual long dark hair and he was wearing a golden robe, the most peculiar thing about him was the jewel sticking out of his forehead. Its color was purple, which was associated with royalty in this kind of world.

    The youth was clasping his hands in front of an older man, this man was sitting in a large armchair and just glancing to the side out to the scenery. The man was wearing a similar robe to the youth, but it was even more extravagant with various gems and sparkling metals attached to it, a large dark palm symbol glistering in the back.

    The man''s outer appearance was quite normal, he had a classical beard that wasn''t all that long, just long enough to cover his chin and cheeks. He had salt and pepper hair and didn''t look anything out of the ordinary, though when you looked into his eyes they would send shivers down your spine. It were the kind of eyes that made you cover in fear of what was hidden behind them.

 128 Chapter 128

    The man with the gem in his forehead looked to be in his twenties, but in reality, he was already fifty years old. He was quite the famous young master from the Dark Palm sect. He looked quite handsome and was adored by everyone, or at least that''s how it looked on the outside.

    "Thanks for letting me tag along with you, Elder Ming."

    The man bowed with his hands clasped, the Dark Palm sect elder was on a little errand here and this young master had used this opportunity to join him on his journey.

    "It''s nothing really, didn''t think you''d find this place that interesting little Kai, I''m just here for the items at the auction."

    The old man sat back and sipped some green tea, the tea leaves being the highest quality that this city could offer, the water and tableware being the same.

    "Hm, the tea is satisfactory at least..."

    The young man straightened up and looked outside the window, his eyes narrowing.

    "Ah yes the auction, to be exact I wanted my disciple to participate in that little festival those little clans are having."

    "Oh? The Dao Festival?"

    The sect elder''s brow moved upwards slightly, but almost immediately went down.

    "Well, I won''t pester you for details, but if your disciple is taking part then be sure not to sully the sects name, he has to win."

    The man waved with his hand at his junior member, even though this was the son of the Patriarch this elder outranked him by quite a bit, his cultivation level was something that made him a king among men already.

    "Well then, Elder Ming rest well, I''ll see you tomorrow."

    The Dark Palm member named Kai exited the room that this elder of his was staying, he knew when this Elder Ming didn''t want him around so he had enough tack to back of, on his own. He was stationed a flor below, which was still quite the expensive-looking apartment.

    This man''s full name was Yang Kai. He returned to his quarters, the view at the city was grand but the man in question wasn''t really impressed by it.

    "Mmm, give me your report..."

    There was another man in that room, Yang Kai was sitting on an expensive couch, his legs spread apart in a nonchalant way. The man opposite him was a rough-looking gentleman in a less expensive Dark Palm sect robe.

    "Yes young master, the ''target'' arrived not long ago, they are staying at this grand dragon hotel on the fortieth floor."

    Yang Kai licked his lips slightly after he heard that the person that he was here for was already in this hotel with him. He had to stop himself from just going directly there, that would just make him look bad and he would lose face, it was not yet time to strike.

    "Good... good... now I just have to wait for this festival to start and then..."

    The bodyguard was silent, his eyebrows quivering after seeing quite the devilish expression on his face.

    "Ahh... tell my disciple to prepare, he is not allowed to lose or he will be severely punished! But not like any of those backwater clans can hold a handle to him."

    "Now, leave."

    He waved with his hand at the guard while smirking to himself. The moment the man left Yang Kai stood up, his gaze moving over to his spatial ring. He pulled out a thin scarf, it had a cherry blossom pattern sewn into it. He placed it soon up towards his nose and inhaled with vigor, his eyes closed but his eyelids quivered back and forth during the inhaling.

    "You got away once and I thought that I lost you... but now here you are... If I wasn''t stuck cultivating at the sect I would have come sooner, but that''s fine...he he he..."

    The man licked his lips in a gross fashion, the scarf he was holding looked a bit scuffed up.

    "Soon you will be mine, this time I won''t let you run away... even if I have to..."

    The man didn''t finish the sentence and moved the scarf back into his spatial ring, his head shaking.

    "Oh my, I''m getting too excited here...

    Yang Kai sat down to meditate, the chaotic thoughts in his mind calming down while the night ended.

    At dawn you could hear people walking, all the shops were opening up and the day was starting. The Dao Festival wasn''t only for the clan''s but a lot of people saw it as a chance to make some coin or spirit stones. There was a big marketplace, with various cultivation materials and trinkets gathered in one place.

    Usage of magical treasures during the fights was allowed, so was taking pills. The use of weapons was allowed as well, everyone could bring weapons of their choosing, using dual swords was also allowed. It didn''t matter if the quality of the weapon of one participant was lower than the others, that was taken into account as your personal strength. It was the same with the defensive treasures or any magical trinkets, the cultivators knew that life wasn''t fair and that everyone was born unequally. Having resources to back yourself up was something that these people agreed with, but due to this, you didn''t see poorer practitioners winning that often.

    The preliminary round would start tomorrow so everyone from the clan had some free time today, they could use it to tour the city or just stay and cultivate if they felt that it would give them an edge over the competition. Most of the youths were quite interested in the new environment and decided to form a couple of smaller groups. In front of those groups stood one of Zhang Jin''s retainers, the grand elder had other things to take care of besides being a chaperone for these kids.

    "Listen up, you are free to visit the city. Fighting with anyone is forbidden, remember that this isn''t Spirit Spring city and Elder Jin won''t be able to help you out if you offend someone."

    "Don''t worry, the other clans are also forbidden from causing trouble before the festival starts, anyone that doesn''t follow the law will be banned from the competition, so use some common sense and don''t bring shame to our Zhang Clan!"

    "Yes Elder!"

    The young adults all replied in unison, the loud shout even alerting some other tournament participants that were standing on the side. Some of them already whispering as the Zhang family was slowly gaining notoriety, mostly because their Patriarch apparently soundly beat the famous Demon Hunter a few weeks ago.

    The acclaimed Lei Yinglo was someone with quite a high status, his strength was already legendary. He had built it up by slaying demon beasts and cultivators all in the late and great circle stages of core formation, which was quite a feat in the eyes of anyone without a nascent soul cultivator in their camp. Also, Zhang Dong made it sure to order to spread this information through the land so that he would gain some clout.

    As long as it wasn''t something pointing people to think that he was in the nascent soul stage, it was fine. Even this feat wouldn''t really be taken seriously by the Dark Palm sect, the famous demon hunter was just a renegade cultivator with no backing so they didn''t fear him much.

    "Junior Sister, why don''t we visit some sights in this Jade City, I heard they have really nice tea shops!"

    After the Zhang Clan elder went back to his room, the first thing Zhang Tai did was walk over to Zhang Xue to ask her out. There were some other people around them, the youth would like to get someone on one time with this lovely younger sister of his, but their relationship wasn''t quite there so he had to settle for some ''dead weight'' to come with him.

    "Tea shops? Why don''t we go to the Jade Arena instead, maybe some experts will be fighting today!"

    Zhang Lie chimed in, he was also with another small group of people. He smirked at Zhang Tai who was trying his best to not shout out in protest, this disciple of Zhang Dong was mostly just messing with his older brother. He found the courting that this senior brother was doing quite silly and loved to push his buttons.

    "Tea shop?... Arena?... Hmm..."

    Sparks started flying between the two youths some more, but before Zhang Xue could make her mind up someone else spoke up, it was a female voice.

    "Hey, leave sister Xue alone, why would she spend time with you boys~"

    A group of girls appeared out of nowhere, these were quite the cute and lovely junior and senior sisters that were also participating in this Dao Festival. There were fewer girls than boys at this event, with a ratio of five to one. They quickly shuffled between the youngest female member that was Zhang Xue and started pulling her away.

    "Yes, this is time for us girls to bond, you boys go to your arenas or fight all you want~"

    They all chuckled to each other, Xue did the same and let herself be escorted out by her clan sisters. The group of young beauties wasn''t going out alone, they had a couple of clan elders go along with them, it would be unwise to just let a group of beauties go out without any bodyguards whatsoever. Though, all of those girls were quite decent fighters they still needed some backup if things got out of hand.

    The girls left, Zhang Tai had his hand outstretched in the position where Zhang Xue went down the floating platform, his hand soon falling down and going limp as he gave out a sigh. One of the members from his group came closer and gave his shoulder a pat, then spoke out with a smile on his face.

    "Don''t worry senior brother Tai, there is no way that junior Sister Xue didn''t notice you. I bet the next time you''ll be able to share some tea with her!"

    "Yes, there will always be a second chance."

    His buddies cheered him up while on the other hand Zhang Liu just walked away while snorting, it was enough to see his senior brother mope around, he would poke fun at him at another chance. For now, he also wanted to leave and see the city, he had some other Zhang members with him to keep him company.

    "Hah, while brother Tai sulks let us depart to see the city, that Jade Arena is said to have quite the ferocious fighters, even core formation experts do battle there!"

    Zhang Liu proclaimed and departed down onto another floating platform, the trip to the first level of the pagoda hotel was quite tedious and took the same amount of time as before. Outside, the small group of youths rejoiced and departed they were all young men in their prime and they had a whole day of free time to play around. They all knew that they had a serious competition coming up the next day, but being young made them think that they could take on the world and they didn''t think that they would actually have any problems with the preliminary round.

    "I heard that they have quite the nice tasting wine in this city... the rice they make it from is rich in spiritual energy too..."

    The youths looked at each other, they were planning to check out that arena and then go out drinking. Still, they had two elder members from the clan tagging along with them, but they knew these two uncles would probably give in if they offered them some alcohol as well.

    "Yes, let us head out!"

    Zhang Liu shouted out with a smile on his face, his friends smiled at each other and left. Soon they joined the sea of people and made their way towards the arena building. Even during the day, it was open it was quite the popular area for betting. But while Liu was taking a turn into another street, he felt something hit his chest.

    "Ack..."

    A cute voice cried out as the youth realized that a girl crashed into his chest. The youth cultivated his body refining technique to quite a high degree so the young lady rebounded off him and fell down on her butt. Liu instinctively reached out with his hand to help her out, the peculiar thing about the girl was the color of her hair that was light pink, her skin tone made you think that she was out tanning or spent a lot of time on a beach.

 129 Chapter 129

    The young man looked at the equally youthful girl that was rubbing her head. She had just bumped into him and was now down on the ground and on her posterior. The girl was peculiar looking, she could be described as flashy. Long nails with something that looked like little pink and purple gems stuck to them. Her hair was done in a twin-tail type of hairstyle, her lips were rosy and she was wearing golden earrings.

    Her robe was unusually short, normally the female cultivators wore ones that went down to their ankles. They parted on the sides so that they had some wiggle room to move their legs around. The skirt of the robe that this girl was wearing could be considered a miniskirt. The young man''s eyes stopped at the lower area as he could see quite the plump thighs, he then traced his gaze upwards and was greeted by quite the lovely mountain peaks. He gulped hard and managed to gather his senses, reaching out with his hand as he tried to help the girl up to her feet.

    "Ahh, forgive me, are you alright?"

    He wasn''t sure if this girl was older or younger than he was, but they looked to be in a similar age range that didn''t require any honorifics. The girl finally looked up without saying a word, her green eyes met with the youth. They didn''t break eye contact for a good couple of seconds, which after the girl finally reacted.

    "Ahhhhh...."

    She jumped up to her two feet with haste, her twin-tails bounced around along with her upper chest part, her short robe having to strain itself to contain all of that weight there.

    "Ohhhh nooo... I''m going to be late..."

    Zhang Liu moved back a bit, the girl just bolting off into the distance and quickly vanishing from view leaving the youth and his clan companions stupified.

    "W-what?"

    "Brother Liu sure is a smooth talker with the ladies..."

    "Haven''t seen a girl run away that fast in a while, must be some kind of talent!"

    Zhang Liu got a bit red in the face after his friends started teasing him, they quickly quieted down after he gave them all his death glare, but then they laughed out once more as this made things even funnier.

    "Let us move on... the arena isn''t far from here..."

    Zhang Liu proclaimed as everyone moved out, the youth rubbing his chin while he thought about the cute looking girl that he bumped into.

    ''That robe pattern looked familiar... where did I see it before...''

    He was sure that he saw a similar-looking robe on someone before, but he wasn''t quite sure who was it. He was positive that he didn''t know the girl from anywhere, but that robe and skin tone was unusual to see in this world occupied by jade-like beauties that liked to look like ghosts. Zhang Liu turned away from that motion after his master gave him a lecture about the importance of sunlight and how a healthy skin tone was vastly more beautiful than looking like a bedsheet.

    ''She might have been from that clan...oh well...''

    He tossed his thoughts to the back of his head, but while walking forward towards the arena he found himself constantly getting reminded of the girl''s chest area, guess the master''s tastes were absorbed by this disciple.

    Though, while the group of youthful cultivators went on with their day, they didn''t notice that someone was following them. A bouncy tail of hair was peeking out from the corner, with the same girl that Zhang Liu bumped into peeking her head out. Her eyes were sparkling as she looked at the back of the young man that she bumped into. She clenched her tiny fist, a smirk covering her face as she whispered out.

    "I''ll show you that the ancestors weren''t wrong! Stupid big sis!"

    -------------

    Back at  Spirit Spring City Zhang Dong was pacing through his room. It seemed as if he was looking into a random direction where there was a wall, but in reality, he was looking at his status screen. He had absorbed anything he could, without tapping into the clan''s reserve spirit stone stash and was now waiting for the system point count to go past ten million.

    ''God damn... it''s really happening... and I''m not even stuck in some kind of death and life battle this time around!''

    He had a dumb grin plastered all over his face. He was sure that he would reach the nascent soul stage soon and it would be happening in a couple of hours at exactly twelve at midnight. That was the time when his clan building portion of his system did its update and he would receive the required points for his advancement.

    ''It''s still the middle of the day... the suspense is killing me...''

    He was equally happy and scared, this would be his first jump in big realms. The previous small level-ups all happened while he was still in core formation, this would be the first time he would be reaching a new point of existence. There was also one particular change that he was afraid of, that was actually getting one of those nascent souls, or infant souls if you went with a more direct translation.

    ''Guess I''ll have a little baby soul living inside me... well that will be weird... well can''t be weirder than cultivating a whole universe in your own body like they do in some other works of fiction.''

    Matt crossed his hands over one another and tried to recall any other strange cultivation methods. In a lot of those, the cultivators would perceive some kind of world inside of themselves, building palaces or large seas of spiritual energies, or even worlds with greenery inside. He had a similar thing inside of him in the form of the Dao pillars, but they were already there along with his core even before he arrived in this world so they felt kind of natural.

    ''What I got from the other cultivation manuals is that, you are supposed to shatter your core to produce a nascent soul instead of it... the cultivator might die in the process of doing that if they aren''t careful and fully prepared though, but in my case, the system should take care of everything, right?''

    Matt was kind of banking on the system to get him over the hump, when he upgraded his cultivation method to the golden lightning one the system did the hard part for him. It was as if he practiced this cultivation method instead of the previous one the moment he spent his points of it. So he was sure that his cheat ability would push him through it one way or the other. He just needed to make sure to hide the fact that he reached this degree of power.

    ''First I''ll lay low for some months and train up some of those nascent soul techniques at least to an adept rank...''

    He already had picked up a couple of techniques that he wanted to practice, they included better sword techniques, better movement techniques and so on. He was also banking on producing better versions of his old techniques, he still got the cultivation manuals of them.

    After upgrading his main cultivation method, he would probably receive the manual for it. He could then start mixing it with the other manuals he received from the secret ground. You didn''t have to mix attack techniques with the same sort, you could pick and choose. One technique would be used as a basis, while the rest would add to it.

    For instance, he could take his improved golden nascent soul cultivation manual and pair it up with another heaven grade technique, if it worked it would produce an improved version of the skill that used parts of his main cultivation method. An inferno palm strike technique could thus be transformed into a golden lightning palm strike that would fit his needs a lot more.

    ''All the possibilities! Though I shouldn''t spread myself too thin... I could well spend years training new skills it''s fine if I get one or two and just focus on them for now. I''d also need boatloads of crafting points to get new technique manuals... wish that store was still working...''

    Matt was still feeling disgruntled after losing his cash shop. It would be much easier to just find a proper skill from there than play around with that upgrading machine in his crafting abode.

    ''I''d probably already be in the nascent soul a year ago if I still got points for killing demonic beasts too...''

    He shrugged and went outside his room, the people that he met bowed to him in respect. He headed down into the secret part of the main Zhang compound where the spatial treasure in the form of the medallion was hidden. After the years the clan had figured a way to bolster it, but it was something Matt didn''t like doing as he had to pour copious amounts of his spiritual energy into the thing.

    The dimensional regalia only accepted pure holy element energies which only he possessed. The more of it he inserted into the thing, the more it grew in size. The increase was quite meager though, if he pushed 50% of his cultivation base into the spatial treasure the rocky area would grow by only a couple of meters. Though it grew in all directions, after two years he managed to add another couple of kilometers in diameter.

    The guards greeted their Patriarch, they were already informed that he would be going into closed cultivation inside the dimensional regalia. They were ordered to keep anyone out and only bother him if there was some kind of emergency, like an attack from another clan or something in that range.

    He entered the large room the medallion was placed in, quickly vanishing inside of it. The large dorm was still standing there, along with some other structures that were nowhere instead of the makeshift tents, that the clan used when they were preparing for the expedition. The dorm-like building was enlarged and another level was built atop of it, they even added a cafeteria for the recruits that were still being trained in here.

    ''Heh, nice to be the leader, everyone had to clear out of here.''

    The innermost clan members were training in here, hidden away from prying eyes. Matt had written down each book from that library and placed it in here in a well-protected vault. Normally you would see people guarding it, depending on your clan rank and your potential you were allowed inside of that vault. The vault library had four levels, each of them having manuals and books ranging from Qi condensation all up to Nascent soul ones. The last area was only open to people at the top, which was the Patriarch and the Grand Elder.

    ''Well, the energies from stepping into the Nascent Soul level will be blocked by this treasure.''

    This was the biggest reason he was here, the dimensional regalia blocked any aura from seeping outside. He would be safe in here to cultivate in peace, and unless someone stronger than him got their hands on the treasure they wouldn''t be able to even come inside without his approval.

    "Hm, what time is it now..."

    He glanced at his system clock, which was quite handy for occasions like this.

    "Still have a couple of hours till I get my points... guess I could prepare for the next stage of the plan..."

    He still needed to make that heaven grade weapon, he was waiting to pass his realm first than he would start crafting. He didn''t have that many materials for his training though, the blasted dark palm sect was keeping tabs on even the crafting component that could be used for heaven grade weapons and treasures. But luckily throughout the years, old grandpa Jin had managed to procure some goods for him. It was also one of the reasons that it was taking him two years to finally reach this point, the spirit stone expenditure was immense.

    "Well then, time to say goodbye to the crummy core and welcome the baby soul."

 130 Chapter 130

    Back in Jade Grass City Zhang Liu and his friends were moving through the stalls, they had some food in their hands something that looked like to be a shish kebab on a stick. All of them were munching while walking forward, wondering if they would get to see a good show at the arena.

    "Hm, wonder if someone good will be battling, would be nice..."

    "Yeah, someone like our Patriarch... we missed his fight with that Demon hunter..."

    "The leader taught him a lesson, he was a hundred years too early to even try that!"

    The young men chatted around, Zhang Liu didn''t talk all that much as he didn''t know these junior and senior brothers all that well himself. His old 9th platoon buddies weren''t here and the only one from them was someone that he was in a feud with.

    "Ah yes, shame that I could not see Master''s fight, supposedly the Demon Hunter was just misguided, but Master was magnanimous in his decision and let him live."

    The other young men nodded, their eyes shining brightly as they heard Zhang Liu call their Patriarch, Master. They thought that it would be an honor if they were also his disciple, this was also a reason that they were pumped up. If they managed to reach a high standing in the tournament, or even beat this Zhang Liu than maybe Zhang Dong would notice them and give them some pointers.

    "We are here brother Liu."

    While they were chatting and eating they finally arrived at the spot, they were greeted by a large gate, behind the gate were stairs that went upwards. There were some people in front of the gate, you had to pay the toll to get inside which the youths did. After slowly walking up they saw a large open space, in the middle of that area, was a large square ring made from some kind of brick-like material.

    On the west and east side of that ring, they saw many regular looking seats. There were already some people sitting there and cheering for some warriors that were battling it out. On the North side, besides some more seats closer to the ring stood a large tower, in that tower were the more expensive seats for the more influential customers. They came from the south side and above them was a more narrow looking tower and on it was the booth with the announcers that commented on the fights and introduced the fighters before each fight.

    To their immediate left, you could go under the seats. Inside were various booths and stands for betting purposes but you could also by some refreshments. The young men looked at each other, people were going back and forth from within that area.

    "Well... I''m not really interested in betting, don''t even know the fighters... how about you brothers?"

    Zhang Liu asked, not really keen on spending his allowance that his mother and master gave him. He would rather spend it on something like interesting treasures, he knew that Zhang Dong was quite a skilled craftsman. Maybe if he found something curious, his Master would praise him, he always said something about needing more treasures for deconstruction.

    Some of the men went in to take a look, but the complicated board that had some numbers and names on it was quite confusing. Though they found something quite interesting, if you signed a contract you could participate in the arena. You didn''t even need to face other cultivators, in particular, you could fight untamed beasts or even have small skirmishes with your clan members against other clans.

    "Quite interesting...though the grand elder told us to not cause trouble and not fight."

    They all looked at each other, the warrior inside of them was telling them to go for it as they all wanted to prove themselves in a fight. But the Dao festival was coming along, what if they got injured or used up too much Qi during combat. There was also the threat of their opposition seeing their hidden techniques, then having something in store for them if they ever clashed.

    "Let''s just see who is fighting... maybe after the Festival is over we can try our luck in here, you can apparently earn quite a sum if you keep winning."

    They headed out and found themselves a good spot to sit in, the area was slowly getting filled up and they were lucky enough to get enough seats for all. They could see someone getting carried out by two buff looking uncles, they were holding him by his wrists and ankles the person was just dangling like a ragdoll, probably the loser of the bout.

    Zhang Liu looked inside the ring, there was one person standing there he was waving at the people a large smile plastered all over his face. He was wearing a red robe and had similar short red hair. The robe was peculiar in the way that it had no sleeves and you could see the young man''s quite thick muscular arms.

    "Oh, looks like the fiery youth has taken another victim, can no one stop him?"

    You could hear the loud voice of the announcer that traveled around the arena, apparently, this youth had been on a winning streak.

    "Can no one stop the blazing inferno? Already four people have failed!"

    Zhang Liu squinted with his eyes, getting interested in this youth, he looked to be of similar age as he was. By the looks of it, he was also in the same cultivation range as him. One of the laws of this arena was that opponents had to be close to each other in cultivation realms. They wouldn''t allow someone in the early stage of foundation establishment to fight someone in the great circle, unless the weaker person could use some treasures to lower that gap or something similar.

    "I will be your opponent you shitty brat!"

    A large burly man with tree trunks for arms jumped into the ring, his descent causing a commotion in the arena.

    "Oh, if it isn''t a brave challenger, let me remind you that everyone is allowed to challenge the winner of the previous bout! Fighters that are participating in this year''s Dao Festival are also allowed! Just remember to register, if you want to participate!"

    Apparently it was some kind of challenge event, where anyone of a similar cultivation realm could confront the previous winner. The more someone won, the more money they would get, you could also steal the previous winner''s stash and then call it quits. The winning person could fight up to ten bouts but after winning all of those he wasn''t allowed to participate anymore, this was a safety measure for the arena owners. This law was created to lower the losses if some kind of overpowered master appeared. The no fighting before the Dao Festival decree was apparently abolished in this neutral zone, you could participate at your own risk.

    The large cultivator charged at the red-haired youth, he in response moved his forearm upwards to block the man''s punch.

    "Ha, idiot. I''ll snap that toothpick in half!"

    The red-haired youth had a good physique, but his enemy was far larger than him. You''d expect that giant fist to snap his arm in half, but this wasn''t what happened. The fist flew at the forearm that started glowing red, soon it was engulfed in flames. It was too late for the attacker to stop and when his fist collided with the fire an explosion occurred. The large man was forced backward his hand smoking, his flesh charred.

    "Hm, what were you saying?"

    The fight wasn''t over just yet, but the burly man''s right fist was out of commission. The two were apparently close range specialists, the burly man probably being a body refiner. Zhang Liu observed from his spot, the red-haired man charged in. He had both of his hands clad in flames with some strange patterns showing up on both his arms.

    Each time the two clashed the burly man got pushed back, he was even using his damaged arm to block some hits his face contorting in strange ways as the pain struck.

    ''Quite the will power there...''

    Zhang Liu thought while complimenting the older man, who showed quite some resilience. This wasn''t enough though, soon he was pushed back, well more like he flew in a glorious arc and left an imprint of a human on the arena wall. The defensive formation activating so that the residual rubble didn''t hit the audience members.

    "Oh no, the challenger is down! Only five more to go can no one stop this fire demon? If you think you are up to the challenge please register with one of our staff members!"

    Apparently, the people around here measured your strength before the fighting took place. They couldn''t just have random people jumping in from god knows where. Someone could also setup easy fights for himself and cheat. This was possible but hard to pull off, also if you got caught cheating you would be severely punished.

    "Brother Liu, maybe we should register..."

    Some of the Zhang members got excited after hearing that fighting in this arena was allowed even for festival participants. This was quite an alluring proposal, Zhang Liu never got much practical training mostly training his techniques alone and his sister wasn''t quite up to par when they sparred with each other, he as the older brother couldn''t really go all out in fear of injuring his younger sibling.

    "We could do that..."

    "We will be holding a short intermission, please place your bets or register if you want to participate in the event."

    The announcer proclaimed while the red-haired man at the arena crossed his arms over one another, even a bigger grin plastered over his face.

    "Hah, let''s go..."

    The young men all nodded at each other, the more elder members that were keeping tabs on them weren''t that thrilled about what these youths were doing. It looked like fighting before the festival could cause unneeded injuries, but it also could be a big confidence booster for their clan members. They let it slide, for now, they were just registering and weren''t fighting just yet.

    Every one of the Zhang Clan youths, Zhang Liu included got a certain engraving on their palm. It was the rank that they were deemed worthy of fighting with, they also noticed that the exact same emblem, the emblem looking like a tiger was next to the man''s name that was currently in the ring.

    "Huo Kong... the Huo clan?"

    Zhang Liu read his name that was on the betting board, he knew the name of this clan they had fought together with them in that secret ground but he didn''t know this young man.

    ''He wasn''t in there with us at that time... guess he stayed behind?''

    The Huo Clan was a larger family that owned five cities and other various assets through the lands. It was one of the largest clans from the Dark Palm sect area, with more resources and manpower than what Zhang Clan could produce.

    "Oh, is it a brother from the Huo Clan? The elders said that we are allied with them and our Patriarch and the son of their Patriarch are close friends..."

    The Huo Clan and the Zhang Clan had formed an alliance after what happened in the secret ground. They weren''t the only ones as the ladies from the Feng Clan also became their supporters. This was quite advantageous for the Zhang Clan, who had gained two powerful backers and business partners. Zhang Dong had sold quite the amount of treasures and crafted weapons to both of those clans, who gave him beneficial prices.

    "Guess we should cheer the brother from the Huo Clan on."

    The youths felt a sense of comradery with this fire family, mostly Zhang Liu that fought with them against the countless beast waves.

    ''I should exchange greetings with him, Master had quite the favorable opinion of that clan.''

    Thinking nothing about it, Zhang Liu moved closer to the edge of the arena wall, closer to where the youth was standing and waiting for the intermission to be over. The youth suddenly heard someone calling out to him, his eyes fixated on a certain white-haired youth with a patch of black hair wairing a blue robe.

    "Greetings brother from the Huo Clan, we from the Zhang Clan send our regards."

    He was being formal with his greeting as he wasn''t sure who this person was, the order of not causing trouble was still on his mind. Huo Kong while still having his hands closed looked to the side, one of his brows moving upwards as he looked at the man that spoke out.

    "The Zhang Clan? You''re from that small clan?"

    He replied in a mocking tone, the grin never vanishing from his face as if he was trying to start a fight.

 131 Chapter 131

    Zhang Liu and his companions got taken aback by the way the youth was speaking. He was clearly being condescending towards their Clan name.

    ''Small Clan? Guess if you compare it to the Huo Clan then that''s true.''

    Zhang Liu thought to himself while trying not to get offended, but he had to fight against his natural disposition of wanting to jump in and give the Huo Clan member a good smack. His friends that he was with were slightly less composed than him, picking up on the tone he was speaking in, knowing well that by calling them a small clan he was saying that they were weak.

    "What did you say?"

    "Are you looking for a fight?"

    None of these people fought together in the secret ground, so they only heard tales about the other clan from others. So there was no real sense of comradery there.

    "Hah, talk is cheap, if you want something just face me!"

    The man moved his right hand outwards pointing it towards the blue robe wearing group of young cultivators and beckoned them over by moving his palm towards himself. The Zhang Clan members were furious, veins started bulging on their foreheads as they just wanted to jump in and fight.

    "Oh what is this, the contestant is challenging someone from the audience? Are they brave enough to take him up on the offer? Or will they cower in shame!"

    The veins on their foreheads started bulging, even more, the moment the loud announcer''s voice boomed through the whole arena. Now it would be quite difficult to back off, they would suffer public humiliation, loss to their own face and would bring shame to the clan.

    "Brothers, let me handle this! I''ll show him how the Zhang Clan warriors fight!"

    One of the members from the group stepped out, the youth had sharp sword-shaped eyebrows and looked to be in his twenties. This was a talented youth from the group, even though he wasn''t the strongest he wasn''t the weakest either. He looked at Huo Kong that was just standing there beckoning them over, looking like he was without any care in the world.

    Zhang Liu was the de facto leader of the group, being the strongest and also having the best backing out of the group. Liu remembered the words of the elders of not causing trouble, but he also recalled the bit about not backing down from a fight and not causing any loss to face if it was a manageable opponent.

    "Do you feel confident, brother?"

    The sharp eyebrow youth smacked his chest which produced quite the loud thumping sound. He then moved over to one of the arena officials to show him his mark and that he was eligible for the fight.

    "Oh, think we have a new challenger!"

    "Will this young man be able to douse the burning inferno, or will he also get burned by the blaze!"

    The announcer was overdoing it a bit with the dramatic introductions and comments, but he was there to pump up the people in the audience. This looked to be working as people cheered, a path was made for the blue robe wearing youth from the Zhang Clan, people shouting out as they got their bets ready.

    "Give us a good show, eyebrows!"

    "Burn him alive!"

    "You can do it, blue robe bushy-eyebrow brother!"

    The young man tipped over to the side as he heard people commenting on his eyebrows. This was his most prominent trait though, besides them giving him a sharp look they had quite the volume to them as well.

    "Shut up, who you calling bushy-eyebrows!"

    He shook his fist at the audience that just laughed at him in response. He then jumped into the arena to face the red-haired youth, his aura getting releases, blue spiritual energy covering his robe. Huo Kong just shrugged and held his fists out in a what looked to be a traditional boxing stance with both his fists up in the air with his forearms blocking the view of his face.

    The announcer shouted out which prompted the match to start, the two fighters eyeballed each other from a distance probably trying to get a feel of their opponent.

    "Oh, didn''t know the Zhang Clan studied the Dao of waiting, such a powerful technique~"

    Huo Kong chuckled while taunting his opponent, who in response got red in the face and started showing his inexperience. He shouted out and charged forward, his foundation pillars vibrated and pushed their Qi into his legs. It looked as if a puddle of water formed under him and instead of running forward it looked as if he was sliding on the water that was getting produced on the arena floor. He glided forward like a figure skater just moving his legs slightly while gaining momentum.

    The red-haired opponent gathered his Qi into his hands which produced a red glow, some strange patterns started appearing on his forearms that looked like they were made from fire. Huo Kong was going for a similar approach as with his previous opponent, first, rile him up and make him do the first attack, then he would block it and inject his fire type Qi into their body while defending. This was quite the simple battle plan, but worked quite well against easily irritable opponents with a chip on their shoulder.

    The moment came soon, the Zhang Clan youth circled around Huo Kong while using his peculiar water gliding movement technique. He was gaining momentum, for his next attack. Soon he took his chance and jumped doing a nicely timed flying kick at his opponent''s head and aiming at it from the back. His foot was shrouded in a watery energy that molded itself into a sharp blade, the youth charged forward while shouting.

    "Take this Tidal Wave Scythe!"

    Suddenly the scythe bubbled and increased in size, the foot was coming in an arch from the side and if Hou Kong didn''t dodge his head would be flying into the air and probably killing the haughty youth in one strike.

    "Hoho? Not half bad... but!"

    Before the kick could slice the red-haired youth''s neck he moved back, not to the side but behind. He leaned back while not bending his knees making look as if he was defying gravity and doing a peculiar popular dance move back from earth. The water scythe swung past him while producing quite the strong aftershock, which got dispersed by the shielding formation that the arena was set up with. This was a standard shielding formation that had to be installed to protect the audience members from any stray Qi attacks, that might come their way.

    The kick swung past Huo Kong that was now open for a counter, he had quite the good opportunity to deliver a blow. He moved both his hands back as if he was going to do a handstand. While using his momentum from the previous back-dodge he tried landing a kick that was clad in fire energy at his enemy that just missed with the big swing that he did with his foot.

    Luckily momentum wasn''t only something the Huo clan youth was knowledgeable about, the bushy-eyebrow brother managed to spin around in time to receive the fire kick with his hands dispursing the attack somehow. He didn''t go unscathed though, he noticed that the enemy was trying to inject his fire Qi into him to disturb his cultivation. He quickly activated his pillars that worked tirelessly to eject the invading spiritual energy.

    "Eh?"

    Huo Kong was surprised, he expected to get a clean hit in but only managed to send the other youth flying backward. He knew that his attack was somehow effective as the opponent with the sword eyebrows started sweating from the Qi expenditure.

    "So you weren''t a total pushover... but this doesn''t change anything!"

    The raid haired youth went on the offensive, his muscles bulged slightly as some kind of strange runic looking patterns appeared over his body. You could hear an explosion as he flew forward, this was his movement technique that produced small controlled explosions under his feet to produce short bursts of speed.

    After the first exchange, the crowd cheered out in unison. the Zhang Clan member that were at the side were hoping that their brother would show this rude cultivator that they shouldn''t be trifled with. But gasped out after seeing his water scythe miss the mark and him getting blown back several meters from the counter.

    "Oh, that was a nice try but the blazing youth doesn''t look impressed!"

    The two continued clashing with each other, it looked like they were equally matched at the start but soon enough you could see the water cultivator getting pushed back. His robe started catching fire, his water Qi having trouble in dousing the spirit flames that were far more difficult to deal with than regular flames.

    Still Huo Kong was surprised, he had a reason for calling out these Zhang Clan cultivators and it was a personal one. He hoped to show a one-sided massacre against this man in front of him, but his opponent was showing quite a high amount of skill. He was still confident in his victory, but he wanted to show the large gap in their techniques and aptitude. Instead the no-name sword-shaped eyebrow opponent showed everyone that he could keep up with him.

    "Don''t get cocky, this ends now!"

    Suddenly the fire cultivator''s power spiked, did he activate some kind of special skill or was he hiding some reserves, no one was sure. The abrupt change of pace surprised the Zhang Clan youth, that received a heavy hit to his stomach. He was unable to see the trajectory of the fist coming for him and was blown back by the strike by several meters.

    The red-haired man cocked his fist back, red energy gathered and it looked as many tiny fireflies were quickly getting absorbed into the palm of his hand. The Zhang Clan youth knew that he was about to get hit by something big, so he used a defensive technique that produced a water shield. The previous strike took the wind out of his lungs, so this was the most he could do.

    "Take this, Inferno Dragon Strike!"

    The moment the fist got thrown forward a surge of fire Qi flew towards the defending cultivator, the fire started taking shape and turned into a dragon. The dragon head gave out a roar that sounded more like an explosion. On the other side, the Zhang Clan member had both his hands stretched out and he was getting surrounded by a thick bubble of water.

    *BOOM*

    Another explosion occurred, steam and wind getting kicked up while the vision of the audience members got blocked.

    "Oh no, is this it? Can the watery youth defend against this strike?"

    Everyone scooted closer to the arena trying to see if the fight was over, or if there would be some kind of comeback. After the smoke cleared, they could see the red-haired youth looking at something. At the spot, he was looking at stood the Zhang Clan youth, his bare chest was showing and his hair was in a mess. He was still standing and breathing though, looking as if he managed to power through this attack.

    "Huff...huff... huff..."

    He was panting hard, one of his eyes closed as he burned through quite a lot of his spiritual energy to defend against this attack. His opponent was clearly annoyed that he couldn''t end the fight right there, he even had to push a lot of his spiritual energy into that attack but the annoying opponent was still standing there.

    "Oh, he is still standing! What a twist!"

    The people cheered out, shouting out the nickname of eyebrows-brother in unison. The youth in question was far too tired to grimace about his stupid nickname.

    ''That''s enough, don''t risk injury brother, leave him to me.''

    The Zhang Clan youth twitched and then looked to the audience and there his clan members were standing. Zhang Liu sent his voice out next to his brother so that he would hear his message. He was feeling a bit apprehensive but he felt that he wouldn''t come out unscathed if he battled this youth further.

    Huo Kong looked at his opponent that stood up straight and clasped his hands.

    "This is my defeat."

    He didn''t really wait for his opponent to reply and just turned around to leave, the audience getting a bit rowdy at the surrender but they knew that this water cultivator''s spiritual reserves were all used up and he couldn''t really continue the fight.

    "Hmph!"

    Huo Kong spit to the side and looked at the youth leave, then watched as another member from that group stepped forward. The youth was different in the way as his hair was mostly snow-white, with a patch of obsidian in the front.

    "Guess it''s not so easy to bully our Zhang Clan, now is it?"

    "I''ll be your next opponent!"

 132 Chapter 132

    Huo Kong looked at his next opponent, the youth was staring at him, just standing there. He had to agree that he had miscalculated slightly and that these cultivators weren''t pushovers. Still, he didn''t feel like he would lose even if each one fought him one after another.

    "Oh, the friend of the previous contender wants to avenge him! Let''s give him a round of applause!"

    Zhang Liu''s eyebrows twitched as everyone looked in his direction, he could feel people''s eyes on him. This wasn''t anything new as he was used to getting watched by his own clan members, still, he didn''t like the feeling of getting gawked at.

    "What a handsome young man..."

    "Think he has a partner? He looks to be quite young too... probably some young master..."

    "What beautiful snow-white hair!"

    You could hear the women talking, Zhang Liu was quite the handsome young lad. Alas he wasn''t concerned with things like that, finding cultivation far more important than a relationship. He tried to ignore the swarm of drooling groupies that he had just earned and looked at Huo Kong.

    "Why don''t you recover some of your stamina before we fight, you will need it..."

    Zhang Liu spoke out while looking at the red-haired youth, who in response scoffed at him.

    "What? Do you think I need to recover to fight someone like you? You''re being overconfident for a little Zhang Clan whelp!"

    Liu wasn''t trying to be patronizing, he just wanted a fair fight and was trying to even the odds. On the other hand, Huo Kong thought that he would lose face if he were to take a recovery pill. He only fought a meager opponent and thought that he didn''t require any outside help.

    "I''ll show you your place!"

    Zhang Liu''s face twitched, finally getting slightly angry. He didn''t know why this man was so condescending towards his Zhang Clan, but he would show his opponent that they shouldn''t be trifled with.

    "Fine... show me my place then..."

    He squinted and jumped into the ring while leaving an afterimage behind, the display of speed making Huo Kong back off slightly, startled by the display.

    ''He''s fast...''

    He instantly realized that this new opponent was far stronger than the ones he faced in the previous bouts. He wasn''t discouraged though, he just gathered his energies. His whole body glowed in a bright red hue as the same runes appeared all over it.

    "Oh what''s this, the opponent seems to be very fast! Oh, is that lightning? Does the challenger cultivate in the Dao of the storms?"

    This was an honest mistake, the Dao of the storms was an actual cultivation method in this world. It was a lesser Dao, lightning was just a side product of it though and not the main component.

    Zhang Liu was already in the foundation establishment realm and in its middle stage. While being in the Qi condensation realm he couldn''t really utilize the more complex techniques that Zhang Dong was using. Now though, he had quite the repertoire of them, they mostly being the same ones that his Master used. They were just versions that required less spiritual energy to use and were weaker in response to that.

    Huo Kong didn''t wait for his opponent to make the first move like he did with the previous ones. Instead he jumped in, his fists ready to deliver cultivation shattering blows. At least that''s what he was attempting to do, but found himself dodging to the side as some sort of spear of concentrated spiritual energy flew towards him. The attack exploded against the arena floor and delivered a residual static shock to the fire cultivator.

    This was a weaker version of Zhang Dong''s Lightning Javelin, the skills specs got lowered to accommodate a lower cultivation realm. It packed less of a punch but was still a good earth graded technique. Huo Kong didn''t have much time to rest as he felt a shiver run down his spine, he quickly did a 180-degree turn and put up a cross shape guard with his forearms. He made sure to push his fire Qi into this block, soon he received a palm strike that sent him flying backward for about ten meters.

    Zhang Liu''s hand was crackling with blue lightning energy, his opponent managed to push the invading energies away while a drop of sweat run down his forehead.

    "Nice block, wonder if you can block the next one as well..."

    The crowd exploded in cheers, the combat prowess of this new challenger was over the charts. They thought that no one could beat this fire youth, but this white-haired one was managing to push him back.

    "Oh no, the Challenger''s strikes are fast and swift like thunder, is this the end for the master of inferno?"

    The commentator started coming up with more silly names while the audience shouted out and cheered on some more.

    Zhang Liu wasn''t underestimating his opponent, after the first clash he felt the massive amount of spiritual energy that his opponent possessed. It was still this high even after he went through six bouts without much rest, if he made a mistake and got too confident the momentum could quickly shift. That''s why he was planning to go all-in and end it fast.

    He moved his palm forward and tilted it slightly to the side while pointing it against his opponent. His feet were giving off sparks as he was ready to activate his movement technique. Huo Kong was looking at this display in distress as he knew that this opponent would be a tough cookie to crack.

    In response to his opponent''s fighting stance and forward movement, Huo Kong put his fists up. His body started glowing red and his muscles bulged, steam coming out of his pores which made him look quite peculiar. His hair started catching on fire and his eyes glowed red, he was apparently charging up some secret skill or ability to try and win this next exchange as he noticed that his opponent was going for the kill.

    The two jumped forward, the ground under them cracking slightly as they took off. Both fighters were going for an equal exchange, power against power as they charged towards one another. Before they could do that though, something interrupted them.

    "That''s enough!"

    Both of them felt immense pressure pushing them down to the ground and it also immediately canceled out their own spiritual energy. The two stopped in place a couple of meters from each other and looked to the side, to where the voice came from. There they saw an elder looking gentleman that had a characteristic mutton chop beard and was wearing a standard Huo Clan elder''s robe.

    "E-elder Qiao, t-this is..."

    "Quiet! By your father''s orders you were not to start trouble... and here you are offending the juniors from the Zhang Clan that we are allied with!"

    The man jumped into the ring and moved while talking, he looked at Zhang Liu and recognized his fighting style to be quite similar to the one Zhang Dong had.

    "Oh, what is this? Someone from the senior generation got involved? I must remind you that if you interrupt the fight all the winnings that the young lord battled for will be taken back by the arena staff. Also, there will be a fine for breaking the rules!"

    Elder Qiao snorted at the announcer and moved closer to the red-haired youth, giving him a1 good smack on the head. He didn''t care about those things, this brat would be paying out of his pocket anyway. He turned to the white-haired youth that looked quite confused, but he somehow remembered this man from the time at the secret ground.

    "Ah... junior greets senior."

    He did a polite bow towards him, making Huo Qiao nod in response as he didn''t feel like he had to explain himself to someone of the junior generation.

    "Let''s go... your father will decide on your punishment."

    "F-father?... wait, why don''t we discuss this over some spirit wine..."

    The youth rubbed his head while looking distressed, he sounded quite meek now. His bravado was thrown out of the window the moment his father''s name was mentioned.

    "I just wanted to show the clan''s superiority...f-father always talks about the Zhang Patriarch so favorably..."

    He trailed off with the last part of his sentence before getting dragged away, Zhang Liu and his companions just looked at the strange display while scratching their heads.

    "Due to the unforeseen interruption we will be holding a small break, this bout will be seen as a draw and all the bets will be annulled."

    They woke up from their stupor after the announcer''s voice was heard. Zhang Liu then left the ring not really wanting to continue with the fighting as he didn''t want to make a bigger scene than it already was. Though as he was trying to leave the arena he was surrounded by some ladies. They were all cute young girls that saw his fight and he made a big impact on them.

    "Hey big brother you were so cool, why don''t you invite us to some tea~"

    "No, why don''t we go visit some stalls at the market instead!"

    "Where are you from, are you from some powerful clan, big brother?"

    The girls assaulted him with various questions, they even moved closer and started yanking on his sleeves. They knew that this man was quite strong for his age, probably some kind of rich master as he even had a whole squad of similar-looking cultivators to guard him. The other boys grimaced as this Zhang Liu was stealing all the thunder, they also wanted a piece of that action.

    While Zhang Liu was feeling distressed a certain person approached from the back.

    ''This is the perfect chance!''

    The person in question was the girl that Liu bumped into a couple of hours ago. She had followed their group all the way here while hatching her devious plan. This was the best opportunity to pounce on her prey, her pink twintails bounced about in the sea of people as she got closer and closer.

    Liu moved his hands upwards as he backed away, the girls looked like predators that saw a tasty snack. They were already seeing themselves rolling in spirit stones if they married a young master of this caliber. He looked to be strong, noble and good looking and by how expensive his robes looked, loaded as well. He was also quite young, below the age of twenty. They all were crafty vixens and knew that at this age it was easy to lure the boys in.

    Suddenly Liu felt someone grasp his hand, it was quite the soft and small hand but there was quite the amount of power behind it. He soon felt himself getting yanked behind, the pulling power the person used was quite astonishing. He found himself getting captured by someone with light pink hair, the female was quite small not much over 150 cm. You wouldn''t think that a small frame like that could produce so much power, but he found himself flying as he got tugged backward like a ragdoll.

    "Follow me if you want to live!"

    He wasn''t sure what the small girl was talking about, but he wasn''t in the position of replying as he got pulled out of the arena. He soon started running with the strange twin-tail girl, he recalled that he bumped into her previously, maybe she lost something during the exchange and wanted to talk to him about it?

    The girls that they left behind shouted out something, so did the Zhang Clan members that were together with Zhang Liu but they soon got lost in the crowd of people. The small girl was surprisingly agile, managing to find the best route through the sea of people. So the two youths found themselves outside, Zhang Liu looked down at the woman.

    The youth had a growth spurt in the past two years and was now of a similar height as his master and was quite well built as well. This made the short girl look even smaller. Though from what he could see, even though she was quite short she was plump in places that mattered. He wasn''t sure what the girl wanted, but she had a strange smirk on her face.

    "Um... can I help you with something?"

    "Why yes, you can guide this big sister through the city but first... wait here for a second..."

    She suddenly run away leaving the bewildered youth with a question mark above his head. He looked around and wondered if he should just leave, but after a minute the pink-haired girl was back.

    "S-sorry did you wait long for me~?"

    "Um... but you just..."

    "No, you just arrived? Well, no use standing then, let''s go!"

    She grabbed his hand once more and dashed into the city, going for the more area where all the shops with clothes were. Zhang Liu just sighing inwardly as he remembered that his master told him that the Feng clan women were quite peculiar. He had since realized that this girl was one of them, so he didn''t want to be rude towards an allied clan. So continued his first day at the new city, the rest would be filled with shopping and eating sweets.

 133 Chapter 133

    Zhang Liu wasn''t sure what was going on, he got yanked around by the small yet busty girl through the city. They visited various places and he found himself holding a pile of robes while the pink-haired young lass was trying them on. He had a hard time seeing anything past them, by the number of clothes he was holding the shop clerks was even giving him looks of concern.

    He wanted to tour the city, but this wasn''t the way he imagined it. Every time he tried to speak up the girl butted in and pulled him to another location as if she was in some kind of rush. They visited places like restaurants, tea shops even went over to the area close to the big lake, the view was quite nice but he couldn''t even take it in before he was yanked by the ball of energy that was this young lady.

    ''I don''t even know her name...''

    In time the young man could see that the sun was setting, this was the time that he was supposed to go back to his hotel. He even received some messages on his communication jade, asking about if he was okay as he just vanished from the arena.

    "I think I should go back..."

    He looked at the strange girl, that was holding various shopping bags, he himself was carrying quite the mountain of them. He did have a spatial ring of his own, but its size was limited. His mother forced him to cram it full of clothes and food, he had barely any space left for his weapons and pills in there.

    When the youth spoke out, the girl looked back at the young male that she was with a big smile on her face.

    "Back? we still need to walk around the beach... and go to a hot spring... then you would peek..., tee-hee."

    She chuckled to herself as if she had some kind of dubious plan thought out. Though her companion was slowly getting fed up with it, luckily he wouldn''t need to put up with the girl''s antics for long as a certain old looking grandma that he was familiar with decided to show up.

    "There you are, I''ve been looking all over the city for you!"

    The person was an old elderly looking lady that looked like a baked potato that was out in the sun for too long, this was Feng Maling a member of the elder generation of the Feng Clan.

    "W-what, h-how did you find me, granny!?"

    The pink-haired girl''s face sunk, she looked like she was afraid of this old lady that was slowly moving towards her with a cane in her hand. The moment she got closer she delivered a smack with that same cane of hers to the short girl''s head, making her drop some of the shopping bags she was holding.

    "Stop causing trouble for the clan and the Matriarch, we will be returning this instant!"

    Zhang Liu looked from the side, as the old lady grabbed the short yet busty girl by the collar of her robe and started dragging her out. While the two were passing by the bewildered youth, the old woman stopped and looked at him.

    "Those robes...Zhang Clan?... if I remember correctly..."

    Zhang Liu shook out of his stupor and cupped his fists, giving the old woman a friendly bow, thus dropping all of the clothes and bought goods to the floor. The elder lady rubbed her chin a bit while the pink-haired oddball was squirming on the ground.

    "Ah! You''re the Zhang Patriarch''s disciple, is he in the city perhaps?"

    Zhang Liu smiled a bit as he was recognized and when his Master was mentioned, but then sighed out inwardly after the question was asked.

    "Regrettably my Master had something important to attend to, so he won''t be coming to the festival this year. In his stead my Gran... Grand Elder Jin will be attending..."

    The old lady''s eyebrows twitched quite a bit when she heard the name Zhang Jin, but she didn''t comment on it. She just nodded and said her goodbyes.

    "Is that so... the Matriarch will be disappointed if she hears that... Don''t worry I''ll take this troublemaker with me, send my regards to your Patriarch and.... never mind..."

    She broke off the sentence and pulled the girl with the twin-tails along the floor, the girl was adamant about leaving.

    "No granny, I''m just following the ancient text of the ancestors... I''m just following the ancestor''s wishes!"

    The granny''s face showed a grimace while she kept yanking on her robe.

    "Did you forget what the Matriarch decided on Nuana? You aren''t supposed to follow the texts literally, now come you need to get punished!"

    "What? I didn''t do anything wrong, big sis is the one that''s wrong!"

    The squirming shorty replied while not being able to resist the core formation elder''s might.

    "That''s Matriarch to you, now come along!"

    The two finally vanished into another street leaving Zhang Liu with a bunch of female clothing in his possession. He rubbed his neck slightly and then used the communication jade to call for some people to help him carry all of these possessions.

    "What was that?"

    He spoke out loud while waiting for a clan member with an empty spatial ring to arrive, he was meaning to return these trinkets that the girl bought when he saw her next time.

    Back at Spirit Spring City.

    Zhang Dong was looking at his system screen, there he saw the system timer that showed him what time it was. It was only five more minutes until midnight, he was sitting in a lotus position far away from the buildings that were in this small pocket dimension. He was looking at the clock, the seconds ticking down as it was time for the points to arrive.

    "Finally... I managed to craft some new pills while waiting for this day to be over..."

    He spoke out while sitting down, he was ready to push through to the Nascent Soul realm. Though, by pushing through, he meant pushing the ''yes'' button on the upgrade cultivation tree and just letting the magic happen.

    ''Ah, it sure is nice having a system like this, supposedly it''s very difficult to reach the nascent soul level. If you follow the instructions badly or aren''t fully at 100% with your cultivation your core might just explode without creating a soul instead.''

    The plan was easy, upgrade to the nascent soul then create an item in the heaven grade so that he could absorb it and get his body refining technique to the next level as well. He didn''t feel like there should be any problems with it in any way, the place he was in would block his aura from seeping out.No one should notice when he reaches the new realm of power, leaving him secured from his enemies.

    ''That Dao Festival thing should be over by the time I''m finished here. I told grandpa to invite the other clans for a visit when it ends. I''ll tell them my plan, it should work...''

    He glanced at his clan building part of the system, the points were there but it had some other uses besides just gathering passive points for his system. This other use was something he was banking on and that would allow him to beat the wall that was the Dark Palm sect.

    ''I just need some time and soon we''ll have Nascent Soul cultivators in the truckloads!''

    He grinned, wondering how those overbearing sects would react to a sudden reveal of multiple nascent soul elders.

    ''They''d probably pee their robes...''

    How would he achieve this? The system somehow decided on the area''s that he was the ''owner'' off. He could put buildings and raise its level for more points, that was just one of the functions. The other one concerned his clan that was in the faction tab.

    If he brought up his faction, he could see the whole structure with a little icon of him right at the top. The whole thing looked a bit like a pyramid with him at the top, then the clan members going into the lower parts. He could even click parts of this pyramid to get more in-depth. If a faction member had enough trust in him, he could read their stats without needing to use his analyzing skill or touching them.

    This was quite handy, as he was able to tell if someone was shady by just the amount of trust they had in him. Still, they could just not like him without any ulterior motives. The other good part was, that similar to his disciples he could spend his system points on his faction members.

    He could actually directly increase their cultivation level with a click of a button. This was the option that was most important, pushing through to the nascent soul level was immensely taxing on the practitioner. The cultivation techniques in this world were also of low quality bringing a lot of random chance into the mix. Matt had figured out, that anything below the immortal grade brought huge risks. Even heaven grade skills weren''t all that good and brought risks with them.

    ''Well, my cultivation method is in the immortal grade so it should be safe even without the systems help, and after I level it up I''ll be able to combine it with some other cultivation manuals.''

    He was hoping on boosting the other cultivation manuals like the ones the Zhang Clan practitioners used with his new Nascent Soul one. If the combination worked, he could be able to get a cultivation manual at the immortal grade as his own was already in the higher grading of the immortal grade.

    ''Hm, wonder if it''s compatible though... lightning and water? Maybe some kind of Storm Nascent Soul... or would that be more in the wind Dao area...''

    ''Mixing lower and higher grades mostly produces something just slightly better than the technique that was worse though...''

    ''I could also try coming up with something myself...''

    This was also something the system rewarded him for, he could try to create his own techniques. If it was something that wasn''t in his library, the system would give him some crafting points. He had created some variations in his skills like that, mostly weaker ones. He was knowledgeable enough, about his own cultivation method that he could come up with those. The foundation establishment techniques his disciples were using were created by him, without the use of the system.

    ''It''s harder to do it myself, but if I do it my progress in the skill is much faster... but also could be incomplete...''

    There were no guidelines that let him move through the proficiency in the technique he created himself. He''d need to test it out by himself and see how good it was before the system gave him a rating.

    ''But anyway, I should focus on the task at hand, midnight is here!''

    He heard a little ding sound, the system could be set up as an alarm clock. His points moved past ten million and he was ready to finally go beyond the threshold. He was stuck at the Great Circle for two years, he wasn''t able to get a nascent soul item to push his body refining a stage further either, but now he was going to do both at once and no one could stop him!

    He quickly started sliding his finger on his system window, going to his skill tree and clicking on his Divine Golden Lightning Core cultivation method.

    Divine Golden Lightning - Updrage to Divine Golden Lightning Soul Yes/No?

    His finger hovered above the ''Yes'' button as he gulped, he looked around the area he made it sure to be on the edge of the floating island in space as he didn''t know if this level up would be an explosive one.

    ''Here we go!''

    He pushed it and saw as his points dropped down to a couple of thousand. He could feel the knowledge of his new skill flowing into his mind, the ways of creating a perfect Divine Golden Lightning Soul lay bare to him. He tossed his head back, his eyes shining with a gold hue as lightning power gathered all around him.

    "Here it comes!"

    He clenched his fists, energy surging all around him as... nothing happened... absolutely nothing. Matt blinked a bit stupified, he had clearly got the information for the Nascent Soul cultivation method. It got injected into his brain, like it always did when he got new techniques or knowledge. The problem was that the system didn''t push him through the threshold.

    "Wait... do I need to do it on my own? Or maybe spend more system points...ffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuu...."

 134 Chapter 134

    Matt scratched his head and looked out into the void of the small pocket dimension he was staying at. He thought back to the times that he upgraded his cultivation method.

    ''Each time I did it the change was instantaneous... I could feel my lightning getting reforged along with my body as if I studied the improved version of the skill my entire life... but nothing happened now...''

    He crossed his hands while still sitting in the lotus position, his eyes moving up as he thought about what could be the problem.

    ''Maybe it''s because it''s a jump in a larger realm and not a small realm?... also could be because of the system change...''

    He looked into his system library and could see the technique written down in it, he already absorbed the knowledge from it after pushing the upgrade button. Matt then brought up his status screen, nothing had changed, or at least he couldn''t see anything out of the ordinary. That was until he clicked his ''Cultivation Base Qi'' section of his status.

    [ Cultivation Base Qi: Core Formation [Great Circle 100%] (Divine Golden Lightning Core)Upgrade available: 5 000 000 ]His eyes went bloodshot as he looked at the number of points he had to spend to level up. He needed close to two years to get ten million and now this stupid system wanted even more. Now, even though he had built up a base of power and he was getting a good amount of them through his clan building, he would probably have to wait at least half a year.

    ''Think I''ll have to do it the hard way...no way I''m waiting for that long...I should be able to do it manually...''

    He gave off a sigh, this would be somewhat difficult. The technique to push through was quite intricate and didn''t allow for mistakes.

    ''I have to guide the divine energies through my meridians and my dantian like this... then slowly nourish my core till it expands... if I do it too fast it could break crippling me in the process. That is if I''m lucky, a broken core could end up fatal for the practitioner if they don''t manage to create even a slither of a nascent soul.''

    ''If I nourish it too slowly, I could fail and also get crippled though I''d only get stuck a bit past half a step into the nascent soul... but the texts say, that this type of cultivation is unstable and would lower my lifespan dramatically. I''d be stuck in that realm for the rest of my life too...''

    He groaned out loud, both of the options were quite bad though the second one was a bit better, he would still be quite strong just stuck with his life depleting.

    ''If I nourish my core with the divine lightning it should expand and then slowly pulsate and break apart revealing a soul underneath. After that, I should reach the nascent soul stage and have my life span and strength multiply dramatically. ''

    ''At least the manual is quite throughout, it also mentions the fact that a practitioner should only try this if they reach the true Apex of the great circle, which would be the half-step realm I am in right now.''

    He recalled what he knew and what he read from all the other cultivation manuals. He had enough to compare too, his own technique got upgraded to the perfect grade of the immortal grade.

    ''The technique is quite throughout in its explanation there is not much left to chance like with the heaven grade manuals that I got from that library...''

    Thanks to how good his cultivation manual was, he didn''t really need any outside help to burst through this level. The lesser ones sometimes forced the practitioners to take pills or some magical treasures that could circumvent some inefficiencies.

    For instance, one of the fire-based nascent soul manuals that his friend from the Huo clan took. Required him to procure a rare fire lotus, without it his chances of breaking through were slim and he would probably get crippled in the process.

    From what he could deduct, only cultivation guidebooks in the immortal grade didn''t require outside sources for breaking through. Though you could still aid the process which would lessen the chance of failure even more. There always was a chance of something going wrong, so best to prepare for all necessities.

    ''I have to think this through, I''m a goner if I make a mistake...though the success rate of this cultivation technique seems to be quite high. I already have the best kind of foundation thanks to the divine core upgrade, my foundation pillars have also changed to perfect divine ones''

    Matt decided to write his manual out, he wanted to read it a couple of times and prepare for everything. He wouldn''t just wing it, what if he made a blunder and ended up a cripple or dead? The chance of success was high, he was still afraid of failure but he didn''t see a problem in giving it a try.

    ''This will take a while though... maybe I can make some kind of pill to help me out...also there were some formations I could set up to aid me...''

    The Dao of crafting was on his side, he already got the forging and treasure creation part to be at the topmost of core formation, even edging it into half a step into the nascent soul. There were various things he could create that would help him keep his spiritual energy from going berserk.

    The night passed while Matt made his battle plan and prepared for his ascension into the Nascent Soul. The day of the Dao tournament preliminary round finally arrived and everyone was ready to take their test. The first one would calculate their all-around power, this was done by a large bell treasure. How it worked was, the practitioner would deliver a palm strike with all their might. Depending on the number of chimes the bell struck, their power would be measured.

    If you wanted to pass this test, the large bell had to sound at least three times. This was something a practitioner in the foundation early-stage should be able to produce. Though if they had a flawed foundation they would find this test challenging. Four to five chimes would indicate a middle stage degree of strength, six to seven a late one, and eight to nine would put you in the great circle. If you managed more than that while being in the foundation stage, it would indicate that you had quite the talent.

    The contestants gathered around multiple of those large magical bell treasures, the number of people taking part in this test was staggering and it would probably take the whole day for everyone to get tested, maybe even longer.

    There were only five of those bells, each contestant had to stand in a line and wait their turn. People were segregated by their clans and how they registered earlier. Some clans or sects with more pull could pay a bit extra to get a better spot. Some even could outright circumvent the whole testing process, if they had enough prestige or influence.

    Zhang Clan was somewhere in the middle, not being considered a really strong clan or a weak one either, just an average, maybe slightly above average one. That was mostly thanks to the personal strength of their Patriarch, which defeated a group of core formation cultivators while defending Spirit Spring City. Also, when he defeated the Demon Hunter about a month ago. Though most people were skeptical about the state of the other clan members, thinking them to be mediocre at best.

    ''Ding...ding... ding...''

    "Three chimes... Passed!"

    ''Ding....ding....''

    "Only two, Failed!"

    There wasn''t really a limit to how many people a sect or clan could bring here, you could even participate as a solo cultivator. If you could fork up enough spirit stones, the organizers were more than happy to let you give it a shot. They didn''t care if you were even illegible for it, they didn''t care if you made yourself look like a fool by not being able to sound a bell even once.

    But this was still a place where you could show of your aptitude. So, a lot of people were willing to have a go at it. Qualifying past the preliminary round was already seen as a boon. Some clans or sects would take a renegade cultivator into their mids if they managed to get past the tests. Due to this, the number of people increased several folds. Some were participating and some were scouting for prospects.

    The participants didn''t get an exact time for their test, so they needed to wait in line for hours. Luckily for the Zhang Clan, they were somewhere in the middle prestige wise, so they wouldn''t need to wait till the end of the day to take their test.

    "Hey, isn''t it that person from the Huo Clan..."

    One of the Zhang Clan members spoke up, he noticed Huo Kong stepping up to the bell. The fire clan being one of the more established ones, they had the luxury of taking the test a lot sooner than most of the other families and sects. The red-haired youth had a solemn expression on his face, he looked a lot less chipper than how he lucked when he was beating up people in the arena.

    He walked up to the bell and looked at it, then just moved his hand backward while standing up straight. He infused his palm with some spiritual energy and propelled it forward, striking the measuring treasure dead center.

    "Ding...ding...ding...ding...ding...ding..."

    He received six chimes without trying all that much, the last one being a bit faint. The people in the area gasped out, as this indicated a strength level in the late stage. This was of course if you calculated it by average cultivator standards.

    "So he was this strong..."

    "But it didn''t look like he was even trying... maybe he could get seven of those..."

    The Zhang Clan people looked from the side, already knowing that this youth was holding back. There wasn''t really a reason to go all out against these measuring treasures, unless you were barely eligible for the tournament. It was always better to keep your secrets hidden, then use your best moves when facing a strong opponent.

    The testing continued, the Huo clan youths showed a good amount of strength but no one else was able to produce six chimes. The rest was able to make it sound between four and five times, which was still quite good for their age.

    The day continued and more sects and clan''s kept ringing the bell. The clans that had enough renown were able to make their members pass without any problems. There were some youths that only managed to sound it out twice though, but they quickly left the stage in shame.

    Zhang Liu was slowly getting bored of waiting, but soon he noticed another familiar person going up to the stage. The person being the girl that he met in the city and he still had her clothes tucked in a spare spatial ring. It was time for the Feng Clan to make their appearance, it was a female-only one so it made quite the waves. But not in a positive sense, as most men in this world weren''t really into the dark skin that the women of that clan had.

    You''d mostly see women getting called fairies and approached by horny youths, this time around though, the dark-skinned girls were giving the boys some strange looks. The men gulped while looking at the faces buried under copious amounts of makeup.

    "What are you looking at, want this big sister to keep you company?"

    "Hey, those guys are kind of cute, we should talk to them after the test..."

    "Hey, aren''t they from the Zhang Clan, that one with the bushy eyebrows is so my type..."

    The puckered up their lips while looking at some men from the crowd that they deemed attractive. The men in question having mixed feelings about the whole thing.

 135 Chapter 135

    The Feng Clan, Zhang Clan, and Huo Clan were all in good relations. The gyaru gang saw the male members from the other two clans as potential Daoist partners. While the girls were chatting among themselves, their elders were slowly getting impatient. They didn''t come here to find potential partners, but to showcase their clan''s power and superiority.

    The girls soon got to it, while their elder encouraged them by giving them a smack on the head. The current elder that was responsible for the Feng ladies, wasn''t anyone that the Zhang Clan members knew. The Matriarch or the granny elder that everyone was familiar with wasn''t here either. Soon the bells started ringing and the girls began passing with flying colors. The clan was mindful enough to not bring anyone with them that wouldn''t be able to pass the first strength test.

    Zhang Liu looked with interest at the girl that he had a short encounter with, moved up to the stage. He didn''t think that she would be participating in the test, but there she was. She walked over slowly, making everyone take in her rather cute facial features. The bouncing of her chest only added to the neck-craning that most of the youths were doing now.

    Feng Nuana arrived at the large bell, which made her look even smaller. She looked quite fierce, like an angry puppy. Her eyebrows furrowed and her palm moving closer to her own body as she took a wind up. A gust of wind was produced the moment she smacked the large bell with her small hand, producing quite the amount of dinging sounds. The added wind pressure made her skirt dance around, the boys from the side just gawking.

    "Ding...ding...ding...ding...ding...ding...ding..."

    The treasure stopped at seven strikes, which caught the attention of many participants as this was the highest number in their age range. This was already a power level of someone at the peak of the late stage of foundation establishment. This girl was twenty-one at most, so this was quite the feat.

    "Big sister Nuana is the best!"

    "She is the pride of our Feng Clan!"

    "Yay sister Nuana!"

    The girls cheered out loud while the other clans and sects looked at the tiny girl preforming the feat of strength. The girl in question crossed her hands over her quite voluptuous chest and stuck it out proudly. She moved her head up high and took in the praise that the other clan members were giving her, looking quite satisfied. Before coming down from the stage her eyes met with Zhang Liu''s and she gave him a little wink.

    ''Are all those Feng women like this?''

    Zhang Liu looked around the area to the other girls, but he grimaced some more due to the overuse of makeup that made the girls kind of unappealing. The short one at least looked decent enough and her skin wasn''t as dark as the rest of the others.

    ''Master said that jade-like skin wasn''t all that great... but I''m not sure about that...''

    The female cultivators all made the cut, for now, all of the cultivators from the Huo clan and the Feng clan had made it through the first test. But they were in the minority as shortly after they left the stage, the other participants started failing.

    "Get ready, you will be taking the test, don''t embarrass the clan!"

    The Zhang Clan youths stood at attention as they were the next in line. The clans that followed after the Feng Clan weren''t doing all that great. Their members were mostly at the four or three bell range, some of them couldn''t even get past two. This was probably due to the lower quality of their cultivation techniques.

    "Show them why we from the Zhang Clan are on the rise, young warriors!"

    The elder gave the youths some inspiring words. They were still getting underestimated by the other big families in the area, but this would soon change. One of the youths moved on to the stage, but no one was really paying that much attention as people were interested in the more powerful clans that took the test at the beginning. Though even from them, there wasn''t a young master that broke past six chimes and Feng Nuana was still holding the top spot.

    "I''ll go up, first brothers and sisters."

    The youth with the sword-shaped eyebrows decided to make his move, he would show that even he a regular member of the clan was quite gifted when compared to the other families. He looked at the person that was standing next to the measuring treasure, it was a man that was wearing quite the long robe and a long hat. The man was old and had a scroll in his hand, on that scroll he had all the names of the Zhang Clan members that would be participating in the test.

    "You may proceed."

    He noted the name of this clan member while yawning slightly. It was the middle of the day and these workers didn''t really have any time off, and there was still a massive line of people after this still waiting. He didn''t really care about this average clan, half of these people would probably not make the cut or just barely make it in at three chimes.

    "Ding...ding...ding...ding...ding...."

    He looked at the bell that started ringing, there were clearly five times that it rung and that would put this youth in the talented bracket. This was quite surprising for an average clan like this. The man with the scroll noted the number of bell sounds next to the youth''s name, thinking that they probably had their most notable junior member start it off.

    "Five, not bad... next..."

    The young man with the sword eyebrows moved down the stage and another one with a similar blue robe moved up. His palm started glowing in blue color before it descended on the measuring apparatus.

    "Ding...ding...ding...ding...ding...."

    "Oh... five again..."

    The elder official wrote down the name and test results again and watched as the blue-robed youth moved down the testing area. The youth looked dejected, making it seem like he was expecting a better score. Five was already quite high in the man''s opinion, so why as this youth like that?

    The man figured out why the young male looked sad, as following him his other clan members took the stage.

    "Ding...ding...ding...ding...ding...."

    "Ding...ding...ding...ding..."

    "Ding...ding...ding...ding...ding...."

    "Ding...ding...ding...ding..."

    The youths continued having stellar results apparently they were all above a regular foundation establishment cultivator in the early stage.

    "Is the measuring device broken?"

    The man was starting to worry, did something happen to the treasure. How could a plain clan like this have youths this strong and below the age of twenty-one? His eyes popped out even more after a certain young lady moved up onto the stage. She was quite the beauty with long white hair a patch of black to the side. A lot of people from the side craned their necks, while whispering to each other.

    "Who is that... such beauty!"

    "What clan is that... I must get that fairy''s name!"

    This was Zhang Xue moving up to the stage, her palm already crackling with deep blue lightning energies. It descended on the measuring treasure, a sound of thunder echoing through the whole testing stage.

    "Ding...ding...ding...ding...ding....ding"

    "Six?... at such an age?..."

    The elder that was writing down the results on the scroll gawked, he had the names and the ages of the participants written down here. The age of this young lass was only seventeen and she was already stronger than all of the twenty-year-olds that came before her.

    "Only six... I thought I could get seven..."

    The cute girl looked a bit glum, she wanted to at least tie for the first place with the girl from the Feng Clan. Still at the age that she was, she was the undisputed champion.

    "Good going junior sister."

    She went down from the stage while Zhang Tai moved up, he smirked a bit after seeing the reaction of the people around them. It was time to show them that this Zhang Clan was here do make waves. He gathered up his energies and focused, his palm started shining with water-based Qi. This Qi was far purer than the one his brothers utilized, it soon descended on the bell in question and the chiming began.

    "Ding...ding...ding...ding...ding....ding...ding...d...."

    The last one didn''t manage to go through, leaving his result at seven and tying it with the Feng Clan girl. Though, people would put him above her at seven and a half as it almost sounded the last one out.

    "Hah, that should do it!"

    The other clans and sects started to slowly gather around the area that the Zhang Clan was getting tested. The amount of foundation establishment youths that managed to have at least four chimes was staggering and this last one almost produced eight.

    Zhang Tai moved down the stage and smirked while looking at Zhang Liu, signaling him with his gaze that he was challenging him. Liu just looked back at him with a smirk of his own. The two were close to each other in strength, but that was only due to Liu not using Zhang Dong''s techniques that gave him stat boosts.

    He had learned a lesser version of the technique that Zhang Dong used when he was battling the nascent soul Pride demon. This wasn''t the avatar form and the condensation technique stack onto each other though. Matt had combined the two to produce a much more efficient one for himself, that didn''t turn him into a ripe tomato after draining him of his stamina. His disciple was handed a lesser but still, it let him increase both his strength and speed by an equal amount.

    Matt had to give it a grandiose name, so after much consideration, he ended up with ''Embodiment of the Thunder God''. He added the lesser term to the one his disciple was using as it was weaker and he planned to add a ''Superior'' or ''True'' prefix if he managed to upgrade it past the core formation level. The safe way of using this skill with no drawbacks was to only have it increase your stats by a half. But you could also double or triple your fighting prowess with harsher drawbacks.

    Zhang Liu wanted to use this technique, focusing it only on his palm along with his regular striking form. He gathered up his energies, the lightning started crackling while everyone watched from the sides. His hand started getting coated by a blue aura, electricity crackling around it and it looked as if his hand had turned into lightning energy itself. The youth had similar looking hair to the young woman that was there just a minute ago. The people concluded that the two were probably siblings as this youth was also on the more handsome side.

    Before Zhang Liu''s palm could descend on the bell that would make it produce eight or more chimes he heard something. This was the sound of his grandfather''s voice, getting sent next to his ear.

    "Listen Liu, lower your cultivation..."

    The youth clicked his tongue at the order, but he wasn''t willing to go against his grandfather''s word. His palm smacked against the measuring treasure in a similar fashion as his sister did.

    "Ding...ding...ding...ding...ding....ding...ding"

    He reached quite a high number of seven hits still, it was a bit less than what Zhang Tai had managed. It was quite the result though, putting him and Tai along with Feng Nuana at the top of the charts.

    "Hah, I win this time little Liu..."

    Zhang Liu scoffed at Tai that was smirking at him, he would have gotten at least eight chimes if his grandpa didn''t force him to lower his score. He wasn''t sure what it was all about, from his standpoint standing out was a good thing as it would bring glory to the clan and his master. It would show that they are the best and the strongest around.

    While the testing continued into the night, a certain youth with a small gem returned to the large pagoda hotel. He cupped his hands in front of another man. This man was Yang Kai and he had an even larger jewel stuck in his forehead.

    "Disciple greets Master!"

    "En. So, how were they?"

    The man was seated in a lotus position and was doing some cultivation exercises. He wasn''t even facing his disciple while he was talking to him.

    "Just as Master expected, they were quite weak. The best one only reached seven, this disciple managed to attain ten the last time he was tested."

    "Mmm..."

    The man didn''t reply while his disciple just bowed again and left, knowing well that this was the signal for him to leave. He felt a bit apprehensive of taking part in this stupid festival, but his Master''s orders were paramount. He didn''t have to go through the preliminary round at least, thanks to this being a Dark Palm sect hosted event.

    ''Guess those country bumpkins must have made Master angry, but those two fairies looked enchanting. Wonder if Master will let me have them if I perform well...''

 136 Chapter 136

    The First test came to an end and the day came to a close. The first test was mostly there to get rid of contestants at the lower spectrum. There was no place for people that weren''t at a base foundation establishment level. The second trial would test the practitioner''s bravery and resilience. The youths would gather in a room with a special treasure. This treasure would give out a menacing killing intent that would be akin to a demonic beast at the middle stage of foundation establishment. The task was quite rudimentary, the contenders would have to receive the killing intent and move forward. If they could move past the placed treasure they would make it into the next round of testing.

    This sounded quite easy, even easier than the first test that you had to actually present some bodily strength. In reality, killing intent from demonic beasts was quite invasive. It would cause a person to freeze up and pass out, the demonic aura invading your body and soul. Most early foundation establishment cultivators would find it troublesome. Thus this test was mostly in place to weed out people with a shaky foundation. Badly flawed pillars didn''t give a warrior enough protection against this type of mental attack. But there were specialized techniques that blocked killing intent from affecting the practitioner''s mind.

    "How many of them passed again?"

    "All of them passed..."

    The person that was responsible for test the earlier day asked about the results of that Zhang Clan. They had made a good impression in the first one, so he was curious about their results which were quite shocking.

    "How can they all have passed... resisting such a high amount of demonic killing intent isn''t even easy for more battle-hardened warriors!"

    There was one standard way that people got used to killing intent. It was quite easy, you just had to face off against many demonic beasts or cultivators, or take part in battles. You would steadily get used to fighting and build up a strong mind that would block things like killing intent from even stronger beings than you. But these were young kids from a middle-sized clan, did they lock them away in some demonic beast infested woods or something, was what this person was thinking.

    "Can you tell me how it happened, exactly?"

    "Sure brother... it was quite astonishing"

    The person responsible for the second test explained everything from his point of view. The rooms that were used for the tests were quite large and could house up to a hundred cultivators at a time. This was mostly due to the treasure that produced the killing intent having a wide range.

    The Zhang Clan participants gathered all together. They weren''t the only people in the testing chamber though, with them were two other clans that each had twenty-five people. The Zhang Clan had close to fifty participants. The treasure that was giving off the ominous aura was placed at the other side of the chamber, with the cultivators opposite it in a straight line.

    The treasure in question looked like a small statue of a demonic beast, inside of it was a demon beast core and it was fashioned in a way to release the killing intent. The man that was responsible for the test didn''t think much about the whole thing. The only thing out of the ordinary was the number of people from the Zhang Clan, that were still participating. Normally it would be about half of that, just like the other clans that had twenty-five people with them.

    The item was activated and the test started. The juniors were supposed to each the other end of the room where the treasure stood and just walk out of the door behind it. This would indicate that they passed, the whole test also had a time limit of thirty minutes. The man recalled seeing the participants from the other clans. Their faces sunk and they started looking quite pale after getting hit by the demonic aura. They sluggishly moved forward, one step at a time, some of them were even barely dragging their feet forward while resisting the killing intent.

    "But those Zhang people were strange... they looked fine but they weren''t moving forward... I thought that they had passed out while standing at first. To my surprise, they started walking nonchalantly... they looked fine... like the demonic aura wasn''t affecting them at all..."

    This was all thanks to Tranquil Mind, which was an already widespread technique around the whole clan. It had zero drawbacks and allowed everyone to think calmly under pressure. It also mitigated killing intent that wasn''t over a certain degree, making this test a cakewalk for everyone involved.

    "Some of them struggled at the end... but they all made it out within the first ten minutes, the best person from the other clans only managed to leave after a full fifteen minutes!"

    The man that asked about the information rubbed his chin, trying to digest the information.

    "This Zhang Clan is strange... think we should keep an eye on them. Even people from out Dark Palm sect would have trouble with this test..."

    The man was slowly getting curious about this small clan, this wasn''t anything serious from his standpoint just yet though. There were more tests after this one, it was still up to debate if more of those Zhang Clan juniors made the cut. The next one would actually test their battle prowess and was also the one that weeded out most of the junior practitioners from the tournament.

    The next test was named ''The corridor of puppets'' and the name kind of said it all. The participant would walk into the corridor that was quite lengthy and wide. In the said corridor, he or she would find multiple puppets that were similar in power to cultivators in the early and middle stages of foundation establishment. He or she was then supposed to get through this wide passage while being attacked by the angry automatons.

    The dolls were quite merciless in their defense, they would quickly surround you delivering punches and kicks. It was quite brutal so the festival organizers had a team of medics on standby. There were numerous of those automatons around which made slipping past them hard. This wasn''t all though, there were various traps placed around the area as well. They were mostly there to hinder anyone from just running past the automatons, this wasn''t supposed to be just a test of evasion and speed. The participants had to dodge, block and even attack to somehow manage through.

    "This should eliminate at least half of those Zhang Clan brats... maybe even more..."

    The man smirked, the day of the test had arrived and it was now close to the end. He went inside the building that his companions were grading everyone. He quickly spotted someone that he was familiar with, this man would fill him in on the results of that clan that he was interested in.

    "Brother, could I have a moment of your time!"

    He went over, giving a standard greeting and then explained everything to the man.

    "Hm... the Zhang Clan?... wait... you mean ''that'' Zhang Clan?"

    The man''s tone changed when he was talking about that family in question, the curious man was even more intrigued

    "Oh, did something happen? Don''t keep me waiting brother, now you got me interested!"

    The man responsible for the third test of the aforementioned ''Corridor of Puppets'' recounted the events that transpired. The other junior participants were more or less doing the same, the higher-rated clan''s had more passing while the lower-rated ones barely managed. Then this Zhang Clan came along, they had the most participants still in the run. Most of the others had from ten to twenty members still in it at most.

    This was quite normal as even though each clan helped their junior members out, they mostly focused their resources on a small number of elites. These elite junior members would end up victorious while the lesser ones would stay behind. The Zhang Clan was different in the way, that all of their participants were well rounded. They had their top members with Zhang Tai, Xue and Liu but the rest weren''t slouches either. If you compared them to the rest, they were in the elite category and they were many of them.

    So, the test started with a bang. A white-haired youth just bulldozed through the corridor without letting any of the puppets even touch him once. He evaded all of the traps and probably set a new record if there was one being kept. Afterward, they continued, no one could match the youth that was first but they still did their best. The later members didn''t come out unscathed, leaving with bruises and disheveled hair but all of them managed to power through this test as well. The weaker members had it rough, some of them had to be carried off for healing. Still, all of them made it through, making them have the largest group of people left for the last trial.

    This was the second to last testing ground, after this one would come an area that was a mix of all the previous tests. The number of people that the Zhang Clan had put them at quite the advantage though. The last trial was a close of space, a secret ground of sorts. It was a giant maze area where everyone would be put in. It encompassed the entire city and was built right under it.

    Every participant would receive a small token. This token represented his life, the purpose of this test was for the junior members to battle it out, with their tokens on the line. You needed at least three of those tokens to pass, if you managed to procure enough you would get marked. The tokens would start giving off a sort of marker aura, that would alert everyone to your location.

    The people with enough tokens could then move on to the exit while trying to evade the other participants that would block their way. So even if you lost your token you could still recover everything from another person. Like with the other trials this also had a time limit. You could win by getting three tokens and waiting it out to the end. A reasonable tactic was to wait close to an exit and just steal the tokens from the person that was trying to get out.

    "With so many of those Zhang Clan juniors, they have a clear advantage..."

    The last test was a battle royale, but people could form groups. Due to the number of practitioners that made it through the previous tests, this clan had a strong advantage over the rest.

    "Still, the other clans and sects can also form a bigger group to go against them."

    This would probably be the thing that would happen. The names of participants and to what faction they belonged to would be hung out in front of the trial ground. It would open a few days later, leaving enough time for other clans to make some deals. This was also something that was advised and approved by the people that were hosting this tournament. Being able to form alliances was also a measure of strength so it was all fine.

    The curious man decided to see how it turned out, but in secret, he went to place a bet on the clan that in his opinion had quite the potential. The number of people that were left after the preliminary rounds at the end, mostly came up to about a hundred. There were close to five hundred participants left, so you''d think that about 160 of them could make it through.

    That was a naive way of thinking though. Even though you only needed three tokens, most of the participants would take more than the minimum amount required. There were even times where the contestant count dropped below fifty, when some strong clans with a couple of geniuses made a pact. The next trial would be beginning soon, the ones that made it out, in the end, would be hailed as the big winners and the future elite. The rest only to be forgotten and used as stepping stones for the new wave of young masters.

 137 Chapter 137

    The day before the last test a group of cultivators was sitting together. There were various faces, young and old but they came here for one reason, to make a deal. One man, in particular, stepped out to the center stage. He looked like any ordinary old cultivator uncle with a beard and dressed in your standard cultivator robe.

    "I am glad that you have chosen to participate, brothers and sisters."

    The man spoke in a relaxed tone while looking at the people in the room, one of them quickly replying to his statement.

    "Not like we have much choice in this, those three other clans will be a problem..."

    "En, you speak the truth, not sure where that Zhang Clan came from, but even the Feng and Huo clan are supporting them..."

    "Yes, they clearly want to steal all the top spots for themselves!"

    The other people in the room chimed in, this was a hastily organized meeting with a couple of the more influential clans that were still in the competition.

    "Together we have about two hundred juniors, this should be enough of a fighting force to take care of them!"

    There were about twenty clans here, together they had a bit over two hundred junior members that were still participating in the preliminary round.

    "If we join hands we can defeat the others, easily."

    "Yes, the only problem is that there might not be enough tokens for everyone, how do we go about this problem?"

    Everyone nodded, there were close to five hundred people taking the whole test. The person participating had to have three tokens to pass the stage, but there were only five hundred of those tokens to pass around. They needed close to six hundred for all of their people, so someone would need to stay behind.

    "Well, my friends how about we do it like this. Everyone picks out one or two juniors from their group, that you think aren''t up to par... and they will just give up the tokens, to their more superior brothers and sisters. How does that sound?"

    The people started murmuring, which sounded like a good strategy that wouldn''t cause much internal strife.

    "The other option would be to get rid of the other clans and then have the juniors compete against each other normally..."

    The group started rubbing their chins and whispering among each other. The second option sounded worse but would be seen as a lesser evil against their junior members. Their young members would probably hold grudges against their elders, if they were told to just drop out of the competition. But if they went with the second option, the number of contestants would drop even further. Also, injuries could happen rendering more of their juniors out of commission.

    The people inside the room debated the pros and cons of both options. In the end, it was decided that the first one allowed for the maximal number of members. The clans would rather try their luck in the main tournament, with more juniors participating than gamble in this last test. Already being able to take center stage with all the other sects and clans watching, was a grand achievement of its own.

    While those clans were having their meeting, three other families were doing the same thing. They didn''t hide though and were right in the pagoda hotel. Zhang Jin was on one side with a couple of senior members from his clan, sitting down with a teacup in his hand. Opposite of him sat a Huo Clan elder with mutton chops for a beard, his name was Huo Qiao. The third member was a granny that looked like she spent her whole life farming in the sun, her name was Feng Maling.

    They had gathered here for the same reason as the other clans that were plotting against them. The three seniors were crafty old foxes and had foreseen the other families going against them.

    "I guess we have no other choice, I wished that we could have had a regular competition for out juniors without us old seniors getting involved."

    Zhang Jin spoke out while setting the empty cup of tea on the table.

    "Well, you have to see them from their perspective brother Jin."

    Huo Qiao replied while leaning back in his chair.

    "Yes, your Zhang Clan has gathered quite the number of promising youths... maybe you can talk your Patriarch into giving our juniors some pointers. Think you owe me a bit of face since the last time we met..."

    The granny spoke out while squinting her eyes at Zhang Jin, the two had some history the old man having claimed this old lady as one of his targets back in the day.

    "Oh...ho...ho... senior brings up old tales from my younger days, I was just young and curious..."

    The man coughed into his hand while looking to the side, he didn''t think that his old love interest would be in this city. The woman didn''t age well compared to him, he was a bit younger as well. Back in the day, she was quite the beautiful older sister, he met her on one of his travels. Zhang Jin had quite the silver tongue and managed to court favor with the woman. He also left without saying a word after having his fun. Thanks to his high standing and the two clans not really wanting any trouble with each other the whole thing was forgotten, but the old woman still held a grudge.

    "Yes... but I heard you didn''t learn much after that, how many poor women have you devoured. Well, I guess Patriarch wouldn''t be here if you weren''t like this..."

    She already knew that Zhang Dong was someone from a side family, that came to be due to Zhang Jin''s fooling around. The old lady wasn''t letting up, Huo Qiao was to the side just scratching his neck not sure what to do with these two. He was slowly getting worried that the old woman would jump at the Zhang Clan senior and claw his eyes out or something. He coughed into his palm and tried to get their attention as he spoke up.

    "Ahh... let''s focus on the junior members and on the competition, its not the time for these personal squabbles, you two..."

    The two looked to the man, he had the highest cultivation base here, and even though Zhang Jin had improved with the help of Zhang Dong. He was still nowhere near this senior in terms of power and strength.

    "Ah yes... the competition, think we can all agree on a truce and to have our juniors work together."

    Zhang Jin was quick to jump back to the conversation about the Dao Festival, not really wanting to talk about his love life.

    "Well, that''s obvious we can''t let those idiots take the spots from our juniors, not sure what they are thinking. Guess they don''t know how strong our clans have gotten since that time..."

    The granny grumbled and also chimed in, during these two years the three clans had leveled up. This was all thanks to the share of cultivation resources.

    "Mhm, who could have known that your Patriarch has such a useful skill! That would explain his behavior back in the library."

    Huo Qiao thought back to that time two years ago and how Zhang Dong was rushing all over the place poking and touching books. He thought that he was just looking for something, but he was actually remembering them with some kind of bizarre technique. They found out later after he had sent some of the techniques from the library for their personal use.

    There were various manuals handed over to them, for which the whole Huo clan was grateful. Their Patriarch was flabbergast and immediately formed an alliance with the Zhang Clan. The techniques that they received were by far the best ones that they had ever seen. They also went along with the Dao of the flames that they practiced. The same thing happened to the Feng Clan, though their Matriarch didn''t really need them to form a similar alliance with the Zhang Clan. She already held Zhang Dong in high regard and would have done it if he just asked.

    "Though your Patriarch has a peculiar naming sense."

    Huo Qiao laughed.

    "Oh, think the ''Triforce alliance'' has a nice ring to it..."

    Zhang Jin replied while also chuckling slightly. The scroll that they all signed that day also had a three triangle pattern. This was, of course, a symbol from a popular game that Matt had played back in the day.

    "Well, I see that we all agree. I''ll have some of my clan members pass the plan to the junior members, you should do the same."

    Zhang Jin said while leaning forward slightly, but as he was about to stand up from his seat to excuse himself a person walked in from the side room. This person was quite the beautiful lady with light pink hair, the hair was styled in a ponytail. Some of that hair was still bouncing up from the front and slightly covering the woman''s eyes.

    "Grandpa Jin, grandpa Jin... why didn''t Zhang Dong come... I wanted to show him how much I have progressed..."

    This was Feng Liena, the woman hadn''t aged a day and was still of a nice caramel complexion.

    "Yeah, I wanted to spar with Brother too..."

    A large muscular red-haired man walked out as well. This was Huo Qiang, Zhang Dong''s self-proclaimed brother. He treated Zhang Dong as a senior brother, but he was actually older by about ten years.

    The two looked dejected while looking at Zhang Jin, the old man not sure what to say as it was due to him that his grandson wasn''t here. He was still adamant about letting him know about the whole Dao Festival, not wanting to bring him into the area where he could offend some Dark Palm sect members.

    "Ah, Dong''er was in secluded cultivation so I didn''t want to bother him with the small stuff... it''s better if this old man takes care of the junior members from time to time, ho ho ho."

    He laughed out loud while standing up and giving the two that walked in a bow with cupped fists.

    "I''ll be sure to mention you two when I see my grandson, he had been quite busy since we started reclaiming our old territory."

    "If you say so..."

    Feng Liena replied while trying not to pout. The woman was quite interested in this Zhang clan Patriarch that had offered her own family various cultivation manuals. But this wasn''t all, she was quite fond of his rather unorthodox ways. He was quite the peculiar man that didn''t really act as others acted. He was in a rather high position, but he seemed quite innocent on the inside.

    ''Haven''t really seen him much since those two years, he is always away or cultivating...hope he isn''t evading me on purpose...''

    The woman''s head dropped down. Matt didn''t really visit any of his new friends all that much, still having his introvert ways of not trying to intrude on people without having to. If left alone without any responsibilities he would probably lock himself in his crafting abode. He didn''t really have the urge to meet people, the responsibilities of being a Patriarch mostly being the ones that made him go out.

    "Ahh... didn''t he send you a new battle fan recently though?"

    Feng Maling interrupted as she saw where her young Matriarch''s thoughts were wondering. The new pinnacle earth weapon arrived just a couple of months ago.

    "Ahh! Yes!"

    Liena pulled out a fan, it was quite beautiful and looked like the tail of a peacock. It shined brightly and looked like it was made from green jade. This was a lot stronger than any weapon that she possessed, Matt managed to produce it with an advanced grade of A+. Making it something that was at the top of perfect graded earth weapons.

    Feng Liena waved it around proudly while her grandma and Zhang Jin smiled, seeing that the lady was cheering up once more. But the happy mood didn''t last long as Huo Qiang spoke up.

    "Oh, he made one for you too? Look at these babies!"

    The man pulled out a set of red gauntlets that looked as if they were made from red rubies. He struck a battle pose showing them off while Huo Qiao tried not to facepalm from the side.

    ''How can a man with so many wives have so little tact...''

    The three elders in the room squinted at the red-haired man while Feng Liena''s expression sunk once again.

 138 Chapter 138

    The elder members from the three clans dispersed after a small commotion. The Matriarch of the Feng clan almost got into a scuffle with the Huo clan young lord. Luckily the others managed to quell her anger, the man in question not really sure why the lady was mad at him. He even offered her the spot as his 100th wife again. Telling her that if things with Zhang Dong didn''t work out, she could join his harem. This, of course, didn''t go well ending in the Feng Matriarch trying to deliver a strike to the Huo lords nether regions.

    While this was happening, down in the pagoda hotel the Zhang Clan juniors were getting ready for the last trial. After the ''misunderstanding '' was cleared up, their Grand Elder Zhang Jin went over to tell them about the plan and the alliance.

    "So it''s like this, young ones..."

    Zhang Jin laid it bare, telling everyone to work with the Feng Clan and the Huo Clan if they came across them. He didn''t beat around the bush too much as he didn''t have the spare time. Still having important business to take care of later on.

    "Remember, when the final trial opens you will be randomly spread out throughout the testing grounds. If you are lucky you will have your brothers and sisters with you, but if not. You might find yourself against multiple opponents."

    "The Feng and Huo Clans have agreed to aid us, the other families will band against us so if you see anyone from our allies, aid them."

    The trial area had a teleportation formation implemented in it. It would put the juniors at random locations in a maze-like area. There were many traps and even some of those dolls were waiting to give the contestants a trashing. This wasn''t all though, in the area were hidden treasures like spiritual herbs. This was placed inside the area to give the participants some incentive to fight, the resources were limited and you could keep everything that you managed to find.

    The short briefing ended and the juniors bowed, they weren''t against working together with other clans. They weren''t so sure if they could trust the other clans that well. They didn''t know the other party well enough for that. The Feng women were strange and hard to approach, the Huo cultivators overbearing and haughty. Still, this was the order of the grand elder, so the juniors would try to follow it as well as they could.

    "Liu''er, Xue''er join your grandpa for a talk..."

    Before Zhang Jin left the juniors, he made sure to get his grandson and grandaughter for a little talk. The two just looked at each other and nodded, not really thinking much off it. They all gathered in a separate room that was prepared for the highest-ranking member from their clan. It looked quite nice, but compared to the penthouse one it looked quite shabby.

    "Sit down, have some tea."

    They got offered some snacks and tea, their grandpa just trying to create a nice enough atmosphere. What he would say would probably not fly well with these two youngsters that had progressed at an amazing pace. But he had to at least try to convince them to see things his way, if not he would have to go with plan B.

    "Liu...Xue... it would be wise if you dropped out of the competition after the next trial..."

    Zhang Liu coughed out as he was sipping on the tea, his sister had a similar reaction as she choked on a cookie that she was nibbling on. The two were quite shocked not understanding the meaning of their grandpa''s words, why would he want them to drop out now.

    "Grandpa Jin, what is the meaning of this? How can we show the other clan''s our superiority if we don''t participate?"

    Zhang Liu slammed his palms down on the table in protest, the table rattling due to the force. His sister covered her mouth with the sleeve of her robe as she didn''t want to show the crumbs on her mouth while also replying.

    "Yes dear grandpa, I would like to hear an explanation too...how could we, as the Patriarch''s disciples do such a thing?"

    The old man looked at the two youths, the two looked a lot different now than they did two years ago. They looked a lot more mature, those white locks only added to their mystical appearance. He didn''t think it would be possible for anyone below the age of twenty to be at their power level. That Master of theirs really did bring in all the best techniques to the table and in that lay the problem.

    "Now calm down you two, let your grandpa explain... the thing is..."

    "You might bring unwanted attention to your Master and the clan if you continue like this..."

    The two twitched slightly as they heard their Master getting mentioned, Zhang Liu sat back down after he stood up to smack the table and continued to listen.

    "You might think that spreading the glory of the clan is a good thing, but in reality, it might bring it to ruin if we aren''t careful..."

    "Your master is a powerful man, but he isn''t strong enough to shoulder this burden... not yet at least."

    "I have seen his cultivation manual... I''ve seen yours and it''s far more immeasurable than you might think. If the powerful sects realize what we are holding and it''s true worth, we might face annihilation..."

    The two youths gasped in shock, not really sure if their grandpa was serious or if he was being a bit too melodramatic. Would the sects really attack if they found their Master''s cultivation method to be of a high quality?

    "So that''s why grandfather stopped me back then..."

    Liu said while moving his head down and thinking.

    "You would have easily attained first place, but you would have attracted a lot of unwanted attention."

    "Still... I don''t agree! It would be shameful to not fight at our best!"

    Liu retorted, not wanting to throw a fight as his pride didn''t allow him. Xue was also of the same mind, thinking their grandfather was overexaggerating. Though she also understood where her family member was coming from, but if they hid some of that strength things should work out.

    "Well, I''m not telling you two to lie down and take it, at least try not to use the more powerful techniques like the Embodiment of the Thunder God. But your grandpa would be glad if you thought about what is good for the clan... Luckily the inside of the trial is sealed off so no one will be able to see you fight. But after the main tournament starts all eyes will be on you."

    What continued was an attempt of the old man on getting the two youths to see it from his standpoint. Bringing honor to your clan or yourself was fine and all, but it wasn''t worth your life. The two weren''t all that convinced, from their experience things seemed to work out in the end but they would take their grandpa''s words into consideration.

    "So, you''re not convinced... well at least try to not stand out, your opponents shouldn''t be strong enough for you to go all out..."

    The man gave off a large sigh, he could force the two to drop out but he also wanted them to make their own mistakes. The probability of something going wrong wasn''t all that high, there were only a couple of people that could contend with his young grandson at an equal level. One of them was even from their own clan, the other was the Huo clan young master. It should be fine if Zhang Liu doesn''t use the more overpowering techniques that gave off that strong lightning Dao.

    He also tried making Zhang Xue wear a veil or something to cover her face, his men were telling him that the girl was garnering quite the following due to her looks.

    ''I will probably be receiving a lot of marriage requests if this continued, but now like that''s a bad thing...''

    Forming bonds with other clans was something positive, but from this elder''s standpoint not a lot of clans could actually bring much to the table. Their Patriarch was already a cultivation technique encyclopedia, the only thing they really lacked were more materialistic resources, like spirit stones or spirit herbs.

    ''It would be nice if she fancied someone rich, but she doesn''t look that interested in the young men around her...''

    "Well, you two should think it through... don''t worry if something happens, your grandpa will save you!"

    The two youths looked at each other and chuckled a bit, Zhang Xue being the one to reply this time around.

    "Ara? I only thought that grandpa saved fair maidens from other clans~"

    Zhang Jin got taken aback by the retort, his womanizing ways had reached even his two grandchildren.

    "Don''t make fun of your grandpa, you two rascals!"

    The three family members chatted for a bit more before parting ways, the two youths returned to their quarters while contemplating about their grandfather''s words. They knew where he was coming from, but even then they didn''t feel like they should give up and throw the fights. Why did they have to stain their honor by acting in this way, this would bring a loss to their Master''s face if they lost a battle that they could have easily won.

    Zhang Jin was left in the room alone, contemplating on what he should do.

    ''Should I force them to forfeit... no, that could impend their progress later on and leave some demons in their hearts. They cherish their master too much and won''t allow a loss to his face by quitting...''

    The old man looked into his spatial ring and pulled out a magical treasure, that looked like some kind of shield-shaped talisman.

    ''Might have to use this if trouble arises, hope that there won''t be a need for it though. The probability of things going badly is low.''

    The man huffed and looked out into the scenery, the window from his room letting him see the well-lit city in the night. His face going more solemn as a certain person entered his room.

    "Are you ready?"

    The man asked while Zhang Jin nodded, his eyes sharp as he rose from his seat to head out.

    "Who do you think I am youngster? I was born ready!"

    He replied with vigor while the other person rubbed his palms together.

    "Good... let us venture forth into the unknown!"

    The two men looked at each other, their expressions resolute as they headed out of the room and then out of the pagoda hotel.

    ..........

    "Now this is what I call, a secret ground!"

    Zhang Jin proclaimed while holding a small bottle of alcohol in his hand and taking a sip out of it.

    "See, I told you that I know where the good stuff is, Senior Jin!"

    Next to him was Huo Qiang, his muscular arm wrapped around a thin waist of a serving girl that looked like she was enjoying herself.

    "He he he, senior brother where are you touching me~"

    The young woman replied in a coquettish tone, not really moving from the spot she was sitting on as she let the young master from the Huo clan have his way.

    The two hornballs had decided to check out what the red light district had to offer in this jade city. The two were prominent members of their clans so they had a lot of gold and spirit stones saved up for occasions like this.

    "Let the young generation have their fun at the tournament, while we of the older generation face these ferocious foes!"

    Said Zhang Jin while plopping his head between a rather busty girl''s bosom, his face was all red from drinking too much alcohol already.

    ......

    On the next day, everyone from the three clans that were in the triforce alliance gathered together. The elders wanted the younger members to at least be able to recognize their allies before they headed to that closed of trial. The tension was in the air and everyone was ready to do battle, the juniors were taking everything very seriously. Unbeknownst to them, the Zhang grand elder and future Patriarch of the Huo clan were deep asleep. Having fought a ferocious battle throughout the night, tired and bruised.

 139 Chapter 139

    While Zhang Jin was trying to soothe his hangover, the youths and some other clan elders were gathering at the last trial area. There would be close to five hundred participants. The entrance to the last trial was in a large building, the large doors had a phoenix and a dragon pattern on it, the two beasts seemed to be entangled in battle. The large door was still closed as it was an hour before the competition, the people would use this time to make their battle plan.

    The three families that would be working together gathered at one spot. Everyone had characteristic robes, the Zhang clan members had blue ones, the Huo clan had red ones and the Feng clan girls were mostly in green. Though the women that looked as if they stayed in the sun for too long, were hard to miss. So the other two clans wouldn''t really have a problem with discerning them from the other practitioners that were participating.

    First came the supporting elders that exchanged greetings, the group of Juniors was facing each other in a triangle, curious gazes coming from all directions. The Feng girls started whispering with each other while sneaking in glances at the boys from the two other clans. In response the youths gulped, the young ladies had strange expressions on their faces as if they wanted to gobble them all up. First to speak out was a Huo clan elder, that people weren''t particularly familiar with.

    "Listen up, remember each other''s faces, if you find your brothers and sisters in distress help them out."

    "The other sects and clans will be working against our group, so don''t forget to work together and after passing the trial you will be able to test yourselves against each other!"

    The elder was an experienced person and knew how youths like these thought. Their competitive spirit would surely soar in a situation like this. He wanted these kids to at least work together in this trial, letting their ambitions dormant for the time being. Some of them might already be antagonistic against each other. Closed of trials like this brought out the beast in some of the cultivators, as it was the perfect chance to let old grudges unfold.

    "Don''t be arrogant enough to think that you are strong enough to succeed on your own... just look..."

    The man pointed to the other participants in the area. There was one thing that stuck out, just like them they were gathering in groups. Some bigger than the other, one being at least twice the size than their own. This looked like the main enemy camp, the youths there were already giving them the stink eye.

    "I guess they are taking us very seriously..."

    Zhang Liu chimed in while standing next to his sister, his senior brother that fancied his sister was also there probably being there due to that.

    "Well, we probably gave them quite the scare during the other tests."

    Zhang Xue chuckled while smiling at her brother, the Zhang family members not that worried as they took this in a positive way. From their perspective, the other clans and smaller sects saw them as a powerful enemy. Was there anything better than being seen as a power to be feared in this world?

    "Do we really need the help from these other clans, think our Zhang Clan can manage on its own!"

    Zhang Tai voiced his opinion from the side while looking at the cultivators from the other clans. Not really convinced that he or his clan members that were quite strong needed to team up with other people.

    "The more allies we have the better senior Brother Tai. Also, these two families have close ties to our Patriarch, so it would be rude to deny them help."

    Zhang Xue replied while moving, the moment Tai heard the Patriarch get mentioned he quieted down. He recalled that their Patriarch had some dealings with the Feng Matriarch and the man that was next in line for the Patriarch position in the Huo clan. It would be disastrous if the juniors went against plans that their elders had, for various reasons.

    "Is that so..."

    Tai said while looking at Zhang Xue that was slowly walking towards the Feng Clan side. None of the three factions had yet mingled with each other, even after their elders stopped talking.

    "Greetings from the Zhang Clan fellow sisters."

    Zhang Xue smiled at the dark-skinned ladies. The girls looked at each other and moved forward, the girl that approached them looked to be quite the beauty. Some of the gyarus moved forward, they looked friendly enough. Before they could reply though, a tiny blur rapidly squeezed from within the group and arrived right opposite Zhang Xue.

    "Who do we have here?"

    The person that came out made the other Feng women move to the side, it being their elder sister. Zhang Liu blinked rapidly as he recognized the short girl that took him for a tour of the city. Though he was mostly used as a serving boy that carried her clothes for the whole day.

    "Ah, greetings little sister, Zhang Xue sends her greetings!"

    Xue tried to be civil in her reply, but she was getting strange vibes from this small girl.

    "Little sister?... who you calling little, you pipsqueak!"

    The small girl puffed out her cheeks and stood up straight, her voluptuous chest pointing forward as if she was presenting it against Xue''s. The two girls started staring at each other, one was hostile while the other was bewildered not knowing where the animosity was coming from.

    "E-excuse me, senior sister?"

    The small girl crossed her hands over one another and nodded, she looked satisfied after getting called a senior sister.

    "That''s better!"

    While this was transpiring the other youths started with curiosity, Zhang Liu moved over to his sister as he tried to pull her away, knowing well that this pink-haired midget was a strange one.

    "Xue... I think we should..."

    Before he could finish the sentence the small girl pointed her finger at him while shouting out. She then rapidly pointed it at Xue and then back to Liu again.

    "You two, what''s your relationship!

    The siblings looked at each other before eyeing the strange girl again.

    "Liu is my older brother..."

    Zhang Xue replies, getting the strange suspicion that this small girl was interested in her brother. The girl in question dropped her pointing finger, it looked like she was thinking about something. But just as soon as the finger was dropped, it was put up once again and pointed at the Zhang clan young lady.

    "E-enemy!"

    The small girl proclaimed, her eyes moving into tiny slits as she glared at Zhang Xue that took one step back.

    "E-excuse me?"

    "Younger sisters are always the enemy!"

    Feng Nuana glared more as her eyes went up and then down. The smaller girl analyzed the looks of this so-called new enemy, not liking that striking appearance at all.

    "Such a ferocious foe... but mark my words, I''ll never surrender! You will be a fitting rival for this senior sister!"

    While the small girl was shouting out, the other junior members from the group moved closer. The other Feng clan ladies moved in and bowed in an apologetic fashion as they tried to diffuse the situation.

    "Oh ho ho, senior sister is really energetic... don''t mind her..."

    "Yes yes, she is just glad that so many handsome brothers and beautiful sisters had gathered together..."

    "Yes, you there little brother, do you want to have a chat with this big sister?"

    One of the Feng ladies took the chance to move next to one of the Zhang clan men that were to the side and just looking. The man looked at the dark-skinned ''big sis'', her looks were quite exotic but she had a certain charm to her. Soon, the young women from the wind tribe were mingling with the other clans, even pulling the Huo clan into the mix.

    Zhang Xue moved back feeling like it would be better to not get associated with the angry-looking little girl. Her brother moved in front to shield her, Feng Nuana seeming in a better mood after her so-called enemy started backing away.

    "Did something happen between you and my sister..."

    Liu asked wondering what this was all about, the girl in question just smirked and moved closer. She looked up to him with a smile on her face and before the youth could react, she wrapped her hands around his. The youth jumped slightly as he felt something soft pressing into his arm.

    "Hey, what are you doing? Let go!"

    "No!"

    He was quickly shut down while the small girl rubbed her bosom into his arm, the inexperienced youth going red in the face instantly after getting assaulted by the Feng girl. The girl in question smirked and made sure to eye Zhang Xue that was backing away, her nose moving upwards as if she was looking at a bug.

    ''What''s that strange girl doing with big brother... does she really fancy him?''

    She thought to herself while backing away, but when she did that she bumped into some.

    "Hey, who dares!"

    She bumped into this person''s back without realizing as she was preoccupied. The voice was quite manly and the back that she bumped into was quite wide, so the person behind her had to have a large physique. After turning around her eyes met with a set of red hues that looked like small embers. The youth''s face contorted, his frown turned into a gaping mouth as he started.

    "Ah, excuse me, I wasn''t paying attention."

    The girl made a little bow in front of the youth, not wanting to seem rude. She was afraid that this could turn to something more as the man in front of her sounded quite annoyed. But instead of that, the man continued to stare for a second or two before snapping back a hand moving to his head as he scratched it.

    "Ahhh... don''t mind... everyone makes mistakes..."

    The man tossed his head back and started laughing out loud, Xue remembered him from the first test as he had scored the same number of chimes as she did.

    This was, of course, Huo Kong that was panicking on the inside. This was the first time he had seen such a beautiful girl in his life, none of the women in his clan or the fiances that his clan tried pushing on him compared to this young maiden.

    "N-nice weather we are having today? Haha..."

    ''What do I do!''

    He thought while panicking, he was a person focused on personal might and had no knowledge or experience in talking to girls. Luckily the response that he got was a cute sounding laugh, followed by the girl''s lovely voice.

    "Yes, it''s quite nice. Brother is from the Huo clan?"

    Huo Kong nodded quickly replying to the question.

    "Yes! I am Huo Kong the fiercest from our clan!"

    "Ara? The fiercest? Quite the title you got there."

    The girl laughed some more, thinking that this older brother was quite funny. This was mostly due to how the youth looked, on the outside he seemed to be a seasoned warrior with a large physique. But there he was panicking as if Xue was someone to be feared. The girl kind of knew why he was acting like this, attributing it to him being inexperienced with girls.

    Suddenly everyone was mingling with each other. Zhang Tai got surrounded by quite a lot of people, being the person with the best score on the first test. He also scored quite well on the other ones and was well known by now. Quite a few Feng maidens were trying to chat it up with him, but some from the Huo clan were there too.

    Zhang Liu was trying to wrestle away from the busty midget but wasn''t having any luck as the girl was surprisingly strong. For some reason, she had it in for him and the youth wasn''t sure why. Time passed and soon the doors from the last trial were opened, a couple of older looking people walked out that belonged to the testing crew.

    Everyone was guided inside, the last test would be starting soon it would probably take a couple of days till it finished.

 140 Chapter 140

    The five hundred or so people were led to a large hall where they stood and waited. Everyone was keeping to themselves in the previously created groups, only a couple of people could be seen alone without any factions backing them up. This hall was mostly empty with torches lined up on the walls that shone brightly.

    The trial participants had walked down into the unknown for quite some time before arriving here. The place they were led to was apparently deep underground under the city. The hall was quite immense and the ceiling was at least twenty meters tall. There were large square pillars holding it up with bright-lit torches that seemed to be burning without the need for oil.

    There were several men standing on the other end of this hall, they wore a familiar set of robes that these junior participants were already familiar with as they belonged to the people responsible for the testing process. Everyone looked to them as it was time for the last test to start, a lot of the youths feeling those butterflies in their stomachs.

    "Welcome, you have managed to best your peers but now the real trial begins!"

    There was something like a large gate close to where the testing personnel was standing at. The strange thing about this gate was that it wasn''t leading anywhere. There were wide stairs leading up to it but nothing behind it, not a tunnel or anything of the sort. The youths looked at each other while the people that worked for the dark palm sect chuckled on the inside, laughing at these backwater cultivator''s lack of knowledge.

    Suddenly the large circular shaped gate that was embedded into the wall started vibrating. Everyone could feel massive spiritual energy radiation coming off of it. Some Chinese symbols started appearing on the rocky surface of that gate, a burst of energy making the whole thing light up in one go. Suddenly something that looked like water exploded forward startling the young contestants.

    "W-what is that..."

    "It looks like a pond of water but on the wall..."

    This was what some people called a ''portal'' it was shining with deep blue light, the surface looked like a pound which was waving around. While the young people were gazing at the strange phenomenon the people in the room spoke out.

    "This is what we call a transfer gate, you will walk through this treasure and be placed inside the last trial ground. As you might have heard, the place you will be transported to will be unknown, if you''re lucky you might even appear near a treasure!"

    The youths looked at the strange-looking treasure that looked like a teleportation gate. It looked a lot different than the teleportation array that was located in the secret ground. The senior member picked up a rock for a presentation and threw it inside the watery like surface. The item that was thrown vanish inside and the surface just rippled like it was made from water.

    "As you can see, you just need to go through it, so don''t be afraid."

    The man laughed a bit after seeing how these young cultivators reacted, most of them never having seen a teleportation treasure like this. Something like this was a well-kept secret among powerful clans, being able to teleport was a big advantage if it came to battle. Mostly due to logistics, you could easily transport resources to your warriors and army without having to leave your well-protected fortress. You didn''t need to worry about enemy attacks hitting your transport line either.

    This wasn''t something widely spread though, even this place only allowed people to teleport within the trial grounds and at a random fashion to boot. The dark palm sect possessed the knowledge to build teleportation gates like this, but there were very few of them around as they just used up way too many resources. This one was only valid for the trial period as it couldn''t be used for long-range teleportation between cities. The sect only had the teleportation treasures situated in their core cities and strongholds.

    "Please proceed to the gate in an orderly fashion, but don''t go in, all at once."

    A line was formed and the youths started vanishing while the teleportation gate rippled as if something splashed inside of it. In time everyone found themselves alone in various sections of the large trial ground, it consisted mostly of wide corridors with faint light but some were pitch dark. The less fortunate people ended up in the middle of traps or around automated dolls that started chasing them the moment they got a glimpse of the enemy.

    One of those unlucky people was the Zhang Clan prodigy, Zhang Tai. At first, he thought he hit the jackpot, ending up close to some spiritual herbs that were just growing to the side. The herb that he spotted was giving off some strong spiritual energies and had a nice mint smell to it. Was this the fabled seven-star sage? he thought before moving up to it, hoping to pocket it with him. Spatial rings were forbidden in this area, the cultivators could only bring as much as they could carry with them.

    But just as he was about to pluck the herb from the ground, he noticed something staring at him. After he pushed some spiritual energy into his eyes to get a better look he saw quite the army of wooden dolls. They weren''t the humanoid looking ones that were at the corridor though. Those didn''t have sickles for arms and swords for legs, these here were clearly enhanced to kill. He quickly grabbed the herb and bolted away, not really keen on finding out if he was able to handle these automatons on his own. The moment he snatched the treasure though, the group of battle puppets chased after him.

    Zhang Liu, on the other hand, was dropped off in an unsuspecting corridor with nothing in particular around him. After traveling for some minutes, hoping to find something he noticed some strange fluctuations right above him. Before he could react to the strange phenomenon he saw a large posterior right in front of his face. Bewildered by the display he didn''t react in time and got hit by it and tumbled to the ground. He started wiggling around and could hear the person on top of him gasp, with a rather cute voice.

    The person on top of him quickly jumped off his face, he groaned as he felt a foot hitting his stomach as the female to who the posterior belonged to jumped away. He gasped yet again, the moment he saw who the person was that landed on him.

    "Mmmmm...pervert!..."

    This was the small Feng Nuana, that was blushing slightly while holding her short skirt from her robe down. She had apparently been teleported in the same place that Zhang Liu did, as her clan was the one next in line right after the Zhang clan.

    This place was quite large as it covered the underground area under the whole city that housed millions of people in it. There were many corridors and the chances off meeting at the start were slim. The whole test had a time limit of a week, so the contestants had the incentive to find others and strip them of their tokens. After this, they could either wait out the whole extent of the trial or try to find one of the exit teleportation gates that were scattered around the large maze-like area. But you wouldn''t find more than a handful of those, so waiting it out was quite a valid strategy.

    The test finally started, the young adults inside started looking for their allies and enemies alike. They all had some baggage in the form of food and weapons with them. This would be a true test of their survival skills. While everything was unfolding a certain white-haired man was sitting with his legs crossed, staring at a scroll.

    "Well... think I got all that I need now... let me just got through this one last time..."

    This was, of course, the glorious Zhang Clan Patriarch, Zhang Dong. He had written down the whole cultivation process on the paper, with pointers on how to go through into the Nascent soul. He had managed to fashion a small formation to help him with controlling the spiritual energy in his own body. He also produced a helpful pill that would boost his vitality and concentration during the task. There wasn''t really more that he could do, being already a step through the door he just needed to take the next one further in.

    "Okay, this is it... time to become one with the world and one with myself..."

    This would be quite the quality change for him as he would be gaining something called a nascent soul. This would fully awaken something called the Spiritual Sense. At first, he thought this was something similar to the aura detection technique that he used before, but it wasn''t quite that. If he understood it correctly, it would push him towards being one with himself and one with the world around him. Making him able to sense other energies and truths that the world of cultivation had to offer, and not just other cultivators.

    "Here goes nothing... wonder what gramps will say when he finds out..."

    He chuckled to himself, he knew that no one expected him to reach this level so soon. If he succeeded he would be the youngest Nascent soul practitioner in the world. From what he knew, the world record wasn''t even under the hundred-year mark. People at the great circle of core formation would prepare for years before attempting a breakthrough.

    ''Guess maxing out your cultivation level wasn''t all that easy... But I guess the techniques they use are also faulty and have more restrictions than mine.''

    He smacked both his cheeks with his palms to pump himself up and sat down in a traditional lotus position. Golden lightning crackled around him and his body started radiating a massive amount of spiritual energy. The space around him warped and he slowly started floating off the ground.

    The lightning that was coming of his body collided with the ground, some strange patterns emerging from under his floating form. The area shined brightly as the electricity was absorbed and then redistributed back into the man floating above. This was the formation that was working to help with Matt''s spiritual energy usage, pushing it back into him so that not much of it was wasted on the surroundings.

    His cultivation was fully utilized as he felt his power rising and rising. He could feel his golden lightning core shaking as it got bathed in his divine lightning energies. His foundation pillars also reacted, humming together as they resonated with his cultivation core that began expanding in size. His core took in his divine lightning energies while his whole body surged with power.

    Matt could feel his body changing, his core got bigger and bigger and he knew that the moment it shattered it would unearth a soul underneath. He wasn''t hasty though, making sure to follow his battle plan and slowly perform this procedure like a surgeon doing and operation. The time for action came soon enough, the man opened up his eyes which were noting more than golden saucers filled with lightning energy.

    "Now... shatter!"

    He tossed his head upwards and shouted out, the last surge of Qi ventured forth through his meridians and invaded his core shattering it into pieces in one go. The process wasn''t painful but it wasn''t anything enjoyable either as sweat run down his forehead. He could suddenly feel it, there was something deep inside of him. He tried looking at the thing that was now there, the ''soul'' that was formed looked at him back and he felt like he was looking at himself from withing.

    "So... this is my nascent soul..."

    The soul looked like a tiny person, a small version of himself. The odd thing about the tiny person living inside of him was, that he wasn''t one hundred percent similar to his current appearance. From what Matt could tell, the soul living inside of him had features that he possessed in his old life, like his eye color. It was as if his old persona had mixed with his current one to form this strange-looking nascent soul. Still, he had broken through, power was surging through his entire body, power like he had never felt before.

    He grasped his hand, the surrounding space contorted to his might as his golden lightning energies burst forth. Massive winds were produced by this simple hand gesture that didn''t really have his full force behind it. He was feeling rather peculiar, he could feel it... he could feel everything around him, it was as if he was one with the world.

 141 Chapter 141

    The whole small floating island rumbled due to the energies that were emanated, the source being a floating Zhang Dong who had his eyes closed. He was moving further up into the air going out of the range of his formation. The golden arcs of lightning energies started flying in all directions, scorching the ground underneath.

    The man was too occupied with his ascension to the higher realm, not knowing that he was destroying the spirit herb fields that were painstakingly planted by his fellow clan members. Though a strange phenomenon took place. After the herbs turned to ash, new ones started sprouting as if the roots absorbed the divine lightning energies. This allowed them to regrow themselves with an added boon.

    Matt had just reached this realm and he was still in the process of reinforcing his cultivation. Just as expected the immortal grade dimensional regalia treasure contained all of his energies as the people outside the pocket dimension had no clue that their Patriarch reached a new height. If they knew what was happening, they would probably pass out from excitement.

    He stopped looking inside of his body, moving his attention to the world around him. He could feel the plants, it was as if they were breathing. His senses all got enhanced, he felt that he could hear a water drop fall from many kilometers away if he really concentrated. He was now floating up in the air, without the need of his sword or the aid of his technique just sitting with his legs crossed.

    "Huh... well... that was neat..."

    He rubbed his head, not really sure what to say or think. He looked at the charred earth below him and the strange golden herbs that were growing here and there.

    "I''ll have to take a look at those...but first..."

    He stood up while floating in the air, he was now in the higher realm the fabled Nascent Soul was in his grasp. There was one thing that he needed to do first though and this was the perfect place to do it. He looked side to side, making sure that no one was watching. After making sure that he was alone, he stuck out his hands right above his head. It looked as if he was trying to do an overhead press with his hands stretched out.

    Then he closed his fists together and flew upwards, yes he was just testing out his new flying technique. He zoomed up high and then right down both his hands in front of him while the wind pressure made his hair shake about. This soon subsided as a golden aura surrounded his body, shielding him from the wind pressure.

    "Weeeeeeeeeee......"

    He was just like a little kid now, it was as if one of his childhood dreams had just come true. It was one thing to fly on a sword that was more of a stationary platform, and it was another to do it on your own without outside help. He rocketed around the small floating island, he couldn''t really utilize his new flight as the area that he could fly around was small. If he tried going into the void he would quickly feel the lack of air and the drop in spiritual energies.

    He tried various positions, the first one was just the default one that was probably the most popular one. The next one he tried was with one of his arms stretched out and with the other arm bent backward. He then tried bending one of his legs during that position, then he tried holding out his hands to the sides with his palms outstretched. He even tried flying with his feet in the forward position and then while standing out straight with his hands behind his back in his serious senior pose position.

    He finally decided that he had enough and landed on the ground, this wasn''t any old landing though. No this was the fabled superhero landing, his palm smashed into the ground producing a thumping sound and cracking the earth under him. Both his legs bent as if he was doing some type of crawl, a blush appearing on his face after he did it.

    "Well... that was equally epic and equally silly... also I think if I wasn''t so sturdy I could have broken something."

    This type of landing was quite cool to look at, but it seemed quite dangerous, he hoped none of his clan juniors would try to imitate it if they saw him do it. He stood up and dusted his white robe off, he had a new one at this time. It was different in the way that it had armor integrated into it.

    It was a new design that went more for functionality than looks. He ditched the flowy robe parts, trying not to imitate the popular robes in this world. To this day he didn''t understand how those people could fight with those wide sleeves and robes that were longer than their own legs.

    This was something added to his first robe, it had two modes now. The first one was just his regular white robe, while the other one made him look like a lightly armored knight of sorts. It left him a lot of wiggle room with his legs but kept his torso well protected. He didn''t want it to be too bulky, otherwise, they would impede his movements during combat. He turned the second mode on while he was going past his realm, as it offered some nice bonuses to his stats like more energy and more resilience.

    He turned off his battle mode and went over to one of the spiritual herbs, analyzing it to see what was the deal with it. He got its name which was ''Radiant Spiritual Sage'', which was a rare variation of the Sage herb that his clan was cultivating for pill making.

    "Hm, this... I should test it with some pills and see what it does if I exchange the regular ones..."

    He looked at the destroyed herb fields, not many of those ''radiant'' variants were there, most of the old greenery was just destroyed in the process. Maybe if he did some research he would be able to copy this creating process of this rare herb variant. He pocketed the herbs and then thought back to his flying experience, still not sure about the best pose.

    "How do those other Nascent Soul guys fly around, haven''t really seen any besides that one guy by the secret ground and he only floated a bit with his hands behind his back...."

    He rubbed his chin and contemplated the best pose to take, he couldn''t make a fool out of himself. Thinking that his regular hands behind back pose was good for slow floating, it looked the most honorable and menacing at the same time.

    "Well, I guess I could fly with my hands behind my back while looking stoic... but that will be probably a bit uncomfortable in the long run."

    After having his fun with his new flying skill, that was several times faster than his old sword flight. He decided to see how much his power increased. He took out a pinnacle graded earth treasure that looked like a large tower shield. This thing was made with defense in mind so it would act as a good test item.

    He propped it up against a log that he inserted into the ground close to the edge of the pocket dimension. He then walked back a couple of steps so he was standing about ten meters away from the tower shield. He then clenched his fist tightly and took on a fighting stance.

    "Okay, let''s see..."

    He pushed some of his spiritual energy into his fist and cocked it back, quickly punching forward. His punch produced immense wind pressure along with golden lightning energies, the sound of thunder reverberating throughout the area. He thought that he would probably put a dent in the shield, as it was quite a crafty. Instead, he watched on in surprise as the thing broke into small pieces along with the area around it, exploding in the process.

    He whistled and looked at the big chunk of earth missing, thanks to standing next to the edge of the pocket dimension not much of the area was destroyed but he could see some of the shield chunks floating in the distance of the void.

    "This will take some time to get used to..."

    He fired off a couple of more ranged attacks, the lightning dragon that he could create now was several times larger than what he was able to produce previously. Same thing with his avatar form that made him at least as tall as a popular kaiju from the movies. He felt full of vigor and power. If he faced the demon from that secret ground this time around he could probably defeat him with one well-placed hit.

    He was still fresh and had to reinforce his cultivation level, it was a miracle that he was actually able to do everything according to plan. No one was attacking the city or knew that he pushed himself into the new realm. Everything seemed to be working out.

    "Okay, let me work on some of those heaven grade techniques a bit, then I''ll craft that heaven graded weapon and get my body refining up... think a dagger should be fine and don''t really have the resources for anything big..."

    Getting to the nascent soul level was one thing, being both a body refiner and a Qi cultivator at that level was another one. He felt like he would be undefeatable if he got both of them up to at least the late-stage. He wasn''t sure how long that would take, but with his increased life spawn now he had a lot of time on his hands.

    "No need to rush things, I got all the time in the world. As long as we stay hidden that Dark Palm sect shouldn''t notice anything and it will be too late for them after I get stronger. If I manage to help Liena and Qiang to reach this realm, even if that sect finds out, we should be able to defend ourselves."

    "Well, time to get to work, this is going to take a while..."

    He had many things to do, upgrading his techniques was one thing. Crafting a new set of weapons and treasures was another thing. He was even planning to use some black market connections in some more shady areas to get more nascent soul level resources later. He could always change his appearance and no one would actually believe that he was thirty-two. Only old monsters above the age of hundred were in the nascent soul. It shouldn''t be traced back to him, even if someone noticed something off with his disguise.

    While Zhang Dong vanished into his crafting abode the last trial back in Jade Grass City was in full swing. There was a lot of fighting happening among the junior members as quite a lot of them had gathered into large groups. The larger camp that was created by the more powerful clans was the one on top, managing to sweep past the more unorganized factions.

    The Triforce Alliance wasn''t far behind, but some of their members had already fallen in the process of trying to gather together with their allies. Not everyone was with the main group though, the trial ground was way too large for them to find each other in just a couple of days of time. The people also had to fend for themselves against the other contestants. There was no magic teleportation formation that brought people out if they were critically injured, so deaths could happen.

    At this time Zhang Liu and Zhang Tai along with a couple other clan members from the other two factions were chatting.

    "Still no word?"

    "No, brother Kong and brother Xue still haven''t been spotted... we were separated from them during a fight..."

    One of the Zhang Clan youths replied while talking to his clan brother, one of their main powerhouses in the form of Hou Kong was missing and Zhang Xue that wasn''t a slouch wasn''t there either. This was troubling as they didn''t think that the two could take on that large clan alliance on their own.

    "Okay, let''s move out... let us form two large teams and let''s search the area for more of our brothers and sisters. If you find anyone, be sure to alert the other people from our alliance."

    Zhang Liu and Tai were the two defacto leaders, they tried to mix the teams up in a similar fashion to the platoons that they were in at the secret ground. Some fighters along with ranged support and healers, Feng Nuana was sure to stick to Liu like glue so they headed in a different direction than Zhang Tai did, the older brother concerned about his sister that was probably alone.

    ''Don''t worry Xue, big brother is coming.''

 142 Chapter 142

    "Hold still..."

    A female voice could be heard accompanied by some groaning.

    "Ugh...t-that feels strange"

    The man groaned out while panting.

    "Quite the cute sound there, for such a strong senior brother~"

    The woman chuckled while some rustling could be heard.

    "Hey, stop teasing... I''m trying my best here..."

    The man replied in a shaky voice.

    "Don''t worry senior brother, I''ll be as gentle as I can... just stay still for a moment...but you sure are quite large down here..."

    The cute female voice proclaimed while more rustling was heard.

    These two people were Zhang Xue and Huo Kong. The girl in question had her hands outstretched and a sphere of water was surrounding the man''s abdomen. The youth had a sword wound on the side of his stomach that was slowly getting closed down thanks to Zhang Xue''s healing arts. She couldn''t use the holy element as her master, so she had to use the water arts from her clan. They weren''t bad either, they just worked in a different fashion.

    "Yes, those are quite the nice abdominal muscles there, you must have worked on them diligently."

    The girl was apparently impressed by the man''s physique. The girl was around muscular men, in the form of her own master and her big brother, that due to his body refining was turning into quite the beefcake himself. So she was now quite fond of the wider types, finding the manly ones superior to the more feminine dandy looking ones.

    "I''m just glad that we got away from that group, we were lucky that those things started chasing after them instead of us."

    The two ran into each other a day after the trial started, they formed a team but soon were discovered by a large troop that was gunning for their tokens. They were lucky enough to run through an area with a hidden treasure. It looked to be a sword surrounded by circular rocks, but when the people that were chasing after them tried touching it the rocks started shaking about.

    They turned out to be humanoid looking golems, at least three meters tall and with heavy hammer-like fists. While the large band of monsters was trying to protect the weapon, Zhang Xue and Huo Kong made a run for it. Some of the enemies were indisposed so they decided to force their way through one side, the young man taking some hits as he pushed through the other participants that were blocking their way. He ended up injuring himself, getting a couple of cuts here and there but nothing that Zhang Xue couldn''t heal.

    "I''m feeling a lot better now, my thanks junior sister Xue."

    The young man smiled awkwardly while looking at the white-haired beauty. He was quite enamored by the young girl''s beauty and even more after he continued interacting with her. She wasn''t haughty like some women with this type of beauty, she didn''t seem too impressed in him being from a powerful clan either. She felt genuine and just all-around friendly, he didn''t feel like she had an ulterior motive like some of the women that were after the prestige that his clan had going for it.

    "No problem senior brother Kong, the elders told us to work together and I think they were right in doing so. There are really a lot of enemies in this trial."

    Zhang Xue stood up after healing the red-haired man. She thought he was quite funny as he was always trying to evade her gaze and was blushing furiously whenever she touched him. He felt like a little puppy for some reason, she was used to getting stared at by the opposite gender. The gazes were quite different, mostly ones of attraction or possession.

    It made her feel like the men saw her as some kind of trophy and not like a real person. This man, on the other hand, seemed too pure to even put her in that bracket. Which was quite funny from her point of view, the man''s demeanor didn''t fit his fiery appearance. He was quite the beast while fighting, she already saw that but the moment the two were alone he looked like a scared kitten.

    "Senior brother, I don''t think we should remain in this spot for too long. I bet those other people will try catching us again, we have to find out clan members there are too many of them for us to handle on our own."

    Zhang Xue proclaimed while looking to the corridor that they came from, there were two other paths they could take. Xue could use her Master''s detection technique, so she could somewhat spot people at the distance. But it wasn''t as if this place was laced with traps and high levels of danger, like in the secret ground they were in. So she couldn''t pick the right path, as well as the elder members, did back then.

    "Um... think we should go with the left one..."

    Zhang Xue said while focusing her senses on the two paths, the right one looked to be more dangerous.

    "Yes junior sister, we should move... but don''t worry, I''ll protect you with my life if anything bad happens!"

    The man proclaimed while smacking his chest with his palm. Xue just chuckled into her robe sleeve and nodded.

    "Well, that''s quite reassuring, senior brother Kong."

    The man just smiled awkwardly at the girl and moved in front of her, he would be the vanguard as he was better in close range combat than the girl. The two had spent some time together, and this junior sister was quite the talented spear user. She even had some powerful range spear attack that could wreak havoc from the backlines.

    The two both already had two tokens each as they had battled some other participants here and there. Most of their time was spent on running away though, the two knew that they couldn''t really battle twenty cultivators at once. While the two moved through the similar-looking corridors they started chatting, not really having anything better to do.

    "So, you are the son of that Huo Qiang... did he ever mention anything about a senior called Zhang Dong?"

    The man had introduced himself as a young master from the Huo clan while shouting at the attackers so this much she knew. She knew that name as he was a close friend of her Master, he even made a pair of beautiful ruby gauntlets for the man.

    "Did you s-say Z-Zhang Dong?"

    Xue looked at the man, she could tell from his body language that something was wrong, he even twitched a bit the moment he heard her Master''s name be mentioned.

    "Yes, I''m sure they should be good brothers to each other... am I wrong?"

    "Zhang Dong... brothers..."

    The man mumbled something under his breath while spacing out slightly, then turned his head to the side to see Zhang Xue behind him.

    "Could I ask what your relationship is with this... senior Dong?"

    The girl didn''t really know why the man seamed down after her Master''s name was mentioned. She was now curious about the reason.

    "Zhang Dong is our clan''s Patriarch, but you probably already know that."

    The man nodded, thinking that it would be hard to forget that man''s name after what happened back home.

    "Well... he is also my Master!"

    The girl stopped, quite proud that she could call that man her Master. Her current disposition was all thanks to his superior techniques. Even though he was a bit distant, he was still a great Master that both she and her brother looked up to. She would defend Zhang Dong''s honor if she had to, so she squinted a bit as the man in front of her started acting strangely.

    "Is there some kind of problem, senior brother Kong?"

    The red-haired youth stopped and looked back, his lower lip was trembling a bit. The man started thinking, the girl that he was fancing was part of that Zhang Clan, that was a problem of its own. Now it was even worse, as she was a disciple of the man he learned to despise. There was a reason for that, it started after his father returned from the secret ground.

    He was the oldest son of Huo Qiang, also the son of the official wife and not a concubine. He had the highest status, but he still knew that his place wasn''t set in stone. He tirelessly worked himself, training like a madman to be the strongest cultivator possible. He knew that his father was in line for the Patriarch spot, but he still wasn''t the only one.

    There were many clansmen going for that spot, he had uncles and aunts that could replace his father at a moment''s notice. The expedition to the secret ground was one such thing. He didn''t have any proof but he was sure that one of his family members that were next in line, probably set things in motion. It was lucky that his father made it out alive from that death trap.

    Normally he would be proud of his father that proved himself to be one of the strongest. But his father changed, the moment he returned he couldn''t shut up about the Zhang Clan or this Zhang Dong that was now apparently his sworn brother. Every day it was Zhang Dong this, Zhang Dong that. His father wouldn''t stop, he even coerced the Patriarch to form a binding pact that would last for many years. Apparently he used some techniques that this so-called Zhang Patriarch gave them.

    Huo Kong was highly skeptical about this, he thought that the Zhang Clan was of lower status and that this man probably tricked his father in some way. He wanted to even offer his older sister up as a bride, Kong protested this but got trashed by his own dad after saying some hateful words about Zhang Dong in a fit of rage. Due to this, he had a chip on his shoulder and a dislike towards this Zhang Clan and its Patriarch. Thanks to Xue, he had just recalled why he disliked them once more, he had almost forgotten it due to his hormones.

    Huo Kong wasn''t one to hold back though, he didn''t like the whole cloak and dagger approach that other people used. In his opinion, only weak and cowardly people sneaked around, the truly strong let their fist talk instead.

    "Problem... yes there is one...to be totally honest..."

    Zhang Xue looked at the red-haired man, he looked as if he was going to say something that she didn''t like. But before that could happen she felt a disturbance, someone was coming their way.

    "Brother Kong, we will have to postpone our talk, I can sense other cultivators coming and I don''t think they are friendly!"

    The man stopped, he wanted to ask a couple of questions about this girl''s Master. But apparently this would have to wait, he put up his guard and got moved forward, Zhang Xue run next to him as the two bolted further into the corridor some shouts heard behind them as the enemies were closing in.

    "Here they are!"

    "Quick before they can escape!"

    "Halt, there is no use running just accept your fate and give us your tokens and you can leave!"

    The two could hear the people shouting at them, but they didn''t trust them to leave them be after giving up the tokens. Huo Kong wanted to stop and fight, but there was a large group behind him. Even though he felt that he could take on multiple opponents at once, he wasn''t sure if he could take on ten of them.

    "Go to hell you cowards, the only thing you can do is ganging up!"

    He called out while gnashing his teeth. His lovely companion grimaced as she could feel the enemies closing in on them from multiple corridors. Were they being led into a trap like pigs to slaughter? She was sure that if they continued on their path they would run into another group of those cultivators.

    There was nowhere else to go but forward though, would they have to fight it out in the end? Suddenly she felt a familiar aura signature, it was behind a wall quite close to where they were at. She took this opportunity, hoping for the best as she shouted out to her red-haired partner.

    "Senior brother, help me destroy this wall, there should be something good on the other side!"

    The man just looked at the spot that the woman was pointing out. He didn''t really mind but he wasn''t sure that they could destroy the wall or how thick it was. He also couldn''t detect people behind it, the walls were quite good at blocking their senses.

    "That wall?... Fine!"

    The man''s muscles bulged, and some strange patterns covered his muscular frame that made him look as if he was on fire. He then took off, charging at the spot that the junior sister pointed with a shoulder tackle. He looked like a mad bull covered in a blanket of flames, hoping that the spot that he was going for wasn''t too thick otherwise his shoulder would be in a dire state.

 143 Chapter 143

    Zhang Liu was together with a couple of his clan members, Zhang Tai had gone in a different direction as they were still looking for more of their clansmen. Liu had gone through a couple of small skirmishes with other practitioners so he already had an additional token, only needing one more now.

    His group was resting at the moment, they were at one of those spiritual herb gardens and they had just taken care of a trap formation that was previously here.

    "These herbs aren''t of good quality though, we can get better ones back at spirit spring city...still, it''s not good to waste resources. "

    Zhang Liu and his clan brothers examined this so-called spirit herb garden. They were from a pill making faction, so this wasn''t anything out of the ordinary for them. Zhang Dong had also nabbed scriptures and books that described a way of producing rare variants of certain herbs. So these ordinary spiritual herbs weren''t valued that highly by these youths. The few members from the Feng clan and the Huo clan saw it differently as they pocketed as much as they could get their hands on.

    While this was happening, Liu felt something or someone coming. There was a familiar aura coming their way, but it looked to be behind a near by wall.

    "Wait is that... Hey, look out get away from that wall!"

    The youth shouted out, trying to get the attention of the people that were standing closest to the wall. The two people that were standing there, quickly jumped back. They knew that something was wrong and trusted Zhang Liu enough to heed his warning. Just in the nick of time as an angry-looking Huo Kong busted through that chunk of rocks.

    "It''s that guy?"

    Zhang Liu noted while seeing the man covered in red energy, but soon after he could see his white-haired sister following after him. This wasn''t the end though as many other angry-looking youths, with drawn weapons charged through after them while shouting various things.

    "Don''t let them escape!"

    "Get them, brothers!"

    The group poured through the hole that was slightly larger than a human. At least they tried to, the hole wasn''t that wide and some of them ended up getting stuck. Zhang Liu used this chance to move towards his sister and the red-haired man that he fought previously.

    "Hah, I knew you were alright Xue... oh and you brought a friend..."

    He looked at the burning man that canceled his skill after charging through the wall. His hair was slightly scuffed and he had rock debris all over his body, that looked like scorching coals. Huo Kong just eyed Zhang Liu, he already knew that the two were siblings due to the similar features like the robes and their white hair.

    "Hmph!"

    He justs scoffed at Liu, still not happy about the things that transpired back at the betting arena. The two youths looked at each other, the shouts of the charging enemy cultivators making them postpone their argument.

    "We''ll settle the things between us after this trial is over, for now..."

    Huo Kong turned around, his fists surging with red Qi.

    "Let''s take care of these trashes!"

    Zhang Liu just smirked and nodded, letting his fist crackle with blue lightning Qi as if he was imitating what Huo Kong was doing. Zhang Xue just looked between the two boys while chuckling. She herself pulled out her brand new spear that her master made and brandished it against her foes. The mix of clan members that was on their side, also charged in.

    "Don''t let them get through that hole, we can pick them off one by one!"

    The hole that the group was coming through was quite small, so they only had room for one person at a time. This could be used to their advantage. Soon a barrage of ranged Qi attacks rained at the group that was pouring through the wall, forcing the group into a defensive stance while the rest of them remained stuck behind it.

    "Quickly, charge through... agh!"

    An enemy cultivator was sent flying by a well-placed lesser lightning javelin. Zhang Liu''s group had the element of surprise on their end as the enemies didn''t expect to find anyone on the other side of the wall. They were still outnumbered though and the hole in the wall would just act as a temporary deterrent.

    The enemies on the other side could do two things, either risk it all and try to battle it out right here right now, or pull back and reorganize. Being the haughty youths that they were, they went with the former and decided to blast the path open so more of them could fit through.

    "Ack, w-what are you doing?"

    The problematic thing about that was that they had some of their people crowding at the small opening. The rocky wall was quite robust, made from hard to breakthrough materials. This resulted in some collateral damage in the form of some lesser clan cultivators getting hurt. The youths from the other side belonged to the more powerful group, so they didn''t care that much about the well being of the lesser clans that were temporarily helping them out.

    Zhang Liu looked at the spectacle and smirked.

    ''Those guys have no teamwork what so ever... compared to us..."

    He glanced to the side, Zhang Tai and the rest of their group were charging through one of the corridors. This looked to be it, the two largest factions against each other. The so-called triforce alliance was outnumbered but not outgunned. From the fifty so Zhang Clan members thirty or so remained.

    "Brothers and Sisters... let us show them what the Zhang Clan is made of!"

    Everyone shouted in unison and two groups with fifteen people each were formed. This was one of this clan''s specialties, the Spirit Serpent Formation that everyone was required to train from this point on. This was one of the formations that was utilized in the secret ground, that this clan had ventured forth. This along with the Floodarmor Formation was now becoming a staple of their training regiment. The two formations could be switched between and grew in strength with the number of cultivators in it.

    Zhang Liu was used as the core of one of the formations, while Zhang Tai was in the other. The larger group of cultivators could see two water serpents entangling with each other and then releasing a deep blue beam of condensed Qi in their direction. They were quick to react, putting up various defensive treasures and techniques to block the incoming attack but after one hit they already knew that this wasn''t something they could take on easily.

    The energy beam made everyone scatter to the sides, the place everyone run was in was a more wide-open area. Still, the two blue serpents had barely enough space to maneuver around here. This was also the reason why the Zhang Clan didn''t combine into one large formation.

    The other two clans were keeping busy as well. Their teamwork wasn''t as grand but you could see various wind-based attacks getting thrown by the Feng ladies. The Huo clan rained down on their enemies with their scorching fists, quickly turning up the heat. The whole area turned into a battlefield, anyone not involved in the two alliances was quick to escape.

    "W-what''s with these bastards... how are they so strong..."

    "How did that little Zhang clan become this strong?... are they getting backed by some sect?"

    "Stop yapping and fight, we are getting pushed back...attack them you fools!"

    The trial ground rumbled and massive amounts of foundation establishment techniques collided against each other. Small craters riddled the ground and walls, showing just how much power these youths were already able to wield.

    After a couple of exchanges, an expert would notice which side was the favored one. The larger alliance started to slowly falter, the stronger clans were using the weaker ones as cannon fodder. This was a massive hit to morale and resulted in the breach of their defenses.

    What followed was a domino effect in which their offense collapsed. They were then pushed back by the overwhelming might of the trio of clans.

    "D-do you know who I am?...m-my uncle is the....Arghh...."

    A small palm landed on an enemy youth''s abdomen that propelled him far into the distance. The man slammed into the wall out cold and with foam coming out of his mouth. The small palm belonged to a certain pink-haired lady that just smirked after defeating one of the main young masters from the opposition.

    "Hah, serves you right!"

    The girl hopped up to the twitching body of the opponent that she defeated and pulled out his token. She could see that the fighting was almost over as her clan members and allies were doing the exact same thing that she was. She looked to the side, spotting a certain white-haired youth.

    "Hey....HEY!"

    She shouted out in a loud voice towards him as she bounced forward in his direction. Zhang Liu twitched a bit and turned to see the small girl rushing towards him. She came to an abrupt stop, this produced quite the enchanting ''bounce''.

    "Ah y-yes, can I help you with something sister Nuana?"

    He asked while not being sure what to do about this bundle of energy, or where to look to not seem rude.

    "This is my fourth token, this big sister is magnanimous enough to share it with you! Don''t be shy and take it!"

    She held out the token in front of him, her nose sticking up high as she presented it.

    "Ahh... I''m fine, I already have enough of those... maybe one of the other brothers or sisters from our clans can use it..."

    Zhang Liu had the pleasure of wandering around this place with this strange girl. From his perspective, she was quite the oddball. The girl was nothing like the people that he knew, she was different from his sister or mother. The other girls that he came across were also more refined and reserved compared to this one, but this gave her a certain amount of charm.

    "Ah, I only have two tokens, I could use that one..."

    A certain Zhang clan member came over, he had unusually large sword-shaped eyebrows that were quite voluminous too boot. Feng Nuana just gave the youth a death glare and threw the token to the side while tapping her foot on the ground furiously.

    On the other side, Zhang Xue and Huo Kong were finishing up as well. They weren''t alone though, they were in the company of Zhang Tai that was in the process of glaring daggers at the raid haired man.

    "Who is thi..."

    Before he could ask his question he was assaulted from the side. A girl wrapped her arm around his from one side and another did the same from the other side. These were quite the tanned Feng clan girls, the man they were holding was quite the looker and was also the strongest person beside Zhang Liu.

    "Senior brother Tai... why don''t we go look for some treasures together~"

    "Nooo... Senior brother, wouldn''t you rather do it with this junior sister instead?"

    The Feng clan women weren''t ones to beat around the bush, the man that was deemed worthy of their time would be chased after. The poor guy was surrounded by young women while Zhang Xue and Huo Kong excused themselves. Tai''s clan brothers weren''t sure if they should be feeling envious of their senior brother or pitty him instead.

    "N-noooooo...w-where are you touching... t-that spot it...Ahhhhhhhhhhhh..."

    His shouts reverberated around the trial ground as he got pulled away by a group of gyarus. The next time he was seen, he looked quite drained, his hair disheveled and his robe torn.

    The last trial''s major battle came to a close but it was still not over. There were still people that managed to get away, people from other factions that were hiding in the shadows. The treasure troves were also open for exploration, but the major obstacle for this trio of clans was vanquished. What remained for them was to either wait it out till the time run out, or to find the exit and end it early.

 144 Chapter 144

    The Zhang, Huo, and Feng clan members that were still in the trial made sure to search through the area. The places like that one with the embedded sword could be still visited as the threat of getting ambushed was lowered now. Going through it once more and collecting the treasures was now a possibility, the only problem was the lack of spatial rings to carry things around.

    The army of puppets that were guarding the more lucrative areas was the only problem now. This would be their last test, but after battling with the combined forces of the other clans and coming up on top the triforce alliance''s spirits were at an all-time high. Everyone gave out a battle cry, those automatons were the last obstacle between them and a fat payout.

    While the last trial was coming to an end the people organizing the festival were keeping tabs on the results. The tokens had some weak tracking capabilities and every contestant was marked before entering. Thanks to that the judges had an idea of what was happening inside. The incapacitated contestants would be removed by the puppets inside the trial ground. This also gave them added info to what was happening inside even without being there themselves.

    "Looks like that Zhang Clan is going to be the big winner this time..."

    One of the judges said to one of his co-workers while noting down something on a scroll.

    "Who would have thought that such a small clan could achieve this... we must get more info on them..."

    The Zhang Clan was slowly attracting more attention, this was equally a good thing and a bad thing. From one side, the increase in renown would let them expand their influence, forge alliances, and make better trade deals. On the other side, it would alert the more powerful forces to their existence.

    The Zhang clan was like a carp swimming upstream against a strong current as they tried leaving the small pond they were stuck in. Would they succeed in jumping over the waterfall that was blocking the way and transform into a ferocious dragon? This was still to be seen, but the probability of success wasn''t low, the problem was the other dragons on the other side lurking to strike.

    While the kids were wrapping up the last trial, a certain youth with a small gem in his forehead was walking down the streets. He was wearing an expensive-looking robe and was accompanied by quite the scary-looking cultivators. He had long flowing charcoal colored hair, and his face looked as if it was sculptured by the gods themselves. Still, the lofty disposition that he was carrying himself with kept the ladies at bay. The moment anyone noticed the man they could only shiver in astonishment or fear. Everyone dropped their heads, trying not to look at anyone from that group. They could tell from the insignia of the dark palm, that this was some kind of powerful young master.

    "Young lord Cai, the restaurant that was reserved for you should be just around the corner!"

    One of the old looking cultivators proclaimed while walking in front, his eyes scanning the area while scaring off anyone that dared to look in his young master''s direction. The young man just nodded and moved forward, hands behind his back looking as if he owned the place.

    It was still the middle of the day and people were in a cheerful mood, the Dao Festival was something that even the residents looked forward to. This was mostly due to the fact that they got a lot of tourists that were all big spenders. All the various rich families gathered in this one spot and everyone wanted to give a good impression. This was mostly achieved by spending a lot of money and spirit stones.

    Someone like this young master was at the very top of the totem pole though, he didn''t really need to show off as the dark palm symbol on his robe already made everyone drop down to their knees. Still, sometimes accidents tended to happen. A group of kids was playing around with some sticks, fighting it out while pretending to be powerful cultivators.

    Kids being kids, they didn''t really know about the rules of this world quite yet. One of them ended up tripping right in front of the dark palm group, the stick that he was holding on to flying forward and hitting one of the bodyguards on the foot. This wasn''t something that could actually cause pain to the man, but that wasn''t the problem. The real problem was, that they interfered making their young master stop in his tracks. If a certain Patriarch was here, he would probably be astonished by another child running into a haughty young master.

    "How dare you!"

    The bodyguard shouted out, the child shrunk back his friends too afraid to go forward as they saw many angry uncles staring at them. The mother of the children was nearby, but that wouldn''t really help in this situation.

    "Please appease your anger my lord, he is only a silly child..."

    The bodyguard wasn''t hearing any of it, his life depended on this as well. He could not let people offend his master, he needed to punish this child. He pulled out a whip, cracking it against the ground ready to deliver a sound beating to the peasants in front.

    "Stop~"

    The man stopped himself, his whip moving to the side while he looked behind himself to his young lord that had spoken up. His tone was cheery as if he saw something interesting.

    "You''ll have to excuse my men, they are quite overprotective."

    "Young lord Cai?"

    The man asked a bit confused, but stepped to the side. His young lord walked forward to the mother and child. He reached out with his hand and gave the boy a pat on the head a smile on his face.

    "It''s fine, the bad man won''t do anything to you or your beautiful mother."

    The youth with the gem in his forehead pulled out something that looked like candy from his spatial ring and handed it to the child. The mother received a bewitching wink that made her face turn into a red tomato.

    "Here have this, give some to your friends too."

    The people around the area sighted out in relief. This young lord looked to be on the milder side, the child and his mother left with the rest of the children that were now munching on the treats. The group then went back to their route and towards the restaurant that they were heading towards leaving these commoners to themselves.

    "What a nice young man... you wouldn''t think he would be from that dark palm sect..."

    "This is quite the scoop, such a benevolent young master, a good fit for my daughter!"

    "Dream on, he wouldn''t want her even as a concubine."

    Some people bickered, some laughed while others were a bit skeptical but they couldn''t deny the act of mercy. They dispersed after a while leaving the area a newfound admiration for the dark palm master awakening in some of them.

    The young master that was called Deng Cai headed to the most luxurious restaurant in the city. It was a large building that looked more like a small castle than a place you would go to eat. The top floor was bought out for this young master''s needs, this being one of the boons of being a direct disciple of a powerful Master. He knew that his Master would reward him further if he did well in the coming tournament, but he wasn''t worried. The people participating were way below him, he could take them out with his pinky.

    "Please follow me, young lord, we have everything prepared for you upstairs!"

    A butler looking fellow that didn''t look like he belonged to this era guided the small group of people. They used an elevator like treasure to arrive at the top floor. The people were greeted to a group of scantly clad beauties that were swimming around a large swimming pool.

    "Please enjoy yourself young lord... everything on this level is specially prepared..."

    The butler grinned a bit while looking at the women on the level, some were dancing some were already coming over to guide the clients to a more relaxing part of the restaurant. The man just nodded and headed out, two voluptuous women at each side. They were treating him like a king, feeding him special spirit grapes and letting him grope the ladies all over.

    The guard that was close to punishing the child not long ago just looked at the youth. He was still a bit new to this group so he didn''t know what to make of this. He was smart enough to not bring it up at least, he wasn''t here to party. Still, the way this young man was getting treated was quite envious. This was also a stark contrast to the way he acted previously, gone was the look of a virtuous person, it was now replaced by a lecherous grin.

    ''Ah, this is the life... as long as I remain Master''s disciple, women, wine and power I can have it all... maybe even...''

    The man thought to the most powerful member of the sect, shaking his head in disappointment.

    ''That old fart is a monster... better to wait till his life runs out before even trying to make a move...''

    He took a swig from his wine glass while a busty dancer lady offered him some food, feeding him mouth to mouth. While this was happening the youth suddenly felt something, another smirk appearing on his face.

    ''Here comes the harvest...''

    A little ball of light flew through the window, the people in the area oblivious to its existence. It was followed by two more, even the dark palm disciple couldn''t really ''see'' those balls of light, but he could feel them moving closer. They came to a stop in front of his head, just hovering there as if their purpose was to be there.

    Deng Cai closed his eyes for a moment, not paying attention to the scantily clad women around him for the time being. He was focused on the orbs of radiating energy in front of him. They in response moved in closer and finally entered into that gem on his forehead. The gem gave off a faint sheen which soon subsided after the light orbs were absorbed.

    ''Ah, the young pure ones always taste the best... sadly they were just plain commoners with minimal spiritual energy.''

    The man licked his lips and laughed out loud in a rather creepy fashion. This startled the dancing ladies, that took a moment to gather themselves. The sound of zither music drowned out the cackling man while another scene was playing out elsewhere.

    "Little Tei... what''s wrong, are you feeling unwell?"

    The mother from the previous encounter was shaking her son a bit. He looked a bit out of it his eyes glossed over, his hands slumped forward. The boy didn''t react, his arms and legs flailing as if he was a ragdoll without any life in him. He was obviously still breathing and was warm to the touch but something was wrong.

    "Why won''t you answer?"

    The woman started shouting, this wasn''t the first child the others were all doing the same thing. It was as if something sucked out the very being out of them and left them just a shell of their former self. It didn''t look like anything was wrong with them on the outside, but the kids seemed vacant and unresponsive.

    The woman had no idea what could be wrong with her children, they were just fine a moment ago but suddenly dropped to their knees. They weren''t responding to her, she wasn''t a doctor and her husband was still out working. The only thing the woman could do was to gather up her children and place them in bed.

    This wasn''t the first or last case like this, soon the clinics in the jade city were getting filled up with unresponsive children and people. The doctors were baffled by the strange symptoms by they all came to one consensus, all of these people were missing parts of their soul. The longer they stayed in this state the worse it would get, the only cure was either to return the stolen soul fragment or using a soul treasure that would allow the soul to repair itself. Such treasures were far too rare, the only thing these people could do was to slowly watch as their loved ones drifted away.

 145 Chapter 145

    The time was up and the last trial was over. The participants that were still inside the testing area, were forcefully removed by the teleportation formation that was embedded into the trial area. Even though some of the young cultivators were able to last till the end, not all of them were left with the three tokens. Some of them somehow managed to scrape by while hiding from the stronger participants, hoping to nab a token in the end, but to no avail.

    A group of youths was slowly appearing in the large auditorium like room. This was the same room through which they entered into the trial through the large teleportation gate. The number of people that were in this room was a lot smaller than previously. The people that were removed during the trial had already gone back to their hotel or clan members by this point.

    The youths from the three clan alliance were there as well, with them all together they finished with about fifty members. This would be considered about half of the contestants in the final tournament. The rest was a hodgepodge of other clans and sects, the people that remained were either very lucky to evade the overbearing three clans, or somewhat capable.

    Zhang Xue was standing, just looking around. After the big battle, the youths didn''t really have many problems in the trial. They run into some of those puppets and traps while traveling, but it wasn''t anything that they couldn''t manage. She was walking along with her brother that was getting bothered by the short, tanned girl. This self-proclaimed ''big sister'' was quite the oddball.

    She looked to the sides trying to find her sibling but spotted her red-haired male friend. Huo Kong looked back at her as everyone was teleported into this area but into random locations. This man had proven to be a good ally to this Zhang Xue so she just smiled at him as he was looking in her direction. The man opened his eyes wider and the young girl could see his cheeks turning into a redder shade.

    ''For such a big lug, he sure is quite innocent...''

    Zhang Xue thought to herself while trying not to laugh. She then spotted her white-haired brother that was inching away from something. This ''something'' was a busty looking pink-haired girl, she was shouting something at him while the youth looked like he wasn''t sure what to do.

    ''That girl is sure peculiar... but big brother should take care of that himself... I''ll tease him about her later.''

    She thought that this Feng Nuana was quite an interesting person. She didn''t act as anything that Xue had ever seen, she was one of those eccentric people that she heard about. The small girl was a bundle of energy and apparently had it in for her big brother. She was the strongest member of the Feng Clan so the other girls didn''t bother her older sibling. She also scared away any other girls that tried approaching him. Liu''s younger sister could only look on from the side and giggle, even if her older brother gave her pleading looks she wouldn''t help him out.

    Xue moved her eyes to the side, she saw another peculiar thing. It was her senior brother Zhang Tai. He was covered in lipstick marks and his robes looked to be torn. Apparently he had spent the rest of his time in the trial ground running away from a gang of gyarus. The girls were relentless but he managed to safeguard his chastity. The number of girls was probably this large due to not being able to bother Zhang Liu that was occupied by the Feng Clan strongest junior member.

    ''Senior brother sure is popular...''

    Xue wasn''t really interested in him that much. She knew that the man was vying for her attention, but she wasn''t all that interested. There were a couple of reasons for this, mostly she didn''t like his double-sided nature. He was nice to her and all, but when it came to others he quickly transformed into a haughty young master type. He also didn''t have the body type that this little sister admired, being more on the toned lanky side.

    ''Think I just need to wait for one of those Feng sisters to nab him, he looks to be very popular with them.''

    Everyone that made it through the lat trial rejoiced, they had made it till the end of the road only about a hundred participants remained now. The people responsible for the last test came out, one elder stepped out as he started talking.

    "Any fighting past this point is forbidden, please head through this corridor if you have managed to acquire the three tokens."

    The man pointed at a door, if they went through it their tokens would be counted and their names would be recorded.

    "If you didn''t please use the other passageway, also relinquish any tokens you might have on you. Sharing tokens among yourselves from this point forth, is forbidden. Anyone not adhering to this will be forcefully removed!"

    If allies wanted to share tokens with each other the judges wouldn''t mind if it happened during the trial. For instance, if three people had one token each, they could hand them over to one person to pass the trial. This was also how some of the contestants made it through, either by making deals or threats which were still approved.

    The tired group of youths nodded, the winners went to the corridor to get their names recorder and tokens counted. The losers returned theirs to the judges and left in shame. Everyone that made it through would have a number assigned to them, the tournament was an elimination one. This meant that by winning a fight you would move up in the brackets. This was a different method than what Zhang Dong used to test his fighters before moving on to the secret ground. He mostly did that as he thought that an elimination tournament would have a large luck component to itself.

    "Zhang Liu... number 42... Zhang Clan... tokens check out... please take your number and move along."

    Liu was handed a number and moved along, from what he knew the actual pairings would be given on the day of the Dao Festival. Papers with the numbers would be put into a closed container with an opening on the top. Someone would then pull them out, making the pairings be random and also give the audience something to look forward to.

    "Feng Nuana... number 43... Feng Clan..."

    He snapped to his senses, the little girl was still sticking close to him and he wasn''t sure what to do with her. He didn''t have it in himself to get angry at her and whenever he tried hiding or running, she always managed to sniff him out. In the trial area, he always managed to bump into her whenever he tried to ditch her.

    ''Think she is sticking to me so closely, so that I don''t try to run away... what is up with this girl..."

    He was getting concerned, but he only needed to power through this tournament and then he could return back to his clan. The girl was from an allied clan but he didn''t think that she should be able to bother him at his home turf. The girl had violent tendencies but he didn''t think that she would do anything stupid. While he was thinking the girl in question wrapped her hands around his once again, the familiar feeling of something soft against his arm was felt again.

    "Gah!"

    "Mmm, what is it? No need being shy, I know you like when Big Sis does this, you always get red in the face!"

    Feng Nuana proclaimed while tightening her grip on Zhang Liu''s arm. The young man went red in the face, while furiously denying this preposterous claim.

    "W-who is shy? Who gets red in the face? Let me go this instant!"

    He tried shaking her off but the more he moved the more he could see those peaks jiggle. He was still a young man and was quickly subdued by the cute girl''s advances. While this was happening he heard a cackle from the side, turning his head he saw a smirking Huo Kong.

    "Well, isn''t the mighty Zhang Liu quite the ladies'' man. Think you and my father would get along."

    Huo Kong laughed, his rival looked troubled which instantly made him feel refreshed.

    "Just don''t forget about the festival tomorrow you two love birds!"

    Feng Nuana looked to be happy about being called that, Liu, on the other hand, was fuming from the side.

    "Senior brother Huo, should you be saying such things, yourself?"

    Huo Kong looked to the side while still smirking, only to catch Zhang Xue''s face dangerously close to his when he turned. He instantly backed away while stuttering, the white-haired girl just covered her face with a sleeve and snickered.

    "Oh my, the mighty senior is so bashful~"

    Kong''s face contorted while Liu laughed out from the side, soon everyone left towards the exit with all of their numbers assigned. Zhang Tai was the only one that quickly bolted into the distance, followed by some Feng sisters the girls were apparently still on him.

    "Senior Brother Tai sure is popular..."

    Liu said while rubbing his head, the shorty that was stuck to his arm was now getting pulled back by the old lady he met in that shop. He was finally free and could stretch out, his arm had quite the girl smell to it now. His sister moved over to him and inhaled, she then poked her own nose.

    "Hm... cherries?"

    Zhang Liu grimaced and backed off, his sister was looking at him funny and he knew that she wanted to tease him. The two and the rest of their clan members headed back to their hotel to rest. They had limited free time, they had to recover their used up spiritual energy and heal any injuries they had.

    Nothing out of the ordinary happened, the elders escorted their juniors back to their quarters. The real festival would be starting soon and the possibility of getting attacked wasn''t nill. There were also rumors about some people having their souls drained, there could be demonic cultivators in this city somewhere. So, they had to be more vigilant than ever.

    At the headquarters of the Dark Palm outer sect building, an elder with a crooked nose was standing up straight. Opposite him there was a man with a gem in his forehead, it was glistering with an eery light that was giving the crooked nosed elder the creeps.

    "Young lord Kai, the festival will be starting in two days, your disciple already had his number assigned and everything has been prepared for his arrival."

    This was the governor as well as the man in the highest position from this Dark Palm outer sect. He was still trying to make a good impression on the young lord, but the man that was standing a bit further back was even more important. Even though Yang Kai had a high position, he was still only a core formation cultivator. The man that was standing in the back was the actual VVIP, even though the man with the gem had a strong backing, the elder behind him was an actual Nascent Soul powerhouse.

    "Elder Ming, the auction house is still gathering the items for auction, it will open up in three days..."

    The man was worried as he couldn''t hasten the auction. That establishment had a strong backing and took a neutral stance. Thanks to this the quality of the items that were put up for sale was quite high. Masers even at the nascent soul could procure worthwhile items for themselves, but this was quite rare.

    Even though the Dark Palm sect had a zero-tolerance policy for letting others have heaven grade treasures, it had to allow some powers to sell them. This auction house was a large chain store and was owned by a rather strong clan with their own nascent soul monsters. Even the Dark Palm sect couldn''t strongman them around. Still, the auction house was only interested in profit. They didn''t care what happened to the item after they sold it. If the Dark Palm sect wanted to chase the buyer down afterward it was up to them. Thus it was rare for people without a backing to go for items of that quality. If you tried it, you''d find yourself on this sect''s hit list rather quickly.

    "Is that so..."

    The man just nodded while leaving the area, the atmosphere got lighter when he left even the man with the gem gave out a sigh of relief.

    ''Elder Ming is always so calm on the outside... hope everything goes well at the auction''

    Yang Kai looked at the elder member from his sect leaving, a glint in his eye.

    ''Well, if not... then I bet there will be an interesting spectacle to watch...''

 146 Chapter 146

    The door shut behind the Nascent Soul elder. The man with the crooked nose didn''t give away his emotions but he was glad that that man left. He noticed that the young lord Kai gave out a visible sigh, making him think that he was feeling the same way as he did. This man was someone that liked to gossip and gather information on various things, so he spoke up and tried to probe this young lord a bit.

    "Elder Ming is such a composed man, isn''t he? Heard that among the grand peak elders he is one of the more virtuous!"

    He smiled while looking at Yang Kai that looked to be taken aback by what this crooked nosed man just said.

    "Composed? Hah, that''s a nice joke there. Elder Ming makes my old man look like a docile little puppy in comparison."

    The cultivator looked to be amused, the man that asked the question was bewildered by the answer. The elder that just left was quite stoic, he never talked much or complained either. But apparently he was a lot more ferocious than even Yang Kai''s father, just the mention of that person made this outer sect elder shiver in his boots.

    "Young Master must be joking, how could Elder Ming be that fierce?"

    Yang Kai''s eyes twinkled a bit and a smirk appeared on his face. He leaned back in his seat and got more comfortable. He would tell this ignorant outer sect elder what was really going on.

    "Well, you might not know it as you''re not part of the inner sect... but let me tell you something... never go against Elder Ming in any way... don''t even meet his eyes if you aren''t willing to lose your life!"

    The outer sect elder was taken aback as he gasped. Was this elder Ming so vicious that he would give you a good thrashing for looking at him the wrong way?

    "What, you think that I''m lying?"

    The man moved his hands in front of his face and waved them around in protest while replying to that question.

    "My young lord, how could I presume such a thing!"

    Yang Kai just smirked while taking a swig from some spirit alcohol that one of his bodyguards handed him.

    "I don''t blame you, If I didn''t see it with my own eyes I would probably have a hard time believing some of the stories concerning him..."

    The young lord started relaxing and drinking, he got a lot more chatty as well. He started recounting some of Elder Ming''s misdeeds and they were quite ghastly. The man even wiped a whole middle-sized clan from the face of the planet, just for a trivial-sounding offense. From the stories, the outer sect elder found out that the man was awfully pedantic. Everything had to go by the book, so if someone of lower status offended him in any way he wouldn''t just let it slide. Either they apologized right away in the appropriate fashion or they were in for a bad time.

    "You''d better tell your people to keep things nice and tidy around Elder Ming, or he might blame you if someone offends him."

    The crooked nosed elder shivered and started sweating profoundly. He soon excused himself from the room that they were talking about and alerted his most trusted aides. He heard some tales about this nascent soul monster, but he thought they were highly exaggerated. But apparently most of those grim stories were the truth, he needed to put more people on the job and keep anyone that might cause trouble away from this overbearing elder.

    ''What if he blames me if someone steps on his foot? Then decides to chop my head off along with the rest of my bloodline...''

    The man went pale and headed out, he wouldn''t be sleeping much for the duration of this auction. He had to make sure that no one offended this merciless sect elder.

    At the break of dawn in Jade Grass City, you could hear people shuffling around. Everyone was putting up various stands with all sorts of items. Food, trinkets, and even low-level magical treasures could be seen everywhere. This was the true beginning of the Dao Festival, the residents were ready to earn some cold hard cash. Milking the tourists was one of the main reasons that this event was set up. The clans would have a stick measuring competition and the residents along with the Dark Palm sect would profit.

    The tournament would start before noon and depending on how long the participants fought, it could take more than one day to finish. Everyone knew the rules before going inside the ring. There would be a main judge at the side of the ring that was of core formation strength.

    His or her job would be to determine if the opponent couldn''t participate and to point out the winner. There were no life-saving formations that would prevent death, only a shield that blocked any outcoming attacks going into the audience''s stance. The judge was required to jump in if the fight got too spicy.

    The juniors that were participating were considered the best of the best at this point, so no one wanted their future leaders to get hurt. Still, accidents did happen, anyone could lose their life in a nerve-racking bout like this. The youngsters mostly weren''t that good at holding back and if you tried, you might be the one to die instead.

    The place that the tournament took place looked similar to an old Roman colosseum. It was just much, much larger than the old earthen structure. The center stage was the size of a soccer field and it was circular in shape. There was a body of water separating the battle stage and the audience area.

    There were a couple of two-meter wide bridges leading to the stage through which the contestants were guided into it. The audience stands were layered and could fit thousands of people. The more elite members like from the Dark Palm sect had their own VIP area that had the best spot to overlook the battles.

    The participants would face each other on that large stage, due to the size of it they had enough space to maneuver and use their foundation establishment techniques to their heart''s content. Even though the distance from the battle stage was far, the eyes of cultivators above a certain level allowed most people to see just fine.

    "Is everything ready?"

    Zhang Jin asked while standing opposite another older looking fellow from his clan.

    "Yes, Grand Elder. Thanks to the Huo Clan''s young master''s help you will be able to enjoy the VIP seats. The young Matriarch from the Feng Clan will be joining us as well."

    The man proclaimed as the triforce alliance had managed to pull some strings. They had to pay quite the hefty price in spirit stones but they had one of the better seats in the arena.

    "Good, We''ll be able to see the youngsters taking all the glory in style."

    Zhang Jin smirked, knowing well that his junior members were the top batch in this tournament. He was still a bit worried about kicking up too much of a fuss, but some good advertisements would also be very profitable.

    "What about the other thing?"

    The old man asked while walking forward, ready to head out to the festival ground.

    "Ah yes, various clans and sects from the area wanted to have a word with you. They probably want to garner some favor with us after their members lost to our junior members in the trials."

    Zhang Jin nodded, he agreed thinking that it was probably the main motive.

    "Yes... but be careful, some of them might have some ulterior motives. Be sure to check their background, be careful who you invite."

    There was still a possibility of some snakes trying to slip their way into their graces along the way. Even though the junior members were doing great, that didn''t mean that their elders were powerful. The other clans could try prodding them to see if they have enough power to defend themselves. The Patriarch wasn''t here to show off his strength so Zhang Jin would have to cover for him if something happened.

    "They should know that we are allied with two prominent clans, so I don''t think they will cause trouble. But stay vigilant and report to me immediately if something happens."

    Zhang Jin didn''t really worry about the lower sects and clans. He was powerful enough to defend himself now and had a couple tricks up his sleeve. The problem would be if the Dark Palm sect got involved. But he was an old cultivator. He was confident enough in being able to maneuver in this sea of schemes and politics. This was the reason he didn''t want his grandson Zhang Dong around, he knew that the Zhang Patriarch wasn''t so good with people of a higher status than him.

    "Don''t forget to stay in contact with the main house though, you never know..."

    He didn''t want Zhang Dong to come here, but he knew that if something went down that the Patriarch was the only one powerful enough to do something about it. He already knew that the boy was edging towards the nascent soul level. He almost passed out when he showed him the full extent of his power, that finger attack that he demonstrated was something that he wouldn''t forget till he died.

    There weren''t many opportunities to meet Nascent Soul cultivators. So Zhang Jin wasn''t sure how his grandson compared to an established master at that realm. Zhang Dong told him that he should be able to last a couple of minutes against someone at the early stage. This was already a shocking discovery, how could someone in the core formation stage and slightly above the age of thirty accomplish something like that?

    In Zhang Jin''s opinion, Zhang Dong was quite the monster himself. Who in the world heard of a person below the age of hundred with such power? He didn''t know that it would be wise to reveal him to the world just yet, so he would have to consider his options before calling his grandson for any help.

    The old man sighed out while looking up into the sky. The day was nice and warm, the sky was a nice shade of blue and there were almost no clouds around. This tournament would be over within a couple of days. He really didn''t want to consider choosing between his young clan juniors and his grandson. But in reality, there would mostly be one right move he could take and he didn''t like the thought of that.

    In front of the large colosseum looking structure were many vibrant festival stands. People were shouting and trying to get people''s attention to sell their wares. The youths from the three clans were heading through the street altogether. After the last trial, they had gotten closer to each other even though only slightly.

    Zhang Xue was covering her face with a veil that only let people see her charming eyes. This didn''t stop anyone from staring though as they could tell from the way she conducted herself that she was a beauty. She was walking next to some of her clan sisters, not many remained after the three trials.

    Huo Kong had his own entourage but he was sneaking glances at the junior sister that he met in the trial. For some reason, he had suddenly seen the light and wasn''t thinking about vengeance against this Zhang Clan. His reasoning being, that no clan with such a gentle beauty could actually be evil. The things that his father said must have been true in the end.

    Zhang Liu was stuck with Feng Nuana, he had a concerned look on his face. His arm was already a designated boobrest for the short girl, this making the young man have mixed feelings. He also wanted to know who taught this fiendish arm lock technique to this small girl, was she a demonic cultivator in disguise? Only someone like that could have came up with a ghastly technique like this!

    Zhang Tai was surrounded from all sides by the Feng gang. The tanned girls were giving any other women that glanced at their ''target'' the stink eye, successfully keeping any other potential contenders at bay.

    Soon everyone arrived, the Dao Festival would be officially beginning!

 147 Chapter 147

    People poured in like water and quickly filled up the seats. This world didn''t have much entertainment with the lack of the internet or TV. So things like fighting tournaments were all the rage. It was very popular among men that were attracted to the contest between two warriors. It was less popular with the women, but they did enjoy seeing the good looking young men participating.

    The contestants were led to a side hall while the people in charge were preparing the drawing. The numbers would be announced out loud and a person would write the names of the fighters on a large board. The fighters in question wouldn''t be there for the process as they were ordered to wait. If their turn came they would be guided to another room to wait for their turn. This was a long process so most of the people weren''t really paying attention.

    At the time of the drawing, Zhang Jin was sitting in the VIP booth that he and some of the other elders occupied. He could see Huo Qiang along with his most trusted retainer and bodyguard Huo Qiao, his beard looking pristine as always. The two were sitting together while looking at the stage wondering when Qiang''s son''s number would be pulled.

    On the other side was the Feng Clan elders, Feng Liena and Feng Maling were there together paying attention to the number 43 that belonged to their family members. There were some less important elder members from all the three clans sitting in the back and chatting as well.

    "That little rascal has taken a liking to the Zhang boy, even though we told her to not follow the old teachings anymore..."

    The old lady shook her head a couple of times before looking to the young Matriarch. The tanned lady was wearing a jade green robe that went well with the green motive of her clan and this city. This was a more modest robe than what she normally wore, and there was a reason for that.

    After the explanation Zhang Dong gave her, she started pondering her life choices. One of them was wearing revealing clothes that showed off her peaks, that the old scriptures showed as being the proper attire for their clan members. She didn''t abandon the old teachings altogether, picking and choosing as the man said that there were some truths in there. She just needed to find the real ones herself.

    The tanned appearance of the Feng clan had nothing to do with makeup or tanning though, it was a side effect of their body refining technique. This was also why Feng Liena''s complexion was a lot lighter than the skin tone of the other Feng clan ladies. Her technique was of a higher quality and she didn''t suffer such a big side-effect as the others. The same could be said for her younger sister who was using the improved version as well.

    "Don''t see anything wrong with that... that Zhang Junior seems to be quite the virtuous fellow..."

    Feng Liena proclaimed while fanning herself a bit with one of her fans that she received from Zhang Dong as a present.

    "Oh? Did you look into him already... or is it because he is the Disciple of that man."

    Feng Maling sniggered while looking at her Matriarch whose face twitched.

    "If your little sister gets closer to his disciple you''ll probably see him a lot more as a result, which wouldn''t be bad... But wouldn''t it be better to just send that marriage request?"

    The old lady probed as she already had attempted to send one of those requests but was stopped by the Matriarch each time. If they followed the old teachings the Matriarch would aggressively go after her ''love target''.

    "I... "

    Feng Liena moved her face down and blushed slightly. After deliberating about the old texts and that they weren''t all that cracked up to be, she just felt slightly silly about the things that she did back in the secret ground. She also felt like the man in question should do some pushing of his own accord, but besides a couple of techniques and items that Zhang Dong had gifted her, she didn''t see him all that much.

    She was well aware of the way cultivators lived. They spent most of their days cultivating and trying to get stronger either to better themselves or help out their family. She was also scared of getting rejected by the man she was interested in. Thus she was left with waiting it out, but this approach was proving its ineffectiveness.

    "Well how about after the festival finishes we head to Spirit Spring City together young lady Feng?"

    Zhang Jin butted into the conversation that the two women were having. He was quite proficient in things like this and also felt that it was high time for his grandson to have some kids himself.

    "I''m sure the Patriarch will gladly accommodate the whole Feng Clan and the Matriarch, just leave everything to this old man!"

    He smiled at the two women, Feng Maling raised her brow a bit but then nodded as this wasn''t such a bad idea.

    "So it''s decided then, we will stop at the Zhang Clan for a week after the tournament is over."

    The two elders were agreeing with each other, the young Matriarch in question just sat there quietly while deliberating some more.

    "W-well... I don''t see a problem with that..."

    She covered her face with her fan and smiled slightly, thinking that checking out the Zhang Clan''s city wasn''t such a bad idea. Though while she was smiling to herself thinking about the robes that she should wear while meeting with the Zhang Patriarch, someone from the side butted in.

    "Oh? What are you talking about? Are you heading over to Senior Brother after this? That''s a great idea, I''ll be able to have a glorious battle with him!"

    Huo Qiang slipped into the conversation, which made his retainer grimace from the side while turning his head away in shame. Maling and Liena just glared at him, Zhang Jin just nodded while chuckling.

    "Hah, sure thing lord Qiang, just don''t destroy our little clan during that ''glorious battle'' "

    He laughed out loud while moving his attention back to the tournament. The contestant numbers were still being drawn, the process was going slowly. The names of most of the members from his clan weren''t yet drawn. He didn''t know why but he was getting a bad feeling, like something could go wrong at a moment''s notice.

    ''Must be my imagination... this is a sanctioned and well-protected place... the boy shouldn''t have any problems of coming up on top in this tournament. Just hope he doesn''t give away too much on the way there though. Xue will be wearing a veil so it should be fine.''

    The old man leaned back, hoping that his bad premonition was just him being overprotective in his older years. While the triforce alliance members were talking and bickering with each other, someone was looking at them. Right opposite them was another closed-off booth for very important members, it was a lot more exquisite than theirs though. This was the room that Yang Kai was occupying, there was a special tinted glass blocking anyone from viewing inside of it.

    ''There you are...''

    The man thought to himself, he was alone in this luxury room just sipping on some spirit wine while enjoying the view. His eyes were in the direction of the two Feng clan members that were talking with each other about something.

    ''Should I just go there... no, it''s too soon. I''ll let my disciple play with some of those brats first...or should we make it more interesting...''

    The man leaned back in his high-quality chair his gaze plastered to someone in that other VIP booth. His face showing a grin as he thought about something interesting.

    ''Hm, who would she be inclined to help the most...''

    The man had a list of participants of the Dao Festival tournament with him. He glanced at the ones coming from a certain wing clan, his eyes stopped at one name in particular.

    "Feng Nuana... this one is from her family... perfect..."

    He quickly called a Dark Palm sect retainer and sent him out with a plan. He just leaned back and relaxed waiting for the show to start, the tournament would probably not be done correctly due to his interference but he didn''t care. Who could go against this young master?

    ''Elder Ming won''t mind, this place belongs to the Dark Palm sect. I can do whatever I want, he just cares about the things in the auction house.''

    The papers were getting pulled and the names on the large blackboard were getting filled out. Suddenly a person run-up to one of the members that were scribbling the names on the board. The worker looked at the messenger and quickly nodded. He looked up at the names that were already there as if looking for someone. After a moment he found the name he was looking for, it was already there but there was no one written in yet as an opponent. This was quickly changed as he wrote one peculiar name into that bracket.

    In the main resting area where all the participants were standing about nothing, in particular, was happening. Most of the people were keeping to themselves while sitting in a lotus position. Everyone was circulating their Qi through their body to relax and put themselves in the best possible condition. Even Zhang Tai was left alone by the gang of tanned girls as he convinced them that he might suffer in the coming bouts if he doesn''t get some space and time to relax.

    After some time passed, the first two contestants were pulled to the sides, they moved to the two waiting rooms. They were ordered to wait there and go out after the door opened up.

    Zhang Liu and the rest finally heard people cheering from afar, the first bout was on its way. It took about ten minutes for it to end, one of the contestants was carried off on a stretcher to anther room while a cultivator that they weren''t familiar with sat back in the waiting room. He looked a bit beaten up but still had a smile on his face, he managed to win it n front of so many people and was proud.

    ''I wonder when my turn will be...''

    Liu wondered if he should take a peek at the fights before his name got called. They were ordered to wait here, but they still were a couple of large windows that allowed them to see and hear what was happening. Not like they were trapped in here and if they were someone that won a match they could just go out before the next round altogether.

    Luckily he was one of the people that got called out sooner than later. He quickly moved to the inner waiting room and soon heard his name getting called out. After walking through the large doors he heard a massive amount of cheers and could see a large number of people just shouting.

    "Coming from the East gate we have Zhang Liu from the Zhang clan! Give him a round of applause for our young warrior!"

    Liu blinked as the voice sounded quite familiar, this was true as the announcer was the exact same man that was doing the commenting during his bout against Huo Kong. His opponent was already out and standing, luckily it wasn''t someone from his clan or from the two other allied clans. His opponent looked to be a youth with short brown hair, just a regular looking young cultivator.

    Zhang Liu could tell that his opponent wasn''t up to par and it didn''t take him long to deliver a strong blow to his opponent''s abdomen. The adversary quickly passed out while spitting out his lunch, the audience gasped as it was a one-hit KO.

    ''Did I go too hard?''

    He shrugged while leaving, the people cheered while the announcer praised his strength.

    ''I can leave now till the next round starts, no use waiting here..and Nuana is still in the waiting room...''

    Zhang Liu used this chance to slip away while Feng Nuana was stuck in the waiting room. He joined some other people that won their fights. The people gave him odd looks as they were shocked due to the man''s one-hit win. Time passed and more and more bouts happened, Liu saw people ripping up some small papers constantly. Those were the betting slips that didn''t pan out for the gamblers, the ground was littered with them and it was only going to get worse.

    ''Should I got bet on myself...''

    While thinking to himself he heard a familiar name getting called out.

    "Fellow Daoists, from the East gate we have the lovely Feng Nuana!"

    He craned his neck back to the stage, the shorty was going to fight with someone. Her opponent wasn''t out yet, and people were drooling at the stacked girl that walked out onto the stage.

    ''She shouldn''t have problems with the regular juniors from any clan... don''t think that anyone besides Tai or that red-head can beat her.''

    He waited for the announcer to give the name of the opponent while looking at the stage. Liu''s arms were crossed over one another as he waited.

    "From the west gate... the glorious, the gallant, the magnanimous and the brilliant young master Deng Cai. He has graced us with his presence and is a warrior from the inner Dark Palm Sect, please give him a round of applause! "

    Zhang Liu''s raised a brow slightly as that introduction was slightly overdone. He didn''t know who this opponent was, but apparently the announcer had a favorable opinion of him.

 148 Chapter 148

    The people in the audience went quiet instantly after the name of the next participant was announced. The uncomfortable silence got then replaced by faint whispering.

    "Wait... d-did he say, inner Dark Palm sect?... what is a person like that doing here..."

    One person asked.

    "Why would someone of that status be here... are they here to cause trouble?"

    Another person asked.

    "How should I know, this was supposed to be an event for the clans and not for the main sect..."

    "This looks fishy... probably something big is going to happen!"

    People continued speculating while Deng Cai slowly went over the bridge, the shield flickering on as he entered the stage. He had a faint smirk on his face, hands behind his back while not paying attention to what these commoners were whispering about. He looked at the opponent that he was facing, it was one of the two girls that he was slightly interested in.

    ''So it''s that one...so Master wants me to play around with her?...''

    Deng Cai sighed inwardly, his plans were slightly different. He wanted to show off during the tournament against the so-called ''best'' of the warriors that those clans had to offer. He would let the fair ladies see how awesome and strong he is, garnering their affection in response.

    But now things were different, his master had ordered him to ''play'' with this busty yet short girl. He knew Yang Kai''s character and what this actually meant in reality.

    ''Hope I don''t break her too much... oh well there still is the second one, and she is more my type than this one.''

    The young man looked to the audience, there were a lot of gazes on him. He was someone that liked to appear magnanimous on the outside even though he was quite rotten on the inside in reality. But if his master ordered him to be violent he would follow the order with decisiveness.

    The two combatants were now facing each other, the mood was tense as the people that were watching didn''t know who to cheer for. They kind of had to go with the young Dark Palm sect master, otherwise, they feared that the sect would think they weren''t respecting them enough or giving them enough face.

    The young lord smiled at the short lady opposite him, he was quite the handsome young man even the girls in the audience had their hearts skip a beat after getting a load of that hunk.

    "What a beautiful fairy I have as an opponent, but don''t you worry this lord Cai is quite benevolent when fighting against such beautiful opponents!"

    He gave her a slight coquettish grin while still standing with his hands behind his back. Feng Nuana''s eyebrows twitched as she had her hands out in a more traditional battle position. She as well as her big sister was someone that used combat fans as a weapon. This tournament allowed the use of personal weapons, the only thing that was forbidden was having spatial rings or pills that boosted your battle strength.

    She was kind of mad as she noticed that her opponent wasn''t taking her seriously at all. Which made the small girl fume in anger, which was shown in the form of a giant pout on her face. The girl moved her hand out and pointed at the yang man she was going to fight, rage in her eyes.

    "Who are you calling a beautiful fairy you idiot, you think this big sis would go for shallow compliments like that, huh?"

    She gave the man a malicious glare, her battle fans getting moved in front of her face as she got ready for a fight. She didn''t know why, but this guy was pissing her off. He was way too smug and if she remembered correctly, smug and overconfident males weren''t good partners. You were supposed to go for the awkward boys, the more troubled they looked the better match they would be.

    Deng Cai was taken aback, he was giving the girl his best young master smile and he even blew his bangs upwards for an enchanting effect while talking. How could this woman not be affected by his charms, there must be something wrong with her. Was what this man was thinking to himself.

    "No need to be shy lovely fairy, how about we play a little game?"

    The man proposed still standing there with his hands behind his back while the people in the audience continued whispering among each other.

    "I''ll give you five minutes, if you manage to strike me even once, I''ll admit defeat."

    The man stuck his chest out while posing proudly and swished his sleeve to add to the effect, thinking that this made him look really gallant and charming.

    "Huh? Stop spouting nonsense you dandy bastard!"

    The small girl fumed with anger as her face got red. She really didn''t like how this guy was running his mouth, making it seem like she wasn''t even worth his time. She was still part of the young master template, so this was quite the hit to her face. She was oblivious to the Dark Palm Sect behind this man and didn''t really worry about things like that.

    Feng Nuana gripped her two battle fans tightly and swung them forward. Her mortal grade weapon shone with a green light and produced a blade of wind in the shape of a scythe. The ranged attack flew with astonishing speed at Deng Cai that was still standing there without a care in the world.

    "Die you bastard!"

    The short girl had quite the potty mouth and continued shouting at the man while producing more razor shape wind blade attacks. The young master with the gem on the forehead on the other hand just dodged. He made it look easy as he dodged the wind scythes, each one of them missed and sliced into the rocky ground leaving deep scratches on it.

    "My, my... you''re quite the interesting girl... but this is child''s-play for this young lord!"

    The man continued bouncing side to side while using some strange movement technique that Feng Nuana couldn''t get a read on. The girl just as the rest of her clan members was a ranged specialist. She continued pelting her opponent with wind blades, the sheer amount of them was astonishing. The number would leave a normal opponent bleeding and defeated by this point. This man, on the other hand, looked to be enjoying himself as he just soared through the battle stage.

    The crowd gasped, they weren''t expecting such a one-sided battle. The girl was ranked in the top ten of the current young generation that was taking part in this tournament. But compared to this man she was like a tame little kitten, he wasn''t even retaliating, just dodging everything with ease.

    Up in the VIP booth where the members of the triforce alliance were sitting, the elders were sweating bullets. They didn''t know where this dark palm sect disciple came from, but everyone here knew well who he was.

    "What is the disciple of that bastard doing here..."

    Feng Liena moved forward and stared at the center stage. Her younger sister was assaulting her opponent with various techniques, but they didn''t look to be effective at all. The granny next to her rubbed her chin and also chimed in.

    "Could it be a coincidence..."

    "I don''t think so, this youth wasn''t there during the trials. His name was called out during the draws either."

    Zhang Jin replied while also standing up from his seat. He didn''t like this one bit, this situation was strange. He didn''t know what this was about, but it was probably something relating to the Feng clan. The disciple of that Yang Kai was probably moved to fight this young Matriarch''s sister for a reason, but what could that be?

    "Do you have any ideas about the purpose of this? Did you offend this disciple or his master in any way?"

    Feng Liena moved her face to the side and went a bit pale. She remembered one person from the Dark Palm Sect, she didn''t give him much face and stormed out the moment he made a marriage proposal out of nowhere.

    "The Matriarch did refuse him, I was there with her that time."

    Feng Maling replied while following the rest to the edge of the VIP booth as everyone was trying to look at the fight.

    "Think this might have been the reason we were sent to that blasted secret ground two years ago. Though we haven''t heard anything from him since then..."

    The old lady vaguely remembered the Dark Palm young master, he had a strange look in his face. She was the one to apologize after the whole predicament happened for her Matriarch. The man had a weird smile that gave her the chills that time though.

    "Maybe you should tell the young one to give up, that young man is clearly just toying with her at this point..."

    The old man spoke up while rubbing his chin. He started measuring the young man''s strength and was quite surprised that such a young lad existed. He was clearly in the late stage of foundation establishment, even edging on the great circle realm.

    ''Is this boy really below the age of twenty-one?''

    Zhang Liu and Xue were already progressing fast, but even those two might not be at that realm in just a couple of years. Was this youth lying about his age? Even if his age was a lie, he was from the inner sect. The same sect that owned this whole town, they would probably not care or be too afraid to punish him for it.

    "Tell her to give up?"

    The busty Matriarch looked to the granny next to her, the older woman grimaced and then shrugged.

    "I think it would be easier to find a phoenix feather than to convince that sister of mine to surrender..."

    Feng Liena was getting worried, it would be great if the battle just ended. Her silly sister didn''t look as if she had any chance of winning. At least not if she used the regular Feng Clan techniques that were widespread. But would her pride allow her to go down without a fight?

    "Oh, that''s a nice breeze my little cute fairy."

    Deng Cai chuckled to himself while doing a somersault backward and landing on his two feet. The audience bursting out in cheers at the nice performance.

    ''Master didn''t really give me any specific instructions, so I''ll just embarrass her this way... best to not damage her before I have my fun.''

    He licked his lips, which gave his opponent the shivers. Feng Nuana narrowed her eyes and stopped showering the man with the wind scythes. She moved her hand backward, her legs bent while she leaned forward. She looked now like someone that was intending to throw a discus from ancient Greece.

    The man noticed that she was gathering some spiritual energy into the fan she was holding and just whistled. He was just going to dodge and then deliver a small attack of his own as the five minutes were almost up.

    Nuana gritted her teeth and she felt a drastic decrease in her spiritual energy. The moment she ''threw'' her fan forward without releasing it you could see a phantom of an emerald hawk behind her. Deng Cai felt like something was off as the greenish looking ranged attack flew forward him. The bolt of energy transformed into a hawk-like bird that charged towards the young man, the speed of this attack was several times faster than of the wind scythes.

    Cai''s eyes bulged as he dodged to the side, evading the speeding bird just in the nick of time. This was far from over as the green hawk flew upwards and quickly changed its trajectory. It was chasing after its enemy and gaining more speed with each passing moment.

    ''This one is a bit tricky...''

    The man thought while constantly dodging the energy bird, the attack radiating a strong Dao of the winds. But enough was enough, it was apparent that he couldn''t evade this thing forever. He moved both his palms forward and chanted something. People could see a faint phantom of a giant mountain behind him.

    A giant slab of rock appeared in front of Deng Cai just a few moments afterward. It looked like some kind of mystical wall with some strange runes and patterns etched into it. The green spirit bird collided with the slab of spirit rock producing quite the loud booming sound. After the smoke cleared people saw some cracks on the defensive technique but it was still there, they couldn''t say the same thing for the energy animal that was now gone.

    "Nice try little fairy but..."

    The man couldn''t finish his sentence as he felt something off. While he was defending himself he had lost sight of his opponent, this was something that Feng Nuana was counting on. The small girl was already following her previous attack with a close-range one, her battle fan moving towards her opponent.

    "Go to hell you bastard!"

    "Why you little!"

    The man kicked the ground making it quake from the sheer amount of power. He was slightly late on the uptake as the battle fan that was covered by a layer of green spiritual energy sliced right next to his face. The two finally jumped back after the exchange, the small girl clicking her tongue as she didn''t manage to get a clean hit on her opponent.

    Deng Cai, on the other hand, was seeing red, as the spot between his eyebrow and nose got sliced and he was bleeding. He moved his finger to the wound, it was a shallow cut but he could feel a stinging sensation. His hand shivered and his eyes trembled as he looked at the blood that was now on his fingers. He looked away from the blood and to the person that managed to injure him, his face going red with anger.

    "You dare? You fucking bitch!"

 149 Chapter 149

    The red liquid dribbled to the ground, there wasn''t much of it but this was enough to make this Deng Cai break out into a fit of rage.

    "M-my face...m-my beautiful face...this is inexcusable..."

    Feng Nuana was still ready to go, she was dejected that the hit didn''t go fully through but she still managed to land a hit. She didn''t know what that guy was mumbling about, but someone that lost their cool during a fight was mostly an easier opponent.

    "Stop whining you dweeb, this is only the start!"

    She proclaimed while charging forward, the momentum was on her side and she would use this chance to tip the scales in her favor. Her opponent was still stunned from the bloody gash that was on his face and looked to be enraged. Making someone lose their cool during combat was one way to win and Feng Nuana wanted to use this opportunity.

    She wasn''t that bad at close quarters combat as some people thought. Her clan was known for their long-range repertoire, but that didn''t mean that they were defenseless at close range. The girl already managed to get one shot in from a close attack, so she would try for another one.

    The energy from the tips of her fans expanded upwards, turning them into a dangerous slicing weapon. Before her opponent could turn to counter he saw a green light right next to his eyes.

    "You dare?"

    He managed to evade the small girl''s next attack, his long hair bouncing into the attack as it got severed in the process. The man coursed out, his seemingly weak opponent was now giving him a hard time. His feet started shuffling and a brown aura started surrounding his frame. The man''s elemental Dao was closer to earth as he was using the Dao of the mountains.

    Feng Nuana was ferocious with her attacks but soon enough Deng Cai regained his composure. She managed to slice up his hair and parts of his robe, but the youth surrounded himself with a layer of rock that was indistinguishable from his own skin. Even if she delivered a hit to his body, she could only see cracks instead of blood, as if she struck a massive boulder without managing to crack it.

    The man was clearly above her in cultivation and skill. She used her movement technique to quickly jump back, it making her look like she was gliding on the winds.

    "I have no idea what a dweeb is, but you will regret what you did!"

    The man dusted himself off, the cracks on his rocky skin vanished as if he was regenerating.

    ''Thump!''

    Deng Cai stepped forward, the ground cracked underneath his foot and you could see spiderweb-like cracks forming on the floor. Feng Nuana moved into a defensive position and moved backward as she knew that he was coming. The young man blasted forward, every step he took a cracked ground with a footprint was left. The more steps that he took, the deeper the holes in the ground were and the faster he was moving.

    This was also a type of movement technique, but instead of evasion, it was used for offense. The practitioner would build-up spiritual force with each step they took, while building up momentum that allowed them to move faster. The longer they used this movement technique they faster they would become and the more damage they would deliver to their target if they managed to strike.

    At the time Feng Nuana was skipping backward while using her soaring wing step technique. This technique allowed her to just skip along the ground, each little step propelling her far away from her adversary. This was a graceful technique that conserved a lot of energy while allowing her to dodge with minimal movement.

    The audience gasped and cheered. They were now seeing a game of cat and mouse. The young lady was jumping back and to the sides evading the man rushing at her with all his might. He was like a locomotive, that couldn''t be stopped. Any spiritual techniques that the girl tried throwing at him just bounced off without doing any damage. The man was clearly proficient at defense, but his speed wasn''t anything to scoff at as he was slowly gaining on the poor girl.

    Zhang Liu was also looking at from the side, he could see that the annoying girl was in trouble.

    ''If she can''t deliver any damage then she is done for...''

    He looked at her opponent, the young man''s eyes were glowing red and the gem on his forehead was also looking eerie. Due to the nature of his movement technique, he was gaining speed fast. Soon enough he was upon her, his hand moving out to strike.

    ''Peng''

    Feng Nuana moved both her fans in front of her chest to defend herself. The palm strike that was thrown by her opponent, struck right at her weapons. The mortal grade weapons cracked a bit while she herself got thrown to the side by the pressure of the hit. This wasn''t over though, as before she had the time to recover another strike in the form of a kick was thrown her way.

    "Ack!"

    She defended herself yet again with her battle fans, but the one closes to the foot just fractured and its pieces flew everywhere. She was even infusing them with her spiritual energy but that didn''t do anything to lessen the blow. Her arm felt numb but she wasn''t defeated yet, her second fan was still there and could be used for a counter-attack.

    Feng Nuana gave it a shot, while her opponent was in a blind rage she spun her whole body around. She was using the momentum that she gained from her enemies kick while making her body spin to receive less damage. It looked flashy and now her remaining fan was getting swung right at Deng Cai''s face.

    The girl''s green wind energy collided against the young man''s brownish earth energy kicking up a storm. The people stood up from her seats, their eyes glued to the large tournament stage.

    "Was that all?"

    Feng Nuana gulped as her enemy just grasped her wrist before she could fully swing down with her battle fan. The energy from her attack got lowered and didn''t manage to go through the dark palm sect members'' defenses. She was now stuck, she couldn''t move her arm so she tried delivering a kick to the opponent''s face while she was still slightly above the ground.

    "Hmph!"

    "Ack..."

    Before her kick could go through she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. Her mouth opened wide and she gasped out in pain, the hit propelling her back. She didn''t fly much though as the man was still grasping her slim wrist and wasn''t intending to let go any time soon.

    "You''re not going anywhere, you harlot!"

    The short girl didn''t have time to even reply as she felt a sharp pain on her face, her cheek in particular. A metallic taste filled her mouth after the slap, her eyes going wide as she protested. She wanted to retaliate, her legs and hands squirming around but to no avail as the man''s defenses proved themselves too tough to break.

    "Not so chatty now, are you?"

    The sounds of slapping resound around the stage. The people in the large colosseum structure could only gulp as they saw the overbearing young master hit the poor young girl''s face over and over again. The person with the biggest shock was Feng Liena, her hands were grasping the balustrade. It was made from hard steel, but even it was bending in odd ways as this woman mangled it in fury.

    "How dare he...to my little sister..."

    The people to her side looked to the one-sided battle, then back to the woman that was watching the whole thing in fury. They knew well what she felt, but this youth had a large backing behind him and this was a sanctioned battle. It wouldn''t look good on their part if they got involved. The other danger was offending the man that was standing behind this disciple, his master who was someone with powerful connections.

    "Lady Liena please calm down, things like this happen. The boy was just stronger than her, he might be overdoing it slightly... but if he doesn''t target her life than its not our place to intervene..."

    Zhang Jin said while moving closer to the woman that was close to jumping down from the VIP booth. She was even getting held back by her grandma that was sweating bullets and not sure herself, of what to do.

    "Y-yes listen to the elder from the Zhang Clan... wounds and pride can be healed, but we can not offend the Dark Palm sect!"

    Feng Liena was still mad, but the threat of the Dark Palm Sect that was looming over her head was a good enough deterrent to make her stop. There was also another option that they could go with, that was milder even though they would take a hit to their face. While the Feng Matriarch was contemplating her choices, her little sister was tossed to the side.

    "Ugh..."

    Her face was all red from all the slaps she received, it was even swollen. Her battle spirit wasn''t broken just yet though, her eyes were still staring daggers at the haughty young master.

    "Oh, still defiant?"

    Deng Cai said while smirking, he moved two of his fingers up to his face. The previous gash that was there was covered up by his rock armor now so it couldn''t be seen, but he still could feel the wound throbbing.

    "You think this is over... you damaged my face... so I''ll do the same to you!"

    He moved closer while outstretching his hand, his palm visible as something formed on it. It was a small rock that quickly expanded and got thinner, soon it changed into an impromptu dagger with a razor-sharp edge.

    "After I''m through with you, your own mother won''t recognize you!"

    The man got nearer while Feng Nuana tried standing up to defend herself. Her legs were shaky though, the slaps weren''t just regular hits they were boosted by the man''s spiritual energy. Her own Qi got dispersed while the enemies spiritual energy invaded her body and caused chaos inside. But before Deng Cai could go through with his dastardly deed, Feng Liena finally shouted out her cultivation base of the great circle of core formation blasting out.

    "Halt, that''s enough! This battle ends now, the Feng Clan admits that Feng Nuana has lost this bout and we request for it to end!"

    She shouted out so that everyone here could hear her. The judge that was overlooking the whole thing looked at the VIP booth from where the voice was coming from and could see the woman that roared out. This wasn''t anything out of the ordinary but didn''t happen too often, an elder member of the participant could announce their defeat if they felt that their junior was in danger. Most of the time this didn''t happen as everyone took the matter of pride and face even more seriously than the life of a junior.

    The judge didn''t really have a reason to refuse the request. He was about to stand up and give his verdict, even though Deng Cai was an inner sect member he still was only a junior so he would have to follow the judge''s order here.

    "I announce this match..."

    "HALT, THIS MATCH WILL NOT END!"

    An even more dastardly aura filled the area, this one blasting out from another VIP booth that was right opposite the one the Triforce alliance was residing in. The People in the audience were feeling dizzy, they were lower-level cultivators so when people at the pinnacle of core formation bombarded them with their aura, they felt like puking.

    The judge looked up to the other person, his eye twitched a bit. He soon cupped his fists and bowed, he sat back down in his seat as if nothing happened.

    "Continue the match, both of the participants are still able..."

    He murmured a bit, not being able to go against Yang Kai that was a high ranking Dark Palm Sect elder and from the direct line of the sect Patriarch.

    Feng Liena and her grandmother starred at the man that spoke up, recognizing his smug face from the time two years ago. This was the same man that tried proposing to the young Matriarch. Both of them were present at the time, but due to their ancestral teachings, they refused his advances. Now their decision came back to bite them yet again.

 150 Chapter 150

    Yang Kai waited for the right time to speak out. His disciple was now giving that Feng Clan girl a good beating, his master was quite okay with the tough handling of the lady. He didn''t see anything wrong with it as he only cared about things related to him, other people that got in the way could be used and abused.

    "There they go..."

    The Feng Matriarch finally got involved in the fight, throwing in the towel to stop it her aura filling the whole colosseum. The guards that were keeping watch were alerted to the spike in spiritual Qi, and it was a lot of it. The woman was already at the great circle of core formation, so even the people from the Dark Palm sect would have some troubles of handling her without someone at the nascent soul to totally overpower her.

    "It''s time..."

    The man smirked and moved his finger out. His spatial ring glowing faintly as a mirror appeared in front of him. He moved his face to one side and then to the other. He grinned widely so that he could see those pearly whites of his, and he made sure not to have any pieces of food stuck there. Yes, he was mostly just checking if he looked presentable.

    "Mmm, no woman could resist this smile!"

    He nodded to his reflection in the mirror and put it back into his spatial ring. His VIP room had a window that blocked prying eyes from seeing inside. This one-way glass started slowly sliding down as it revealed the Dark Palm lord inside the VIP room. The people didn''t notice it yet as this room was positioned above the audience. Yang Kai then cleared his throat and took in a good amount of air before shouting out.

    "HALT, THIS MATCH WILL NOT END!"

    His intentions were made clear and the Feng Matriarch''s eyes went bloodshot. The judge that was overseeing the whole thing just bowed and returned to his seat, not wanting to get involved in this young master''s scheme.

    "It would be rude to stop a match between two youths just yet, look at that girl she is still standing, she has yet to show us her true potential."

    The man said in a calm voice, but it was backed by his cultivation so everyone in the area could clearly hear him. Feng Liena and the rest of the people that were in her VIP booth were taken aback. The man clearly had way more pull here than they could ever have, this was his home turf and they were just some country bumpkins. Still, the young Matriarch couldn''t just let her sister be brutally mutilated or maybe even worse, die.

    She bowed slightly while cupping her fists and bowing towards the man that shouted out. She might be able to get out of this predicament if the man called Yang Kai could be reasoned with.

    "The Matriarch from the Fang Clan greets senior from the Dark Palm Sect."

    The man just nodded while trying not to grin too much. This was more or less a signal as he allowed the woman to speak.

    "My foolish sister is beneath the junior she is fighting and has clearly lost, please allow us to end this match senior..."

    The man looked at his disciple that was holding on to the girl''s hair, he had the impromptu rock blade in his hand and was ready to start cutting. He had stopped for the time being as the aura that Feng Liena released had caught him off guard. He was still only in the foundation establishment so he could handle someone at the core formation level.

    The shield that was protecting the ring only partially held the aura attack at bay. Now he was just watching the show, his rage had subsided slightly but he would still like to carve out something on this girl''s face. His cover of a wholesome young master was already out of the window, so he didn''t care anymore.

    "Yes indeed, she was a foolish child... but she managed to injure my cute disciple and I''m not sure he is willing to let things go that easily..."

    He looked at Deng Cai that just nodded and moved his blade to the girl''s face, inching it closer and closer.

    "P-please wait... I''m sure we could work something out, show mercy oh great senior!"

    This time Feng Maling moved in, bowing her head while almost hitting the railing in the process. To Cai''s surprise, he saw his Master moving his hand upwards that indicated him to stop before he could touch the girl''s skin.

    "Hmm... work something out you say... yes we could do that... how about..."

    The man paused for a moment, making it look as if he was contemplating this matter very seriously. His eyes were closed and he was even rubbing his chin with his own thumb for a dramatic effect. His eyes then shot up and he did a little clap, indicating that he had some kind of idea.

    "How about we have a small wager? If you win my disciple will leave your clan member be and the match will be over."

    He then licked his lips and continued to talk, no one brave enough to interrupt his speech.

    "But if you lose, you''ll have to give me something ... something substantively more valuable than that little girl''s life..."

    The Feng Matriarch went quiet. She didn''t know what the wager would be or what the thing that this man wanted was, but she had a hunch about what it was.

    "How would we go about this wager..."

    She asked, quite curious. The man swished his long robe sleeve and just looked back with a sneer.

    "Oh, nothing too serious. This whole thing started as a squabble between the junior generation, so it would be best if they handled it."

    The woman still didn''t know where this man was going with it, so she just stayed quiet and listened to the explanation.

    "What I mean is, have another from your members fight my disciple. They just need to win against my disciple, anyone is fine if you can get them to fight for you."

    The man moved his hand outward making it look as if he was trying to hug someone as he finished talking. The gist of it was that he wanted the Feng Clan to get someone to face his disciple in battle, if that person won they would all be free to go. He didn''t think that anyone from these clans could actually beat his disciple, so in his eyes, this was a sure-fire win.

    "How about I give you an incense stick of time to make your arrangements? "

    The man grinned once more, not really caring if the other side could coax someone to fight for them. The Feng Clan didn''t possess anyone stronger than Feng Nuana, so they would have to seek help elsewhere.

    The old Feng Maling looked to her Matriarch and then to the other two elders from the triforce alliance. Zhang Jin and Huo Qiang were the only two people that could help them out. The problem was if they would offer their help and potentially get themselves in trouble with the Dark Palm Sect master.

    They didn''t know how strong the juniors from their allies camps were and even if they won, would that Yang Kai keep his promise? The two men were being quiet as they were thinking about what to do. They heard the whole conversation and both of them had an able fighter for this task.

    The Huo Clan had the young master that was also the son of Huo Qiang. The man wasn''t really too eager to exchange his son''s life for this Feng Nuana that he didn''t know too well. The Zhang Clan had both Zhang Tai and Zhang Liu that would probably be the only ones capable of giving the Dark Palm Sect young master a good fight.

    The problem was the same for the Zhang Clan though, were they willing to potentially give up the life of one of their promising youths. If you thought about it rationally there wasn''t. The Feng Clan was weaker than the Huo clan and had fewer resources, the Zhang Clan was on the rise and would probably overtake both of these clans in no time. The only thing stopping them from growing, would be a strong sect like this one that Master belonged too.

    Still, these three clans had an alliance. This would probably doom their contract to fail and soil their future relationships if they didn''t do anything at all. Before any of the two men could voice their worries, the Feng Matriarch spoke out.

    "You two don''t need to trouble yourselves, this is something that the Feng Clan has to resolve."

    The two men looked at each other and then back to the young woman. She might have sounded resolute, but the two knew that she was shaken. She couldn''t hide that quivering lip and her saddened tone from these two. The woman turned to face the grinning man and asked.

    "What would the senior want to exchange for the wager, the Feng Clan doesn''t really have many things to offer to someone from a distinguished sect like yours."

    The two Feng elders kind of knew what the man wanted, but was he really that kind of person to still demand it?

    Yang Kai stopped smiling, the question was asked and people were looking at him with curious gazes. Everyone was wondering what this man wanted, why was he bothering someone from a weak clan out in the open and making a huge scene. Were people at high positions just strange and eccentric like this?

    "The thing that I want is..."

    The man cleared his throat and pointed at the Feng Clan women, he was quite far away but everyone knew at who he was pointing out as his sentence ended.

    "You!"

    Feng Liena didn''t move back, as the finger was pointing right at her. Her granny just shook her head side to side while thinking back to that strange marriage proposal the man made two years ago.

    "Well, the time is up let me hear your decision... I also might be willing to forget about the whole thing if you just offer yourself up to me..."

    "I..."

    "I will face him!"

    Before Feng Liena could reply she heard a voice from the audience. The person that the voice belonged to sounded resolute and young. Everyone looked to the person shouting out, it was a certain youth with mostly white hair and a patch of black strands in the front. Yes this was Zhang Liu that was calling out to the VIP booth.

    "Let me fight elders, I''ll be sure to win this wager for you! I bet my Master would agree with me if he was here!"

    Zhang Jin almost got a heart attack as the thing that he wanted to avoid was now out in the open. His young grandson was probably the only one from the bunch that had a realistic chance to win this fight. The problem was not the winning part, but the actions that strange Yang Kai would take if his disciple actually lost.

    The Dark Palm Master in question just looked at the youth with a raised brow. Zhang Liu shivered as he could feel the man''s oppressive aura wash over him. He was getting probed by the man, Yang Kai just smiled after noticing the low level that this youth was at.

    "Well, well. I see that we have someone that is willing, think we can get this over with now."

    The man was quick to react as things were going his way. His disciple would defeat this wannabe white knight and he would go home with the prize. He wouldn''t take no for an answer now and was hoping for a good show from his disciple.

    "P-please wait, this..."

    Feng Liena panicked, this was Zhang Dong''s disciple. She couldn''t let him get harmed while she was around, this wasn''t going her way at all.

    "I-I''ll go with you... let us just stop this..."

    The woman trembled and was ready to give up, she didn''t want to get any more people involved in her private matters. She felt that it was more important to get these juniors home safely now, than her own life. She didn''t feel like the man would harm her, at most she would have to become his concubine. This was something she was willing to do, her sister''s life was more important.

    "You?... I think you are misunderstanding something here..."

    Yang Kai spoke out while sighing. This making Liena and the people around here even more confused.

    "But you said that you wanted me?"

    The woman pointed to herself while question marks appeared over her head.

    "No... I was clearly pointing to that lovely lady... why would I want someone like you?"

    The people in the audience went silent, the same thing happened to the elders in the VIP booth. Everyone looked to the person that was standing next to the Feng Matriarch. She was the only other woman there and was standing next to Feng Liena when Yang Kai was pointing out with his finger. The only person that wasn''t surprised was Deng Cai, he knew his Master''s ''tastes'' quite well now. Yes, he was a man that liked his women a bit older...

 151 Chapter 151

    Some people whispered, some were silent and others just baffled. The VIP booth that Feng Maling was in was above ground and people couldn''t really see her well. The people that couldn''t see craned their necks, wondering if there was another beauty in there that this Dark Palm Sect master was aiming for. Though, the moment they saw who was standing next to the Feng Matriarch they went slackjawed.

    "Is that a human-sized raisin?"

    "My god... why would he want that old crow..."

    "That wrinkled up potato is the ''lovely lady'' ?"

    The people in the audience whispered among each other, holding their hands over their mouths while trying not to stand out. This development was far too shocking for the commoners, not knowing how they should react. This also prompted them to gossip and murmur with each other.

    Luckily Yang Kai was far too focused on the person that he wanted to take home, the granny in question far too taken aback to react. She looked at the baffled people around her, Zhang Jin was just scratching his head while Huo Qiang and his retainer were sweating in the back not sure what to do about this situation.

    "The young lord must be joking..."

    Feng Maling spoke out, not sure if she should feel flattered that a handsome young man like that was interested in her or is she should feel disgusted. The man might look like a nice catch on the outside, but she knew well that he was rotten on the inside. There were warning signals firing off in her mind, there must have been a deeper reason why he wanted her and not the younger Feng Matriarch instead.

    "Young lord, you shouldn''t be making fun of old ladies like me."

    She tried laughing the whole thing off, attributing it to being a badly timed joke.

    "You shouldn''t be acting so bashful, don''t worry this young lord can see your true inner beauty~."

    Yang Kai''s eyes were sparkling as if he saw some kind of divine being. The people next to the old lady that were from the triforce alliance noticed this and visually cringed. It as if the man was looking at some once in a lifetime beauty, he became more animated his expression become less stern and he was even slightly blushing.

    ''Is this guy serious, what kind of situation is this?''

    Zhang Jin was to the side looking at the whole thing. He knew his way around the ladies, but he still couldn''t see what the man was seeing.

    ''Maybe if she was two hundred years younger...''

    The old granny was quite the looked back in the day, he still remembered those good old days. Though have barely survived the aftermath of his fooling around.

    ''But wait... this might be a good thing...''

    Zhang Jin rubbed his chin and nodded, then he sent his voice next to the Feng elder ear so that others couldn''t hear them.

    "Hey, you old bat, why don''t you agree to his offer?"

    Feng Maling just twitched and moved her gaze to the side to the old fox that was sitting slightly to the side.

    "What do you mean you old fart?"

    She replied to him while using the same technique.

    "Think about it, the young lass will be saved and your Matriarch won''t be taken either."

    The old man started talking, from his perspective the whole situation was already too dire. If they made any mistakes everyone in here along with their clans could end up dead or enslaved.

    "He isn''t so bad looking and below the age of a hundred. He is quite a good catch for you!"

    Feng Maling trembled even more and tried not to show any facial expressions while the two talked. While this was happening Yang Kai was throwing praises and sweet words towards her, so it was quite hard to concentrate. Zhang Jin, on the other hand, was running his mouth like he was trying to sell her off. This made it look like he was some father trying to convince his daughter to an arranged marriage.

    "See... it''s the best choice in the situation... maybe he will give you a good rejuvenation pill... you''ll just pop him out a couple of kids and it will all be fine in the end!"

    "You''ll be laughing about it in a couple of years, think about how the clan will prosper... it''s a small price to pay!"

    The old woman wanted to vomit. Why was an old granny like her getting sold off to a powerful sect master as a bride now, this just didn''t make any sense. Still, if she thought about it, this was the lesser of two evils. This would be better for the Feng clan and her granddaughters, the younger one was still on that battle stage.

    Deng Cai had moved away from his target at the moment, waiting for his master to be done with the arrangements. He was still mad about the wound, but if his master ordered him, he would let the girl go. Zhang Liu was still standing on the side while glaring daggers at the Dark Palm youth. Zhang Jin, on the other hand, was trying to prevent the fight at all costs. He didn''t want his grandson to face that youth, not due to fear of him losing but more of the fear of him actually winning.

    ''That Yang Kai''s word isn''t worth shit, if Liu trashes that brat of his I''m sure he will intervene...''

    Is what he thought to himself. If push came to shove he would protect his family to the bitter end, he was still on the fence about alerting his youthful Patriarch that was still back at Spirit Spring City. He was sure that Zhang Dong would quickly rush here with all his might if he sent him a message with a communication jade.

    He knew that his grandson would act rashly, fighting would be unavoidable. Offering up Feng Maling might be cruel, but it was the better option. Everything could be resolved and everyone here could still go home to their loved ones. He was also sure that the old lady was thinking along these lines as well.

    "And that is why fairy Maling should..."

    Yang Kai was still at it, but his face suddenly contorted. He was a master at a certain level and he could tell that the old woman that he was talking to was very absent-minded. At first, he thought that she was just being shy and overwhelmed with his forward approach. Who wouldn''t be bashful if such a young lord as him showed him so much affection?

    But then he noticed another suspicious elder sitting in the VIP booth. The old man had gray hair and he had a large scar ruing through his face. It looked like someone tried slicing his face with a sword, but just managed to get part of his eyebrow along with his cheek while missing the eye by a millimeter as it was still there.

    Kai could tell that the man was quite intimate with the woman he was going for. The two were apparently exchanging information with each other. You could feel the faint spiritual fluctuations that they were using to communicate if you concentrated hard enough. His heart rate increased and he clenched his jaw tightly while slamming his fist down on the edge of his VIP booth.

    "You! what is your relationship with Fairy Maling! Tell me this instant!"

    The people''s faces contorted in a strange way as soon as they heard the man attributed the word ''fairy'' to the old burned potato looking grandma.

    "Y-you see..."

    Zhang Jin jumped back slightly, he could feel the man''s overbearing aura moving his way as if he was trying to make him back off.

    "I am just a humble cultivator from the Zhang Clan..."

    He had to at least introduce himself to the man, he probably was thinking it was rude that the two were talking with each other while he was doing his monologue. The old man decided to remove himself from the equation, just bowing his head down hoping that Yang Kai would just attribute it to his old age.

    "You two clearly know each other..."

    The man squinted with his eyes. The person named Zhang Jin was close to the age of the person he was trying to pull to his side. They were also clearly very familiar with each other and were even in the same VIP booth, there had to be a reason for it. What if this old man was also someone striving for the affections of this lovely old lady. He must have also noticed the peculiar qualities that this Feng Maling possessed and he wanted to snatch them for himself.

    ''Hah, I''m on to you old man... that woman will be mine...Zhang, Hm?''

    The man looked at the youth that declared that he would fight to save that Feng junior. He could just take the old woman and that would be it, but that would be too easy.

    "Hm, well I think we had talked for far too long. That youth was willing to face my disciple, so let the battle start."

    Yang Kai smirked, he would show that old fart his place by letting his disciple massacre that junior of his. He was on the winning end in every situation, his disciple losing to some backwater cultivator wasn''t possible. Deng Cai just stepped away from Feng Nuana, the girl slowly limping away while trying to get as much distance from her enemy as possible.

    "My lord, please wait...we don''t have to..."

    Zhang Jin''s stomach churned and his palms got sweaty as things were moving in a direction that he wanted to avoid. He could see that Dark Palm Disciple moving away, the energy shield that covered the ring got removed as well. Zhang Liu didn''t care much for what those elders were talking about, he just didn''t want the girl to get beaten and bruised any more than this.

    "That''s enough from you, sit down!"

    Yang Kai held his palm out and looked at Zhang Jin in a stern fashion. His stare got quite intense which forced this elder to shut up and follow the order. This wasn''t over though, many other core formation experts started gathering around the colosseum and even close to the VIP booth that the triforce alliance was in.

    These were the various bodyguards that the Dark Palm Sect master possessed. They were mostly in the late stage of core formation and there were ten of them. They had gathered there to keep everyone in check, their young lord didn''t want any of those people to flee. The atmosphere in the area got quite stuffy, but suddenly the familiar voice of the peppy announcer boomed out to lower the tension.

    "What a twist! Our young Lord Cai has a new opponent and it''s Zhang Liu, let us give a round of applause for our contenders!"

    The people could only sneer to themselves while clapping, knowing well that the poor Zhang junior would be trashed by this Dark Palm junior. While this was happening Feng Nuana was limping off stage, Zhang Liu was next to her and the two were passing each other. The short girl looked at the boy with mixed feelings.

    "P-please be careful..."

    She sounded meeker than before, her eyes were darting around as she wasn''t sure what to look at. Then the youth did something strange, he held his hand out to the side his palm open. He then glanced at the girl and waited.

    "W-what?"

    She wasn''t sure what to do but the youth just waited while indicating that she was supposed to do something. The girl then thought back to the ancient texts, there was something in there like this, but how did this youth know about it. It took her a bit to react but she gently tapped her palm against Liu''s, the youth then finally moved on while saying.

    "Tag in!"

 152 Chapter 152

    The girl looked at her hand and then at the back of the young man that moved past her. She kind of knew what this act meant, having the old ''texts'' to go back to. Zhang Liu had learned it from his Master on one occasion.

    It was one of the rare days that he and his sister were allowed to spar with Zhang Dong. Their Master wasn''t really taking them seriously and only dodging their attacks while the two tired themselves out, he then gave them some pointers. The ''tag in'' came to be whenever he or his sister switched out, their Master told them that it was an old custom. You were supposed to slap the hand of the person you were exchanging before going into battle in their stead.

    Back at the center stage Zhang Liu continued walking while staring daggers at his new opponent. He wasn''t all that close to the girl that he was exchanging, but he couldn''t just stand there and watch this continue. Deng Cai on the other side was just standing there with his hands behind his back. His face went back to being calm and collected, you couldn''t see the rage-filled expression that it once had.

    The audience tried cheering, it didn''t feel right though. The atmosphere in this colosseum was stifling, the Dark Palm cultivators were now out and about. People were even trying to leave but the paths of escape were blocked. Apparently, Yang Kai wanted everyone to watch this show, even if he had to force them to do so.

    Zhang Jin could only sit himself back while looking down at the large football-sized battle stage below him. It was too late to call for help at this point, he had missed his chance. There were now many core formation experts around him, if he tried sending a message with his communication jade they would notice it.

    He scanned his surroundings, the only people that would be willing to help him if something happened were sitting in the booth together with him. Even then, they only had five core formation fighters with him on their side. The strongest from them being the young master from the Huo clan.

    He was the only one that wasn''t yet involved in this fiasco, the Dark Palm master didn''t interact with him and also didn''t seem to want anything from their side. Realistically speaking, there was no reason besides his friendship towards Zhang Dong to help them. Zhang Jin didn''t know if he would jump in to help them, their relationship was still kind of vague. They were friendly with each other, but the old man had seen enough paper-thin bonds breaking off at critical junctures.

    There were two core formation experts in the room with them now, both in the late stage. Zhang Jin was in the middle stage himself the same as the old Feng grandma. The Feng Matriarch was already at the Great circle along with Huo Qiang, so they could handle themselves. The problem were all the experts that were spread around the area, there were far too many of them. While the old man racked his brain about the way to get out of this situation, his great-grandson was ready to fight.

    "Without further adieu, let us start the bout!"

    Deng Cai strutted forward slowly while tossing his head backward and shaking his head.

    "First I get to face a weak little girl and now a brat."

    Cai''s words were followed by an arrogant laugh, his nose raised high in the air as if he was mocking his opponent.

    Zhang Liu narrowed his eyes while tapping his foot on the ground. His opponent wasn''t taking him seriously at all, which made this youth clench his fist tightly. He didn''t take the bate and just took on his fighting posture, he would show him his superiority with his actions and not with his words.

    "Hah, silent type? How about this... I''ll let you make ten moves before I retaliate. You should be glad that this lord is giving you such an opportunity!"

    Deng Cai chuckled more and just stood there, his hands running through his long hair as he made sure to strike a valiant pose for the young ladies on the side. Liu just clenched his teeth in response, holding himself back while the other person continued to mock him during this life and death situation.

    ''Calm down... this is not an opponent I can take lightly.''

    The white-haired boy lowered his posture and started pushing his spiritual energy into his legs. He was trying to make the whole process as inconspicuous as possible. If the enemy noticed and predicted where the attack was coming from, it wouldn''t bode well for Liu. Luckily his techniques were all of superior quality, his Dao and Qi as pure as humanly possible.

    He took his chance, while the older youth was busy with trying to look good he charged forward. A faint afterimage was left behind in his wake, lightning crackled and thunder boomed the moment the young man took off. The abrupt movement startled his opponent, this was what he was aiming for. His lightning charged fist flew forward, most of the people weren''t able to see what was happening as it all happened in a matter of seconds.

    THOOoooM!

    Sparks flew and the aftershock made the ground vibrate. After the smoke cleared the people could see the result of the white-haired youths attack.

    "You surprised me there..."

    Deng Cai spoke out, his hand raised to cover his face. Zhang Liu didn''t expect this, his fist connected with his opponent, but not with his face. He was stopped by his opponent''s forearm that was showing cracks due to the heavy hit it took. Still, this wasn''t enough to get through the rocky defenses of this man.

    "What happened to giving me ten moves, senior?"

    Zhang Liu replied while pushing his hand forward. The opponent promised to give him ten moves, which meant that he wouldn''t counterattack or defend himself but just dodge. He had already broken that promise, which was a hit to his pride.

    "Shut up!"

    Liu jumped back, evading a kick by a hair''s width. His surprise attack had failed, his foe would probably be fully alert now and not give him a second chance. His follow up attack was a hastily created lesser lightning javelin. The technique that looked like a bolt of lightning flew forward only to get slapped to the side by Deng Cai. The earth elemental defensive technique proving quite sturdy and effective in blocking the lightning Qi attacks that this youth was proficient in.

    "It looks like the young lord isn''t impressed, the attacks of the challenger are proving to be ineffective!"

    The Dark Palm Sect young master just sneered, shaking his hand that he smacked the lightning bolt away, the rocky armor quickly reforming around it.

    "That tickles, is that all you are capable off?"

    Zhang Liu was truly surprised, his opponent''s defenses were nothing to scoff about. He was managing to make the defensive technique crack here and there, but he wasn''t going through it with his regular attacks. For now, he jumped back and tried to reorganize his thoughts, hoping to think of a better strategy.

    Before he could do that though, he felt that something was off. He could see his opponent move one of his hands upwards, his palm opened wide. Warning''s started shooting off in his head prompting him to quickly use his movement technique. He dived to the side while Deng Cai clenched his palm together into a fist. The moment he did that the ground under Zhang Liu''s feet shifted as if it was trying to encase him in sand and rubble.

    The only thing that was caught was Liu''s faint afterimage, the little aftershock not really doing anything to the lump of earth that was now in that place.

    "You bugs are really good at evading... but how long can you keep this up?"

    Deng Cai moved both his hands forward, his fingers started moving in a sort of random fashion. Suddenly pillars of sand burst through the rocky battle stage. They looked like elongated tentacles with a pointy tip on the end. The tips were different than the rest of the technique''s ''body'' it was composed of hard rock which had a razor-sharp edge to it.

    There were multiple of those popping out from the ground and they quickly surrounded the white-haired Zhang Clan cultivator. He quickly utilized his lightning steps, his feet were shining in a blue light each step he took thunder was heard. His opponent didn''t give him much time to react as the earth tendrils quickly sped towards their target.

    Zhang Liu utilized his dodging skills to his fullest, the audience was on the edge of their seats as they saw the elongated sand tentacles shoot out from various places. They all had one task, to pierce this white-haired youth. Flight was impossible for someone in this realm, so the earth-based attacks were proving effective as Liu was having trouble gathering his thoughts and was only able to dodge.

    Luckily he was nimble, his cultivation technique was immortal graded and his Dao was a superior one. Running out of spiritual energy before his opponent wouldn''t be something that would happen in this situation. Deng Cai''s techniques were quite advanced and in the heavenly grade, still they paled compared to what Zhang Dong passed onto his disciple.

    Seconds turned to minutes and the youth was still standing, the dark palm young master''s face full of smugness slowly cracking as it switched to one of anger. No one had ever been able to keep up with him for this long while he was taking things more seriously. This technique that he was using was fierce and used up a lot of spiritual energy but his opponent didn''t suffer any damage besides a couple of cuts to his robe.

    ''How can that trash keep up with my Sand Dragon Spears so well, he should be drained of his energies by now...''

    Evading the hundreds of spear-like tendrils wasn''t a simple task. The fast that Zhang Liu was still out there with minimal damage was a great achievement of its own. Yang Kai was just looking at the fight and he also was looking slightly ticked off. Why was his disciple still playing around with that insignificant worm?

    "Cai, what are you doing, finish this already!"

    The youth''s master slammed his fist down, his aura exploding outwards which sent shivers down everyone''s spine.

    Deng Cai just looked at Zhang Liu that was still jumping about, his eyes bloodshot after he got called out by his own Master.

    "How dare you make me lose face in front of my master, Die!"

    Due to his masters egging on Deng Cai decided to charge into the fray. His barrage of sand spears continued while he himself utilized the previously used movement technique to gain momentum. He couldn''t let his master get mad at him, he would be severely punished and maybe even deprived of cultivation resources.

    This might have not been the best decision though. His ranged technique got sloppier as Liu noticed the amount of those blasted sand things decreasing to a more manageable number. He could see his enemy charging in like a mad bull, the rocky armor around him increasing in density while the ground cracked with each step he took.

    ''It''s that technique.''

    He already saw this move before, he knew that it was unwise to let the opponent gain momentum as the power of this skill increased with the rise in energy. So he did the opposite thing that Deng Cai was expected and bolted right at him.

    "Fool, you are courting death!"

    Cai sniggered at the idiot that was charging in his direction. He was very confident in his defensive capabilities, even more in them than he was in his offensive ones. No one of a similar realm had ever been able to damage his rock armor, he was assured that the moment the two clashed he would snap that Zhang clown in half.

    People in the audience stood up ready to see the two clash. Most of them were of the opinion that the poor white-haired kid didn''t stand a chance. They expected him to be pummeled into a ripe tomato after this exchange or maybe getting out of there with his evasion skill at most.

    But then something strange happened. The youth started changing, his whole body started to glow in a deep blue light. Sparkling electricity was getting shoot out in various directions as the youth changed to something that looked more like an elemental being made from pure lightning energy.

    This change was followed by a bright light that blinded most of the people looking at the exchange. A resounding boom of thunder quickly followed the flash of light along with a residual shockwave that activated the protective barrier that was protecting the people outside the battle stage.

    The people took a few seconds to regain their senses. They all hurriedly looked to the spot that the clash happened only to gasp in surprise. There Zhang Liu stood, looking quite lofty while lightning energies and fluctuations of his superior Dao emanated from his form.

    Deng Cai, on the other hand, was quite far away, right at the edge of the tournament platform. He was just sprawled out, his upper body leaning against the barrier that kept him and his opponent locked inside. He looked to be out cold, his left cheeked seamed to be caved in and he was missing some teeth. He was bleeding profusely from his mouth, the gem on his forehead looked to be cracked and his eyes were vacant.

    The whole area went silent, the people couldn''t even cheer out for the winner as they knew that the Dark Palm sect wouldn''t take kindly to this. The only thing that could be faintly heard was the crackling of lightning and the gnashing of teeth that was coming from Yang Kai''s VIP booth.

 153 Chapter 153

    The people were silent yet again, not from being shocked about Zhang Liu''s one-hit knockout. They were looking up into the highest VIP booth where Yang Kai was sitting in. Everyone here knew by now that this man had a bad temper and was quite unreasonable. He wouldn''t have set up this bet otherwise.

    Everyone here just wanted to leave at this point. They weren''t allowed though as various Dark Palm Sect members poured in and already surrounded the area around the colosseum to keep people from escaping. This was their turf and one of their important elders was in the middle of something. No one from them cared what this something was, they were just there to silence the people if push came to shove.

    "GET UP!... I ORDER YOU TO GET UP!"

    Yang Kai shouted out while looking at his disciple that wasn''t looking all that handsome anymore. His face was caved in, a fist mark visible in that spot. The youth was out cold, his body was just twitching slightly from the abrupt ending that it had suffered.

    "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING, I WILL DISOWN YOU, YOU USELESS TRASH!"

    The man continued berating his disciple, still hoping that there was a chance to save his good name. He didn''t even care about the lost wager as much as losing face due to this whole thing. First, his disciple turned out to be weaker than some tiny Zhang Clan junior with no background whatsoever. Secondly, he would lose the bet if that disciple of his didn''t wake up making him the master of a trash like that.

    While this was going on Zhang Liu was slowly calming himself down. He had managed to land a perfectly placed counter on the man''s face, but this was more luck than skill and he knew that. Deng Cai had miscalculated, thinking that his opponent was much weaker. This gave him the needed chance to use his lesser version of the Embodiment of the Thunder God to deliver a devastating finisher.

    This technique was really difficult to use with his current cultivation, he could already feel his muscles twitching and his bones rattling from the strain he had suffered. He quickly breathed out while canceling the technique, his body that was covered by lightning turned back to its regular form. The youth looked a bit pale, but he was mostly okay but his battle potential was only at about 50% at this moment.

    Something strange happened next. Zhang Liu was also taught his Master''s aura detection techniques so he felt a strange shift. From the small gem that was embedded in Deng Cai''s forehead a strange energy started to radiate.

    Liu couldn''t really see it, but he could feel energy escaping from the chipped gem. It was as if a fountain of water shot out into the sky into various directions and small orb-like will of whisps shoot out into the distance. The places they were going were varied, some flew back into the town as if they were searching for something or someone. Some of them just launched themselves into the distance, a long journey ahead of them.

    Just a few moments after this transpired at a small house there was a certain woman. She was tired, her eyes looked to be red along with her nose. The woman looked at a certain child that was laying in a bed, the boy''s was diagnosed with a strange sickness not too long ago and was fated to soon die. This wasn''t the only child in this small room, the kids were just hollow husks.

    She was holding one of the children''s hands while trying not to cry. But all of a sudden she felt something, the boy''s finger twitched just a tad. The woman wasn''t a powerful cultivator so she didn''t notice, but the stolen fragment of his soul had just returned and it was embedding itself back into her comatose child.

    "Little Tei?"

    She jumped up with vigor and surprise as she called out the name of her child. The little one gave out a grunt in response as color started returning to his cheeks. The same thing started happening to all the other kids around her, everyone jerked a bit as they began waking up from the nightmare.

    "Honey come quick!...T-the kids...the kids are waking up!"

    Zhang Liu was oblivious to the fact that thanks to him, the people that Deng Cai had sucked fragments of their souls away had begun recovering. Not everyone could be saved, depending on the state their current bodies were in. But the most recent victims of the soul-sucking were all starting to recover.

    Suddenly the white-haired youth felt a powerful gaze on him. His whole body trembled as some villainous aura surrounded him, not letting him move a muscle. He was somehow able to gaze upwards with only his eyes and a slight neck movement. His eyes met with the furious Yang Kai that switched his targets now. He was glancing at the person that caused him to lose the bet.

    The core formation expert also had a gem ingrained in his forehead and he could see the soul fragments that were freed. That was a lot of work that went down the drain, as he knew well how the mysterious gem was used. This was something that he didn''t want to get discovered as this was clearly a technique used by demonic cultivators.

    The soul fragments that were escaping couldn''t be stopped now while the soul gem was broken. The problem wasn''t that, but now there was the possibility of someone noticing that his disciple was using a demonic art.

    Demonic and demon arts were characterized by a couple of things. There were mostly fashioned to increase the practitioner''s cultivation by hurting others. There were various ways, using someone''s blood, their flesh, or even their souls. A demonic art would suck your target dry and transfer part of their straight into the demonic cultivator. These arts were ghastly, cruel, and looked down upon by most people in this world.

    This didn''t keep certain people from cultivating them though. These techniques and skills were inhumane but they worked. It was far easier to absorb someone''s body of work with the vampire-like demonic arts than spend millennia trying to better yourself on your own.

    "Did anyone notice...should I silence them all...but first..."

    Yang Kai narrowed his eyes and looked at the youth that defeated his disciple. If he decided to keep his word, he would have to declare this Zhang junior the victor and leave everyone alone. Still, he didn''t feel like he had an obligation to do that, these trash cultivators from god know where didn''t deserve any mercy, they had made a fool out of him and now they needed to pay the price.

    "What is this, that young man clearly used some kind of demonic technique to win this fight, you all witnessed it!"

    The man pointed out at Zhang Liu, the youth responded by looking up to the man shouting at him. The people in the area murmured among each other, not sure what the man was talking about. The person from the Zhang Clan had clearly won fair and square, the other person was also clearly the bad guy in this situation that was holding everyone hostage.

    "I said... you all witnessed it, right?"

    Yang Kai released his whole core formation great circle aura throughout the whole colosseum. The people that weren''t really fighters felt the weight of the world on them as they knelt down.

    "Yes, elder Kai is right, I saw that child eat some kind of pill before attacking, that was clearly against the rules!"

    A person shouted out, he was wearing a regular Dark Palm sect robe. This was one of the people that was guarding the area not letting people out. Due to his words the people in the audience noticed what this overbearing sect wanted them to do. The people winced from the oppressive aura that the cultivators from this sect started radiating.

    "Y-yes... I saw him swallow a pill too..."

    "The Senior is right, he clearly cheated!"

    "He should be disqualified!"

    Soon random voices were heard in the region. Everyone was willing to throw this youth under the bus just to save themselves. The people here were mostly cultivators from other clans and smaller sects. They all clearly didn''t want to have anything to do with this situation and with that dictatorial sect that was causing it. Some felt bad for the youth and the clan behind him, but it was better him than them.

    Zhang Liu looked around the battle stage, the people were shouting at him. Their voices started out faint, but the longer he listened the louder it got. They even looked angry and started throwing food and other various things to the satisfaction of Yang Kai that was aiming for it. Zhang Jin and the others just gritted their teeth, the two Dark Palm sect elders moved closer and were keeping an eye on them, not letting them move a muscle.

    "Hogwash!"

    Huo Qiang declared while glancing at Yang Kai and all the people in the colosseum that were shouting out profanities.

    "Watch your mouth!

    One from the sect elders stepped over, his brows furrowed as he stared Qiang down.

    "Young master clam down, you must not act!"

    Huo Qiao stood up placing himself between Qiang and the Dark Palm sect member. He knew the big picture, if they acted now even their Patriarch wouldn''t be able to do anything about it. The red-haired man just clenched his fists tightly, he then sat himself down still deliberating on the best action to take.

    ''What will that bastard do now...''

    Zhang Jin thought to himself while looking at this helpless situation. The Feng women were to the side, they were just standing there not able to do anything besides watching things play out.

    ''The boy is in danger... what am I supposed to do...''

    The old man didn''t see this going anywhere positive. That Yang Kai was a typical tyrant that had to have his way. He wouldn''t budge an inch if he set his mind to it and he had the backing of nascent soul cultivators behind him.

    Yang Kai smirked, he just needed to threaten the people here a bit and they all took his side. This is how the world operated here, the strong were worshiped while the weak were tossed aside. No one in their right mind would side with the people opposing him, if he wanted he even could make everyone present here disappear from the face of the planet.

    "Yes, that''s right."

    He swished his sleeve and glanced down at the judge that was just standing there.

    "Don''t you also think that he cheated and should be punished, honorable judge?"

    The man started sweating, his palms already damp. There was no way that he could go against the young lord, but it made him look bad if he sided with him. In the end, he decided to take the hit to the face as he nodded.

    "Y-yes, the young lord is right, the contestant named Zhang Liu clearly cheated... the match results are void."

    The man glanced at Yang Kai that was nodding while the judge was speaking.

    "For his punishment he should be removed..."

    The man that the judge was staring at suddenly moved his palm upwards indicating that he should stop talking.

    "Honorable judge I think you should leave the punishment of this villain to me, he did harm my disciple."

    The judge nodded not wanting to argue with this nut case at all. The man clearly disowned his disciple a moment ago, now he was acting like a proper master who was trying to take his vengeance.

    Yang Kai abruptly descended into the ring on his flying sword, the shield that was blocking Zhang Liu from leaving vanishing.

    "You had your fun you little bug. You have only yourself to blame..."

    Zhang Liu tried to move backwards but he couldn''t. His feet felt like they were glued to the ground and he felt a heavy burden on his whole body. He tried circulating his cultivation but it was to no avail, this man was just too powerful for this youth that was only in the foundation establishment realm.

    Yang Kai just stood there, tiny orbs that looked to be made from earth hovered in front of him. The moment the man pointed with his finger one of those orbs shot forward at an astonishing speed. The rudimentary attack rapidly struck the white-haired youth''s thigh, penetrating it.

    Zhang Liu gritted his teeth, blood gushed out but he was unwilling to show weakness even in this dire situation. This only made the Dark Palm sect Master angrier as he continued shooting the rock marbles at the defenseless youth. His shoulder, his other leg, his knee, and even his feet were the next targets as the young man was getting pelted with no remorse. If this continued for long, the youth would surely be dead...

 154 Chapter 154

    "Brother! Noo...!"

    Zhang Xue shouted out while still being stuck in the waiting room, the rest of the juniors were still stuck there and being guarded by some scary sect uncles. She was able to see everything through one of the small windows but she could only watch as her brother was getting tortured.

    "Junior sister, you mustn''t!"

    Zhang Tai was holding onto the young girl, not wanting her to charge out. He knew the stakes and that this lovely girl would be pulled into this bloody mess, probably losing her life. Liu''s sister trashed about trying to wrestle herself free, but she was held back by her senior brother. He was also dismayed, he and Liu had their differences but it was still in good faith. He never wanted him to die, he was still part of the Zhang family, his death would be avenged.

    "This one will be the last one..."

    Yang Kai called out to Zhang Liu, the boy was already half dead but he didn''t say even one word. He was barely standing, both his legs a bloody mess his bones broken in many areas and his flesh not looking better either. His eyes were staring daggers into his enemy''s pair, he was defiant to the last breath.

    "Those eyes... I don''t like them... just die!"

    Yang Kai snorted and produced a larger rock orb that he pointed at the youth''s forehead. He took aim and flung it forward, if this attack went through the boy would die on the spot.

    "Screw this!"

    Zhang Jin shouted out as he finally jumped forward hoping to make it in time to save his grandson.

    "Halt, what do you think you are doing! Grab him, don''t let him interrupt the senior!"

    The two cultivators that were in the VIP booth with Zhang Jin roared out. The alerted more of their companions to the elder that was diving towards the battle stage. Just as the two were about to grab him a sudden attack came from the side. There was a giant blazing fist flying towards an unlucky Dark Palm member, this older male not having enough time to react as he got clobbered right in the face.

    "Young master, what are you doing?!"

    Huo Qiao yelled in shock as his young master delivered the strike to the unsuspecting Dark Palm member. With this he had sealed their faith that was now tied to the other two clans that were here.

    "Wait for what? My Huo clan won''t stand for this, call the other elders over here this instant! We will assist the Zhang and Feng Clan in battle!"

    "Well spoken, we''ll assist you!"

    Feng Liena quickly skipped over and delivered a devastating kick to the second core formation expert. She had a higher cultivation realm than the man and it was also of superior quality, so the man had no way of defending himself. He was sent flying backward and was embedded in the bricks of the structure the people were in.

    Pandemonium soon broke out as people started clamoring to get out of this death trap. Dark Palm members started pouring in, alerted by the sudden retaliation and set on delivering their brand of justice to these backwater clans.

    Zhang Jin didn''t look back, but he could hear an explosion going off from behind him. He could hear various people screaming still, his eyes were glued to his grandson that was moments away from getting his forehead penetrated by Yang Kai''s attack.

    "I...I''m not going to make it..."

    His face sunk as he was just too far away. There were more Dark Palm core formation cultivators standing in front of him and even some already moving up from behind. He clenched his fist tightly, his teeth gnashing as he activated a special item that was handed to him by the Zhang Patriarch.

    "No, I must make it!"

    A bright light surrounded his entire body and people could feel a spike of spiritual energy in the area. The core formation experts could faintly see the old man turning into a blob of light as he flew towards them. They reacted fast as they hurled their cultivation techniques at the enemy, to no avail as they got steamrolled by the old man and tossed aside like ragdolls.

    "No good, raise the barrier output!"

    Someone shouted out as the force field that was surrounding the ring with Zhang Liu and Yang Kai inside expanded in thickness. Everything was happening in a matter of seconds, but time was running out as the rock orb was already flying for the youth''s head. The light around the man started to slowly fade but he was still charging forward, his fist on a collision course with that barrier.

    ''If I can just get through this!''

    Zhang Jin forced all of his being into this punch. If he managed to destroy it in one blow, he would still have a chance in saving his grandson that was moments away from getting lobotomized. His fist finally connected with the shield, the dome of energy jolted around cracks formed around it as it resisted the heavy blow. Yet in the end, the barrier still managed to halt the old man''s panicked advance only shattering after it was too late.

    "N...NO!"

    Zhang Jin''s eyes were bloodshot as he saw the spinning orb just millimeters away from Zhang Liu''s head. He had lost his momentum due to the barrier and needed to kick himself off the ground once more. He wouldn''t be able to make it in time like this.

    Zhang Liu was having a hard time keeping himself awake, he had lost a lot of blood and could feel that this was it. He could see flashes of his youth, they were mostly together with his younger sister and mother, their father spending most of his days cultivating to make their family proud. Right at the end he finally saw his master, Zhang Dong. The man was hard to read and he had a quirky personality that sometimes could be seen when his pokerface crumbled.

    ''Xue...Mother...Father...Master... I''m sorry...''

    The youth looked at the haughty Dark Palm sect master, his gaze defiant till the end. The man was just standing there with that stupid grin on his face, the youth only hoping that his Master would avenge him afterward.

    "Hah, nice try... but he dies!"

    Yang Kai snickered as his attack was about to end his enemy''s life. Yet, to everyone''s bewilderment something baffling happened next. The moment the rocky orb made contact with the youth''s forehead they saw a strange character appearing on his forehead. This character was the symbol for lightning, its appearance was followed by strong energy fluctuations that were even above the great circle of core formation.

    Suddenly Zhang Liu''s whole body found itself getting enveloped in an energy field. The moment the rock orb connected it evaporated into nothingness, this wasn''t the end though. The barrier produced a massive shockwave that blasted outwardly in all directions catching Yang Kai off guard. A massive pillar of light shot up into the sky as it covered the whole football-sized field with itself.

    The giant blast of energy was hard to miss, anyone that was currently fighting just stopped as they felt oppressive energy surging into their body.

    "W-what is this light...GAHHHh..."

    "Noo...."

    People shouted out as they felt a strong jolt of electricity running through their bodies. The pillar of light expanded slightly further and then exploded with a loud thunderous blast. The screams came to an abrupt stop, the bright light quickly subsided to reveal most of the people down on the ground.

    They were all alive but out cold, the blast that originated from Zhang Liu had taken out most of the people in the area. There was one more surprising fact, as anyone that was from the Zhang, Fend, or Huo clan and was in the vicinity of the blast remained unharmed. Most of the people in the colosseum were now incapacitated, but still some of the stronger core formation warriors remained.

    "W-what happened, what was that pillar of light?"

    Feng Liena called out while glancing to the center stage where the light beam originated from. She was standing next to her grandma and the two Huo clan members that were previously with her in the VIP booth that didn''t exist anymore due to the fighting. They saw Zhang Jin charge into the ring and soon afterward the blast occurred.

    "This spiritual essence belongs to him..."

    Feng Liena said while glancing around her, some of the Dark Palm members were coming out and ready for battle.

    "Yes... did the Zhang Patriarch place some protective Daoist magic on his disciple... but this scale..."

    Feng Maling mumbled to herself while at the same time waving her staff and ready to battle some more.

    "Most of them are down but this is not the end, let us grab all of the juniors and escape!"

    Huo Qiang nodded while smacking his fists together, the brand new ruby gauntlets that he received from Zhang Dong began glowing red and releasing bright red flames.

    "Leave those bastards to us, you go evacuate the kids!"

    Huo Qiao sighed from the side but he also nodded, his hands glowing in a similar light as Qiang''s did as he charged into battle alongside his long time young master. A Dark Palm member saw an angry-looking man with mutton chops, he quickly pulled out his communication jade.

    "The clans are starting a revolt, send help to the colosseum!"

    He poured his spiritual energy into the jade but something was wrong. The moment he did that sparks flew and it just exploded into many tiny pieces. He didn''t have enough time to figure out what was wrong as he had to put up a block to cover his face. This wasn''t the right choice as the moment the man delivered his infernal punch the Dark Palm cultivator could feel his forearms breaking.

    The fighting resumed but at a smaller scale as the two Huo clansmen made a path for the Feng ladies. Back in the ring there was a certain large boulder. It was at least three meters tall and two meters thick and it had strange runes surrounding it. Opposite of it was a white-haired youth, he was gently hovering above the ground the lightning symbol still clearly visible on his forehead.

    The large rock slowly crumbled into dust revealing an astonished Yang Kai. The man looked slightly disheveled but was mostly fine. He was looking at the youth that was hovering and giving of strong Qi fluctuations that were even above this Dark Palm Master.

    "W-what is this, some kind of life-saving treasure from his Master or Clan?"

    The man could see that the boy was already out cold, his eyes had rolled up into their eye sockets but he was still alive. The aura radiating was an amalgamation of lightning and holy Dao and it was even keeping the youth''s wounds in check.

    "Take this!"

    Yang Kai didn''t wait for an explanation and produced a large sand serpent that was at least five meters in length. It quickly flung itself at the floating youth, its rocky fangs going for the kill. To the man''s dismay the moment his technique came in contact with the forcefield, the serpent blew up into a mass off debris.

    "You think a weak life-saving technique like this will keep me away!"

    Yang Kai roared as he rose up into the sky, he was standing on a huge snakehead that was made from a mix of sand and gravel. This new giant was several times larger than the previous serpent and gave of stronger core formation energy. The huge monster screeched as it opened its huge maw, an orb of energy appearing in front of it. This attack was very similar to the one the Zhang Cultivators used when they went into their staple attack formation. The difference being, that they were using water elements while this technique used the earthly ones.

    Zhang Liu was a sitting duck, he was already out cold and unable to move. The life-saving technique would probably give out after some time if this continued, no one could tell how much punishment it could handle. The huge beam of spiritual energy exploded forward, would the boy survive this no one knew.

    "Over my dead body you whelp!"

    Suddenly someone appeared between the yellowish beam of light. The person was wearing a peculiar looking metallic armor over his body. The man looked quite big at least two meters and a half, the armor was pitch black. The armor looked like some edgy fantasy getup, there were spikes coming out of the shoulder blades and two large horns from the helmet. The torso part was quite pointy and triangular and the eyes glowed in an eerie green hue.

    The person in the suit was holding on to a giant mace, the length of it was at least the same as the height of this man. The end was kind of spherical with curved spikes coming out of the ''head part''. The person inside this armor was Zhang Jin and he instantly swung this weapon against the incoming beam attack. Sparks flew in all directions but he managed to force the attack to the side, the resulting shockwave making the giant sand serpent tremble.

    While these two clashed with each other, another scene was taking place in the Zhang Clan base that was Spirit Spring City.

    Warning!!! Disciple Zhang Liu is in critical condition, life protective mark has been activated!

    "The hell is going on, SOMEONE EXPLAIN THIS!"

    The loud shout of an angry Zhang Clan Patriarch was heard throughout the whole city that made everyone in it drop to their knees. No one knew what their lovable Patriarch was angry about, it was very rare to see their leader acting like this so everyone was scared. The man in question was glaring at his two retainers Zhang Ya and Kuo that were face planting in fear on the ground.

    "T-the truth of the matter is..."

 155 Chapter 155

    Earlier at Spirit Spring City in the dimensional regalia treasure:

    The floating island in the void of the medallion had seen better days. The whole place was riddled with craters and rubble, even the buildings there were partially destroyed. The reason was the person who was in there and he was the one and only Nascent soul cultivator of the Zhang Clan.

    Zhang Dong floated around while being in a seated position. His robe dangling downward due to gravity while he rubbed his chin. He had spent quite some time at just getting used to his new cultivation realm, he had long consolidated it and moved on to training in his techniques.

    He didn''t have the cash shop to go back to so he had to use his own understanding of the Dao to make progress. This wasn''t a problem though, thanks to him having an astonishing amount of knowledge concerning the Dao of lightning. The upgrade to his cultivation technique also increased his understanding in the field of the holy elements so his healing arts would be more potent as well.

    "Well, this place looks like shit... but with my current cultivation I can almost instantly repair it by infusing my Qi into the medallion."

    He could barely get the pocket dimension to expand in size when he was still in the great circle of core formation. But things were different now, he was a Nascent soul grandmaster, a true behemoth in these lands. His true battle potential yet unknown as he hadn''t faced a foe at the same level yet.

    "Time to repair this place."

    Matt knelt down and placed an open palm on the ground. The whole lump of earth that he was standing on was a part of this treasure. Thanks to this he could repair it without having to go outside to touch the medallion that was still in that protective room. His golden spiritual energy flowed into the earth beneath and he could already feel the fissures and craters sealing themselves back up again. In a matter of moments the scenery was back to normal, still not fully though.

    "Well... I guess repairing the buildings would be too much to ask from this treasure..."

    The structures like the large dorm looking building or the other ones that were built in this dimensional space couldn''t be recreated like this. He would have to have his clansmen do the repairs manually. Some of the structures had collapsed due to several mistakes on his end. He had to watch his output a lot more now, a simple swing of his hand with a minimal amount of Qi in it could destroy the landscape around him.

    "Haha, It''s good to be the leader. Not like anyone can complain to me about destroying things here."

    Matt was adamant about his leadership position at first, but now he was slowly warming up to it. It was much easier to just gather points with the help of his clansmen. He just needed to shove them slightly in the right direction and they did most of the work for him. Not having to worry about a popular vote when it came to making new laws was also a nice bonus.

    "I don''t think I would be able to pass most of those new laws if we had things like a Senate or a House of Representatives..."

    Matt stood up after getting the ground back into shape, though it looked slightly barren as only the basic plant life recovered like grass.

    "Benevolent Dictator Zhang Dong... has a nice ring to it..."

    He laughed while walking towards the dorm house where the platoons had stayed at when they were training.

    "Still, I''ll have to look into that when things settle down..."

    He was someone from modern times and his country was also a democracy. So he leaned in that direction, but in this world ruled by strength it would be hard to propose that way of thinking. Getting people to follow elected officials that weren''t actually stronger than them in battle would be a strenuous task.

    "Well I got most of the techniques and the Qi flow down now, this new enhanced spiritual sense is quite neat as well."

    "I should probably craft that dagger now, wonder how much stronger I will become when my body also reaches the nascent soul level...also what''s above a golden body... platinum?"

    Matt rubbed his chin, thinking that that metal looked silver and would be just backtracking. Though a silver sheen was nice as well, maybe he would get a pure shiny chrome body that blinded his enemies.

    "I will ride eternal, shiny and chrome...or something like that?"

    No one was there to appreciate his bad monologue, so he moved on and was ready to enter his crafting abode to move on with the crafting. He wanted to take his attempt at the heaven grade weapon slowly, this was mostly the reason why he spent close to a week in training his Qi control. This skill was paramount to crafting weapons as making a slight mistake while infusing the metals and materials with his Qi could turn a treasure into junk.

    [ Warning!!! Disciple Zhang Liu''s body condition is rapidly decreasing! Warning!!! ]

    Suddenly he heard a siren that was followed by a big red pop up window right in front of his face. It said that Zhang Liu was in a dire situation, he didn''t know what was going on nor that his system even had this kind of function.

    "What the hell ..."

    He quickly tapped that prompt, the window quickly switched to Zhang Liu''s disciple window and he could even see his photo in the top left corner. On the right side, there was a miniature version of a human body, it looked like one that you found in a medical book. Normally this figure was green, the colors changed depending on the amount of damage his disciples suffered.

    "W-what is this!"

    His eyes bulged as he knew how this disciple window should look like. He had trained with the kids before and they had suffered some minor injuries. The colors shifted from green to blue, yellow, orange, red, and then black. Black was the color of death and he never saw his disciples ever getting anything below the yellow color. To his astonishment, most of the diagram was red or orange and there were places turning red at the same time as he was looking at it.

    "What''s happening in that city? did they run into some demonic beasts on the way home?... what''s going on?"

    Matt rattled his brain, he didn''t know what was going on. His grandpa and his retainers assured him that this was just a friendly get together for the clans. There shouldn''t be any problems along the way as it was a safe zone, Zhang Jin even had that prototype treasure that he made to help him out if something went wrong.

    "I must call them!"

    Matt hastily left the dimensional regalia and appeared next to the medallion in the spacious empty room. The guards were startled as they couldn''t even give him a salute, their Patriarch just zoomed past them and flew up the stairs leaving an afterimage behind.

    [ Warning!!! Disciple Zhang Liu''s life is in danger, killing intent detected, should the system activate the protection mark? Warning!!! ]

    Matt stopped after another popup window showed up. He remembered that he spent some points on his two disciples when he was examining his system more throughout. He remembered that this was something high-level masters did for their pupils, so he spent a good amount of his points in his system on that mark. He almost thought that it was a rip-off, but now it could be Liu''s only chance of survival.

    With the pinpoint precision of a seasoned gamer he poked the ''yes'' button as fast as his nascent soul cultivation allowed him to do. This of course didn''t get unnoticed, a simple finger poke from someone this strong produced a giant shockwave blast that turned the stairs that he was standing into rubble.

    [ Warning!!! Disciple Zhang Liu is in critical condition, life protective mark has been activated! Trying to stabilize, please wait! ]

    This explosion didn''t get unnoticed, guards poured in like bees to honey as they thought that their main building was getting attacked. The moment they got there though, they saw their Patriarch rising out from the rubble a strange expression on his face. He looked at them with a stern expression that made them stand up straight, their rear ends clenched.

    "Where are Ya and Kuo, bring them here... do it now!"

    The Zhang soldiers didn''t need to hear the order twice as they bolted in various directions. While they were searching for Zhang Dong''s two retainers, he himself pulled out a communication jade and tried contacting his grandpa that should be there with Liu.

    "Nothing... I''m not getting through..."

    He didn''t know that the systems protective mark had fried all communication devices in the area, even the Dark Palm Sect headquarters in Jade Grass City had gone dark. This was a blessing in disguise as they wouldn''t be able to call for backup for now.

    "What''s happening there?"

    He removed himself from the ruined structure and was now in the main hall of the Zhang Clan compound. He wanted to just bold for that city right here right now, but he was holding himself back. He needed more information, his two retainers needed to fill him in before he made his way here. He had already experienced situations into which he went without any sort of plan or idea of the foe he was facing.

    "Good, his vital signs are stabilizing..."

    While moving towards the office that Kuo should be in, while at it he also kept looking at Zhang Liu''s disciple window in his system. He noticed that this mark that he spent good spirit points on was actually keeping this boy alive. Previously dark red areas were turning brighter as time passed, which indicated a chance of survival.

    "Zhang Kuo greets the Patriarch."

    "Zhang Ya greets the Patriarch."

    He moved his head away from the status window as his two retainers finally showed up. They were all standing out in the open as they had met halfway. There were other Zhang family members around them along with the guards that had called these two over.

    "I will make this short you two, was it the Dao festival? Tell me, were there some dangers in the city it was being held?"

    The two looked at each other after they stopped bowing, then Kuo replied to the question Zhang Dong said.

    "Nothing in particular Patriarch, the festival should be ending in a couple of days, we are expecting the grand elder to return within the week."

    Matt raised his brow, he could tell, the two were lying. Thanks to his enhanced spiritual sense he could tell this, what Kuo said was partially right but he was withholding information. Why the man was doing it was unknown to Matt, he had no time to spend on these games though.

    He truthfully didn''t have the slightest idea that the Dark Palm sect was located in Jade Gras City. There were far too many cities and towns with Spirit, Jade, Phoenix, or Dragon in their names, for him to remember which one was which. His two retainers were still keeping up with the request of the grand elder Zhang Jin, so they were just following orders.

    "Is that so..."

    The people in the room twitched the moment Zhang Dong said those words. They felt an oppressive aura coming from their Patriarch. This was something very uncharacteristic of their leader, everyone was surprised as they went down to their knees, gasping for air.

    "P-patriarch appease y-your anger..."

    "Appease my anger? My disciple is on his death bed and you still claim that everything is alright?"

    "The hell is going on, SOMEONE EXPLAIN THIS! I know that you two are withholding information from me!"

    Zhang Dong pointed his finger at his two retainers accusingly, his aura washing over them which made them tremble in their boots. The cat was out of the bag at this point, so the two didn''t have any reason to lie anymore. Their leader already knowing that something was fishy.

    "T-the truth of the matter is..."

    "Jade Grass City is... part of the Dark Palm Sect..."

    Matt stepped back, the pressure around his people subsiding the moment the truth was revealed.

    "The grand elder didn''t want to worry you, Patriarch..."

    The two had their faces mushed into the ground and couldn''t really see if Zhang Dong was still mad or not. They were just following orders from their perspective but this could have been seen as undermining the leader''s authority. From the Patriarch''s point of view this could be considered treason and he could even have them killed.

    "The Dark Palm Sect again... damn you gramps..."

    Matt mumbled to himself while glaring at the two people at his feet. He was ready to take off here and there, before he could though he was interrupted by a female voice.

    "Your disciple? did something happen to little Xue and Liu?"

    This was Zhang Jie, the mother of his two pupils. She had a strained expression on her face, not really sure if she heard it right. Matt looked at his cousin and placed his arm on her shoulder, he gave her a solemn look before replying.

    "Don''t worry, I''ll bring them back."

    He then looked at Zhang Ya and Jin as he spoke out.

    "I''ll deal with you later."

    He was already putting the coordinates of Jade Grass City into his system. Before Zhang Jie could reply he was already floating in mid-air, his body flashing in a golden light. The spiritual energy spiked in the surrounding that caused everyone to gasp out, was this really their Patriarch? This man was a lot stronger than they remembered him to be, they didn''t get much time to gawk though. The man''s body turned into a being of lightning and blasted straight upwards, the people in the vicinity were flung to the side just from his takeoff.

    The people outside the Zhang Clan headquarters could see a bright beam of light shooting into the clouds followed by a thunderous boom. Everyone looked up into the sky only to see a thick bolt of lightning shooting from the cloud that was directly above them. Some of them could have sworn that they saw a person inside that huge lightning bolt.

 156 Chapter 156

    People murmured among each other. Everyone clearly heard the city leader''s voice before the large beam of light took off. They weren''t sure what was happening, but the city owner probably had something to do with it. The clouds parted and they saw a giant golden lightning bolt firing off into the distance and golden lightning was something that the Zhang Patriarch was known for.

    While the commoners gossiped with each other the Zhang Clan members were left stupefied.

    "D-did the Patriarch just fly without his sword?"

    "What was that strange phenomenon?"

    "Did he... reach the Nascent Soul realm?"

    The Zhang clan members that witnessed their leader taking off from this spot looked at the large hole in the ceiling. They all gulped wondering if Zhang Dong had actually taken that step forward that no one from their clan had ever done before.

    "This complicates things."

    Zhang Kuo stood up while looking in the distance where Zhang Dong had taken off. He knew what the Dark Palm sect would do if they saw their leader who had reached the nascent soul level. The other problem was that something had happened during the Dao festival, it didn''t take this man long to put one and one together to figure this out.

    "We must call Senior Zhi."

    Zhang Kuo looked to a person on the side, this was someone that worked for him.

    "Give out a decree, everyone is to return to Spirit Spring City we need to activate the grand formation!"

    "Also prepare the battleships, we need to aid the Patriarch!"

    The person bowed and quickly moved out to carry out the orders, the people that were gathered there were still perplexed by the whole situation.

    "I''m leaving on the first ship!"

    Zhang Jie proclaimed while running to get her battle robe ready, she knew that her children were in trouble once again and she didn''t want to wait here twiddling her thumbs. The place got louder as the senior members from the clan started running around like headless chickens. This situation looked even direr than the one where they were ordered to visit that secret ground, it seemed that someone from their clan had offended the big overlord that was the Dark Palm Sect.

    Zhang Zhi got the call first, the man didn''t take long to bolt on his flying sword towards Spirit Spring City. His true destination was the city where the Dao festival was held, but first he wanted to meet up with the Zhang force that would be heading there.

    His wife being a Feng Clan member quickly called up her old contacts in the female-run family. Their side didn''t have any info on anything, no communications were going through. Their side was skeptical about the whole thing and decided to wait it out, but to be sure they also started gathering their most powerful experts to aid their Matriarch.

    Word also reached the Huo clan that began their own preparations as well. The three clans had made an agreement to share information with each other. Everyone was gathering up their forces, but they knew better than to just barge into Jade Grass City. They didn''t like their chances when going against the Dark Palm Sect, so for now they would be preparing their forces and wait for more information to arrive.

    The two clans didn''t like the look of this. If a conflict arose they would probably have to abandon those young masters that were sent to that tournament. There was no realistic way of going against a sect with Nascent Soul cultivators. The congregation of their forces was more a formality than a show of force, done more to not make them look weak in this kind situation.

    Out in the distance, there was a sudden rumble. A large beast at the core formation level was munching on some delicious meat of its prey. The monster was the apex predator of this area, but even it shivered uncontrollably as it felt a massive spike in spiritual energy. The creature had never felt an astonishing amount of power like this before, the only thing it could do is prostrate itself towards the incoming being.

    The thing that was making this meat-eater afraid was a person that was rapidly approaching. This person was hard to spot as he was surrounded by golden lights, lightning bolts firing off and thunder clapping everywhere. Everything in the vicinity either passed out or prostrated itself like the beast.

    ''God damn, I''m so much faster now... but that blasted city is too far away... it will take me an hour to get there...''

    This was an angry-looking Zhang Dong, he looked at the zooming scenery as he was rapidly flying towards Jade Grass City. It would have taken him one or two days to get there on his flying sword when he was at core formation. He was several times faster now, but this wasn''t enough to get there in under an hour.

    ''I hope they can hold up until I arrive. Don''t you die on me...''

    Matt pushed his cultivation to its limits as he charged forward, he was feeling a myriad of emotions. Worry about his disciple and his new family that could very well die soon. Anger about the fact that the Dark Palm Sect was aiming for them and even sadness due to his grandpa withholding information from him.

    ''Am I so unreliable?''

    He tried tossing these questions to the back of his mind for now. The battle ahead was more important, he also had to think about what he should do after it''s all done. The Dark Palm Sect would be knocking on their doors if he trashes their city, even more, when they realize that he reached the nascent soul level.

    ''Should I make a contract with them?''

    He had done his research and wanted to avoid that option. The eradication of his clan could probably be avoided if he took one of those binding contracts. If he did that though, he would be nothing more than a slave of that Dark Palm sect. They apparently used some strange soul binding pacts that were more or less slave contracts. The person that he would be bound to could order him to do anything and if he refused his soul could be destroyed.

    ''Not a very good deal... but probably the least bloody conclusion.''

    He would probably have to work as some kind of sect enforcer or bodyguard for the next snotty sect master. Still everyone wouldn''t need to fight and their clan would fall under the protection of the powerful sect. Could he trust his life to some murder hobos though? He could very well end up betrayed and dead after even signing on the dotted line. He wouldn''t be able to do anything if that sect decided to do something to his clan, they were just too untrustworthy.

    ''The other option is to fight it out... but can I beat all of their old nascent soul farts myself?''

    That was the big question, he felt like he shouldn''t have problems with someone at the early stage. If they were as strong as that Pride demon he faced, he wouldn''t have a problem. Was that the standard for the early stage or was it more? maybe it was even less, he needed more battle experience.

    ''Can the system help me? I don''t have many points and no shop to buy any op items... the only thing I can spend my points now is to...''

    He had one idea in his mind, but first he needed more spirit points and many more of them. He was only flying for a couple of minutes now, the indicator on the map showed him getting closer slowly it would take some time for him to get there. Meanwhile at Jade Grass City another battle was unfolding.

    Zhang Jin''s large obsidian spiky mace radiated with oppressive green energy. The old man brought it down on his enemy, his opponent was a giant rocky serpent that was at least forty meters in length. Its head was gigantic compared to the armored man, but even it couldn''t withstand the hit from that weapon.

    "BOOMMM"

    The giant rock serpent''s head exploded into a million pieces and its body was flung back into the audience seats, luckily the people had already recovered from the lightning blast and fled the scene. The whole place was riddled with craters and holes, the water that was outside the ring was dirty from all the sand that had gotten into it.

    The uncharacteristic black knight with the giant mace landed on the ground, the added weight from the suit that Zhang Jin was wearing made the ground shake and shatter from the impact. An angry Yang Kai was seen not far away, he had suffered another setback and his technique was canceled after his large rock serpent got his by that strange mace.

    "What is this, how can you be this strong? What''s with that strange treasure, where did you get that!"

    Yang Kai roared while pelting the man in black armor with a barrage of rock orbs, the amount was staggering which made it look like machine gunfire. To this man''s dismay his opponent didn''t even bother to dodge this onslaught, the condensed rock orbs just shattered into many tiny pieces after hitting the armor.

    "Are you rebelling against the Dark Palm Sect? Do you idiots think that you have a chance? You will all die as an example!"

    Zhang Jin''s opponent wasn''t having any of this. How could he, a prominent Dark Palm Sect master who was also a one in a billion genius be losing to some old fart from god knows where? Would he have to use some of the forbidden arts to fight off this trash of an opponent?

    While Yang Kai was having a crisis, Zhang Jin was shocked by how well this so-called ''Power Suit: Iron Kaiser'' that his grandson had made for him was working. He wasn''t sure why Zhang Dong gave it such a name but the product was working out well.

    This was one of the latest creations of the Zhang Patriarch. He had modeled it to work like an Iron man suit of armor and it was running on demonic beast cores. This was also the reason why this black suit of armor had that gloomy greenish glow to it. On the inside there were many beast cores embedded into various core parts, like the shoulders and the chest plate.

    The treasure was mostly made from beast cores in the great circle and late stages of core formation. It worked like described, it was a power suit that the user could wear. It boosted the wearer''s offensive and defensive capabilities allowing them to battle people at the top level of core formation. The only downside of this item was the quick usage of spiritual energy, the person couldn''t really use it for more than an hour or even less depending on the power usage.

    [ Iron Kaiser at 74% energy ]

    Zhang Jin heard a robotic voice, something akin to text to speech. This thing even came equipped with a basic Ai, but it wasn''t really much it only alerted the user of how much juice the suit had left, or when it suffered critical damage. This product was still in the prototype stages and this Zhang Grand elder only received it for testing purposes.

    "Rebelling? What nonsense are you spouting? Did you want us to just roll over and die instead? I''ll take you down with me, you damn bastard!"

    The elder roared out, the metallic armor making his voice sound a lot more ominous. He charged forward, his whole body covered in deep green energy that shifted to the top of the mace. He swiftly swung it downwards producing a massive shockwave of Qi that flew at Yang Kai who could only put up layers upon layers of defensive techniques to barely block the overwhelming strike.

    "Don''t get ahead of yourself you old fart! You think you are the only one with secrets here?"

    The Dark Palm member jumped high into the air, his forehead glowing. The gem that was embedded into it started spewing up things that looked like globs of energy. These energy masses had some strange faces flickering in and out of them, going through various expressions but mostly showing fear or anger.

    Zhang Jin looked up and took a step back, this was clearly a demonic cultivator''s technique, but was this Dark Palm Sect a demonic sect?

    "Are those souls?... what kind of dastardly demonic art is that?"

 157 Chapter 157

    [ Unable to determinate objects characteristic, need more data. ]

    Zhang Jin''s power suit''s mechanical voice proclaimed after the question was asked. This AI was very basic so it had no advanced appraisal system like the one Zhang Dong had himself. The old man still couldn''t get used to this strange treasure, was there a person trapped in it, or was it some kind of soul that was talking to him?

    Yang Kai was glowing in a reddish light, a copious number of souls shoot out from his gem and started surrounding his own body. The souls started screaming out and pouring into the man''s orifices like his mouth and ears as if they wanted to be one with him. Their high pitched shrieks were even heard by people outside the arena, the loud sound causing them to tremble in fear.

    This wasn''t for the faint of heart as Yang Kai''s body started bulging out, his muscles expanded and his veins were popping out as if he was ready to explode. The more souls that he absorbed the paler his face got, this wasn''t all though as suddenly his body started to turn transparent. It was as if his body was flickering in and out of existence as it switched between the material and the immaterial plane.

    "W-what is that technique..."

    Zhang Jin shouted out while already swinging his large mace weapon forward, he produced another ranged strike of green energy that flew upwards at the man that was looking more like a ghost than a person now. The mass of Spiritual energy charged forward right at the enemy, but the moment it collided with his body it just past through it.

    "How is that possible?"

    Zhang Jin''s attack was ineffective, it had gone through the opponent that just phased through it. Did he turn into a ghost that wasn''t affected by regular spiritual attacks?

    "Hahaha, no one who has seen this technique has come out alive! Behold my Phantasm Spectral Body of the Nine Hells!"

    "None of your feeble techniques will work on me, but I can still harvest your soul just fine. After I''m through with you, I''ll be sure to impale your body on a pole for everyone to see!"

    Yang Kai cackled as he descended rapidly, his fingers expanded and turned into sickle blades. His mouth expanded as well, making him look quite grotesque, his high pitched screams being heard throughout the destroyed colosseum.

    "I''ll be sure to place you right next to this little bastard that spoiled my plans! You all should just die like the trashes you are!"

    Zhang Jin wasn''t the only person fighting around here, but the others were busy with their own battles. There were far more Dark Palm Sect elders ready to keep Huo Qiang and Feng Liena busy.

    The first thing Zhang Jin did was to back off, not sure what would happen if he got scratched by those long looking fingers. While he was jumping back he made sure to kick a large rock at his opponent. Yang Kai didn''t even flinch as the large boulder just flew through him not impeding his approach at all. This confirmed the old man''s theory, this technique really did make the man intangible.

    The two started playing a game of cat and mouse. Zhang Jin was skillfully dodging the strikes not sure about the result if he got touched by this strange ghost art. He tried attacking with some ranged attacks, but just like the previous ones they only went through the attacker without damaging him at all.

    "Stop running you old bastard!"

    Yang Kai was slowly losing his cool, this technique was taking a lot from him but he wasn''t getting anywhere with this. The old fart was just running and he couldn''t keep this up forever, he knew that he would run out of souls eventually and suffer a powerful backlash if this continued for too long. The clunky looking suit of armor that he was wearing didn''t apparently make him slower in any way.

    While he was thinking about his next move, he saw someone out of the corner of his eye. It was Zhang Liu that was still floating up in the air, the barrier that was covering his body was still there but could it hold against his attack?

    "If you keep running... then the boy dies!"

    He quickly changed his strategy and turned to the side, his body expanding in height as he looked more like a monster than human now. Zhang Jin was taken aback and quickly bolted for where his grandson was floating in the air. He had no plan whatsoever but he couldn''t let this villain harm his boy.

    "No, stop you fiend!"

    The monster that looked like a cross of a banshee and slender man charged forward. He wasn''t really aiming for the youth though, he just wanted the old fart to try defending him. When he did, he would quickly strike and perform a devastating attack to his soul.

    This Phantasm Spectral Body of the Nine Hells was a special technique, it didn''t really make Yang Kai stronger but it allowed him to shrug off all sorts of attacks. He was actually slightly weaker in this form, but he couldn''t be harmed. His attacks didn''t affect his opponent''s real-life body but instead targeted their soul. It was very effective against anyone below the nascent soul level as their souls weren''t strong and mostly without any protection. There were very few items and very rare arts that could apply damage to this demonic ghost technique.

    Zhang Jin arrived in front of Zhang Liu first, his armor was already enhancing his body above Yang Kai''s level so this wasn''t a difficult feat. The only thing that he could do was to gather up more energy and swing the person-sized mace at his opponent, maybe if he gave it his all it would deliver a devastating blow.

    Yang Kai on the other side sniggered and increased his speed. He would wait for that idiot elder to do a big swing and then he would devour his soul whole. This man was quite the connoisseur that liked feeding on aged souls the most. This was also the reason that he was going after Feng Maling that had quite a delicious soul to his taste.

    The ground rumbled and people in the vicinity could feel a massive amount of spiritual energy filling the area. Everyone that was fighting in the vicinity quickly jumped back, the Feng and Huo clan members followed suit.

    The two people clashed, the person that turned into a monster ghost expanded even further his fingers looked like large blades that were on a collision course with the black knight''s body. The person in the dark suit of armor swung his weapon in a last-ditch effort, his power suits energy reserves dropped to twenty-five percent in an instant as he infused most of it into this swing.

    The resulting energy wave blasted a giant fissure into the ground that expanded forwards and to the sides making it look like the earth was parting. The surge of energy washed over Yang Kai''s body but still his ghastly figure didn''t feel any pain or pressure from this massive attack that carried over into the town behind him.

    "You Fool! Your soul is mine!"

    The large ghostly sickle like hand moved towards the old man''s chest. He had made a large swing and was now unable to dodge or put his guard up. The pointy fingers nimbly cut the air towards the enemy, not going for the flesh but for what was inside of that meat suit.

    "Clang..."

    A strange thing happened though, the long digits instead of penetrating inside just bounced off the dark armor. Yang Kai stopped dead in his tracks, what was this thing made of that his ethereal body couldn''t even penetrate was this some kind of rare spirit metal? He didn''t have much time to think as he felt something hard slam him to the side, this was the same mace that Zhang Jin was carrying.

    "Huh... the Qi attacks can''t damage that art... but the material that this treasure is made of can?"

    Zhang Jin was being super cautious when fighting this demonic cultivator that he didn''t even test out if this dark metal had any special qualities. He didn''t think that a simple melee attack would be better than using grand Qi attacks that could devastate the area.

    Yang Kai suffered a large hit, his body started shrinking and flickering on and off as if his ghost technique was running out of juice. The Zhang elder didn''t give his enemy time to recover though, he was quickly on him like white on rice. What ensued was a one-sided beatdown, the dark knight''s mace pounded the Dark Palm Sect''s master into the ground while loud thumping noises echoed.

    "For the Zhang Clan, take this!"

    No one expected this one-sided reversal, even the other elders from the Dark Palm Sect weren''t able to aid their leader who was getting turned into minced meat. Zhang Jin was without mercy, he quickly pummeled Yang Kai into the ground the man was now twitching while having a hard time uttering even a single word.

    "That Yang Kai lost, just like that?... was this Zhang Jin always this strong?"

    Huo Qiao muttered from the side while holding another man from behind by the neck and choking the ever-loving crap out of him.

    "No, it must be that strange treasure he is wearing... it made him far stronger. Young master, we should quickly withdraw while we have the chance!"

    The bodyguard alerted his young master, with Zhang Jin''s victory the strongest opponent was out of the way. What done was done, the only way out of this was to flee. After that they would have to think about the next step to take, but for now getting out of this city was the first thing they all had to do.

    Huo Qiang was just smacking a Dark Palm Sect member around as he heard Qiao. This prompted him to look inside the ring, his eyes sparkling slightly while looking at the large obsidian suit of armor. He wasn''t sure why, but he really liked the way that thing looked, if only he could get one in red was what he was thinking.

    Feng Liena and Maling had rounded up the junior members from the three clans by this time. Thanks to the strides forward that all three clans had made during the two years, they were somehow able to fight off these sect elders. The EMP like attack that turned the communication jades into scrap has given them an advantage for now, but they knew that after that last blast that Zhang Jin produced everyone in the city would be alerted.

    "En, we should retreat for now at the harbor, all of our clan members are gathered here. We can use the failure of the communication jades to our advantage and evade further combat!"

    Feng Mailing chimed in, she then looked at the old man in the edgy black suit still surprised about how strong he was in that thing.

    "You old fart, grab your clan member and let''s go we don''t have time!"

    Zhang Jin looked to the side and nodded, he then glared down at the injured body of Yang Kai. He was battered and bruised but still alive, he just needed one good smack to finish the job.

    ''Can''t let this guy live!''

    He knew what to do as he moved his large mace above his head, aiming to cave in the Dark Palm Sect master''s head with one last large swing. Letting a petty man like this live any further would be a travesty, how many people had he slain during his life already? There was no pity for people like this in this old man''s heart. He poured in some spiritual energy into this last swing, the greenish glow on the mace materialized as he began swinging down for the killing blow.

    The large weapon headed on a collision course with that man''s head, if it connected it would turn into an overripe tomato as it burst. But just a couple of centimeters away from the target the swing came to a stop. Zhang Jin''s muscles bulged as he felt like something was holding him captive. He couldn''t move a muscle, adding more Qi to his armor didn''t solve this problem either. The green energy dispersed into nothingness as if sucked away into the ether by something.

    Zhang Jin wasn''t the only person that couldn''t move, every person from the Triforce alliance felt massive pressure being applied to their very being. The junior members collapsed onto the ground without any warning, the core formation elders managed to resist somewhat but still, they found themselves kneeling.

    "What is this? You dare attack the Dark Palm Sect in front of this Wu Ming?"

 158 Chapter 158

    Wu Ming took his time as he floated up in the air looking down at everyone that was in the mostly destroyed colosseum. The architecture of the area was trashed and it looked like a tornado and an earthquake went through this place.

    There weren''t many people left here, there were several Dark Palm members that were mostly beaten back by the triforce alliance elders. Besides that we have the group of junior members from the three clans that were now down on the ground, their ability to stand being taken away all thanks to the nascent soul grandmaster above them.

    The man in question didn''t say much, he hovered above ground and took his time to examine the situation. He looked at Yang Kai that was a bloody mess on the ground, the mace of the man in the strange black suit of armor had stopped. It wasn''t moving a muscle as Wu Ming was locking him in place.

    He then gazed to the side, Yang Kai''s disciple Deng Cai''s hand was sticking out from some rubble. His own master had forgotten about him and didn''t even get him to safety before he began his battle with Zhang Jin. Not like Elder Ming cared about this useless youth, if he got abandoned by his own Master then there had to be a reason for it.

    It took him only a couple of seconds to get the gist of it. His allies were mostly beaten and bruised and someone was about to murder a prominent senior member from the sect. Even though he didn''t like the man with the gem in his forehead, he still had to abide by the rules. There was also the part about him being the son of the sect leader, he couldn''t just let him die here unless he wanted to face his wrath.

    "Truly a pitiful performance, I expected more from the son of that man..."

    Elder Ming descended slowly, hands behind his back. He arrived between Zhang Jin and the beaten up Yang Kai. The Zhang Clan member was still infusing his Qi into his body as he was trying to get away. He could only twitch slightly, his whole body felt like it was stuck in a block of iron a constant pressure keeping him from budging.

    "And this is... interesting..."

    Wu Ming poked Zhang Jin''s helmet as he looked over the armor he was wearing. The man liked to collect treasures, this was also one of the reasons why he liked attending auctions in various places.

    "Mysterious craftsmanship, this was made by a true master. Shame that it''s still only an earth grade treasure, even though it''s a pinnacle one."

    Zhang Jin couldn''t do much as the man picked up his mace and started looking over the craftsmanship. Apparently this man didn''t think anyone around here was worth his while as he was keeping them plastered to the ground. Even the bloodied Yang Kai wasn''t getting much of a reaction from this elder Ming.

    "Mmm yes..."

    The old man with the salt and pepper hair shook his head after hearing Yang Kai cough out loud. He took out a pill from his spatial ring and placed made it float into the downed man''s mouth. The medicinal effects were quite astonishing as the wounds were closing at a rapid pace.

    "That was a heaven grade pill, they aren''t cheap."

    The battered and bruised man felt air going back into his previously collapsed lungs. He vomited out some blood and quickly took out various other medicinal pills to aid his recovery.

    "Y-yes Elder Ming, I''ll be sure to reimburse you for this favor!"

    He wobbled back to his feet, he looked like a person that had tomato juice dumped on him. His clothes were soaked along with his face. Yang Kai glared at the man in the obsidian armor suit that was still unmoving and getting held back by the elder.

    "This is an embarrassment for the entire sect, how could you let some third rate clans bring you to this state?"

    The man was surprised, almost everyone from his sect had been defeated by these cultivators here. He wanted to figure out what could have made them do this but he was a bit preoccupied with looking at Zhang Jin and Zhang Liu. The youth was still floating in the air giving off some strange spiritual fluctuations that this elder was curious about.

    "What kind of Dao is that?"

    He took his eyes off the man in the metal suit and floated forward slowly. The other people that were allied with him were slowly recovering while eating healing pills. They didn''t move a muscle though, they needed to wait for this scary nascent soul elder of theirs to be done with his research. It would be rude to act without getting ordered and no one was willing to risk offending a person in the nascent soul stage.

    Wu Ming approached Zhang Liu, his finger moving towards the glowing shield as he gave it a poke. He felt a repelling force against his digit, so he increased the pressure. The glowing shield buckled under the increased strain but was holding for now. The man even felt a discharge of Qi getting sent back towards his body, this was probably some kind of defensive mechanism.

    "Interesting...really pure spiritual energy... still lacking though..."

    The mark that was placed by the system was at the very top of core formation, it was even edging into the half step nascent soul level. Yet it wasn''t quite there yet. Anything below the nascent soul realm wouldn''t pique this man''s interest. The Dao that was flowing out of this mark was interesting but it wasn''t something that this man could use for himself.

    "E-elder Ming, please let me readdress my grievances!"

    The man looked back to Yang Kai, the man had seen better days. He was just standing there after having somehow recovered, his gaze on the man in the black suit of armor. Wu Ming knew what he wanted and didn''t really care, the technique that was suspending the boy in mid-air was more interesting than what Yang Kai was up to. Still, the order needed to be kept and these people did go against the sect an example had to be made of them.

    "Your grievances you say..."

    He looked to Zhang Jin who was being silent, not out of his own choice. The suppressing aura forced him to submit and he was even having a hard time breathing.

    "Yes, we can''t have a blemish like this be kept around."

    Elder Ming turned away from Zhang Liu and looked at the black armor. He stretched out his finger and did a slight motion forward as if he was flicking someone''s nose. A large shift in Qi energy was felt by the masters in the area, they watched on as the black metal that Zhang Jin was covered started rattling around.

    "Hoh, quite the sturdy treasure...but..."

    The old man flicked his finger forward causing the black armor to shake even more. Soon it started bending and showing cracks before it collapsed and shattered into many pieces. Zhang Jin''s terrified expression was seen after he got disrobed by the Nascent Soul master that just needed two flicks with his finger to do so.

    "There, I think you should be able to handle the rest on your own now."

    Wu Ming turned back towards the youth once more, but before walking away he gave out an order.

    "Ah yes, you will gather some elders from the sect and organize a cleansing. We must not let other sects think that we are weak, this is your mess so before you resolve it don''t even think about going back to the main sect!"

    The Nascent Soul elder didn''t care that Yang Kai had backing back at the inner sect, he was still of higher status than the younger man. This whole mess was started by him and he was going to end it. He would do so by pulling out the problem by the root, which was killing anyone that was involved.

    "Yes Elder Ming, this Yang Kai will not rest until every single one of these scoundrels is dead!"

    Ming went back to poking the barrier and applying more pressure wondering how resistant it was to his Qi. He wasn''t expecting much from it though as it was already buckling under the pressure. Truthfully he just wanted to get out of here, the auction was over and the only reason he was still here was that he noticed the huge explosion that was caused by Zhang Jin''s attack. He wanted to give this brat Yang Kai a couple of slaps for causing this commotion, he even let himself be defeated by some weak clans that didn''t even have anyone above the core formation level.

    The gem on Kai''s forehead was slightly cracked but he managed to hold onto the souls in there. He was filled with rage, this was probably the biggest loss to his face that he had suffered in his life. If it wasn''t for Elder Ming he would have been done in by some no-name cultivator.

    "Damn old bastard, making a fool out of me!"

    He delivered a smack to the old man''s face, he couldn''t defend himself and didn''t have the armor to protect himself anymore. The strength difference was immense as Zhang Jin felt his cheekbones breaking from the impact. Yang Kai was enraged, this anger wouldn''t go down until he eliminated every single person that was related to this old man.

    "I''ll devour all of your souls and torment you for decades!"

    The Dark Palm Elder had ordered him to eradicate the offending clans, this wasn''t a problem but it could take a while. He didn''t want to waste his time so he decided to finish up with this old fart. He moved his hand towards the old man''s chest and performed a grasping motion. Zhang Jin suddenly felt something getting forcefully ripped out from his very being.

    "S-stop..."

    The old man groaned as his soul started getting extracted from his body. He couldn''t muster up even a spark of spiritual energy, his hands and legs went limp. The man screamed out in pain, he was getting torn apart from the inside. His body started to visibly shrivel up while his soul got transferred to the man''s hand.

    ''My children...I''m sorry...''

    His body dropped to the ground without much of a thud. He was nothing more than a bag of skin and bones the light in his eyes slowly extinguishing. Flashes of his long life went through his mind, the good, the bad, and the mundane. This long life was finally ending, leaving this man with many regrets. The bitterness about having brought ruin to his family was engulfed by silence and the neverending darkness that followed soon after.

    "This soul... isn''t bad..."

    Yang Kai licked his lips, the gem in his forehead glowing in purple light as the soul entered it. The cracks that were in it started to slowly patch themselves up thanks to the boons from this battle. He looked to Elder Ming that was done with probing Zhang Liu. The barrier that was keeping the youth protected shattered in mare moments after the Nascent Soul grandmaster applied a bit more pressure.

    "Mmm... be sure to clean up."

    Wu Ming looked bored as he slowly started to leave, the Zhang Clan members couldn''t even protest. Most of them had long lost consciousness and were already surrounded by the other Dark Palm members that were ready to carry out the cleansing. From the group only the core formation elders were still managing to hold on. They could only grind their teeth after seeing Zhang Jin''s lifeless body hit the ground.

    Yang Kai made his way towards the youth that caused him to lose the bet.

    "All because of this piece of trash... this soul isn''t to my liking... far too young."

    He snorted while picking up the boy from the ground. He still wanted to perform the deed himself a good strike to the head would do. He wanted to feel his opponent''s blood on his hands, this would extinguish his rage oh so slightly.

    "Die!"

    His punch with his whole cultivation realm behind it flew forward. Even if Zhang Liu was at his strongest, he would have no way of defending himself. However, right before the fist made contact with the white-haired boy''s face something appeared in front of it. It started small, like a little droplet of water floating around. The drop expanded turning into a small puddle that was hovering around vertically and in the way of that punch.

    The moment Yang Kai''s fist connected with the puddle it stopped. The Dark Palm Members looked from the side, bewildered by what they were seeing. There was a hand sticking out from thin air, coming out from what looked like a small floating portal.

    "Argh...! W-what is this!"

    Yang Kai screamed out in pain as the hand grasped his fist tightly, he tried pushing or pulling but it felt like he was trying to pull the whole continent by himself. The floating portal started to quickly expand while the hand that was sticking out moved forward. Within moments the people could see a man emerging from within.

    He had shoulder-length white hair and a well-built physique. The robe he was wearing was pure white with some golden patterns sewed in here and there. The robe had some shiny metallic parts to it, the chest area was well protected and the hand that was holding onto the other man was covered by a tight gauntlet.

    Yang Kai went down to his knees while trying to exert the full extent of his cultivation, still, the person that was in front of him wasn''t budging. He didn''t even seem that interested in the man he was holding the hand of, and just looked around the area. His eyes quickly darting between the people in the area, they quickly came to a stop after he noticed a certain husk of a man on the ground. The moment he noticed him the people in the vicinity felt a spike in spiritual energy follow by two words.

    "The...Fuck?"

 159 Chapter 159

    A little bit earlier in a location between Spirit Spring City and Jade Grass City.

    Thunder boomed and the clouds parted as some passerby''s trembled in their boots. No one had enough time to react, the moment they heard the loud sound the being in the clouds was already gone. The only thing indicating that someone was even there was the straight path in the sky followed by hurricane-like winds. This was, of course, Zhang Dong racing towards his destination.

    ''I''m only halfway there, they seem to be holding up though.''

    Matt had his disciple window out and was looking at Zhang Liu''s status. The protective measures that the system put on the youth were still there and they hadn''t gone down much since he took off. This was letting him know that whoever triggered that mark to activate wasn''t able to follow up afterward.

    ''Why did they stop though? Did someone get involved and protected the boy?''

    Matt wasn''t sure about the reason, maybe the whole thing was some kind of misunderstanding and his disciple only got critically wounded during this so-called Dao festival. It was in Dark Palm Sect territory, so he could very well be showing his hand too early. Revealing that he was a nascent soul cultivator brought with it various problems.

    Before he could reorganize his thoughts on the off chance that it was some kind of misunderstanding, the disciple window blinked. The mark''s energy level started going down going to a bit over 50% in a matter of seconds. Something had to be happening there, how could this defensive measure drop down from being almost fully charged to half.

    ''It should be able to tank hits from core formation experts at the great circle level... are there many people of that level piling up on him or something?''

    Matt''s palms started sweating profusely after he thought about the other option that was more realistic.

    ''There is someone at my level there...''

    It didn''t take long for the system screen to glow red once more and the protective technique to go down to just 10% of its maximum charge.

    ''I''m nowhere near that city... what''s happening there?''

    He started panicking, he was already burning through this spiritual energy to fly at an alarming speed. It would take him about thirty minutes to get there, this was an amount of time in which anything could happen to his clan members or allies. While his mind was getting overtaken by dread the energy counter went down to zero and his screen went red once more.

    ''God damn is there nothing I can do.''

    He racked his brain for an answer, this system sometimes showed him new ways to use it if he only thought of a feasible way.

    ''Could there be something that I could have missed?''

    The system did update slightly after he reached the nascent soul level, it even came with one big handy new feature.

    ''Maybe there will be an option that relates to that?''

    He quickly went through his disciple window trying to find the answer, he even stopped flying so fast so that he could concentrate. He was rapidly clicking through the options and going through sliders to see if something new popped up.

    ''Sharing spiritual energy...''

    ''Transfering knowledge...''

    ''Affection levels, devotion levels...''

    ''Defensive measures...''

    ''Other...''

    ''Special feature tab...''

    ''There it is!''

    There was an actual ''Fast Travel'' tab that brought him over to a new section of his disciple window. Some of the options were grayed out, but the ones that he could bring up gave him various ways of traveling to his disciples.

    [ Small Portal (One Way) [ 100 000 SP]: Creates a small portal the size of the user to the location of the disciple.

    Instant Transfer [ 1 000 000 SP ]: Instantly transports the user to his disciple, can also transport the disciple towards their master.

    Large Portal (Two Way) [500 000 SP]: It creates a large portal that allows two-way travel. ]

    The things he could buy here had various requirements that he had to fulfill before he could even purchase them. The ones he could use had all the minimum requirements of him being in the early stage of the nascent soul realm. They also required a certain amount of devotion and affection that the system was counting.

    He didn''t have quite enough Spirit Points for even the cheapest one, that being the ''Small Portal'' one. But thanks to having a large amount of crafting materials in the form of beast cores and some leftover spirit stones, he was able to get that bare minimum. About a week had passed since he used up all of his points, but thanks to having two cities that gained him points passively he was able to gather enough.

    ''Okay, I got it... now activate!''

    He stopped in his tracts and floated above some unknown landscape. The moment he pressed the fast travel option it told him to select the disciple he wanted to travel to. This was a slight surprise as he was able to even select his other disciple that was Xue, guess you didn''t have to spend the points for every student separately. You still needed a certain devotion and trust level to be able to teleport to a given disciple though.

    Energy rippled after he selected Zhang Liu from the small two people list. The moment he pressed the prompt in front of him it transformed into a little teleportation gate that looked like semi-transparent liquid. He could see some blurry scenery on the other side, but he had to squint to make out the fine details.

    ''Is that... a fist?''

    He was someone at the Nascent Soul level so he saw the whole thing in slow motion. The person that was punching forward was doing it slowly compared to what he was capable of now. He reacted somewhat instinctively and pushed his left palm into the little portal, grabbing the fist mid-flight. He used his superior cultivation to cancel out any spiritual energy that the person on the other side put into this attack.

    Soon the portal expanded enough for him to walk past it, the destroyed scenery on the other side becoming clearer after he passed through the liquid-like gate. He gazed at the man that he was holding the hand of and noticed the forehead gem that he had, this made him think to the time a similar person visited his clan to give them the order about the secret ground.

    It didn''t take him long to figure out that this guy was up to no good and was trying to murder his disciple that was now behind him on the ground. This prompted him to increase the pressure in his grip making Yang Kai drop to his knees from the pain. Matt felt some strange rock armor shattering into dust before he got to the man''s bones that crumbled quickly afterward. Before he could call out to his opponent with a question he noticed a certain pile of black metal.

    ''Isn''t that, the Black Knight prototype I made?''

    He didn''t like the look of this as he knew who was the person he gave this suit of armor too. He quickly noticed the shriveled up body of Zhang Jin laying there motionless. Even with his enhanced spiritual sense, he couldn''t feel a drop of life from that withered body.

    "The...fuck?"

    His loud voice resonated through the area, it was backed by his cultivation level that took everyone by surprise. Everyone from the Dark Palm Sect took a couple of steps back, even Elder Ming raised a brow as he was looking with interest at the white-haired man that just walked through a portal.

    ''How is that possible? You shouldn''t be able to form teleportation gates without a medium.''

    Wu Ming was taking his time, this was an unknown variable. He didn''t know if this person was friend or foe, he could very well be someone from another well-respected sect so he had to be careful. The man that arrived was apparently preoccupied with something else and wasn''t paying attention to him, he would use that to his advantage.

    "Unhand me, do you even know who I am?"

    Yang Kai protested while going down to his knees. Veins on his neck and forehead were bulging as he tried getting away, but to no avail. He was even looking to the side to elder Ming. He was hoping that the man would save him, but Ming was just floating in the background not doing anything in particular.

    ''That bastard is scared to make the first move, this person is also in the nascent soul. Will, he abandon me?''

    He thought to himself, battles between nascent soul cultivators were quite rare. People that had gotten to this level were all cold and calculating, they wouldn''t risk hundreds of years of cultivation on a battle that they weren''t at least 90% sure that they could win. This was the stance that Wu Ming was taking as well. Even though this was a child of the sect leader, he wouldn''t blindly jump in to rescue him.

    "No one cares who you are."

    Before Yang Kai could raise another complaint he was slapped. His cheek ballooned and he was silenced rather quickly. His cheek and jawbone shattered instantly like it was made from paper mache. He then felt a burst of strange unfamiliar spiritual energy getting exuded from this man dressed in white.

    "Someone tell me what happened here!"

    Zhang Dong shouted while releasing a burst of spiritual energy. Wu Ming backed off slightly as this attack was aimed towards his own aura that he was using to keep everyone from the triforce alliance in check. Feng Liena and co felt the suppressive force leaving the area and it was replaced by something else. Everyone could finally look up and they saw the Zhang Clan Patriarch just standing there, a golden hue surrounding his whole body.

    "S-senior Dong... that man he... used some kind of demonic art to trap Zhang Jin''s soul in that gem treasure he wears on his forehead."

    Feng Maling was the one to speak up first, the others were slowly gathering themselves up and even the junior members were waking up.

    Matt was already standing in front of the shriveled up body of his grandpa. It looked more like a corpse at this point than a body that was fine just a few moments ago. He dragged Yang Kai along holding him by his hair and part of his head. He placed his hand on Zhang Jin''s chest, soon golden energy washed over him. The whithered body started to slowly recover but even when it did, the one performing the healing arts was frowning.

    "This... the soul is truly missing..."

    He stared at the slightly cracked gem that was embedded into the forehead of this Yang Kai and tried examining it.

    [ Slightly cracked Dark Soul Gem: This type of soul gem is used in tandem with various demonic arts. It is mostly used to trap souls of other beings inside of it. The practitioner that had captured the soul can then extract the trapped souls and preform various techniques with their help.

    This dark soul gem houses a myriad of souls and is used to nourish its user''s cultivation by siphoning energy from the trapped beings inside. ]

    Matt''s face twitched slightly after he went through the explanation. He pushed his spiritual sense into the gem while holding the man close. He indeed could feel various souls trapped inside this thing, they were different than his own nascent soul but thanks to it he was able to handle things related to them better now.

    "You..."

    He glared at Yang Kai, his finger going towards the man''s head the tip releasing small electric arcs that were gold in color.

    "N-no... I am the son of the Dark Palm Sect''s great leader, you can not kill me!"

    The man started thrashing about, his eyes darting from the incoming finger to Wu Ming that was still standing on the side and not doing anything.

    "Elder Ming, what are you doing save me!"

    Wu Ming gave off a sigh, this has gotten too troublesome for even him. He came to this city for a simple auction and now it looked like this Yang Kai had offended some other Nascent Soul monster that he didn''t know the background off.

    "Fellow Daoist... I implore you to let that young lad go, I''m sure we can come to an agreement."

    "I''m not sure from which sect this friend comes from, but I''m sure you wouldn''t want to wage war over such a trivial matter."

    Wu Ming stretched out his hands as if he was shrugging. In this man''s opinion this was something that the junior generation caused. People of his level wouldn''t really move for small matters like this, just some core formation and foundation establishment cultivators got hurt, there was no reason to make a big fuss about this.

    "Trivial matter?"

    Zhang Dong looked at the body of his grandpa that had slightly recovered and then to Wu Ming. He knew that this person had to be the one that caused his grandpa''s armor to give out. He was also sure that it was him that caused the protective Mark to give out on Zhang Liu. This guy was clearly just trying to evade a fight and then reorganize later, he couldn''t give him that chance though.

    So, he did the only thing that he deemed to be right. The hand that was holding Yang Kai glowed brightly, his Qi invading the man''s very being.

    "Nooooo...Wu Ming do something... you old bastardddddddd!"

    Yang Kai''s whole body started glowing brightly. Rays of light came out of his orifices like his eyes and ears and shot out into the air. Wu Ming didn''t have enough time to react as he was taken aback by the sudden attack from this unfamiliar cultivator. Yang Kai''s body started giving out crackling sounds and soon enough it exploded into nothing more than dust. The only thing left was the purple soul gem that was now between Zhang Dong''s two fingers.

    "Y-you..."

 160 Chapter 160

    The Zhang Clan members that were present here looked with awe at their Patriarch. Their eyes were glued to his glowing form and followed his every movement. They were quite touched that their leader had made his way here in such a short amount of time. He was even risking offending the Dark Palm Sect by defending them here.

    "Master...Grandpa..."

    Zhang Xue called out from the side while looking at her senior uncle and her grandpa that looked to be dead. Her brother was also down on the ground not too far away from where Zhang Dong was standing. The group of juniors and elders were further in the back, which gave them a good view of what was happening down on the center stage.

    After the flashing light subsided they saw that the man that caused them so much trouble was gone. He was just disintegrated out of existence by their Patriarch who made it look easy.

    "Was the Patriarch always this strong?"

    "So that''s the Zhang Clan''s leader..."

    Huo Kong gulped after witnessing the display of power. He began thinking that he might have been too hasty in his conclusion. Maybe his father didn''t blow this senior uncle''s achievements out of proportions.

    "He is far stronger now than two years ago."

    Kong''s father looked at his senior brother with sparkles in his eyes, he wanted nothing more than to ask him about the way he had managed to reach the nascent soul level in just a measly two years.

    Feng Liena was also astonished like the rest, she didn''t expect Zhang Dong to rush to their rescue. Her heart didn''t flutter that much as she came to the realization that he was probably here to save his disciple. She tossed her selfish thoughts to the back of her head, now hopeful that this man would produce a miraculous outcome as he did before when they were stuck in that secret ground before.

    While Zhang Dong''s allies were quite beaming with curiosity, the man in question was holding onto the purple soul gem. Nothing was left from Yang Kai, his body had turned to fine dust and was carried off by the wind by now. He glanced at the item in his hand but was also keeping his attention on the Dark Palm elder that was floating to the side. He didn''t choose to attack him just yet, but fighting could break out at any moment. He wasn''t sure what that old man was thinking about, but he was looking at him with a focused gaze. He on the other hand wanted to tend to this soul gem to help his grandpa out.

    "There are a couple of things that I can overlook, but killing the sect leaders son isn''t one of them... identify yourself!"

    Wu Ming sounded a lot less friendly now, this whole situation got a whole lot more troublesome the moment Yang Kai was killed. He would be held responsible for this, he wasn''t sure how the Dark Palm Patriarch would react. He probably didn''t have to worry about losing his life, his position was too high for that. Still, he could be locked up for multiple years without being able to leave the sect premises.

    "Could you... wait a second? Think I have this figured out, I''ll be with you in a moment."

    The man with the white robe replied while moving over to where Zhang Jin''s body was laying. Wu Ming was taken aback by the blatant disrespect that this man was showing towards him. Was he a nascent soul grandmaster such an unimportant character? Was the giant sect that was behind him something you could insult without any worry in the world?

    "You are courting death!"

    The sentence that shouldn''t be used had been delivered. Wu Ming''s face was getting red and he looked like he was going to pop a vein at any moment. This person wasn''t giving him any face at all, he might have been in the nascent soul level as him but he looked far too young. He was being cautious with him, but he was slowly getting fed up with the whole thing. There was so much that this man could stomach, he was still someone that was used to a certain level of respect. This was also why his reason started getting clouded and he decided to test this man out, without gathering enough information beforehand.

    Wu Ming moved his hand upwards, his palm going in front of his face as he held it vertically while keeping his fingers together. His hand began to change its coloring going from pale to black in a matter of seconds. A shadowy aura that expanded outwardly formed, it took the shape of a blade that was pointing straight up into the air.

    The Dark Palm elder then swung his hand forward, the air around the shadowy blade rippled. The people in the area started coughing up blood as even though this attack didn''t look that imposing it had the backing of a nascent soul cultivation realm behind it. All the core formation seniors that were from the triforce alliance put themselves between the energy fluctuations and their junior members. Even they that were in the great circle of core formation were shivering. They were trying to muster up all their might just to block residual Qi from an attack that was aimed at someone else.

    "I''ll court your mom!"

    Zhang Dong shouted out, golden energy surrounded his palm in a similar way as Wu Ming''s. He delivered a backhanded slap to the incoming shadow blade. The two forces collided with each other sending some residual Qi blasts to the side. To the Dark Palm elder''s surprise, his shadow blade bent in an awkward fashion and it bounced to the side. There was a loud bang as another part of the colosseum building blew up leaving another large hole behind.

    Elder Ming retreated slightly, he looked with interest to the man that pimp slapped his attack to the side. This might not have been one of his strongest techniques but it still packed a punch and had the backing of his middle stage nascent soul realm.

    "I told you to wait."

    Zhang Dong glared at the man that sent some edgy shadow blade attack towards him. His focus went back to the item he was holding, his opponent was probably shocked so he would think twice before using a half-assed attack like the one that he did.

    ''There were some books about soul arts in the library from the secret ground... but this is a demonic technique.''

    He was quite sure that if he destroyed this gem that was holding the souls they would be set free into the surrounding. The souls should then begin searching for their old bodies as they are naturally attracted to them. But normal souls couldn''t survive outside their bodies for too long, if they didn''t find a vessel they would vanish into nothingness. If the soul was from a stronger person, or it had strong desires it could survive longer. Some then turned into vengeful ghosts or decrepit souls that haunted the lands with broken memories of their past lives.

    Matt was hesitating to destroy the gem, the possibility of releasing some vicious specters was high as he didn''t think that their bodies existed in this plane anymore. He also felt that there was a possibility of saving some of the souls that were trapped in there at a later date. So instead he guided his spiritual energy into the soul gem and began searching for the soul that belonged to his grandpa. It wasn''t that hard to find as it was one of the newer ones that had been trapped in this place it also was strongly reacting to his spiritual energy as if it was drawn to it.

    ''There you are...''

    Matt guided the soul from the gem to Zhang Jin''s body. People were curiously looking at what this nascent soul senior was doing, he was holding a gem with three of his fingers. A golden glow appeared once more as something akin to a glowing ball flew out of the jewel and quickly embedded itself between the old man''s eyebrows.

    ''Did that work?''

    Matt squatted down and held up Zhang Jin, resting his head on his palm as he tried examining the ''patient''. He could feel that the soul was back in there, but it was weakened for some reason. The man didn''t seem like he would be waking up any time soon. He wasn''t sure if the demonic art caused some damage to Zhang Jin''s soul, but he didn''t really have enough time to figure this out as the other nascent soul cultivator was regaining his composure.

    "Who are you... are you from the Dragon Gate Sect? the Demon Subduing Sect?... or maybe from the Limitless Sword Society?"

    Matt turned to the man and looked up to him. He had a vague idea about these organizations but didn''t know anything specific. His retainers probably thought that he already knew the power structures of the lands and didn''t bother him with things related to them. They didn''t know that this person was naturally lazy when it came to politics and would rather spend time crafting or learning new skills. This did make him recall that he needed to come up with a cool name soon though.

    While the two people were staring at each other, the unmoving bodies of Zhang Jin and Zhang Liu started slowly moving. Matt had realized that he had something akin to telekinesis after reaching the nascent soul level. This was also the reason that people at this level could fly without the use of treasures.

    "Hmm, who might I be? Do you really want to know... but before that, what do you intend to do with these people?"

    He pointed to the people behind him with his thumb. They were, of course, the members of the triforce alliance, the group was still standing there by this time all of them were wide awake. The bodies of the two Zhang members slowly hovered towards where that group was standing, Zhang Dong didn''t feel like it would be wise to fight while his two family members were out cold.

    Wu Ming looked to the group of weak cultivators, not really sure what this man''s reasoning was.

    "Them? They were disrespectful of the entire sect, they deserve nothing but death... but why would you..."

    A lightbulb flashed above elder Ming''s head and he looked to the hovering bodies of the two people. This man had to be related to these two, why would he bother to save them otherwise. The eighteen-year-old youth was clearly his disciple and the old man had some similar facial features to the white-haired man.

    At first, this Dark Palm elder had the misconception of thinking that this man was from some powerful sect and this Zhang Liu was just some disciple he picked up. It wasn''t odd for eccentric nascent soul masters to have disciples all over the place. But this man uncharacteristically cared too much for the others involved in this drama. Normal cultivators wouldn''t go out of their way to help the entire clan of their disciples while offending other powerful cultivators. This man was willing to do it though, this made Wu Ming think that he had a more intimate relation with them. He might even be one of them!

    "You''re part of them... you''re not part of any sect, are you? You''re just a rogue cultivator!"

    If this was the truth than Wu Ming didn''t have to worry about anything coming back to bite him. He was mostly being cautious as to not get their sect into some drawn-out war with another equal or more powerful sect.

    He glanced at the man with the white hair, then to the people in the back that heard him speak. It was clear to him that he hit the nail on the head.

    "You dare hide your realm in the territory of our sect!"

    Being a nascent soul realm cultivator in this lands without a strong backing was something that you couldn''t do. You had to associate yourself with someone in power otherwise, a life of constant running was the only thing that waited for you. While Wu Ming was in the middle of his monologue though Zhang Dong managed to hover his disciple and grandpa to where his allies were. His whole body then started crackling with golden lightning, his aura expanding.

    "Listen up everyone, all of you return to Spirit Spring City where my Zhang Clan is located, I will join you there shortly. That is the only place where you will be safe from the Dark Palm Sect. After I''m done with a couple of things I''ll return there!"

    The moment he said those words the whole area was engulfed in golden energy, lightning bolts flickered everywhere and booms of thunder resounded through the destroyed colosseum. Everyone within the vicinity gasped in shock, the other Dark Palm cultivators around the area felt an oppressive force wash over them as they found themselves losing consciousness.

    Wu Ming snorted a bit as he surrounded his body with a shadowy aura, this attack that he was seeing was quite weak. It didn''t affect him at all as he was able to block it with just a plain aura shield that every cultivator at his level was able to produce. He was mostly sure that this man had no backing, he would have announced his faction by this point if he was sane.

    "Do you really want to go against my Dark Palm sect? You an everyone involved will be eradicated!"

    Before the man could get an answer he could feel something emerging from the brightly lit area. This something was a large fist that was crackling with golden lightning energy coming right for his head. During the exchange, you could faintly hear the man in white talking.

    "I''m going against it because I know that you''d do that, you moron."

 161 Chapter 161

    The people had noticed that something was afoot. At one point the audience started pouring out, the communication jades had gone down so information wasn''t going through as well as it should. The Dark Palm members formed a perimeter around the large building keeping all those people that wanted to escape there.

    Most core formation elders that were stationed in this city and were close by, went into the arena. The people keeping order outside were mostly in the foundation establishment realm, with two or three people being on the weaker end of core formation.

    "What''s happening inside senior..."

    One of the sect members posed this question to an older looking man that looked to be the one in charge here. The man played with his beard while trying to get some more info with the help of his communication jade but to no avail.

    "That doesn''t matter, just keep anyone from leaving, that was the last order that the young Master had given us, The grand elder is also there now, so everything should be fine."

    Wu Ming had gone inside some time ago after noticing the large blast of Qi that destroyed a quarter of that large arena. The nascent soul elder didn''t give them any orders in particular, but Yang Kai did before the communication devices went out. They would continue to follow this order out of fear of offending a prominent sect master.

    While they were diligently carrying out the order something finally occurred. A golden like storm shot out into the air and into the surrounding area momentarily stunning some of the cultivators outside. This was the aura attack that Zhang Dong used to knock out all the core formation cultivators in the vicinity. This didn''t reach outside though as he was afraid to hurt the civilians outside. He was only able to keep the attack away from people close to him, like the members from the triforce alliance that were at the arena building with him.

    Soon people could see two blurry figures taking off, the ground rumbled and the spiritual energy around the area exploded. Hurricane like winds erupted in the city causing quite a bit of residual damage. Everyone looked in the direction of those two figures, the two busted through some jade green pagodas. One was covered in a golden hue while the other person was clouded in shade like energy.

    Wu Ming and Zhang Dong clashed with each other, their colliding fists produced shockwaves that caused widespread damage. The people that were the closest to this fight scream out in fright, quickly scattering to various locations to keep themselves safe.

    "Two masters are fighting, run for your lives!"

    "Is another sect attacking? What''s going on?"

    "Oh no... the city is getting wrecked!"

    People shouted out in panic while trying to get away, rubble was falling everywhere. Matt managed to push his opponent back while they clashed sending him barreling into the ground. He floated up in the air and looked around, taking a second to reassess this situation.

    ''This doesn''t look good... if this continues we''ll destroy the whole city... and might even cause casualties.''

    Matt didn''t care much about the Dark Palm Sect base that was in this city, it would be even better if it got smashed into pieces. The problem was the commoners living here, he didn''t want to cause mass destruction or injure anyone that wasn''t involved in this scuffle. The two nascent soul cultivators were doing the equivalent of throwing some left jabs at each other at the moment. They were feeling each other out, just measuring each other''s all-around power level.

    ''This guy clearly doesn''t care, I bet he would throw meat shields at me if he figured out that I didn''t want to attack the regular folk.''

    Normally people at their levels didn''t care that much about the lives of others. His opponent probably wouldn''t think that this Zhang Patriarch cared about harming the citizens of this city.

    ''I think we need a change of scenery...''

    Matt looked to the side and focused his senses, he was trying to find a certain location.

    ''There, that''s a good spot to start things out.''

    He grinned slightly while looking down, Wu Ming was already standing up and glaring daggers in his direction. He soon jumped right in, but his opponent didn''t throw himself at him, no. The cultivator called Zhang Dong started flying upwards as if he was fleeing. The Dark Palm Elder didn''t know what this guy was up to, but he followed after him while delivering some ranged attacks that looked like a barrage of shadowy arrows.

    "Where are you going, you think you can escape?"

    Wu Ming noticed something about this cultivator, he was clearly only in the early stage. The four stages of the nascent soul had distinct power signatures to them. It didn''t matter how much spiritual energy the cultivator had. Even if someone in the early stage had more spiritual energy than someone in the middle stage, you could still tell them both apart. The so-called marker of the stage was quite distinct.

    From Wu Ming''s perspective, he had the upper hand, even though this enemy he was fighting had massive amounts of Qi he was still only in the early stage. He felt that in the long run, he should be able to take this win. This man was also acting strangely, after delivering a good hit he just backed away and started flying away instead of going with the flow of the fight. It made it seem as if he was trying to flee or at least gain some space between Wu Ming and himself, maybe he wasn''t that good at hand to hand combat?

    Zhang Dong that was glowing like a light-bulb flew through the air, everyone that saw him coming instantly fled into their homes. Right behind him was quite the angry-looking man with salt and pepper hair, the black arrows that had the shadow attribute raced right behind him. For some reason, Zhang Dong slowed down each time and received the ranged attack with his own energy negating it in the process. This was odd as he could very well just dodge them instead, not many people knew that he was doing it so that those ranged attacks wouldn''t hit a passerby.

    ''Is he mocking me?''

    This only made Wu Ming that was flying behind him even madder. He figured the man was taking his attacks just to show him that they weren''t up to par. He wanted to increase the number of his attacks, but his opponent didn''t look fazed. He needed more time to charge up a stronger one, but if he did that Zhang Dong would be gone by that point.

    The chase continued and more shadowy attacks rained, this time though the white-haired man dodged to the side. The old man that was doing the chasing smirked, thinking that he was probably at his limit and couldn''t just defend himself anymore. The attack that Matt dodged flew into the distance and hit some kind of defensive formation. The formation wasn''t able to hold on though and a couple of those shadow bolts descended downwards into the buildings that were behind this shield.

    "Nice hit, but I think you missed a spot."

    Zhang Dong gave Wu Ming a thumbs up before moving his hand upwards while forming a lightning spear. He chucked it in the same general direction where the shadow arrows flew, his attack causing more destruction than the previous attack.

    "W-what''s happening, we are getting attacked!"

    "The defensive formation has crumbled just after one hit, are those nascent soul cultivators!"

    "Why are two nascent soul masters attacking us, is this an attack from an opposing sect?"

    The people looked up into the air with fright in their eyes. They saw a cultivator dressed in some strange armored white robe, slightly behind him was another cultivator that was wearing a Dark Palm elder robe. One of the people on the ground recognized the older looking person and quickly spoke out.

    "Isn''t that Elder Ming from the main sect?"

    "What is he doing here?"

    The people murmured among each other, Matt showed a slight grin and quickly shouted so that everyone could hear him.

    "Yes, Elder Ming ol'' buddy ol'' pal, let us destroy this sect outpost before they figure out that we are from the Demon Subduing Sect!"

    Wu Ming was taken aback, his eyes bugged out in confusion as he didn''t know what to say.

    "W-what nonsense are you spewing!"

    The man tried to give a retort but the man in the white battle robe gave out a dazzling radiance that blinded most of the people in the area. A loud rumbling sound followed suit that also drowned out whatever elder Ming was saying. A barrage of guided lightning spears that just looked like a mass of golden lightning bolts descended upon the Dark Palm cultivators, raining doom upon them.

    This, of course, was the outer sect base that belonged to the Dark Palm sect. Matt had gotten a brilliant idea after he noticed that his opponent wasn''t really looking where he was shooting his attacks. The Demon Subduing Sect name came up previously, from what he could recall he knew that both of these sects were antagonistic towards each other. He wasn''t sure if this silly scheme would work out, but he was willing to give it a go.

    The seed of doubt was placed now, he just needed to remove the only person that could give away his bs act. Firstly he targeted all the main buildings at this base, making sure to cause mayhem and destruction. He was still feeling bad about attacking people out of nowhere, but this was the start of a war. He realized that he had to put his own people first, he was already being merciful by focusing on the structures and the core formation cultivators in this area. He wasn''t even going for kills and was trying to just cripple their cultivation bases for now.

    After the flash of light cleared, you could hear the groans and moans of the people that were implicated by Matt''s wide-area lightning barrage. The whole place was a mess, the ground and buildings were trashed and the area looked like it had been hit by missiles.

    "Haha, take that you vile Dark Palm scum! Elder Ming, we should go now before they call for more help!"

    This was a big gamble, would they even believe this obvious lie? There was also the other problem of the Demon Subduing Sect getting angry at him for spreading some misinformation, but he could just deny the claims if that time came. Elder Ming, on the other hand, was already coming straight at him, his whole body covered in a shadowy aura.

    "Stop spouting this hogwash!"

    He was fast to recover, he wasn''t sure why this man was doing this type of act but he just had to take care of him before any further trouble arose. Before he could close in though, the white-haired man''s figure blurred, in an instant, he was right in front. The two made eye contact for a fraction of a second before Wu Ming saw a palm going for his face. He was rushing forward and couldn''t react to his enemy''s speed.

    This wasn''t an attack though, Zhang Dong''s digits pushed into the older man''s face as he grabbed him by the face. Due to the sudden grab, Wu Ming''s lower body flew forward while his neck and head were pushed backward. The two men then flew into the distance leaving the area of the outer sect headquarters.

    The older nascent soul cultivator grasped Zhang Dong''s wrist and pushed his shadow Qi into his own digits in the hopes of wrestling himself free. To no avail as the divine lightning Qi that formed a thin protective layer was holding in place. The man pushed his whole middle stage to the apex while trying to wrestle himself free, but he just couldn''t budge this man''s vice-like grip that he had over his face.

    Wu Ming''s body then flew through the air as he crushed into some boulders. He was finally free and found himself in some unknown location outside of the city. His opponent was just hovering above the ground and looking at him, hands crossed over one another as if he was taunting him.

    "Well then, Mr. Big Grand Elder of the Dark Palm Sect. I don''t think that you will surrender peacefully?"

    Wu Ming just looked up at his opponent, eyes squinting. He waved his hand producing an obsidian Jian sword that had similar Qi qualities to that shadowy Qi that he was using. The old man pointed the sword towards his enemy, no words came out of his mouth but Matt could feel that this man''s danger level went up a notch.

    "Didn''t think so..."

 162 Chapter 162

    The whole Jade Grass City was in an uproar. Everyone was hiding in their homes or running for their lives, people were in full panic mode the moment they got wind of two nascent soul cultivators fighting it out in the city. This was a city with millions of people in it, but there were no such things as the police force or a fire department to help people out in the time of need.

    Every prominent clan or sect that was living here just closed off their doors and hid away in their mansions, protecting themselves behind their defensive formations. The people with the lack of these sorts of protective measures either hid in the cellars or tried seeking shelter somewhere else, even deciding to run outside and wait it out in the nearby mountains.

    While everyone was running around like headless chickens a certain elegant looking gentleman was standing at a large gate. The gate looked to be made from pure gold and it had two winged serpents entangling the columns on each side. Right at the top of the gate, there was a large red sign with the words ''Yinglong Pavilion''. Behind it was a large building that looked like a reverse triangle with the bottom flattened.

    The man was sticking out like a sore thumb, mostly due to what he was wearing. He had a very western looking tuxedo, pure black jacket, and trousers that had a satin stripe. Under the jacket, he had the usual black vest and white dress shirt. He wore nice black leather shoes and his cufflinks had a dragon shape to them. The whole getup was completed with a black-tie and a monocle that the man was fiddling with. His gray hair and beard went quite well with his refine gentleman looks, which made you think that this was some kind of butler that worked for a noble.

    "Reporting to Lord Tian!"

    The man nodded at the other person that looked more like your traditional cultivator as he was wearing a robe. This robe had a similar winged golden dragon pattern on the back like the one on the gate.

    "Following the large explosion, the Sect elder that was at our auction house had left towards its source."

    "The explosion originated from the Colosseum where the Dao Festival was taking place this year."

    "The sect that owns this town had sealed off the access to the building before our men could get more information, but after a further inspection this is what we have found out..."

    The man started telling his superior about the fight inside the arena building and the two nascent cultivators that burst out of it. One of them was the Dark Palm Sect Wu Ming that was a special guest at this branch auction house. The man also brought over the info that the two were seen destroying the main base that the sect was located at. The man called Tian was given Zhang Dong''s description and that he was an unknown cultivator that suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere. It was unclear how or why the man sneaked into the city, but they were speculating that he probably hid his cultivation level.

    "After the two nascent soul elders left a group of cultivators belonging to the Feng, Huo and Zhang clan came out. They showed hostility towards the Dark Palm Sect that was blocking people from getting out of the Colosseum building. A fight ensued soon and they left in the direction of the docks. It is unknown if they are related to this incident but it''s highly likely..."

    "Hmmm...Quite interesting..."

    The butler looking man nodded while thinking about something.

    "Announce my message to everyone, the Yinglong Pavilion will stay neutral in this matter. Activate the defensive formation and bring all the treasures to the main vault."

    The man clasped his hands and headed inside, moments after the sound of the defensive formation activating was heard and a barrier flickered around the large Pavilion building. The man himself remained outside, his eyes focusing in one direction as he felt a battle taking place.

    ''They began their battle... that one is Wu Ming... the other one... quite peculiar...''

    The man fixed his monocle while slowly floating up and standing on the large gate as if he wanted to get a better view of the battle.

    ''Wu Ming''s opponent is in the early stage, but still...''

    Thunder and lightning resounding throughout the area, giving even this dandy looking man a shock. The man wasn''t going to get involved in this, but he was quite curious. Who would attack a large sect in one of their cities out of the blue, was this a prelude to something larger?

    ''Quite peculiar, indeed. A storm might be coming to these lands... maybe something interesting will finally happen!''

    The man chuckled to himself and peeked at the battle through this monocle, the item enhancing his view to the point that he could even see the two fighter''s silhouettes even though they were multiple kilometers away from him. He zoomed in just in time to see the two men clash with each other, the shock-waves from their clashes reverberated right towards the city and caused many mini earthquakes.

    Matt floated back and looked to his arm, he was holding onto a hilt of a sword. Yes it was mostly just a hilt now as the blade of this sword of his had been cleanly sliced off after a couple of exchanges. The weapons that he had were only of the earth grade, so they had no chance of lasting against that man''s black sword that was a heaven grade treasure.

    "You''re a slippery bastard and you don''t even have a weapon!"

    Wu Ming scoffed at his opponent, he was slowly getting into the groove. Ever since he pulled out his sword he was on the attack, his opponent had already gone through multiple weapons. He had sliced and diced them into scrap metal each time and finally noticed that this poor sap didn''t have any high-level treasures.

    "I''m not convinced, who are you really, stop hiding your real age!"

    Elder Ming was also unconvinced about this man''s origins. The part about being a renegade cultivator was probably true, but Zhang Dong''s youthful appearance was throwing him off. A nascent soul cultivator below the age of two hundred was already hard to find, but this man looked to be below the age of a hundred. For this reason, the man had a theory that he was using some kind of high-level disguise technique.

    "Hiding my real age? What are you on about?"

    Matt threw the destroyed sword hilt into his spatial ring, not bothering to pull out another one. The items that he had weren''t able to handle his increased cultivation level, so even if he wanted to use them they would start crumbling. His opponent didn''t even have to destroy them himself, if Matt pushed his energies into the blades they would start to burst from the inside. The weapons at the earth grade just weren''t able to hold the massive nascent soul Qi load that was getting poured into them.

    Wu Ming pointed his dark jian at Zhang Dong and continued.

    "You are clearly hiding your true appearance, there are no masters on your level that are this young, what''s your purpose here, are you trying to start a war?"

    From Elder Ming''s perspective this man was plotting something, he had already mentioned the sect that the Dark Palm sect was on bad terms with previously. This made him think that this opponent was from a third group, one that would gain something if they and the Demon Subduing Sect went to war. There were a couple of options here, but there was nothing to he could go off of here. This man was a mystery and he used a strange cultivation method that he never had seen before.

    "Hiding my true appearance? Buddy, I think you have things mixed up here..."

    Matt didn''t really care what this man thought about at this point, he would be taking him out one way or another so he didn''t have to lie anymore. The only thing he had to be careful was from other people that might be listening in on them.

    "I''m just your regular thirty-two year old, but enough about me, I have a question for you."

    "Are you considered strong in your sect?"

    Zhang Dong moved his hand to his chin and looked upwards to his enemy, the old man not looking too happy about the whole ordeal.

    "What? Of course, I''m one of the core elders of the sect, the only one that is truly above me is the sect leader!"

    The man stuck out his chest as if he was happy with his proclamation, he was also hoping to give this man a fright by saying that he was on the stronger side.

    "Is that so...That makes things... easier."

    Zhang Dong moved his hand to his neck and proceeded to crack it a couple of times before slowly rising up.

    "You did well to handle my strength at 15% of my true power, but what will happen if I further increase it to 30%!!!"

    He shouted out the last part dramatically, his body began radiating with the already familiar golden light but it was a lot more condensed this time around. Matt wasn''t really being serious with the percentages, he also had no way of truly measuring his own output as they did in some shows that he watched back in the day. He still wanted to say that line, it was something that the people in this world weren''t all too familiar with.

    His body flickered as he activated the higher tier version of his Embodiment of the Thunder God. His eyes started turning white, golden lightning bolts flickering on and off within them. His white locks shifted into golden energy and rumbling of thunder filled the area as he charged forward. Before his opponent could even flick his sword, he was able to blitz him thanks to his increased speed. The Dark Palm elder found himself with a footprint embedded into his cheek as he received a swift kick that propelled him into some boulders on the side.

    Matt had already spent some time exchanging blows with this man, he had figured out a couple of things during this. For one, he was in no way weaker than someone at the middle stage of the nascent soul level. He also noticed that if he remained in close-quarter combat at all times, the other person''s battle prowess dropped significantly. He had a theory concerning that, it was probably mostly due to the upper-level cultivators spending more time learning large scale attacks than sticking to the basics of combat.

    Matt was still someone relatively fresh to all this battling nonsense. He had only two years of fighting under his belt and he wasn''t afraid to duke it out at close proximity. This was also attributed to him having quite the strong body refining technique that made him impervious to most damage and lowered the pain that he felt.

    On the other hand, the most powerful cultivators had long abandoned the early gained techniques. Exchanging them for grander ones, but the harder the technique the more Qi it used, and the longer the activation time was. Sometimes the basics were the way to go, it was far easier to deliver a simple kick or punch to your enemy than to focus on that flashy finisher move to end it all. Even the swordmasters that you''d think would fight at close range, mostly used some ranged slicing attacks that parted the rivers. You didn''t actually see them exchanging blows with each other at close range instead, they clashed with their strongest attacks that were backed by their Dao.

    ''I only learned that one new move it would be wise to just end it like this, but...''

    This was also why Matt was staying close to Wu Ming. He didn''t really have any nascent soul moves beside one that he learned during this week. This was the safest way of winning this fight, just using his superior cultivation method that gave him better all-around stats than this person that probably knew some peculiar techniques that could shift the tide of this battle. There was also a flip side to this, he wouldn''t really learn anything new, he wanted to test his limits while he had the chance to do so.

    ''I guess, I''ll give him some time to recover.''

    "Is that all? Is this what a Dark Palm sect elder amounts to?"

    Matt flew upwards into the air and looked down at Wu Ming, the man shook the rubble off his robe. His body flickered with shadowy light as he jumped upwards. He began making some strange hand gestures that culminated in him putting them together. The moment he did that a spike in spiritual energy was felt by Matt in the area and something started appearing from behind him.

    It looked like a mass of black energy that was getting sucked into a certain spot. The energy started taking form soon after, Matt clearly saw something being created out of nothing. This ''being'' looked like a massive looking Raven. This being of shadowy energy was even larger than he was in his avatar form as it towered over him.

    "That certainly is a big boy..."

    Matt commented while looking at the two beady eyes that were locked on to him.

 163 Chapter 163

    "Halt, you may not leave!"

    A man with a spear pointed at some people, with him there were many others with similar weapons and clothes. This was the Jade Grass City docks and these men were the guards stationed there. They were following a previously given order of not letting anyone leave the city that a superior from the sect had given them.

    They were having slight troubles as there were many people that came for the Dao Festival here. Everyone was going crazy after the two nascent soul uncles started fighting, fleeing the city was the only thing on there mind. The guards were able to keep the numerous people at bay for now, mostly due to the fear of the Dark Palm sect looming over them. Otherwise, the various clan warriors would have charged through these guards that were at most at the foundation level.

    This was only to this point though, as a certain group of people charged into the dock area pushing everyone to the side.

    "What are you doing, you may not leave, this is what the elders from the Dark Palm sect had decided, are you going against the venerable sect?"

    The guard captain with the highest cultivation realm shouted out while seeing a large man with red hair charging forward.

    "Venerable? Think you have them confused with some other sect, now move!"

    The warning that the guard gave the group didn''t work as they all got tossed to the side like ragdolls. The man with red hair was of course Huo Qiang, behind him were all the people from the triforce alliance. Clans that were to the side, looked shocked at the brazen show of force. Everyone was wondering who these people were, that didn''t fear the powerful sect that was behind these guards.

    "Everyone, go to your ships, we will follow Brother Dong''s orders and go towards the Zhang Clan''s Spirit Spring City!"

    "Qiao, go with the Zhang Clan, and protect their ship, take care of Senior Jin."

    Huo Qiang knew that the old man was injured, he was still out cold and getting carried by some Zhang members. Zhang Liu on the other hand had awoken from his slumber and was more or less healed thanks to some recovery pills he had previously gotten from his master. The pills had the holy element infused into them, so they worked wonders for external and internal injuries of any kind. He and Feng Nuana were running along with the rest of the people from their camp, the short girl was glancing back and forth from the youth as if she wanted to say something.

    "My lord, is it wise to do that? Shouldn''t we return to the clan and alert the Patriarch?"

    Huo Qiao asked while everyone was making their way into the docks, the guards that were there not really being able to do anything with the core formation experts around.

    "Hah, you saw it all... Senior Brother is the only one that can protect us... we just need to tell that old fart to hide for the moment."

    "Young Master, please stop referring to the Patriarch that way..."

    Qiao nodded and saw some reason in this. What good would it do to hide away in their main city, only to wait for the incoming doom? He didn''t think that the Dark Palm sect would let them live, even this nascent soul elder was already ordering that Yang Kai to eradicate all the three clans that were involved in this fiasco. Probably letting themselves be protected by an allied nascent soul master like Zhang Dong was the better option, but he was still only one man.

    "Are the communication jades still not working?"

    Communications were still out, the jades in themselves had probably been destroyed and they needed new ones. Even the ones that were in their spatial rings were not working anymore. This worked in their favor as the sect that was chasing them wouldn''t know that they left, or that the incident even happened before someone from this city reported it. They had some precious time now, the word about this incident hadn''t reached outside yet.

    While everyone was running towards their designated ships a big screech was heard. It sounded like a cry from some kind of bird, everyone that was rushing forward had to grasp their ears. The core formation elders quickly surrounded the juniors with their aura to protect them from harm.

    Everyone looked into the distance to the spot that this loud cry originated from. The cultivator''s eyes went wide as they saw that large beast opening its wings. It looked like a huge raven, but this beast was the size of a kaiju a lot bigger than normal creatures that were even in the core formation level. Its size was immense when it flapped those giant wings giant cyclones were created that produced massive windstorms.

    "Master is fighting that?"

    Zhang Liu and Xue were squatting down on the ground along with the other junior members, taken aback by the sudden appearance of that creature. Was that some kind of nascent soul technique that they didn''t know about?

    "Is that a Spirit Soul-Beast?"

    The old granny from the Feng clan called out, her eyes squinting as she tried to look in the direction where the action was happening.

    "I heard it takes a lot of time to create a Soul-Beast like that, not every nascent soul cultivator is able to do it..."

    Most of the people here didn''t really have information about the various techniques a nascent soul master used. They were shrouded in mystery, but this one was more of a staple so it was more widely known. Still, how one produced such a strong beast that rivaled its own master in battle strength was an enigma.

    "What''s a Spirit Soul-Beast?"

    One of the junior members asked while quivering down on the ground.

    "A Soul-Beast is something a nascent soul master is able to create. It''s more than an attack, this beast as its name states possess its own soul. We don''t have much information on this matter, but it is believed that it has something to do with the nascent soul of the cultivator. It can freely move around and has a mind of its own as well."

    The old lady explained while forcing the hurricane-like winds away from the group of youths that she was protecting. She didn''t know all the details but, she was sure of one thing. A cultivator that had a Soul-Beast with him had a massive advantage over one that didn''t have it. Supposedly those beasts could be even stronger than the person that created them and would follow any order without asking any pesky questions. The beast was supposedly created with the help of the cultivator''s nascent soul, so it was a part of them.

    While the triforce alliance was concerned about what Zhang Dong was against they saw a blinding light in the distance. Opposite of the giant black bird there was something or someone. The flickering light expanded in scope while looking spherical in nature.

    Then something strange happened after the sphere turned gigantic, something burst through it. It looked like a massive clawed hand, following it was a massive roar. The yell sounded like a mix of a monsters growl and the sound of thunder. The Spherical orb of light burst like a balloon after that monstrous claw showed itself, revealing the monster inside.

    "W-what is that... it''s... golden?"

    "What kind of beast is that... it''s not a dragon, is it?"

    What materialized was a beast that the people here weren''t familiar with. The body of this creature was hulking and covered in golden scales. It wasn''t as big as the shadowy raven that was flapping its wings in front of it, but the presence that it had was even above that flying creature.

    The golden creature had two large horns sprouting from its head. On its back the people could see huge webbed wings, sharp claws were present on some parts of those wings. Its eyes were smooth and glossy, the whole creature had lizardly features to it. Out of its nostrils lightning bolts were shooting out and the moment it gave out a roar the whole place shook as if the heavens were angry.

    This was what Matt would call a Western Dragon. This counterpart of the Dragon species wasn''t serpentine in nature, it had powerful-looking fore and hindlegs that could deliver massive blows to its foes. It also didn''t possess the classical deer-like horns that the eastern dragons had.

    Without a warning a colossal explosion of plasma erupted, shooting wildly into the heavens making the cyclones and winds stop. The imposing scaly golden body slowly moved forward. The leathery bat-like wings expanded to the creature''s sides. The creature glared at the large raven in the distance, its long tail thrashing about and causing destruction to the surroundings.

    Suddenly the dragon reared up on its hind legs, the muscles bulging as it jumped towards the dark shadowy raven beast. Its savage claws that looked like sword pillars sliced through the air as it flew towards its enemy. The Raven Soul-Beast gave out a high pitched caw while moving its huge wings towards that charging dragon.

    When the wings moved forward a burst of spiritual energy erupted and a massive amount of black feathers shot out. The feathers looked like guided missiles that were on a collision course with the golden dragon in front. The beast that looked like it belonged to Zhang Dong didn''t falter, it used those sharp claws to bat at the ranged attack, destroying the mass of feathers in the process.

    "Is that... the Patriarch Soul-Beast?"

    The Zhang Clan members shouted out after getting the name of this technique from the Feng elder. The beast had some characteristics that their Patriarch had, mostly that it was shooting out lightning bolts whenever it went. It also had that golden regal aura that their leader exuded as well.

    Closer to where the two monsters were fighting, Zhang Dong was floating to the side, his robe fluttering in the wind. He moved his hand out with his fingers outstretched while shouting.

    "Ruby Eyes Golden Dragon, use dragon claw!"

    The golden dragon responded to the order, using it''s massive clawed hands as it swiped at the large raven that evaded to the side. Elder Wu was just floating there looking a lot paler than before while gasping for air.

    "Now use, plasma breath!"

    The dragon''s toothy maw opened wide and a stream of bright golden plasma shot out, the black Raven barely managed to put up some kind of shadowy shield that broke almost instantly.

    "H-how could this be..."

    For the first time during this battle, the man had fear in his eyes. He thought that he would surely win after activating this trump card. People that had Soul-Beasts that were at the early stage of the nascent soul were rare, mostly due to the complexity of the technique and the massive strain it put the cultivator on. Somehow this young-looking man had summoned a strong Soul-Beast to combat his. The many years of experience were telling him that that strange-looking flying lizard was a lot stronger than his own.

    He could tell from the way the two were clashing, that with each attack his beast took he got weaker. The dragon was abusing the flying monster around, the residual electricity blasts that were coming of it were a constant threat. This technique that the man just used was a strong one, but it was also a double-edged sword. The creature created was strong but it was linked to the cultivator that created it, with a soul bond.

    Wu Ming felt each attack that his raven received and he used up a lot of Qi to keep this technique going. He thought he could overwhelm this white-haired man with the addition of his Soul-Beast but the opponent had managed to pull out an even stronger monster instead. The Dark Palm elder started inching away to the side, slowly floating away while his beast got abused by the so-called Ruby Eyes Golden Dragon.

    "Where do you think you''re going?"

    Before he could run though, he had his way blocked by this enemy cultivator.

    "You''re looking a bit pale there, having trouble keeping your technique up?"

    Matt was curious, this was apparently the same type of technique he was using but it was taking a lot more from this old man than from him. It was probably due to the fact that he had a one in a billion cultivation method, he had truckloads of spiritual energy and he very rarely ran out of it.

    Matt cracked his fists together while the two beasts in the back were fighting it out. The dragon was clinging to the large blackbird and biting into its neck, its powerful claws sinking into the other soul-beast spirit flesh as it got maimed.

 164 Chapter 164

    A shadow bent at an awkward angle turning into a claw as it tried going for Zhang Dong''s throat. Before it could reach it''s designated spot the man in white rapidly dodged to the side. His whole body was covered in glowing Qi energy, his hair fluttering in the wind while crackling with electricity.

    Wu Ming did his utmost best to deliver killing blow after killing blow to this younger cultivator, but to no avail. His opponent was very slippery and even when he was unarmed he managed to deliver several blows while countering.

    "I guess that''s how far you can go, huh?"

    The battle turned somewhat one-sided. Matt found that his speed, power, and even resilience was above this Dark Palm elder that was already in the middle stage of the nascent soul realm. He wasn''t sure if this old man was a good reference point though. Just as his strength was above him due to having a better base thanks to this system of his, someone else could very well outrank this guy even in the early stage.

    He didn''t come out unscathed though, he suffered a couple of slices from that black sword. They were quite shallow though and he reasoned that if he had similar graded equipment that this fight would have been even easier. From this, he started thinking that he should have no problem with cultivators that were in the early stage at all. He could probably fight a couple of them if they were at the middle stage. If one was at the late stage, he wasn''t all that sure the jump in power might be massive depending on the grade of their cultivation method so he needed to take people at that realm on an individual basis.

    ''I don''t think there are any people with cultivation methods at the immortal level in the Dark Palm Sect, but there could be manuals like mine in this world.''

    After meeting Feng Liena he knew that there had to be people like him in this land before. There might even be some that are living around here just as he is. Sometimes he came across structures that didn''t fit the Xianxia vibes all too well, or certain individuals that stuck out like a sore thumb. Just like this one uncle that looked like a butler of a noble house that was staring at him from afar, probably not realizing that Matt here could actually see him all the way from here.

    ''Well, Alfred there doesn''t look that hostile, he is about as strong as this Wu Ming... but can''t really be sure...''

    Matt looked to his opponent that was hovering in the air. The man''s lip was cut and he was bleeding, his left shoulder was uncovered and it looked like something had burned it. His eyes were bloodshot and he was staring in Matt''s direction with indignation. He had various emotions going through his mind, but mostly it was fear and anger.

    "You will never get away with this, if you kill me the sect elders will hunt you down like a pig!"

    ''Oh, here it comes.''

    Matt raised his hand, which made the sect elder quiet down in surprise.

    "Hold up there, old man. You aren''t seriously going to tell me to spare you now... like what''s the point of telling me that your sect is going to get me?"

    Matt wasn''t sure why the cultivators at certain positions liked to throw their faction''s weight around the moment they got in a pinch. If he let the man go, he would only increase his enemy count. He was sure that this guy would quickly report everything that transpired here, if he silenced him now he would even gain some time.

    "What? Do you think I''m joking? The sect will eradicate your entire clan, everyone that is related to you will die, if you dare to lay a hand on me!"

    Matt squinted at the man that was spouting nonsense, maybe he had punched him too many times and his brain wasn''t working right?

    "Yeah... like they weren''t going to do that anyway, I bet you would be at the forefront of that..."

    The large golden dragon flapped its large bat-like wings behind where Zhang Dong was hovering. Wu Ming was right in front, his own Soul-Beast was slowly flickering in and out of existence as it had been bullied by the golden dragon. Matt had spent slightly over two years in this world still, he wasn''t really used to taking lives. He had realized by now, that sometimes it was necessary to survive, for him or for the people that he was protecting. He wasn''t fighting for himself anymore, if he went down his whole clan would probably follow suit. Also, this man probably had a large body count behind him, so he wouldn''t be losing any sleep after killing a murder hobo like this.

    "Think we have talked long enough..."

    The white-haired man proclaimed while closing his eyes, the dragon behind him gave out a loud roar that caused the surrounding scenery to vibrate. Zhang Dong moved his right hand forward, four fingers closed with only the index finger pointing out. The digit was placed right in front of his face, spiritual energy gathered towards the tip as the whole area resonated with the sound of thunder and crackling electricity.

    The dragon behind him wasn''t being passive either, his large jaw sprung open and those sharp chompers came out. The Soul-Beast took in a large breath, its chest expanded, and started to glow as it prepared for its own attack.

    "You people love clashes like this, don''t you? Will you face me head-on, or will you run like a coward?"

    Wu Ming''s whole face contorted, his teeth clenching tightly while blood dripped from his mouth. He couldn''t remember a time where he was disrespected this much, this was something that he could take lying down. He reacted promptly, his black blade in his hand as he started pouring the last ounce of his energy into his weapon. The black Raven behind him screeched out loudly and started to mimic the golden dragon as it gathered large amounts of energy into its beak.

    The whole place rumbled, the ground shook and the winds picked up yet again. The people back in Jade Grass City were starting to get worried, they could see two lights in the distance. Some of the people could even make out the appearance of those two Soul-Beasts, the two being huge as they were. The growling and high pitched bird squawks were heard even back here, some people were bleeding from their ears if they didn''t cover them up in time.

    The two energies collided with each other. It looked as if a shadow was trying to engulf a golden beam of light in the distance, the two repelling forces struggled for just a moment before one of them won out. The black light bent inwards as it was overtaken by the bright holy lightning energies, what followed suit was a giant explosion that made the whole place shake as if it was struck by an earthquake above eight on the Richter scale.

    A dust cloud of massive proportions was formed, hitting the city from the side after the clash of the two nascent soul masters. Buildings shook, glass shattered and people were screaming everywhere. The whole triforce alliance was mostly on their ships now, their mouths agape as they continued to look at the massive explosion in the distance. The only thing on their mind was who the victor of this battle was, but not like they had the luxury of going there to find out.

    "Everyone, we must leave now!"

    The elder members started shouting out while their spiritual flying ships rumbled into motion. The winds caused them to shake but it wasn''t something that would bring their large flying vessels down. They need to use the massive confusion in the city to get away, luckily the Dark Palm sect base in this city was already hit by the Zhang Clan Patriarch. This allowed the group to slowly rise into the air and fly in the direction of Spirit Spring City as ordered by Zhang Dong.

    Out in the distance in the middle of the storm there floated a lone cultivator. His hair was pure white and his body was draped in bolts of lightning that were slowly flickering in and out of existence.

    "Hmm..."

    Matt looked in the direction of where his enemy was in, not much was left besides a giant chasm that was blasted by him and his golden dragon. The Dark Raven was nowhere to be seen and he also saw a fallen body of the cultivator that he was fighting. The body wasn''t moving at all, blood was also running into the destroyed ground underneath.

    "Something is off..."

    He closed his eyes and empowered his senses to the extreme. He had perceived something during the clash that he had with this old man, it was as if he gave up halfway and let himself get blasted into smithereens. The man''s end came a bit too easy and he had a suspicion as to why.

    "There you are..."

    His eyes shot open and crackled with lightning, he blurred from his position and took flight in a certain direction. In the distance there was something flying away, it was Wu Ming but only a part of him. This was something that cultivators called a nascent divinity form. People that had reached the nascent soul level possessed an ability to survive in their soul form even if their fleshy body was destroyed. They were a lot weaker like this and required outside help to fully restore their old battle potential. With the help of some treasures, it was possible but highly unlikely.

    "N-no...stay back!"

    Wu Ming looked back as he felt the cultivator with white going after him. He had given up on the battle in the hopes of getting away and sacrificing his soul-beast. The other man had homed in on his nascent divinity form faster than he had hoped for. If he managed to get to the main sect area he would be safe, so he mustered all of his remaining Qi and flew forward.

    "Sorry... but I can''t let you escape old man..."

    Matt was a lot faster than Wu Ming even when the Dark Palm elder was at full power. He didn''t have much trouble in catching up to him and with no one to aid this man he was at his mercy.

    "W-what do you want, I can give you unimaginable riches! I-if we work together we might be able to take out the sect leader!"

    The man started breaking down, he stopped with the threats and tried acting subservient instead. He was even willing to throw his so-called cherished sect under the bus to save his life.

    "Sorry, but there is no way I can trust someone like you."

    Matt moved his hand out, Wu Ming''s spirit form trembled and stopped in place as he felt a massive amount of spiritual energy surrounding him. Without letting the old cultivator spout more nonsense he clenched his fist shut, the energy around the soul quickly surged inwards and crushed the disembodied soul into nothingness. A small explosion reverberated after the deed was done, followed by an eerie silence.

    Matt looked at his clenched fist, it was clenched firmly and unmoving. He opened up the fist and looked at his palm as if he was trying to check for something. Soon his hand began to tremble, the moment it did his facial expression also flickered with emotion , sweat running down his forehead.

    "Heh... still can''t handle it well without that technique..."

    He gave out a sigh and clenched his fist back, the trembling subsiding in a matter of moments, and his facial expression went back to a more neutral look. The man looked at the scenery for a moment and then flew back to where the body of the man he just slew was. He didn''t forget about taking the black sword and the man''s spatial ring, now what was left was to move to the next step of his hastily put together plan.

 165 Chapter 165

    Matt leaned down and touched the dead body of elder Ming on the forehead. The man''s body soon started vanishing out of existence turning into dust before his eyes. What was left was his robe and whatever else he was wearing. Everything was tossed into the storage ring while Matt himself started to examine the new one he got as his loot.

    ''What do we have here...''

    He noticed that the ring didn''t really have much preventing him from peeking inside. He thought that someone from a big sect would have some defensive measures preventing others from taking their stuff. Maybe the elder didn''t think anyone would be brazen enough to actually steal the ring they always wore on their hand. This type of ring only had a simple lock that only worked when the owner was still alive, maybe this was considered enough.

    ''Well, not like mine has more to lock it either...''

    He glanced inside and saw a nice stash of spirit stones, lower graded, and middle graded ones. Besides that, there were some old cultivation manuals, various pills, and quite an amount of treasures.

    ''Was this guy some kind of collector...''

    There were various items just floating in there, weapons, necklaces, rings, herbs, and even some booze that looked quite expensive. He didn''t really have time to look over all of this throughout so he focused his senses to see if there was anything at the nascent soul level, he already had the black sword with him.

    ''Not really that much in here...''

    There was a couple of heaven graded techniques in here, even the manual for that shadowy cultivation art that Wu Ming was using. But it wasn''t really anything better than what he had obtained from that secret ground.

    ''There is another heaven realm weapon in here, guess even elders don''t have enough cash to have many of those around... or maybe he didn''t bring his whole stash along with him.''

    The other item was a large black glaive, it was an early heaven graded weapon and kind of what he needed right now.

    ''I''ll use this to get my body refining to the next level... the sword I can use for combat, it''s also a middle graded one. Don''t really see any demonic techniques in here, though that guy with the soul gem didn''t have any demonic arts in his own spatial ring either.''

    He rubbed his chin and shrugged, he had managed to loot two Dark Palm Masters and was a lot richer but this wealth wasn''t nearly enough for what he was planning to do. No, he would need a lot more, mostly more spirit stones or beast cores, any treasures that could be used to increase his spirit point count would do.

    ''I guess I should go back into the city, there should still be some loot left in that base of theirs...''

    There was no more danger waiting for him there, besides this one Buttler looking guy that was still looking at him from the distance. The man didn''t feel hostile though, the aura he was exuding was mostly just curiosity than malice.

    ''No use fighting a fight that I can avoid, shouldn''t get too cocky...''

    He thought to himself while flying back into Jade Grass City. After taking the residual energies of the two nascent soul fighters the city looked deserted, everything was closed and was covered in a layer of dust. He could feel people hiding in the buildings while he was flying by, but they were just scared civilians that he wouldn''t bother with.

    "Greetings, seen something you like?"

    Matt asked the man that hovered down from the giant golden dragon gate. The two men looked at each other, their spiritual senses clashing against each other as they tried to feel each other out.

    "Why yes good fellow, you have given this old man quite the show to watch."

    The man gave a little bow, the monocle that was sitting on his face almost slipping out during it.

    "Ah, sure... I''ll keep this quick as I don''t have much time. What is your stance on all of this?"

    Matt was now holding the black sword in his hand, looking quite menacing. His Soul-Beast was also hovering in the back but outside the city, mostly there to alert him if any other nascent soul trouble arrived.

    "No need for that look ol'' chap, the Yinglong Pavilion always remains neutral in situations like this, there is nothing to fear."

    Matt raised his eyebrow and then looked at the large store''s name. He even recalled selling some of his crafted items and loot at a less prominent branch store.

    "But if I may, could I pose the same question to you ol'' chap. You''re not thinking about robbing my good establishment here, are you now?"

    The man''s aura warped and you could see a cold glint behind those eyes. This pressure washed over Zhang Dong''s body making him take a step back in surprise. This man was certainly stronger than that previous opponent that he fought just recently. Battling would be unwise, his plan of sacking this place was now being questioned by himself.

    "Robbing? Me? No... I was just going to grab some stuff I left behind at the Dark Palm Sect."

    Zhang Dong straightened out, his aura getting unlashed into the surrounding area and canceling the killing intent that was produced by the old English gentleman looking fellow. The man''s face twitched slightly, his facial expression going back to a cheerful smile as if nothing happened at all.

    "Well that''s fine, as long as you leave Yinglong Pavilion out of your disagreement with that Sect, we will always remain neutral. I can give you my word."

    Matt nodded, he already had a big faction going after him, he didn''t want another one to be after his head. Previously he thought that this place belonged to the Dark Palm Sect. He had no problem in robbing his enemy blind, but this was another power altogether.

    "Mmm."

    He clasped his hands and did a little formal bow before jumping up and heading into the distance. The old man gave out a sigh of relief the moment Zhang Dong left.

    ''I might be getting too old for this.''

    The man chuckled slightly while pulling out a handkerchief. He wiped the sweat from his forehead that came running out right after the other man had left. He had managed to scare him away, but he knew that if a battle ensued that his chances of winning were slim.

    ''Where did such a man come from.''

    The man named Tian looked in the opposite direction that Zhang Dong flew off. In the distance, he could see a large looking beast. This was the golden dragon that was guarding the area, the peculiar thing about it was that it was still out there even after the battle had ended.

    ''He must have immense spiritual energy reserves to be able to do this, is he really only at the early stage?''

    The man shook his head, thinking to himself that the man had to be hiding his true cultivation realm. Having a Soul-Beast so early in the cultivator''s life was unprecedented. It was more realistic that the man with white hair was hiding his true level, he might even be at the late stage.

    ''I must report this, it would be better not to make an enemy of him.''

    While the butler was blowing things out of proportions, the cultivator in white had arrived at the mostly destroyed outer sect base of the Dark Palm Sect. There was quite the number of injured people as he had fired off his Qi blasts in a random direction. Even though he was mostly aiming for injuring people, there could have been fatalities.

    "Oh no...w-why is that man back!"

    "What happened to Elder Ming..."

    People shouted out and screamed as they saw the Nascent Soul cultivator approach them slowly. Before they could react to his approach they felt their legs giving out. An oppressive force washed over them and it felt like gravity was increased tenfold. They couldn''t do much besides going down to their knees, their faces pale from the strain that their bodies were placed upon.

    Zhang Dong''s eyes flashed with divine power, it would be quite easy to just flatten all of these people right here right now. This was the group that was going after his newfound family. The question he had thought was if these people were all cold-blooded murderers as the man that he just clashed with. His sense washed over them, their bodies trembled in fear and he could even hear some of them weeping.

    "I''m really not cut out for this..."

    He shook his head and increased the pressure that his aura was applying to the people that were actually still conscious. He heard cries of protest but soon the whole place quieted down, the only thing that he could hear was silent breathing. Everyone that was in the vicinity of his aura attack had passed out, their lives weren''t in danger though.

    "Not like the lower cultivators matter that much, the battle will be decided by the elite few."

    He knew that it probably wasn''t wise to leave the enemy soldiers alive, but this world worked differently. The few outweighed the many, what counted were the nascent soul elders that were at the top. He could more or less focus on those, if he managed to get rid of them the battle would be won.

    "Well, better get what I came here for..."

    He closed his eyes and focused again, his energy washed over the area. Soon enough small trinkets and bags were floating upwards, these were all the spatial rings and bags that these Dark Palm Sect members had on them. Matt used his enhanced senses to home in on the peculiar aura that these types of treasures had and so he was able to identify them for a faster looting time.

    He didn''t really go through any of them just yet though, he just placed everything in a regular bag that then he inserted into his own high-quality spatial ring. There was a certain danger in having so many treasures that worked on spatial laws, if he tried cramming everything into a badly made storage device it could very well cause an explosion.

    That''s why he only trusted his very own storage ring that he received from the system. This thing was high quality and wouldn''t break even with multiple other dimensional devices stored inside it.

    "Should I take their robes... Could probably get some raw materials if I deconstruct them in my crafting abode."

    Nothing was safe from his clutches, the people were left in their loincloth but everything else was cleaned out. Anything that was identified as a crafting component was going into the bag. The previously destroyed area was left with a bunch of naked people, even parts of the buildings were missing. The floor tiles that had some residual Qi in them weren''t left behind, much less for any bronze or iron statues. The vault was cleaned out, not a single book remained after Matt was done here.

    "Okay, think I got everything..."

    He took another look around him, making sure that there weren''t any secret chambers hidden below the estate. His senses weren''t picking up anything of notice though.

    "This is the thing that I came here for though."

    He pulled up a map, it was something he got from one of the rooms that the Dark Palm members probably held their meetings at. It had some basic information scribbled on it, so he could easily decipher it. It had the location of their cities marked in and also where they bordered with the other sects. He could even see the current city and also Spirit Spring City on it, the font for his city was quite tiny though making him think that they weren''t taking it very seriously.

    "There... they do have one of those..."

    "I need to go, they might increase their guards... but I don''t think there should be more than one nascent soul cultivator guarding it."

    Matt nodded and brought up his system map, this thing was quite handy for times like this. He put in the coordinates and now only needed to fly in the direction that the map was guiding him towards. The place where he was going was deeper in Dark Palm Sect territory, but he had no chose he needed the resources that were at his next destination to go through with his plan.

 166 Chapter 166

    In a faraway location, a small group of people was standing in a certain place. The atmosphere was tense, everyone had a solemn expression on their face while talking.

    "What should we do... the Sect Master is still in seclusion, it would be unwise to interrupt him."

    One of the old men in the room said in a grim voice. He then glanced at the others that were with him, this being three other men at his age and an old woman.

    "No, we should report this as soon as we can! What if he punishes us for not doing it swiftly enough."

    The woman said while trembling slightly, the simple thought of that made this person panic outwardly.

    "Yes the information was dire, but... will you be the one to report it? How will you explain yourself?"

    The old woman averted her gaze from the man and quieted down. No one here was willing to be the bringer of bad news, everyone was afraid of how the leader would react to it. The group of five was standing around a table, on that table lay a crumbled tablet with the name ''Yang Kai'' written on it.

    "Maybe we can withhold the exact time of this event transpired?"

    A slightly chubby man said while whipping his forehead with some white cloth.

    "Can''t we put the blame on a junior member, just tell him that they mixed things up?"

    The man laughed slightly while the others looked at him strangely. Throwing another person under the bus wasn''t something they were against, but not like they had a reason to do that just yet. They weren''t really at fault here and needed more information before deciding. Before the group could come to an agreement another person burst into the room while shouting.

    "Bad news, bad news!"

    This man''s eyes were wide open and he was carrying a similar-looking tablet that was there on the table. It was cracked in the middle and he was holding each piece in a separate hand.

    "What is this? You dare to come into this meeting that we the Grand Elders of the sect are having!"

    The man stopped and looked like a frog was stuck down his throat, he quickly regained his composure and dropped down to his knees, his head hitting the floor.

    "I do not dare Grand Elders! New circumstances have come to light, Elder Cuifen had ordered me to gather information about the ''situation''. A-a new problem has arisen."

    The man visibly shook while not looking up, the five people in this room were all Grand Elders of the sect and were of the Nascent Soul level. He wouldn''t dare to speak any more than this without their approval.

    "Yes, I gave him that order, but you were supposed to be discreet!"

    The old woman glared at the man that had burst in through the door, but her rage soon subsided as she knew that he probably had a reason for that.

    "Speak, what has happened? I hope for your own sake that it''s important."

    The woman scoffed and then sat down at the table with the other three elders.

    "Y-yes, I thank you for your benevolence grand elder!"

    The man moved his head up and then presented the broken tablet so that everyone could see what was written on it. The moment he brought the two pieces together the characters for ''Wu Ming'' could be seen by the grand elders.

    The five elders were visibly shocked, one of them slammed the table while shouting.

    "That bastard Wu Ming is dead? How is that possible, he was one of us!"

    The elders looked at the person that was showing them the broken tablet. They all could feel that this was really the spirit tablet that belonged to one of the more fearsome grand elders from their sect.

    "T-there is more, by the Grand Elder''s order we looked into lord Yang Kai''s whereabouts. We have reason to believe that the young lord had left the sect not too long ago together with Grand Elder Ming. Their location was Jade Grass City that is situated in one of the lower regions."

    The man hastily recited everything he knew, he brought up that the two left for the auction house about two weeks ago. They had information that the two did indeed arrive at their destination and that the so-called Dao festival for the lesser clans was held there.

    "Then all communications halted you say?"

    The man that was asked nodded while replying.

    "Yes, we have been given a report that the region had gone dark, we are not able to reach the outer sect that is located there or any of the sect members that reside there."

    One of the Grand Elders rubbed his beard while thinking, his eyebrows slowly changing directions.

    "That is indeed peculiar... sounds like some organized attack by some other sect."

    "I agree, someone had to have planned an ambush for either the young master or Wu Ming, maybe even both."

    The Grand Elders all quieted down, this was turning out to be worse than expected. The Sect Master would have to be given this information, a nascent soul grand elder had just perished. There was also suspicious movement in the background, they had to be really careful now. These people were naturally suspicious, there were many reasons that could have lead to Wu Ming''s death. They hoped that it was only some kind of internal struggle rather than with another sect.

    "We should report this to the Sect Leade..."

    "Bad news...BAD NEWS!"

    "What is it now!?"

    Just before the man could finish his sentence another man in a Dark Palm sect robe burst in through the door. The five elders looked ticked of which made the man instantly drop down to his knees right next to the other man.

    "R-reporting... there has been trouble at one of the Sect''s treasured sites! I-it has suffered an attack by a nascent soul enemy!"

    One of the Grand Elders slammed his fist on the table which made the wood that it was made from a crack.

    "What is this, are we truly being attacked? Who is this person that attacked us? What is the site that was attacked? What of the damages?"

    The man shouted out questions in rapid succession that made the Dark Palm member''s eyes spin.

    "The site that was attacked is the Glacial Gorge, where the sects spirit stone mine is located."

    The people that were in the room gasped, this mine was one of the more lucrative places that the sect had it was even protected by a nascent soul elder at all times.

    "T-the assailant has been identified as..."

    The Dark Palm member stopped before saying the name, the pause clearly noticed by the Grand Elders in the room.

    "Well, who was it? Who dared to attack our mine!"

    The man that was kneeling shivered somewhat before finally replying, the information causing mostly confusion among these elders.

    "The attacker has been identified as, Grand Elder Wu Ming!"

    Everyone looked at the man with a funny expression on their faces. The five nascent soul elders glanced at the other man that was holding the tables, the name ''Wu Ming'' clearly written on it. Another hand smacked the meeting room table turning it into dust, the two men that came with the bad news jumped away in fright.

    "What nonsense are you spouting, Wu Ming''s spirit tablet is broken!"

    The man kept kneeling while replying in fright.

    "T-this is the report I was given!"

    "Explain in detail, what happened there! How long ago was this, is this ''Wu Ming'' still there?"

    Another elder threw his two cents in, the five were sure that something had to be off with this story. Either this was some kind of imposter or Wu Ming was scheming something behind their backs.

    "Yes, the report stated this..."

    .................

    A while earlier, somewhere out in Dark Palm sect territory.

    "I''m getting close to the destination, I should change now."

    Matt came to an abrupt stop while flying through the air. He glanced at the surrounding area, pine-like trees that were covered in snow-filled his vision. He landed on the ground and made sure that there weren''t any people in the area peeking in on him.

    "This probably isn''t going to work... but better than just going in guns blazing."

    He took out the spatial ring that belonged to the nascent soul elder that he had killed not too long ago. He took out one of the robes that were placed there. He changed into it, a large dark palm insignia was now on his back. His facial features soon shifted and his body began getting smaller. Who walked out from the snowy forest was someone that was the spitting image of Wu Ming the Dark Palm Sect Grand elder.

    "Hmmm... testing, testing... you are courting death! ... Almost...how about... I, your Father..."

    Matt made it sure to have the exact same voice as the man he killed. He could mimic his appearance and maybe some of his mannerisms but he couldn''t do the same with his cultivation method. He also had the dark sword to protect himself with, he would have to hide his lightning and divine techniques while being at that mine. This was the best plan that he came up with, which was probably better than just barging in there.

    "This should at least give me the drop on them."

    He slumped his shoulders forward and took into the air once again. He placed the new won sword to his side and was sure to look as constipated as he could.

    ''They shouldn''t ask too many questions if I look pissed of, right?''

    He was close to the spirit stone mine, his map even started picking up some life signals. The moment he pushed into the nascent soul level his system also had an upgrade. His map range had increased and it even started giving him more info. The number of colors that the dots had increased, the color pallet showed him in what cultivation realm the person there was. If they were hostile or dangerous they would just flash instead of appearing in red.

    ''I also got that free technique with my skill tree.''

    Going back a week, after Matt had pushed into the nascent soul realm the system provided him some rewards. He received a free skill for managing to cultivate into a greater realm on his own without using the systems help. This was something new, as the system never really rewarded him for doing things himself. He never got anything when he was going through the core formation realms on his own. This made him think that it could be another change that happened after the secret ground adventure.

    The skill here was the Soul-Beast one. This was the reason he had it ready so early after reaching his new realm of power. He even received a small creation kit with a couple of options to design his monster. The choice was limited to some beast types, like large monster birds like a phoenix, flying serpents with wings, even a giant option. Matt was still someone influenced by his western earth values so he went with a popular choice and created a dragon.

    There wasn''t much to choose when it came to the features. The dragon was big and golden from the get-go, probably due to the way his cultivation method was upgraded. He was able to change the eye color and choose how bulky the dragon''s body would be. The body choices changed the statics making the beast be more speed or power-based. He went with the middle choice not wanting a glass cannon or a slow tank, an all-rounder is what he decided on.

    While Matt was remembering his Soul-Beast choices he had finally arrived at his destination. He saw a wide gorge, it was all covered in ice but looked like it was made from blue crystals instead. There were many holes in these crystal-like walls, probably leading into the mine shafts inside. There were settlements on both sides of the large gorge. These buildings looked rather plain and boring, probably only being used as cheap housing for the people working there.

    From the top, rocky stairs with ramparts were leading into the previously spotted large holes. He could see people moving back and forth while pulling out carts filled with rough looking ores. Even from here, he could feel spiritual energy coming from those ores, small crystals were sticking out of those chunks which made Matt''s eyes glisten.

    ''Time to get this show on the road.''

    He thought while his face went into grumpy cultivator mode, the people below slowly getting aware of his existence.

 167 Chapter 167

    A man with a slight hump on his back and quite the lengthy protruding upper teeth was looking at some papers. He was sitting in a large leather chair, the desk he had the papers on looked to be quite robust and made from some rare spiritual wood.

    "The production has increased by 1% for this month..."

    The man murmured to himself in a silent voice, the parchment he was holding had various numbers written on them. This was the monthly report from this spirit stone mine. Everything that was excavated was listed in here, how many tons of spirit stone ore there was as well as its quality.

    The man took out a pen from the side and started scribbling something down on the same report. Some of the numbers slowly shifted to something else. He placed the pen that was made from a large green feather to the side and then he glanced at the parchment again.

    "The production has decreased by 2% this month, think we''ll have to make an example of some of the workers and cut their pay again, hehe~."

    The man''s eyes turned into crescent shapes, his thin, crack lips quickly turning into a devilish grin. The man didn''t have much time to enjoy his scheming as he heard a knock on the door. He flared his nostrils at the sound and placed the paper down on his desk before replying.

    "What is is? This better be important!"

    At the call another person entered the room, he looked like your average cultivator. He gave the usual courteous bow before the man and then started talking.

    "Reporting to the Grand elder!"

    With annoyance the man waved his hand, letting the other person know that he was allowed to speak.

    "An honorable guest has arrived today, he wants to meet you, Grand Elder Zhu"

    The man raised his eyebrow wondering who this honorable person was.

    "Well? Does this honorable guest have a name or title?"

    The man already had beads of sweat forming on his forehead by just being here. The nascent soul grand elder was giving him the death glare, but he had to perform his job and bring the information over as the other person was even more frightening.

    "Yes! It''s Grand Elder Wu Ming from the main sect!"

    The elder named Zhu showed a lopsided grimace after hearing the name of the person that had arrived.

    "Elder Wu Ming?... did he say what he wants from me?"

    Zhu moved one of his fingers to his mouth and started chewing on it, his eyes glancing to the paper that he just forged to show that the mine was doing worse than it actually did.

    ''Are they on to me? Did someone rat me out? Is it a coincidence... I was sure to not leave any evidence behind...''

    The man started hastily contemplating, the voice of the other person in the room finally snapping him back to reality.

    "Yes, Grand Elder Ming gave instructions. He wants to have a meeting with Grand Elder Zhu, he requested it be a secluded room. He mentioned that he doesn''t want to be disturbed and that everyone should leave the premise for your discussion."

    The man gave a rapid-fire recount of the order he got, the thing he wanted to do the most was to leave. The moment he mentioned Elder Ming''s name the other grand elder started leaking his nascent soul aura. This spiritual pressure that he was exuding now was making this cultivator''s body shiver.

    "Grand Elder Ming said that he is in a hurry and would like to have a talk as soon as possible. That was all, Grand Elder Zhu!"

    The man with the overbite looked down onto the desk while thinking.

    ''Why does he want to meet me in a separate room... maybe he wants in on the deal too?''

    The man strained his brain trying to figure out Wu Ming''s purpose here. Why was he making an unannounced visit to this cold and gloomy place? At first, Zhu though that he was ordered to check up on him by the other elders. But this was Grand Elder Ming, he was one of the stronger members of the sect. If there was a problem they would probably send an elder that was in the early stage, just like him.

    ''No, Ming only cares about face and treasures. He probably wants to extort me for some spirit stones. He probably needs more to satiate that treasure addiction he has!''

    Wu Ming''s love for treasures was widely known throughout the sect. The man spent most of his time going from city to city to visit auction houses. Some people even speculated that he was so easy to punish people for showing disrespect only to rob them and get his hands on their treasures and spirit stones.

    ''Shit, does he have some proof? No... he doesn''t need it. If I deny him he can order an investigation!''

    Zhu knew that if an official investigation took place, they would find inconsistencies in the numbers. He was fabricating the reports here and there to siphon spirit stones for himself, even if the amount was trivial he was still stealing.

    The old man stood up and slammed both his palms down on his expensive-looking desk, the item almost breaking from the strike. This startled the messenger here, that was still standing there waiting for a reply or for a sign that he could leave.

    "You... go tell Elder Wu Ming that I will meet him shortly, also guide him to my personal cultivation room!"

    The man bowed and quickly shuffled out of the room, finally free from the oppressive aura. Elder Zhu on the other hand had his jaw clenched and was gritting his teeth.

    ''I have no choice, I have to share some assets with him. If he reports me to the council, I''ll be severely punished and they''ll probably resign me to the border region.''

    The region that this elder was fearing was one bordering with a hostile sect. In that place battles between the two factions were commonplace and even nascent soul elders like him had to take part in them.

    The old man put on his game face and headed out. He needed to at least get a good deal out of it, after Wu Ming was on his side he would also be implicated in the scheme with him. This might also be a good thing in disguise as he could get the backing of a senior Grand Elder.

    ''Hm, with him on my side it would be less stressful to pull this off... and there is still a lot of spirit stones to go around...''

    He left the room he was in and headed outside. The moment he went outside a cold breeze hit his face, the weather here was quite harsh. This wasn''t much for a nascent soul master like him, his body had long since evolved. Things like trifling cold weather like this wouldn''t even cause him the slightest shiver.

    This wasn''t the case for the workers here though. Elder Zhu slowly made his way through the pathway that was embedded into the side of the gorge. He could see the people that were pushing carts, blisters on their hands, and their feet covered in some makeshift wrappings.

    The moment they saw the Dark Palm Grand Elder they averted their gaze. Everyone knew that this person was bad news, they already saw people get lynched for small offenses. The people that were working here weren''t doing it by choice, this was a place that the sect sent offenders too. These could range for people that had some debt that they couldn''t pay, to some that had killed or injured someone from their sect.

    Human resources were quite easy to come by in this world, so no one really paid attention to the health of these workers. Even if they had short sentences, it was normal for them never to get released unless they had someone with enough backing for the Dark Palm Sect to honor their agreement.

    Elder Zhu grimaced while looking at the prostrating mine slaves. Their shady appearance wasn''t to his liking, he just wanted them to stay away from him otherwise he could even catch some disease.

    "Damn useless bunch, work harder and dig up more stones!"

    He said while walking past some workers that stopped with their work to bow before this man. His personal cultivation chambers were buried deep in the gorge as with the close proximity to the spirit stone ores it had superb Qi quality. Of course, there was a limit to how much Qi a cultivator could absorb, if they tried to cultivate hastily they could very well suffer a backlash to their cultivation. Still having a place with constantly replenishing Qi was something sought after and this was also one of the boons of being stationed here.

    Zhu continued walking into the mine shaft, one of the branching paths taking him to a large door. Two people were guarding his entrance, they gave him a salute while also informing him that Elder Ming had already gone inside and was waiting for his arrival.

    "Be sure to not let anyone inside, unless you have a death wish!"

    He glared at the two guards that lowered their gazes. The door slammed shut behind him and he continued walking while increasing his speed, he couldn''t let the man wait too long. Still, he felt that he was also a Grand Elder who didn''t need to bow his head down towards other people at the same rank.

    The winding corridor brought him to another door, this one was already open elder Ming probably being the one that did it. Zhu gave out a small sight after which he straightened himself out. Well, he at least he tried but his posture was quite bad. Inside was a large circular room, there were many blue crystals stuck in the walls. They were illuminating the whole area giving it a faint azure hue.

    The first thing Zhu saw after he entered the room was the Dark Palm symbol on Wu Ming''s robe.

    ''Hm, that robe... he really is here for a business talk if he is wearing that one.''

    Elder Zhu smirked to himself and headed inside, making sure to lock the door behind him. He activated the protective seal so that the two men wouldn''t be bothered by anyone else.

    "Welcome Elder Ming, what brings you to this humble spirit mine?"

    He waved his hand around while trying to show a faint smile, though it looked more like a devilish smirk from how this man''s face was structured. The man with salt and pepper hair in front didn''t reply though, he murmured something while not turning around.

    Zhu wanted to lash out, but he held himself back this man was playing hardball.

    "Heh, can''t hide anything from you Elder Ming, what is the reason that you wanted to meet me?"

    Elder Ming seamed to move his hand to his chin as if to contemplate but didn''t reply either, Zhu in response started sweating and was the one to speak up first.

    "I see... your silence says it all... You wouldn''t have organized this meeting without the rest of the Grand Elder''s if you didn''t know. How about we do a 60/40 split..."

    Ming looked to be shaking his head to that proposition which made Zhu''s brows to twitch.

    "... Do you want a 50/50? You know the burden of all of this lies on my shoulders! If someone finds out I''ll be the one to blame!"

    The distance between the two got smaller as Elder Zhu started approaching, the other party was keeping silent as if he wasn''t satisfied with the deal.

    "I''m not going below 45/55, you have to give me some face here Wu Ming!"

    The man''s eyes were bloodshot as he was staring daggers into the other Gran Elder''s back. But then suddenly he noticed that something was off, he caught a glimpse of Wu Ming''s side profile. The face was right, this was the man he knew, but something wasn''t right.

    "Wait...what is tha..."

    Before he could react he saw the other man''s body blur, a hand grasped his mouth and he felt foreign Qi forcibly getting injected into him. Now he finally saw what the problem was, this person was using some kind of disguising technique. The face and body structure was from the Dark Palm Elder, but the technique couldn''t fool a nascent soul cultivators'' senses that alerted him to the disguise.

    "Dude, what are you even on about?"

    The man impersonating Elder Ming finally spoke up, his head was tilted to the side and one of his eyebrows raised. This person was of course Zhang Dong, he wasn''t really sure what this was all about but thanks to some kind of misunderstanding he was given a chance to catch this man by surprise.

 168 Chapter 168

    Moments earlier in the Glacial Gorge.

    Matt was standing in the room that was filled with the colorful spirit stone ores. He poked one of the glowing ores, his system instantly gifted him with a prompt informing him that a source of spiritual energy was found. He quickly tapped the ''yes'' option and saw his spirit point count rise up by a small amount. The glowing piece of crystal quickly crumbled into dust, the radiant glow vanishing.

    ''I''m in the right place... but do I have to poke every crystal separately...''

    While thinking about his big heist he was reminded about the tragic sigh that he saw in those mine tunnels. The workers in the tunnels were mostly men, but he spotted some women here and there. Children weren''t spared either as they were pushing the carts, why they were forced to do this was something Matt was asking himself.

    ''Is this how most sects operate in this world? Or is this one especially rotten?''

    His contemplation was broken by a sound behind him. The door swung open and what seemed to be the man in charge walked in. Matt wasn''t sure how he should play this out, he talked his way into this spot and just wanted to incapacitate this guy before getting all the loot.

    It would be much easier if he managed to do this on the down-low, so he lured his target into a secluded location that was even provided to him. His opponent was here now, but how could he catch him off guard without alerting the rest of the people in this mine. Surely if they started fighting, the whole thing would become quite annoying to pull off. He wanted to suppress his opponent, but for this, he needed to get closer and not alert him to his true form.

    The moment the Dark Palm cultivator walked in he started to talk. His way of speaking was quite rapid which left Matt with little time to reply. The moment he gathered his thoughts to respond the man resumed his monologue himself. He had no idea what he was talking about, but it was something concerning this spirit stone mine? Why was he getting offered a 50/50 split, what was that man even on about, Matt was quite at a loss for words. But, luck was on his side as the man had gotten into strike distance without him even having to say anything.

    "Wait...what is tha..."

    Matt felt the man''s spiritual sense washing over him and he realized that his disguise technique was seen through. This wasn''t a problem though, the man he was facing was weaker than Wu Ming and he had the element of surprise. He covered Zhu''s mouth with his hand and clenched it tightly, his golden aura activated and his lightning Qi forced itself into his opponent''s body.

    "What are you even on about?"

    He was able to disarm the old man with a hump on his back, he wouldn''t be able the move a muscle while he was getting bombarded by superior Qi. The Dark Palm member found himself getting raised up into the air by the intruder that was using Wu Ming''s appearance as a disguise. He tried mustering up all of his might, but his nascent soul was getting locked down by an immense force.

    "Well, it doesn''t matter. I don''t have time for your antics..."

    Elder Zhu couldn''t do anything as the Qi of divine thunder entered his body. It traveled through all of his meridians and even made its way into his dantian, destroying everything in its path. The painstakingly created nascent soul was destroyed, the core crumbled and the foundation pillars shattered into million pieces. What was left was a husk of an old man, his body dropping to the floor, his eyes vacant. The attack was focused on his enemy, no Qi fluctuations were able to make it outside, none of the other Dark Palm sect members would be able to sense a thing.

    "Not sure how long you will be able to live like this. Just see it as a new life as someone that you despise the most, a person with no power."

    Matt looked at the man on the floor, he was out cold and had his cultivation crippled. The most difficult task was done and he now had free reign in this area. He looked around the cultivation room that this man used for seclusion. Besides the glowing spiritual ores there wasn''t much here. There was some furniture like a closet, this closet was used to stash the passed out person.

    He contemplated on going for the kill, but he realized that that would only alert the other party to his whereabouts faster. He knew that just like his clan the Dark Palm sect probably had ways of tracking their more treasured members. Yang Kai and Wu Ming had to go, but he had a smokescreen covering Jade Grass City in the form of the communication jades not working. He feared that if he offed this elder, he would quickly have a bunch of them flying here as one of them had already died recently.

    "They will probably be on alert, don''t have that much time to do this."

    He rubbed his neck while looking up, his eyes locked on his new target.

    "Now to the next step! Spirit stones, come to daddy!"

    Matt moved out his hand, his newfound telekinesis like abilities forcing all of the glowing stones from the walls. He gathered everything up in a nice pile and proceeded with the absorption process, this netting him some ten thousand of spirit points right of the get-go.

    "Hm... not bad for a start...but I need way more than this..."

    He brought up his system map, he was deep underground and his spirit GPS was showing him all the corridors in this here mine. He used his waypoint finder to select all of the places that had the thickest spiritual energy, there were a few. Now he could just fly outside and start absorbing everything in a fit of madness.

    He dismissed that idea, he''d have some nascent soul goons on him the moment someone saw him running around in a frenzy. His disabling aura couldn''t reach around the entire mine, there were just too many people around, someone would report it. He decided to take a slow stroll and even use the dark palm members to his advantage. Why does he need to gather it all himself, when the sect members will gladly do it for him instead?

    ''Think they have a main storeroom for everything think I can use that, this guy also had quite the small fortune in his storage ring.''

    Matt was sure to disrobe the enemy sect elder and take all his storage treasures. He even found a heaven graded weapon in there, this made him want to cultivate his body refining technique even more. Time was of the essence though and he had no idea when he would be found out.

    He fixed his robe and looked back into the now dark room. He scanned the place with his spiritual sense not finding anything worthwhile to take so he headed out. He followed the only corridor that he could all the way back to the large door where the two guards were at.

    "Greetings to Grand Elder!"

    He waved his hand at the two that bowed once again, the constant polite conversations were slowly getting on his nerves.

    "Be sure not to disturb Elder Zhu, he had some things to think about and won''t be going out of the chambers for a few days."

    The two weren''t in a position to question Matt that was disguising himself as Wu Ming. They couldn''t do much besides bowing and returning to their post, unless something drastic happened they would follow this order even if their life was on the line. The grand elder''s word was law and not many could go against it.

    While walking through the long corridor Matt brought up his map. He moved his hand over to his system screen and made the whole image that was now in 3D spin around.

    ''This thing sure got a nice upgrade after I reached the nascent soul realm. The whole system might be somehow powered by my cultivation.''

    He could see the whole spirit stone mine in his game-like interface. It showed him multiple corridors, those probably mined out by the slave workers here. The system was even able to find mineral deposits. He just needed to put in a search term and the system would work its wonders. He wrote spirit stones in and everything went into the familiar color shame ranging from green to red. Red showed the biggest spirit stone deposits while green just meant that there was none there.

    ''I could probably scan the areas around my cities to find mineral pockets in the future, wonder how far the scanning range is...''

    He tossed that idea to the back of his mind for the time being. That was probably a very lucrative idea if he found a spirit stone mine for himself or even a mine with some rare metals for crafting. But now he had to focus on the problem before him, absorbing all of the spiritual energy that was in this place.

    While looking at his system screen he managed to come out of the corridor that led to elder Zhu''s chamber. He was now at a forked road, he could even hear the sound of pickaxes hitting rocks in the distance. There were even shouts of people, probably the guards that were forcing the workers to work harder.

    "Hey, you there!"

    Matt moved his chin up at a random guard , the guard instantly straightened out and moved closer while bowing.

    "How may I serve you, esteemed Grand Elder?"

    Matt made sure not to make eye contact, letting the guard know how much below him he was like a proper Grand Elder would.

    "Yes, send a message to the person responsible for storing the spirit stones. I want all of the stones to be carried into one room for a proper inspection! Remember that I am a busy man, so hurry up I want every single stone from this mine to be gathered in one location at once! If they ask any questions, say that Wu Ming gave the order and that Elder Zhu has been relieved of his duties for the time being!"

    He tapped his foot which produced a slight shockwave, his aura burst forward making a lot of people in the vicinity take notice.

    "Be sure to also include the raw ores, have the workers help out if needed. Also... after they are finished I want them to exit the main mine, I have to give it an inspection too!"

    He made sure to sound as loud and imposing as he possibly could. He was the only nascent soul cultivator here now, so no one could defy his order. The guard just shivered and nodded, he then took off to get the main manager informed about the order.

    Soon he heard people shouting about and shuffling around. The guard was really speedy with his order, as the man responsible for the logistics of the stones even showed up to make a proper greeting. He looked quite chubby and was sweating a lot, but didn''t cause much trouble after getting the stink eye from this Zhang Dong in disguise.

    ''While they are gathering the stones I''ll look at the map, need to find the main vain that links all the spirit stones together.''

    Matt rubbed his palms together, he wanted to milk this mine dry. It was slightly disappointing that he needed to cash the spirit stones into points right of the bat, but he didn''t have much choice as he needed a large amount of them for his next step.

    ''Hope those guys agree to my plan... I just need to come up with a new faction name...''

 169 Chapter 169

    Everything was abuzz, people were running through the mine shafts pushing carts and even carrying stones by hands. Things like spatial rings were forbidden, the sect leaders not wanting workers to steal anything. This increased the workload on them though, but that was a price the men in charge were willing to pay.

    "Quickly, the Grand Elder has given his order, we must carry it out!"

    Everyone was scared of the new Grand Elder that showed up. The people were speculating but they knew that something was off about this situation. The old Grand Elder Zhu was missing now, some came to the conclusion that he was probably embezzling funds from this mine and he got caught red-handed. He was probably getting punished now, but this didn''t explain why they were gathering every single spirit stone they have mined into the biggest storeroom here.

    The Grand Elder in question was just floating outside the gorge at the moment, seemingly looking into the air while flicking his finger. No one dared to comment as they just hurried up with their work. This mine wasn''t all that huge, so in a couple of hours, the last minecart with some raw spirit stone ores was dumped into the storeroom.

    The whole room was radiating with spiritual energy now, there was a big mountain of pure refined stones in one corner. Another large pile of the raw ores right next to it. People were even having trouble breathing in this room, too much spiritual energy in one spot could cause something akin to poisoning if your cultivation wasn''t high enough to resist.

    "This is all we were able to gather Grand Elder Ming!"

    A man in a long robe and a funny looking long hat bowed while the elder named Wu Ming stood just before the entrance to the storeroom. He had a vacant look and was just staring at the piles of gem-like stones just piled up to the roof.

    "Grand Elder?"

    Matt twitched and coughed into his hand before turning to the sect manager that was responsible for gathering everything here.

    "Mhm, is this all of it?"

    "Yes my lord, everything that hasn''t been shipped yet is all gathered here! It''s half a year''s worth of what the mine produces."

    The man replied while looking at the shiny pile in the storeroom, the spiritual energy making his eyebrows shake slightly.

    "This is half a year''s worth..."

    Matt mumbled to himself while the man next to him continued.

    "Yes Grand Elder, you arrived a week before we were planning to ship the stones to the main sect, the processing of the stones takes a while so we don''t ship it out often."

    ''They probably also have to have one of their nascent soul old farts act as a bodyguard. Probably that''s also why they don''t transport monthly.''

    Matt''s reasoning, in this case, was, that the old nascent soul masters would rather cultivate in peace than act as convoy security. They probably came to a consensus of doing it twice a year.

    "Mhm, leave me now, I need to check on the spirit stone... quality... don''t let anyone else enter this room!"

    Matt waved his hand and the large door behind him closed shut. He was now alone in this room, he felt like he was getting a tan from just standing in this radiant blue glow. He moved over to the biggest pile of refined stones and slowly placed his palm on it.

    Spiritual energy source detected, absorb Y / N ?

    He tapped the ''Y'' on the screen, the room quickly filled up with a bright light. The whole blue spirit stone mountain began compressing into itself the moment the system started its absorption process. Matt didn''t have much time to react as the mountain of stones quickly turned into a fine powder. He quickly glanced at his spirit point count that was shooting up and reaching into the millions without much effort.

    ''Yikes, and this wasn''t even all of them...''

    He stretched out his hand and tried doing something else, he used his spiritual sense to make a connection with the Qi energy that the stones were radiating. To his glee, the system gave him the same prompt about detecting an energy source. He quickly accepted and the whole storage room began shining once more, just this time it was covering a whole lot more surface area than before.

    In a matter of moments everything in the room vanished, the refined stones just turned into dust while the rough ores crumbled into smaller chunks of normal rock. The people outside the storage room blinked, they could feel that something was happening inside but they had no way of peeking inside to check.

    Before they could come up with a theory they heard the door creaking open. Elder Wu Ming walked out, but he did it in such a fashion so the others couldn''t peek inside.

    "Mhm, lock the door and don''t let anyone inside... also direct the slave workers to leave the mines. I must access the situation, there was an alarming report and it could get dangerous."

    The manager looked at the Grand Elder and then to the side to some of his workers. No one was sure what this man was talking about, was there some unknown dangers in the mine?

    "A-are you sure Grand Elder Wu? This mine has been open for years and all the beast within the area have been slain."

    The man asked, but the moment he did he felt an oppressive force wash over him.

    "You dare question me?"

    The manager''s face went pale instantly and he began sweating profusely.

    "I dare not, please show mercy, Grand Elder!"

    Matt sent a menacing glare at all the people that were standing there and then just walked off without saying much. He was sure that they would follow his orders throughout as they were far too afraid of the thing called a Grand Elder.

    ''People ruled by fear and power, its probably easy to implement in this kind of world.''

    While thinking he made his way back into the mine, he had his map opened up and could see the little dots that were representing the people slowly leaving the corridors. His destination was a certain location, he found it through the help of his map. It looked like one big red blob on it, but if you followed it you realized it spread throughout the whole underground area.

    This was a giant mineral vein that connected all of the spirit stone ores together, it was truly gigantic.

    ''I should get even more spirit points from this giant spirit stone vein than from what they gathered in that storeroom...''

    He increased his pace, walking deeper into the dark insides of the now abandoned-looking underground mine. Everyone had bolted outside as they were forced by the sect members that were quickly following their elder''s orders.

    The people outside rubbed their hands together while moving closer. They had been living here for a while now, so they knew that if they stayed close to each other the bodily heat would keep them warm.

    "What is happening, those sect uncles have been acting strange lately..."

    One of the younger slaves'' asked an older looking man, the man delivered a quick smack to the youth''s head as a response.

    "Be quiet, what will you do if they hear you and give you a good lashing?"

    The youth rubbed his head and felt slightly disgruntled, but he knew that this old man was telling the truth.

    "Still, old man Su they are acting strange."

    The young man didn''t give up, he just brought his tone down so that the angry-looking sect uncles wouldn''t hear it. The older man nodded slightly, this thing sure was strange. He had been stuck in this god forgotten place for over 20 years now. He was blessed with a strong resilient body, so he managed to survive this long. In his long life as a slave, this was the first time his captors were acting like that. The slaves were never given time to rest in the middle of the day, something wasn''t right.

    The old man didn''t need to wait much for a reason though. The whole glacial gorge began rumbling and the mine shafts started crumbling. There was a blinding burst of white light that shoot out from the corridors and then the walls started collapsing. It was as if parts of them were removed and the structural integrity of the whole place got compromised.

    "W-what is happening, the mine is collapsing!"

    The Dark Palm Sect members shouted out in shock. The involuntary workers did the same, luckily at this point in time, there were no people in those mine shafts as everyone was forcefully removed. The people started backing off while the whole side of the gorge that the mine was located in, started to vibrate.

    Right in the middle of this was Matt, he was now covered in rubble and just sitting there with not much air to breathe. He pushed his Qi outwards and formed his bubble-like lightning shield that ejected the fallen mine walls from his face.

    "Okay, that might not have been the best idea... this place is already falling apart."

    He checked his map again, and just as planned he had managed to absorb most of the spiritual energy through the help of the massive mineral vein. The vein connected to most of the spirit stones, those crumbled into dust the moment Matt used his system. This, of course, caused a massive collapse of all the walls, he had just yanked out a massive clump of ore in one go. When the miners did it, they did it slowly and reinforced the walls to that the whole thing wouldn''t collapse on them.

    "I guess, it''s time to go then, this farce has taken long enough..."

    He released his divine thunder aura and covered his entire body in it. Matt then headed right upwards while bending his energies to form a makeshift drill. The people outside had taken their time to escape and were looking from afar as the whole place rumbled.

    "W-wait, what''s that?"

    They saw a golden drill shot out from the ground, the energy fluctuations were clearly from a nascent soul master.

    "Is that The Grand Elder, what is he doing?"

    "Did he cause the mine to collapse, why would he do something like that."

    On the other side of the gorge that didn''t collapse was the majority of the people, they all had question marks in their eyes not sure what was going on. There was even a louder commotion after two men emerged from the rubble, these were the two guards that were stationed at the secluded chamber that Grand Elder Zhu was resting. The problem was that the same elder that everyone feared was getting dragged by them, and he was quite naked.

    Matt looked down at the people gathered there, they were clearly looking between him and the naked man knowing well that only he would be able to put him in that state.

    ''Uh, they are already using their communication jades, guess the jig is up...''

    He hovered towards the group of people that had evacuated to the other side of the gorge. This side had all the buildings and facilities, while the one that had collapsed was just the mine and didn''t have much besides guard towers and walls to keep people from entering.

    Matt looked at the slave workers that looked terrified, the sect members had no idea what was going on but they probably wouldn''t attack or follow him if he just left. He looked at those workers that were in dire need of a warm meal and rest. He couldn''t just leave them there, the mine was now gone. He feared that they would be abandoned or fall to the sect''s rage after they found out that they got sacked by a fake Wu Ming.

    So he made a quick decision after spotting a couple of flying ships in the back of that encampment. He was still going to play his part, so he remained in his disguise and just headed towards the people.

    "I''ll be taking the workers with me, along with those ships."

    He pointed at the large wooden boats that had the dark palm insignia painted on them. The sect members present here still didn''t know what this was about, was this Grand Elder crazy? Was he betraying the sect? They already figured out that he probably took all those spirit stones for himself from that storage room.

    Before they could question him though he moved his hand forward, the three large ships that were in the back buckled for a while before floating up into the air. They were activated by Matt himself and were guided to where the mass of people was gathering.

    "Okay, everyone that is not from the Dark Palm sect please gather on the ship, we will be leaving. Oh and one more thing, please gather up every treasure, item, spatial ring that is in the position from anyone from the sect. Follow my orders and no one will be hurt, unless you want to end up like that guy."

    Matt pointed at Grand Elder Zhu, that was wrapped up in a blanket. The guards had rescued him had mostly tended to his needs out of sheer fear of what his title stood for. Though they were a bit hesitant as they had longe since noticed that he was crippled.

    The slaves were confused, the sect members baffled by the fact that their own Grand Elder wanted to take all their items. Was this some kind of robbery?

 170 Chapter 170

    The Dark Palm sect members shivered in the cold, they were left with only their undergarments huddling together in the cold weather. They glanced up to see a rather scary looking Wu Ming that was staring at them. The slaves that they used to abuse were moving all the food to the large flying ships that they used as a means of transport.

    They were left with absolutely nothing and had to watch the group of slaves fly out into the sunset. The man responsible for this didn''t leave together with that group, he just grabbed all the remaining treasures for himself. Things like flying swords and communication jades were all confiscated, but they had managed to inform the sect about the trouble happening here. For some reason, the man above them didn''t look that concerned as if he wasn''t afraid of the Dark Palm sect retaliating.

    [ Name: Zhang Dong

    Affiliation: Zhang Clan

    Spirit Points: 89327891

    Cultivation Base Qi: Nascent Soul [Early Stage 0,1%] (Divine Golden Nascent Soul)

    Cultivation Base Body : Core Formation [Great Circle+ 100%] (Golden Body+) ]

    The man in question was looking at his status screen, this encounter had netted him almost ninety million spirit points. He also had a lot of spatial rings and bags to go through so he might be even able to reach over a hundred.

    ''This should be enough...should I go back to Spirit Spring City or try my luck some more...''

    He had set the slaves free, quite a lot of them had their cultivation crippled. They all were wearing slave collars that acted like bombs, decapitating anyone that went out of line. It wasn''t much of a problem to remove them, he also pocketed each one for more resources.

    The moment of surprise was gone by now, the sect should have sent someone to take care of him. The question was if it was only a lone nascent soul elder, or would they bring more people to oppose him. He still had no idea how many nascent soul farts this sect had. Besides the two that he took care of, there was one more back at the old secret ground.

    To his dismay, he felt something moving towards him from the distance. Instantly he knew that it was the Dark Palm Grand Elders coming to the rescue as he could feel multiple nascent soul cultivators flying this way.

    ''One...two...four...five... well... they certainly want me dead if they sent so many old farts after me.''

    Matt squinted while looking in the direction that the people were coming from. He could feel that four of those people were in the early stage and one was in the middle stage.

    ''I haven''t really been able to rest since I''ve left my city, engaging them would be unwise...''

    He looked to the side, this was the direction that the slaves took off. He told them that they should leave the area and hide somewhere till the heat is off. There was a war coming and he had no way of protecting them, also telling them to go to Spirit Spring City would give valuable information away that could come biting him in the behind. He decided to just help them out, but if they made it to safety depended on them.

    Still, he couldn''t fly that way as it would expose the slave workers he just saved to unneeded danger. The nascent soul lunatics that were on his tail could slap them out of the air just for fun. He needed to go in a different direction and at least keep those five cultivators busy.

    He didn''t get a good look at the people that were chasing him, but from the looks of it, he was getting chased by four old men and one older lady. They were all wearing brownish robes that had quite a lot of sleeve space so that fluttered while they were chasing him.

    He took off with a blast, propelling himself forward while holding his hands behind his back. A golden aura surrounded his body that protected him from the wind pressure and any bugs that would normally splatter all over his face if he flew into them. The quintet of angry nascent soul elders saw him taking off and instantly gave chase. One of the elders remained behind for a moment, just to get a more coherent report than what they got from the communication jades.

    He was quickly filled in, the Grand Elder that was left for dead even woke up and started complaining but with his cultivation gone no one paid attention to him.

    "Elder Guo, you must avenge me!"

    The old Grand Elder called Zhu cried out, his teeth rattling in the cold.

    "Tend to Elder Zhu, even though his cultivation has been crippled, he is still a Grand Elder, show him some respect."

    The man gave his older while snorting, he didn''t really care much for his fellow Grand Elder, but the hierarchy had to be kept. They couldn''t abandon the old man just like that, at least not in the open. He would be relocated to the main sect and they would see if his injuries could be reversed. If it turned out that he was nothing more than an old man now, he would probably be abandoned or given a teaching role to the lesser disciples.

    Guo quickly flew back after the other four members of his clan, he got a more throughout report and it looked like this Wu Ming was an imposter. From what Zhu had said, the man was using some kind of disguising technique. No one below the nascent soul level here was able to see through it, so that made it not all that exceptional.

    Back in the sky, Matt was charging through the clouds. The people behind him were slower than him, but he would have to strain his cultivation to actually getaway.

    ''Mhm, I''m getting low on Qi here... I used up quite a bit after summoning my Soul-Beast and flying like a madman towards Jade Grass City...''

    He thought about his next move, there were a few things that he could do. He could stay and fight those five people that were chasing him, but he didn''t know if he could handle five of them at once or if there were more of them coming. The second option was to run away and he had just the thing to aid him with that. Taking both options into consideration he opted for a third choice that took both into consideration.

    The people behind him weren''t really getting any closer and he had to keep this up for a while so that they didn''t go after the slave workers he rescued. For the time being, he decided to bring up his disciple screen, he went to the same section where he bought the fast travel option for his disciples.

    [ Instant Transfer [ 1 000 000 SP ]: Instantly transports the user to his disciple, can also transport the disciple towards their master. ]

    [ Large Portal (Two Way) [500 000 SP]: It creates a large portal that allows two-way travel. ]

    He didn''t want to use the portals as that wouldn''t be an option during a fight. He also feared that one of those nascent soul farts would send an attack after him, or even dive in after. Then he would need to protect people in his front yard from enemy cultivators. He had managed to procure a massive amount of spirit points with his heist, so he could spend some points on the good stuff.

    ''I did get that fast travel point option back after I ascended to the nascent soul, but I didn''t buy it...''

    Besides these teleportation options for his disciples, there was also another one. It was a fast travel point between cities or strongholds that he was the owner of. For now, he could use it for both Spirit Spring City and Moonlight City, he just didn''t do it before as he didn''t have enough points.

    ''I can''t set up the fast travel point without being at the location... the disciple fast travel system will have to do...''

    The fast travel points in the cities were cheaper than the disciple ones, but at the time he just had no spirit points to spare. But thanks to that he managed to find that his disciple tab even had that feature in the first place.

    While he was fiddling with his system he felt something. He instinctively dodged to the side and saw a large flaming boulder flying past him. When the huge rock landed down on the ground it produced quite the explosion.

    ''Oh right... those guys are still chasing me...''

    He looked back and saw four people there, the fifth one was further in the back. They were shouting some profanities at him, mostly something to do with courting death and that he should reveal his true identity to them.

    He started bobbing and weaving with his entire body as the people behind him continued sending ranged attacks. The terrain below them became riddled with large craters as if the group was composed of modern bomber planes.

    "Hey, be careful, what if you hit someone with that?"

    Matt that was still looking like Wu Ming returned fire. The Grand Elder that was at the front and also the strongest held out his hand and produced a shield of wind, just in time to receive a golden lightning bolt to it. This caused him to stop in his tracks, his shield cracked slightly but it managed to defend against the charged bolt.

    "Lightning? Who is this man?"

    "Elder Wan, are you okay?"

    The female Grand Elder called out after the man in front stopped after getting hit.

    "I''m fine, but this man is clearly an imposter, this is not something Wu Ming was capable of, are there any sects good with lightning magics?"

    The group of five continued on while deliberating the true origin of this man they were chasing after. From the exchange Elder Wan had, he knew that this wasn''t someone they could take lightly. He had taken out Zhu without any problem whatsoever, from the reports the sect members in the mine didn''t even know that he had been done in till he was discovered by the guards during the cave in.

    "Could he be from the Thunder-Storm Sect? But his techniques feel strange..."

    The man was a mystery, he didn''t fit any nascent soul cultivator that was known to them. They didn''t think that he was a renegade or a new prospect as he was far too powerful for that.

    "We''ll just have to apprehend him and let him spill out the truth himself!"

    "Yes, I bet the Sect Leader will reward us if we bring him in alive!"

    The five people smirked as they didn''t think that the man could get away from them, sooner or later he would tire himself out, and then they would surround him. None of these people thought that the unknown cultivator could handle them all on his own. He was also fleeing so this only confirmed their theory. Still, the quintet knew that an injured beast is the most dangerous one. So, for now, they kept their distance and continued with their ranged barrage. Due to this a long chase had ensued, when it ended no one knew.

    ...six hours later...

    "Hey, what are you people even aiming at..."

    Matt shouted while barrel rolling around the beam of heated energy that one of the chasing people fired at him. This wasn''t all as a gale of wind blades chased after him the second he evaded the first attack. The people behind him were fuming with anger as the man that they were chasing was quite the slippery eel.

    ...ten hours later...

    "Hey you guys, why don''t we talk this over some earl gray tea?"

    The group of old farts raged, even more. They pelted him with various ranged attacks over and over again but the only thing that they were hitting was the rocky areas below.

    "Damn, if I didn''t know it better, I''d say you wanted to kill me!"

    He dodged a fire blast to the face, then deflected a couple of sharp icicles that were the size of telephone poles. These Sect elders had various abilities and didn''t really stick to one type of elemental attack.

    "I''m feeling unwanted here, think I''ll just leave!"

    Matt shouted out and bolted forward, the group of Dark Palm Elders just shook their fists at him and continued with their chase. It might have looked like he was doing random things at the moment, but he still had a plan in mind. He was heading in a certain location, making sure that the other nascent soul cultivators were mad enough at him to not notice where that was...

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 171 Chapter 171

    Spirit Spring City, in the main clan building.

    A large number of Zhang Clan members were being noisy. They all had solemn expressions on their faces while discussing the next plan of action. People like Zhang Zhi were here as well, he had left Moonlight city to help Zhang Dong. By the time he was going past the Zhang Clan main base, the others had already been returning here on their large flying ships. He met up with them half away and escorted them back to the main Zhang Clan city.

    The Zhangs weren''t the only family here, the Huo Clan, as well as the Feng Clan elders, were all here. Their juniors were resting in other areas together with people that got injured. The individuals here were vaguely familiar with each other. The Zhang Clan members could not deny Feng Liena and Huo Qiang participation rights in this discussion as they had quite a heads up over them in cultivation. It was knowns that the two were on good terms with the Patriarch, so they mostly everyone agreed to let them participate.

    "How is Elder Jin''s condition?"

    Zhang Zhi asked while looking to the side to some of his family clan elders that were wearing white medical robes.

    "He is stable, his body has fully recovered but..."

    The person responding was quite an old looking doctor, his white beard reached all the way to his navel.

    "But?"

    Zhang Zhi narrowed his eyes while frowning, he didn''t like the tone of that reply.

    "There are no injuries on the grand elder''s body, but he still isn''t waking up, he is in a coma, we don''t know why..."

    The old man''s forehead started glistering with sweat while he was answering the sole core formation elder from their clan. He was just a simple foundation establishment elder and didn''t know what was wrong with Zhang Jin.

    "It was that Yang Kai... he did something with the old man''s soul!"

    Huo Qiang spoke up while slamming his fist down on a nearby table, the table not being able to contain the force and cracking into several pieces. The other people in the vicinity quieted down, while Feng Liena shook her head along with the other two core formation cultivators that were next to her.

    Huo Qiao stepped forward while coughing into his hand while trying to get the attention away from his rowdy young master.

    "Yes, Yang Kai from the Dark Palm Sect performed some kind of demonic technique on Zhang Jin. Luckily the Zhang Patriarch managed to return your Elder''s soul... I think. We will probably need to wait for him for a more throughout explanation."

    The Zhang family members'' eyes gleamed slightly at the mention of their favorite Patriarch, but then they remembered the situation they were in now and went back to their gloom.

    "He told us to gather here, has there been any word of his whereabouts?"

    The Huo elder posed the question that was on his mind, he was still apprehensive about coming here instead of the city his clan was located in. He couldn''t go against his young master''s orders though, so he followed him here.

    "We tried contacting the Patriarch, but he is out of range of the communication treasure, he must have been traveling in the opposite direction of the city..."

    Another side elder chimed in, the communication jades that people were using in this world had a limited range. The one that the Patriarch had was already an upgraded product. But even it wasn''t able to cover the whole area of the Azure Dragon empire that they were in, things like satellites that furthered the signal didn''t exist in this world yet.

    There were devices akin to telephone towers, but they were placed by the governing sect and they would need to get their approval to use them which wasn''t possible.

    "Is that so..."

    "Think we''ll have to wait for Senior Dong to arrive, I trust that he will arrive just as he promised."

    Feng Liena''s sweet voice was heard from the side, the woman was sitting down with a couple of her family members. The old granny from the wind clan was already sending communications towards their own city. The information about the Dark Palm sects further movements was paramount, for now, they didn''t get anything substantial besides some rumors that didn''t go anywhere.

    "That''s a given, Senior brother wouldn''t lie, if he said that he would be here he will."

    The red-haired Huo master spoke out with a cheerful tone, but this didn''t change the atmosphere in this large room. The biggest question on the mind of the people here were the Patriarch''s whereabouts. Also if he was still alive and if he was strong enough to go against this behemoth of a sect himself.

    At this time, somewhere in Dark Palm Sect territory, the man that the people of Spirit Spring City were longing for was busy dodging more Qi attacks.

    "You old doo-doo heads never give up, do you?"

    He chucked a spear of concentrated lightning Qi at the group behind him. Three of the elders instantly reacted, they placed themselves in a triangle formation with one person on top and two on the bottom. The air rippled and an energy shield appeared, the moment the golden spear of lightning collided with the barrier, the golden light vanished and the attack faded.

    The quintet of old nascent soul monsters had been chasing this man for a couple of days now. They had gotten used to his attack patterns and knew well how to deflect or defend them by this point. The long chase was slowly getting to them though, they were people that had a short fuse.

    The man kept egging them on with strange insults and they couldn''t shorten the distance at all which put the group at a deadlock. Zhang Dong that was fleeing couldn''t escape but the five elders couldn''t catch up to him either. They all were nascent soul cultivators and even with Zhang Dong''s Qi reserves getting lower he could still flee for quite some time and his pursuers knew this.

    "We must seize him!"

    "This farce has been continuing for far too long!"

    Matt moved his attention forward and looked at his system window. He set up a waypoint for a certain location and was rushing towards it. If his plan worked well, then he wouldn''t have to flee anymore and these five stooges would be dealt with, or at least busy with something else.

    His enhanced vision picked up on a large structure. It was a large wall akin to the one that you would see back in China back on his mother planet. It was much wider and larger though and had large lookout towers spaced out through it.

    ''There... I''m close to the border... time to give those acting skills of mine another go...''

    "TIS I GRAND ELDER WU MING, LET ME THROUGH!"

    At a time like this, he wished he had the cash shop, buying skills that would help him get out from situations like these would make things much easier. Still, the teleport feature would be enough for now he just needed to make his next action stick.

    He flew past the large wall and ignored the lookout towers as they still belonged to the Dark Palm Sect. The people on the walls recognized him and didn''t activate the protective formation as Wu Ming was quite a famous sect elder. What he was looking for was a similar type of structure that was just one kilometer away from this wall.

    "STAND WITH ME, BROTHERS AND SISTERS, LET US DESTROY THIS WEAK DEMON SUBDUING SECT. THE TIME HAS COME TO ERADICATE THESE WEAKLINGS. FOR THE DARK PALM SECT!!!"

    His voice filled the whole area, anyone far and wide could hear his proclamation of war against the Demon Subduing Sect. He was still wearing the Dark Palm elder robe of Wu Ming and still had his appearance. He had flown to the bordering area of the two sects that were opposing each other. He wasn''t sure what the deal with these two powers was, but he didn''t care. The important thing was that the other party was a similarly strong faction and they were hostile with the people that were chasing him.

    The four elders that were hot on Zhang Dong''s heels noticed that they had reached all the way to the border area without even noticing. He had annoyed them all well enough for them to not notice where they were headed.

    "What is that person doing..."

    "Oh no... he still has Wu Ming''s appearance! Quick stop him!"

    There were some other Dark Palm members stationed here. This was the place that Elder Zhu was afraid of getting sent to when his spirit stone theft came to light. Not far away there was a nascent soul elder from the Dark Palm sect, he felt that there were people from his faction here so he decided to see what this was all about.

    The same thing was happening on the other side on the Demon Subduing Sect''s side. There was an elder in the nascent soul realm stationed on guard duty. He snapped out of his cultivation trance as he noticed someone powerful going past the border between them and the Dark Palm sect.

    "What is this? You dare break the armistice?"

    The whole place started buzzing with sound. Everyone on the Demon Subduing Sects side shouted out while pointing at a Dark Palm cultivator with salt and pepper hair. The man in question stretched his hand out while gathering a large amount of spiritual energy in front of it. In no time a large blade of wind formed, it shot forward right at the wall and collided with the protective formation that was activated by the other side the moment they heard the man''s loud booming voice.

    What followed was a barrage of multiple wind blades that caused the defensive formation that was able to defend against early-stage nascent soul attacks to buckle. Matt was using cultivation attacks uncharacteristic to his cultivation method as he didn''t want the Demon Subduing sect to recognize him by them later on. The Dark Palm sect already knew that he was all about lightning, but not like these two forces trusted each other to believe any kind of info that they shared.

    "Multiple nascent soul elders from the Dark Palm Sect are attacking us, send help immediately!"

    A request for help was sent out the moment the enemy was spotted. The people here weren''t prepared for such a huge attack though, their walls were barely holding up against one of the enemies old masters, what would happen if all of them joined in. The nascent soul master that was on the defending side managed to arrive in the nick of time.

    "Divert all power to the defensive formation, we must last until the main sect sends help! We can''t let this wall fall!"

    The man diverted all of his spiritual essences into the formation while placing himself at a certain spot that acted as its core. He was only one person and the other side had six people of his caliber, the only thing he could do was to burn through his Qi and hope that help would come in time.

    The five people that were on Zhang Dong''s toes finally arrived, only to see their target kicking up quite a storm. Part of the defensive wall was already broken, the people on the other side were all frantically powering their defensive formation to last through this barrage.

    "Happy to see you brothers and sister, don''t worry I''ve already started with our planned assault!"

    The five looked at the Wu Ming imposter and were about to shout back at him, but before they could the man''s voice boomed out again.

    "I WU MING FROM THE DARK PALM SECT WILL TRY TO GET TO THIS FORMATION FROM UNDERNEATH. YOU, MY FELLOW SECT MEMBERS, CONTINUE THE ASSAULT FROM HERE"

    Again his voice was heard by anyone within a ten-kilometer radius. The moment he finished his sentence his body blurred and he dived into the rocky ground bellow while spinning like a bayblade. In mere moments he was gone leaving these five old people here, the group just looking at the partially damaged formation wall and the hole in the ground.

    "What? ..."

    "We must catch him and discuss the situation with the Demon Subduing sect, he won''t be able to get past this formation alone and now he can''t run!"

    The leader of the group spoke up, not sure what the man was trying to achieve. If they apprehended him they could simply clear things out with the other party, they weren''t fools so they should see it their way.

    "Wait... he... he vanished? I can''t feel his Qi anymore, how can this be!"

    The five looked a the hole beneath them, just a second ago they could clearly feel the man''s spiritual signature. But now, there was nothing.

    "He couldn''t have just vanished, just like his disguising technique he must have used something to hide his presence, find him!"

    Two of the elders dived right into the hole, he couldn''t have gotten far and his disguise was just a third rate skill. This other technique shouldn''t be a problem either is what these elders were thinking.

    The two returned after a minute, their heads lowered one of them scratching his neck.

    "He... he wasn''t in the hole... it didn''t even go in that deep..."

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 172 Chapter 172

    Spirit Spring City.

    Zhang Xue and Zhang Liu weren''t invited to the discussion that the elders were having so instead they were sitting in one of the rooms at their estate. The two were direct descendants of the previous Patriarch and now were the disciples of the current one. Their living expenses were covered by the clan and they had many servants along with a large mansion.

    The siblings weren''t alone though, people like Huo Kong, Feng Nuana were also here. Besides those two there were some other male and female cultivators of the younger generation around. Some from the Huo Clan while others from the Feng Clan that were accompanying their respective young lords.

    Zhang Xue had invited them to over to stay in their guest house. The two other clans were placed in various locations of the main clan estate, but some had gathered here while they waited for word to arrive from their elders. Nuana and Kong, in particular, were people that these two Zhang clan members had gotten to know during the testing period. Liu was a bit hesitant about inviting the Feng Clan girl, but the small sister of the Feng Matriarch was slowly growing on him.

    "When do you think that the elders will come to a conclusion? They still treat us like little kids!"

    Huo Kong said out while leaning up against a wall with his hands crossed.

    "Don''t think they can come to a conclusion without Masters approval..."

    Zhang Xue gave an answer while offering some tea to Feng Nuana and some of her friends. The group of girls was sitting around a table, tea in white porcelain cups was spread out on it. The short girl had braided her hair into twintails as they were looking light pink as always.

    "This is quite fine tea... and this honey goes well with it..."

    Nuana proclaimed while sipping on the drink, the tea back home wasn''t as good as this, she wanted to ask how they managed to get it to taste like this but the timing was a bit off.

    "Your master... are you really the disciples of that honorable person?"

    Everyone looked at Zhang Xue that just smiled and nodded, the person in question was, of course, Zhang Dong that made a good impression on the juniors in this room.

    "He was so admirable, how he delivered swift justice to that Yang Kai!"

    The boys from the side perked up and joined in at the conversation. They all were there and managed to wake up just in time to behold Yang Kai''s demise. They saw that dastardly Dark Palm Sect member vanish into fine particles. The image of the white-haired cultivator that had saved them was etched into their mind, they would never forget his gallant figure till they died.

    The conversation shifted to the Zhang Patriarch, the kids started wondering about just how strong he was in reality. The young cultivators started asking Xue and Liu about their master. They were barraged by many questions ranging from how tough their training was all the way to what sort of boots the Zhang Patriarch liked to wear.

    "Do you think your master could give me some pointers..."

    Huo Kong asked Liu, the animosity from his voice that he used to have long gone. The red-haired youth had seen how righteous this man was while protecting Feng Nuana and was now seeing him in a new light. That he was the older brother of the woman that he had a thing for also was a big factor.

    "Master giving pointers? I''m not sure he is versed in fire techniques that much. But he is a master of hand to hand combat!"

    Zhang Liu stifled a laugh while trying to think about what his master would do. He was feeling quite proud of being his pupil, everyone in the room was looking at him with sparkles in their eyes. Having a mentor that was at the nascent soul level was something that these youths had been dreaming every day.

    This peaceful atmosphere didn''t last for long as it was interrupted. While they were chatting, they heard a loud thud and the sound of pottery being broken. The loud noise was preceded by a flash of light coming from a large side closet. This was also the place that Zhang Xue stashed most of her tableware and her tea sets.

    This closet was to the side and there was no entrance to it from anywhere besides the room it was in. The people in the room looked at each other, wondering why there was a flash of light and a shift in spiritual energy coming from there.

    "Is it a mouse or a rat?"

    The girls backed away slightly, the most logical conclusion was that some kind of spirit beast sneaked into the closet and was kicking up a racket. It also could be some kind of intruder that was hiding in there before they entered the room. Due to this suspicion, Huo Kong and Zhang Liu reacted in unison while nodding at each other.

    The two youths slowly shuffled their feet towards the sliding door, the people behind them quieting down. Kong placed his hand on the door ready to slide it open, Liu was on the other side his hand raised and ready to deliver a devastating blow to anyone that might have been spying on them. The people behind them gulped as Liu nodded, this prompted Kong to slide the door open his fist also raised the tension in the air high.

    The moment they slid the door open cracked and broken teacups and saucers poured out. Inside was no assassin or demonic mouse beast whatsoever. There was a peculiar person that the people here were already familiar with. The man was wearing a characteristic white robe that had armor parts like metallic gauntlets and shoulder pauldrons. Yes this was the Zhang Patriarch, Zhang Dong had used the system''s teleportation method to appear here where his disciple Zhang Xue was.

    ''Blasted thing teleported me into a closet.''

    There he was, stuck in a small space barely large enough to support his height and width. He had a large white pot on his head that was slightly cracked. Shattered pieces of what looked to have been expensive tea sets were riddled all over the floor and were falling out from the broken shelves behind him.

    The people in the room were stunned, Huo Kong and Zhang Liu were shocked and stopped mid-movement their fists raised in the air. Matt looked at the two youths that were standing in front of him with one of his eyes. The other was covered with the pot on his head, he slowly removed it and placed it to the side only to see it tumble down into the rest of the broken pottery.

    "M-master?"

    Zhang Liu spoke out while lowering his fist, Zhang Dong moved his hand upwards just showing his palm in a way that indicated that he didn''t want the youth to speak.

    "You see... your Master placed many teleportation arrays around the Zhang Clan to have a way of escape... but I was in the middle of a dire battle with five nascent soul cultivators. While activating it the spiritual energy from the fight must have interfered with my technique and I ended up here..."

    So he said, the people in the room just stared while his deep voice filled their ears.

    ''Did it work? Why are they being so quiet... should I just leave?''

    Matt''s palms became sweaty and his introverted personality started acting up due to being gawked at by a group of people. This felt a lot more intimate than speaking out to a large crowd that looked more like a big blob from the distance. In this situation, he was starting to feel nervous as people that he knew were staring him down.

    "Ah, well then...I''ll just..."

    "Master!"

    "It''s really the Zhang Patriarch!"

    "How stunning, he is even more handsome in person!"

    "Teleportation? That''s a nascent soul for you, how fearsome!"

    The kids in the room quickly moved forward all in awe about this man. They were just discussing this frightening master and he was fighting five nascent soul cultivators at once. He didn''t look like he was injured so he must have made his escape, or even managed to slay some enemies in their eyes.

    Zhang Xue moved over to where Zhang Dong was standing and together with her brother gave her master a bow.

    "Disciple Zhang Xue greets Master!"

    "Disciple Zhang Liu greets Master!"

    Matt had the urge to scratch his neck after the two acted so formally. Before he could react the siblings looked behind them, glaring slightly at the people in the room. The youths picked up on the ques almost instantly and quickly bowed to the senior member.

    "We greet you, honorable Senior!"

    Everyone started bowing and showing their respect before him, this show of honor only made Matt want to get out of this room sooner. Even during these two years, he didn''t really get used to this respect that these people showed him. He had what you might call a case of imposter syndrome, feeling like he didn''t deserve all of this due to how he gained this power of his.

    "It''s fine, you can relax."

    Matt wanted to sigh, but before that, he looked at his two disciples his voice sounding solemn.

    "How is your grandfather doing? Did you arrive without any problems?"

    Xue''s and Liu''s smiles quickly turned upsidedown after they heard the question. Xue lowered her head down while Liu stepped forward to give his master the bad news.

    "Grandfather hasn''t awoken, the physician said that he is in a coma and when he will awake is unknown."

    "Is that so..."

    Zhang Dong nodded slightly and then looked to the side.

    "Could you guide me to where he is now?"

    Xue nodded and moved in front of her Master.

    "Follow me, Master. Uncle is resting in his own residence, other members from the family are tending to his needs."

    Xue in front, Zhang Dong in the middle, and Zhang Liu in the back. The three white-haired cultivators went out, the other people in the room were silent and had enough tact to know what this was a family matter. They somehow knew who they were talking about, the man in the black suit of armor was also seen at Jade Grass City.

    Though after the door closed, the people that were left inside became quite chatty. Huo Kong and Feng Nuana decided to report this to their family members, the man that everyone was waiting for to arrive has finally shown up. He would probably be the answer to this predicament they were facing and the only person that could realistically protect them.

    After leaving the room, Matt continued walking after his female disciple. Grandpa Jin was resting in the same mansion that Xue and Liu were living in, it was quite large and housed a lot of the core family members from the main branch. Their arrival didn''t go unnoticed, Zhang Dong''s appearance was widely known and soon enough the whole place was abuzz.

    "The Patriarch has returned!"

    "Quickly send the information to the elders, the leader is back!"

    Word of the glorious leaders return quickly echoed through the entire main clan base. The first ones to be alerted were the people that were holding the meeting of the elders. Almost instantly all of them stormed out, not even waiting for their Patriarch to arrive. Everyone was far too stressed, they needed answers about what they were going to do. They needed to know if Zhang Dong, the man that had already shown that he could work wonders was confident in achieving a new one.

    On the other hand, while people were storming towards him Zhang Dong was standing before the large mansion that supposedly his grandfather was resting. The area he was in was a large outside garden, the problem wasn''t in that though. For some reason, there was a massive gathering of people here and even though they came in various shapes and sizes, they all seemed familiar in some way.

    "These are direct family members that had come to pay their respects to Grandfather."

    Zhang Xue spoke out while alerting them to the Patriarch''s arrival. The people moved to the side, knowing that this was the clan leader as well as their family member.

    "Greetings Senior Uncle dong!"

    "Greetings Patriarch!"

    Matt moved his head over to Liu slightly as he asked.

    "Why are they all here and why do they feel so familiar..."

    Zhang Liu looked to the side with a solemn expression at the question but answered promptly with a slight sigh.

    "They are all related to us and have a similar upbringing as you Master has, they...they are all related to Grandfather..."

    Matt looked between Liu and the crowd, there were well over a thousand people there. And quite a lot of them had similar facial features to Zhang Jin''s. He put two and two together, his mouth gaping wide at the realization.

    ''How many kids did this old bastard have!''

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 173 Chapter 173

    Matt looked at the masses of people that parted to the sides. He placed his thumb and his index finger on his glabella while closing his eyes.

    ''What is this...''

    He didn''t feel like talking so he just moved forward, his destination the room that Zhang Jin was resting. He could feel the piercing gazes of all these family members each one feeling like a little prick to his soul. Thankfully he had his tranquil will technique, which saved him from losing his cool.

    ''Am I directly related to all of them?''

    The garden he had to go through had a nice brick road and even a small bridge, a clear spring with koi fish was right under it. Due to the size of the whole area, the uncomfortable walk continued. The people that parted for him came back together the moment he walked forward. They all kept their eyes on Zhang Dong''s wide back as if they were expecting him to produce a miracle just as the rumors said. He could even hear the younger ones whispering, not aware that an expert of his level had enhanced hearing.

    He finally arrived at the door but before he could open the gates that would save him from this uncomfortable situation they sprung open themselves. Inside he saw more people, the most glaring thing about them was that they were all of the female gender and varied by age. It didn''t take a genius to figure out who these women were.

    ''That''s quite the varied range of tastes you got there gramps...''

    One of the ladies moved forward, she looked quite refined. She had pure black hair that hung over her shoulders from the front as well as in the back. Her facial features were soft which made her look like the gentle type. Even though she was hiding it, he could tell that she was wearing quite a bit of makeup. Her age was unknown to him, but he wouldn''t be surprised if she was over a hundred. She gave Zhang Dong a bow of respect before speaking out.

    "Lord Patriarch, please save my husband!"

    ''Husband? So is this his wife? ... at least the official one?''

    He peeked behind the woman and could see some of the other women''s eyebrows twitch the moment she proclaimed Zhang Jin as her husband. This was probably his main wife while the rest were mistresses, from what he knew this wasn''t anything out of the ordinary. Powerful men tended to have a couple of mistresses here and there, even children with them. The main wife was the one with the most power, she was mostly the one that tended to the house matters. Sometimes she even decided on the budget and who got hired.

    While he was thinking about his reply another lady stepped up, this one looking younger. She was taller with a ''wilder'' look compared to the first one. Her hair was long and crimson and fashioned into a long ponytail. The woman moved opposite the so-called main wife and greeted him as well.

    "Please nephew, save your grandfather!"

    The first woman squinter momentarily at the red-head, probably due to her acting too familiar with their Patriarch. Matt had spent some time in this city but his quarters were far away from Zhang Jin''s mansion. His grandfather had tried inviting him for a family get together here and there but he always refused. He didn''t like spending time with other people that he didn''t know. Even back in his old life he mostly found himself in the corner of a barbecue while the other family members were talking.

    ''Nephew?... is she my aunt?''

    He looked between the two women, he already realized that there was some kind of faction rivalry going on here. The ladies split into mostly two groups and stood behind the ones that came forward. One went with the courteous approach while the other went with familiarity, he wasn''t sure what was going on here but for some reason he really wanted to give his old grandpa a punch.

    The two women looked at the man in front, his face was emotionless as always. They took the hint and didn''t press him, the Patriarch was known to be a man of few words. The took a small step back and just waited for him to reply.

    "Um, where is grandfather located, bring me to him I''ll see what I can do."

    His two disciples were right behind him but they didn''t speak up. Besides the two women that greeted him everyone else was keeping quiet, probably afraid to step out of line.

    The main wife''s character used a chance to slip forward and guided Zhang Dong to the room that Zhang Jin was being kept. It was a similar place to the one he was in after the secret ground ordeal. He was lowered in some kind of special spirit water that had various healing and nourishing capabilities that the clan was famous for. Thankfully he wasn''t naked and was wearing something to cover his nether regions. After seeing the group of wives and children in the back, Matt was surprised that the pair wasn''t ground into dust by now.

    Even if the nature of this was quite peculiar, he was still worried about the man. He wasn''t sure if his healing abilities were up to par. He was limited to the cultivation manuals he had procured from the secret ground and the ones he stole from the Dark Palm sect. The added knowledge explained some points, but it wasn''t perfect by any means.

    He moved towards the man that looked to be situated in what looked similar to a hot tub. He had some kind of breathing apparatus covering his mouth and nose and he looked to be asleep. The whole tub had a healing formation imbued into it, something that he came up with thanks to his holy elemental dao.

    "Hm..."

    The other people like the wife and the mistresses moved back, some nursing staff did the same. The watched as their Patriarch rubbed his chin and circled around the grand elder that was in a coma. The sleeping man hovered up which gave the women in the room a scare. They soon realized that this was the doing of their leader, he was now in the nascent soul which made sense.

    Zhang Jin was moved to a nearby bed his body wasn''t dropped onto it though but remained hovering in the air. Tiny golden needles flew out from Zhang Dong''s spatial ring and embedded themselves into the old man''s body. He looked like a pincushion as the tiny needles lodged themselves into all of his acupoints from the front as well as from the back in one go.

    The people looked on from the side in awe as Zhang Dong reached out with his finger. A tiny bolt of golden electricity shot out, the tiny arcs of light flew towards those needles that were sticking out. Everyone had to stop themselves from gasping, not wanting to disturb a master at their work and in fear that they would be blamed if they caused a blunder to occur.

    The light show didn''t take long as everything was finished within a minute''s time. The acupuncture needles were retracted into Zhang Dong''s spatial ring and Zhang Jin''s body got lowered back onto the soft bed below. The white-haired man rubbed his chin and took a step forward, his hand going to his grandfather''s wrist as he checked for his vital signs.

    ''Nothing seems to be wrong with his body... his soul looks stable as well...''

    He was sure to examine Zhang Jin with his appraisal skill, he had used before right before he returned his soul and it had the weakened status. Now on the other hand, there was nothing and his system wasn''t telling him that there was anything wrong with him.

    ''Could there be another reason that he isn''t waking up? He couldn''t be... no...''

    Matt squinted with his eyes and moved over to the bed and was standing in such a way that no one could see Zhang Jin. He leaned down first and checked the man''s breathing then went for the eyeball test, checking if it would react to outside stimulus.

    "Hey, gramps... are you just pretending to be in a coma..."

    He whispered into Zhang Jin''s ear after going through more tests. The moment he spoke out he noticed a really faint reaction, that proved his point.

    "Is it because you don''t want to face all those concubines and mistresses that are gathered here..."

    He felt an even stronger reaction from his good ol'' gramps after whispering that into his ear. He wanted to give him a good smack right at that moment. The guy even suffered through that healing procedure to keep his act up. He would rather get poked with needles than face all the kids that he sired outside.

    ''I bet they are all here as their lively hood depends on his life...''

    He thought to the large group. Zhang Jin was the top dog in this clan right after him and had a lot of cash. Even though he was a massive pervert and a horndog he always took responsibility for his actions. All the children that he sired were welcomed into the clan in one way or another. Some as servants, some as regular clan members, and in between. It all depended on their potential and also on the social standing of the mother.

    ''Makes sense, if he dies most of them besides the main wife could be evicted from the clan if they have no backing...''

    He leaned back and returned to the small group of women that came forward with questions.

    "Patriarch, is there a way to save my husband?"

    Asked the wife.

    "Great Nephew, will hubby be okay?"

    Matt looked between the two women that soon turned to each other, if looks could kill then both of their heads would be exploding now.

    ''Ah, I feel sorry for these people... well at least they have food on the table...''

    He squinted again while looking to his no-good casanova of a grandfather and made a decision. He pulled out a dagger, it looked plain but the sharpness of its blade was paramount.

    "There is a way to save him, but the procedure will be painful..."

    "Due to the dastardly demonic arts of the Dark Palm sect an excess of Yang energies has gathered in his body, this will cause long-lasting damage to him unless the problem is resolved."

    The people gasped, this sounded serious but the Patriarch seemed to have something in mind so they listened.

    "I will need your help in the procedure, but I need you to steel your resolve as it won''t be for the faint of heart!"

    The two women stepped forward without thinking for long, giving a quick nod.

    "As the consort it is my duty!"

    "Anything if it will help hubby!"

    "Master, can we also do something!"

    Zhang Liu and Xue stepped up, quite eager to be of use to their master and help their grandpa.

    "I''m afraid that the scene will be too gruesome for your young eyes, this procedure involves..."

    He stopped himself and looked at the motionless body of Zhang Jin, then back to the group of people.

    "We must remove the excess yang energies from his body, there is only one way to do it in this situation as we have no time. We must sever the part that makes him a man as it produces the largest amount of yang energies!"

    He did a slicing motion with the sharp dagger in his hand while the group of people took a second or two to process the information. Zhang Liu almost instantly leaned forward and guarded his nether regions by instinct. The women took a step back, even the two main wives were taken aback by this revelation.

    "Yes my two disciples it''s better if you step back, you don''t want to see this. Don''t worry he is in a coma right now, so he won''t feel any pain and I will heal his wounds right after. Be sure to not let anyone inside the room, even if you hear some strange noises..."

    Everyone besides the two women left the room and the two were given instructions to spread their hubbies legs so that Zhang Dong could perform the operation.

    "Is this the only way Patriarch..."

    "Don''t worry aunty, I''m quite handy with a blade it won''t even leave a scar. Grandpa already has a wonderful family, this is a small setback in the grand schame of things."

    He moved over to the bed that Zhang Jin was in while smirking to himself.

    "Now please spread his legs and remove the cloth that is covering his orbs, we will perform this swiftly so that he can recover!"

    The two women looked at each other and nodded. They knew that having a eunuch as a husband would probably mean that their charm wouldn''t work on him anymore. Still, it was better than him remaining in a coma forever or dying. They also couldn''t really refuse the request of their Patriarch so they complied by spreading the legs of their hubby.

    Matt could see that Zhang Jin''s whole body began sweating profusely. He even noticed that his eyebrows started twitching the moment those two women grabbed ahold of his legs.

    "Now, remove the cloth and I''ll perform the operation, one swift move is all it will take!"

    The sharp dagger glowed with golden light and looked like it was now heated up and ready for the strike. The people in the room knew that the moment that weapon came in contact with Zhang Jin''s junk it would sever it in a fraction of a second. The windup came, one of the women grabbed the cloth covering Jin''s man bits and was ready to pull it to the side.

    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo STOPPPPPPPPPPP..."

    Before Zhang Dong could swing his dagger his patient jumped up into the air, his hands going towards his legs to protect his little feller that he was proud of.

    "I''m sorry Dong''er... please show this old man mercy, I was in the wrong!"

    Matt just rolled his eyes at the man that was clutching his groin, the two women in the room baffled to the quick revival of their husband that looked to be fine and dandy now.

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 174 Chapter 174

    The people from the outside heard a loud scream and they instantly knew that it was the voice of their grand elder, Zhang Jin. The people that were standing right outside wanted to charge in to see what was going on. Before the women could make a move they were blocked by Zhang Xue and Liu that stood in front of the door.

    "Halt, Master said that he didn''t want to be disturbed!"

    The young man shouted out while flexing his cultivation level slightly. This making everyone stop in their tracks. The women dropped their heads and moved back, they couldn''t go against a direct order of the Patriarch nor his direct disciples.

    Back inside the room, Zhang Jin was curled up in a fetal position his hands grasping for his family jewels. Sweat was covering his whole body after he almost became a eunuch. He turned to his wife and his mistress, they were looking at him funny. He then glanced at his grandson that was deadpanning at him, his eyes slightly squinting the dagger still in his hand.

    "Oh...ohhhh... it''s a miracle!"

    He quickly straightened himself out and stood up from the bed. He started laughing while flexing slightly to show that he was fully recovered.

    "Dong''er you sure are the greatest healer in our clan!"

    He looked all cheery and fine, you wouldn''t think that this man was on the death''s door just a second ago. The two women knew that something was wrong, even taking their Patriarch''s healing Dao into consideration the reaction was far too overblown. Before they could barrage their naughty hubby with questions they saw a large hand moving between them.

    "Okay, this has continued long enough, let me have some time in private with my grandfather."

    The two looked at Zhang Dong and couldn''t do anything besides bowing as they left. The cogs in their heads were already turning though, they wouldn''t just let Zhang Jin off like this, he had to be punished. The people outside saw the two leave and started asking questions, they rejoiced to the news of the grand elder''s recovery but also had to wait as the Patriarch had ordered no one to come in.

    "Okay you old fart, stop pretending we both know that you were already awake the moment I walked into this room. This isn''t the time for this, tell me what the hell happened back in that city. Also, why did you lie to me?"

    Matt crossed his hands over one another and glared at Zhang Jin. He was still mad that they didn''t inform him about the dangers of going to the Dao festival. Though he also never told anyone that he was close to reaching the nascent soul level. The lack of communication between the leaders of the clan had caused this blunder and he was also at fault here.

    "Yes, this Zhang Jin made a huge mistake..."

    Zhang Jin went down to his knees or at least he tried, some kind of strange repelling force kept him from doing so. This was Matt who wasn''t in the mood to watch a two-hundred-year-old grandpa kowtowing before him.

    "This..."

    Zhang Jin''s eyes bulged as he stared, he could feel it, this was a nascent soul level of power. When did his grandson become this strong, was he hiding it from them?

    "Yes, I''ve reached the nascent soul realm recently. This is also the reason why you are alive now."

    Zhang Jin only regained his senses not too long ago. The people around him didn''t say anything as they were more concerned about his health. He was also weakened, almost close to being in a crippled state. He had noticed that a huge number of his offsprings and concubines had shown up. These people were being kept off the main estate where he only had his main harem members.

    The old man was keeping most of his side kids out of sight, not really wanting any infighting to break out between his huge family. But now they were all here and he wasn''t sure how to handle this situation, he even heard his harem members fighting outside his room. He was in the middle of coming up with a plan of action, before his grandson walked in and now they were here.

    "Did you think I''d cause some huge scene there?"

    Matt rubbed his neck while thinking.

    "Well, that might be true I''m not good at those formal gatherings... But still, you should have said something! I could have made some precautions, I could have been there sooner!"

    Matt made sure to move his barrier around the whole room, not wanting all the other clan members to hear him shouting at the grand elder. He in response just stood there, just with some cloth covering his legs which made Matt''s eyebrows twitch a bit. He gave out a sigh while looking at his grandpa that barely made it out alive.

    "There is no time for this, get dressed we don''t have much time. I might have bought us some time but the Dark Palm Sect will be at our doors soon enough, we must get ready."

    "I''m sorry Don... no Patriarch, it won''t happen again!"

    The old man cupped his fist while doing a small bow, his expression resolute. He then felt his grandsons hand on his shoulder as he got closer.

    "Well, uh... good to have you back old man, don''t you go dying on me... but, please put some clothes on you old fart!"

    Matt threw Zhang Jin a robe that was to the side, he had enough of seeing his grandpas bulge for a lifetime. The old man got dressed and Matt finally received the scoop on what happened during the Dao festival. Everything from the reason why Zhang Jin withheld information. The reason being that he was afraid that Zhang Dong''s soft nature would cause some kind of offense against the sect. All the way to the fight with Yang Kai that was the cause of the whole predicament.

    "So that''s what happened..."

    He rubbed his chin, he wasn''t that angry at his grandfather. His reasoning wasn''t so far fetched as him being there might have escalated things sooner, if that Yang Kai wasn''t there in the first place nothing drastic would have happened. He also wasn''t mad about his disciple stepping up to help his friend, even though that led to more things going astray in the process.

    "I need to speak with Qiang and Liena..."

    After getting the gist of what happened he decided to go through with his plan. He walked out first, his two disciples were still keeping guard. He nodded at the two siblings while walking through the door.

    "The Grand Elder has recovered, you may enter the room at your own discretion. Xue, Liu let us depart."

    Matt walked away without looking back, he could hear some women shouting. Unbeknownst to him a power struggle was happening on the Jin side of the family. The women were clamoring to treat their hubby and leave a good impression. This whole ordeal only reinforcing Matt''s opinion about harems being too much of a hassle.

    When he got outside the people were already kneeling with the path open. The reverence that these people were offering him was off the charts. He just increased his pace to get out of this uncomfortable situation, luckily his mental technique was keeping him relaxed. When he was about to leave the garden he could feel someone coming, someone in the great circle of core formation and they were being followed by others.

    "Senior Brother!"

    "Senior Dong!"

    "Patriarch!"

    "Honorable Leader, you have returned!"

    Out of the frying pan into the fire, now he was faced with all the influential figures from his clan. Besides that there were also the Huo and Feng Clan people with them. Everyone was staring at him, he could tell by their piercing gazes that they were here for some answers.

    "Um, let us move to a more quiet location first, then we will discuss the plan of action..."

    Everyone nodded and they returned to the same place that they were previously in. Matt was surrounded by people from the elder generation from all sides. It just showed how much they were relying on him now, everyone even showed up to escort him to the meeting room and didn''t just send their retainers for that task.

    At the meeting room, he stood at center stage, all eyes were on him. If this happened two years ago, he would probably be a staggering mess but things were different now.

    "Fellow Clan members, people from the Huo and Feng families, we face a big dilemma."

    "Do we stay and fight, or do we leave and try to escape?"

    "Before I make a decision, I would like to hear your thoughts on this."

    He moved his hands behind his back, wondering what these native cultivators thought about the whole thing.

    "Patriarch, do we have any other options than fleeing?"

    "Yes, how can we oppose the Dark Palm sect..."

    "Maybe we could seek refuge in one of the other large sect territories?"

    "You fool, you think the other sects will just take us in and risk offending the Dark Palm sect?"

    "Even if they allow us to stay, we will be nothing but slaves!"

    "I say we fight!"

    The conversation of the Zhang Clan members was mostly leaning towards escaping in some way. The only person that was for staying and fighting was Zhang Zhi. The other clans didn''t have much to say, they didn''t dare give input to someone that was at the nascent soul level even if they were given permission. The only ones that said something were the young Hou clan lord and the Feng Matriarch.

    "I say that we stay and fight, it would be shameful to run."

    Huo Qiang was down for a fight, as long as he had his senior brother to back him up he felt like they could do it.

    "I trust that Senior Dong will make a just decision, the Feng Clan will stand with the Zhang Clan."

    Feng Liena took a follower''s stance, in her eyes the man called Zhang Dong would make the right decision and she would put her faith in him.

    Matt nodded a couple of times, the opinions varied. It looked like the older people in the room were more inclined to flee or seek some kind of compromise, while the younger people like Zhang Zhi and Huo Qiang were all for fighting it out. Some of them like Feng Liena were unsure and left the decision to him.

    Matt moved his hand up into the air, everyone in the meeting room quieted promptly.

    "I have heard your opinions, now let us discuss something."

    "Firstly, I have managed to dispatch two of the nascent soul elders from the Dark Palm sect, Wu Ming is dead and the man called Zhu has been crippled and won''t be a problem anymore."

    He gave a short recap of what he was doing for the past few days, mostly just giving information about the state of the sect they were going against.

    "The problem lies in the lack of information, we don''t know how many nascent soul cultivators the sect has. For now they might be busy with the Demon subduing sect, but there is no way of telling when they will knock on our doors."

    The people in the room were quite happy to hear that their leader managed to take out two nascent soul elders from the Dark Palm sect. One was even in the middle stage which gave them much hope for the future. Though their morale plummeted after they heard that the enemy was able to send out five other nascent soul monsters from which their Patriarch had to flee.

    "I think that there must be a limit to how many nascent soul elders the Dark Palm sect can realistically send out."

    "That is true, they can''t leave their main territory unprotected. If the other sects found it out, they would surely organize an invasion of their own."

    "If we manage to hold out the initial attack, or even defeat some of those Grand Elders, we might not have to lift a finger afterward."

    "Yes, but what if the other big sects decide to crush us along with the Dark Palm sect..."

    Another discussion occurred, it wasn''t a far stretch to think that if they managed to hold out for a while news to the other sects would spread. They might organize an attack to squash out a weakened enemy. Still, they could do nothing and just be at their enemy''s mercy with no hope of winning.

    "But Patriarch, how can we hope to last the brunt of their attack. Do you feel confident in battling five nascent soul cultivators, what if they bring more?"

    All eyes were on him, it would be reassuring if their biggest fighter could just massacre their enemies but his chances of winning were slim in their eyes.

    "I...I''m not sure... but I might not be the only one battling them..."

    Zhang Dong glanced at Feng Liena and Huo Qiang, the two not sure what this was about.

    "But first, we must create an official alliance with our allies... this isn''t a battle of the Zhang Clan, we are all in this together. I wish for us to come together not as a coalition of clans, but as one sect... I wish to create a sect that will seek independence!"

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 175 Chapter 175

    "You wish to create a sect?"

    The people looked at Zhang Dong with question marks hovering above their heads. What was the point of creating a sect at this moment, that could even anger the other party even more?

    "I know what you are thinking, but I assure you that it''s something that must be done! I need everyone to swear an oath the sect so that we know who we can trust in the future."

    ''At least that''s what says in my faction menu... I must change the name of the Zhang Clan to the sect first...''

    Matt needed to change the faction to a sect and then let the other clan''s join. He didn''t think they would abandon their clans and join the Zhang clan, but if he made a sect then they could keep their old family names.

    The people murmured with each other, creating a sect wasn''t such an easy thing. The structure was different than a clan, for one thing, mostly anyone could join it without having to marry into the family. Most sects used some form of binding contracts to combat this, some didn''t bother.

    The people quieted down and started thinking, most of them were surprised, not sure what to think of this. Still, the proposal had some merit to it, it would be hard to trust the other clans if all of them weren''t under the same banner. While the Zhang members were all on board as it was the proposal of their Patriarch, the others were skeptical, Huo Qiao was the one to speak up first.

    "You want us to swear allegiance to you? But how can we do this without our Patriarch''s approval? This isn''t something that the people in here can decide upon."

    In Huo Qiao''s mind, there was still time to turn back. The people that were mostly involved in this fiasco was the Zhang and Feng Clan, their Clan might still have a way out of this if they just backed away. Their young master acted rashly, if they paid a fine then perhaps they would be left out of this.

    "What can the Huo Clan even hope to achieve if we ally together against the Dark Palm sect, besides Senior no one can hope to contend with a Grand Elder from that sect."

    The people started murmuring again, Huo Qiao was making sense. What could cultivators below the nascent soul level even hope to achieve here, they didn''t even have any defensive or offensive formations nor treasures to aid them in the battle. The Zhang Patriarch was the only person that would be able to do anything. The rest would mostly just stare from the distance while being crushed under a nascent soul master''s overwhelming aura.

    "Qiao what are you even saying, If Senior brother wants to fight, we will fight!"

    Huo Qiang looked at his bodyguard, Qiao in term frowned at his young master''s words.

    "You should be thankful that our Patriarch is giving you this offer!"

    Zhang Zhi shouted out while staring at Huo Qiao with murder in his eyes.

    "Calm down you youngsters."

    Feng Maling stepped up to the stage.

    "I can understand the young Huo lords eagerness, but you should think this through. Besides the Zhang Patriarch, none of us will be of much use. The sect war potential is far greater than ours, we wouldn''t even be able to handle their core formation experts..."

    The old woman looked at Zhang Dong, her showing deep concern.

    "I ask you, can you defeat them all by yourself? Wouldn''t it be more realistic to evade this battle and hide till the time is right?"

    Matt rubbed his chin while listening, those were valid questions. The other didn''t really add much to the plate, it would probably be better to hide everyone and run. Maybe he could sneak around and take out the nascent soul fogies one by one. The problem was that they were now at full alert and his disguise was infective against nascent soul cultivators. His other plan was patched together hastily and he would have probably chosen to run if he didn''t manage to sack that spirit stone mine.

    "Who said that I would be fighting alone?"

    He looked at Huo Qiang and Feng Liena once more, it was time to reveal his plan to them.

    "What if I told you, that I can help brother Qiang and sister Liena reach the nascent soul realm within the month, maybe even faster!"

    The two people that were mentioned took a step back, their eyes blinked fast and their brows raised and curved.

    "The nascent soul level within a month''s time? This is no laughing matter, Zhang Patriarch! How can we believe such a thing to be possible!"

    Feng Maling felt like her intelligence was being attacked, how could this young man claim to be able to heighten the cultivation level of their Matriarch within a month. How could reaching that realm be so easy?

    "Senior Brother ... are you speaking the truth?"

    "Senior Dong, how?"

    Feng Liena and Hou Qiang looked at the white-haired man, their trust in him was the highest from the people gathered here so they were willing to believe in their claim.

    "Everyone, please be silent for a moment."

    Zhang Dong raised his hand up, as the people in the room became awfully chatty after his proclamation. He knew that he needed to present some evidence that would pull him over to his side and he had just the thing for that.

    He asked for both Core formation experts from the Huo clan and Feng clan to come on over, Zhang Zhi was also invited. He then surrounded the group of five with his shield and blocked out anyone from peeking inside which raised a few eyebrows in the room. He pulled out a manual, it was golden from the outside and the calligraphy was at the highest level as he wrote everything down in it himself.

    "Elder Maling, elder Qiao could you take a look at this and tell me what you think..."

    He handed the book to the old woman, the bodyguard with the mutton chops walked over he was also curious about the whole ordeal, was this booklet the answer? The old woman started reading, while the elders in the room wondered what was happening behind that barrier. The old woman''s hands started shaking, eyes bulged out in surprise, and her jaw-dropped in awe.

    "T-this is... h-how... w-where did you get this..."

    Huo Qiao snatched the book from the old elder ladies'' hands, wondering what all the hubbub was about. He soon realized that what he was holding was something unfathomable. This here manual he was holding could cause a disaster to happen, as it was actually Zhang Dong''s nascent soul cultivation manual, the same one that was in the immortal perfect grade.

    "This... w-where did you find a legendary technique like this... is this really an immortal grade cultivation technique! This Dao is so deep..."

    His eyes went bloodshot and he wanted to grab this manual and bolt it for the exit. It took some mental fortitude for him to calm down but his forehead was dripping with sweat.

    "Yes, that is my cultivation technique and it''s immortal ... perfect grade!"

    The others gasped in surprise, an immortal grade was already a big deal, but this was even the highest level an immortal graded cultivation manual could reach, truly the stuff of legends.

    "C-can I see it?..."

    Feng Liena moved closer along with Huo Qiang, eager to take a look at the manual.

    "If the other sects find out about it... the whole empire will be at war! This can never leak outside this room or we will all die a miserable death!"

    The old Feng elder shouted out, everyone here knew that if any news got out this here place would be swarmed by any half-decent sect. Probably the Azure Emperor would be at their doorstep, they would all be dead by association. The small group of core formation experts started sweating, panic in their eyes.

    "Please stay calm, as long as the word doesn''t go out we will be safe. I showed you this to prove a point, I will procure similar cultivation manuals for both sister Liena and brother Qiang. You must understand there is a huge difference between a heaven grade cultivation manual and an immortal one..."

    Matt started giving people the rundown. He explained that there was practically no danger in ascending to this higher realm if you had a fitting immortal grade manual. There would be no danger, they just needed time to advance.

    "I will also supply them with the required spiritual energy to make the leap... they just need to study the manuals I will hand them and create their nascent soul..."

    He moved his hands behind his back and nodded, the other people in the barrier looked to the Zhang Patriarch with vacant expressions in their eyes. No one knew where this man got this manual, but that explained how he had gotten to this level this fast. It was widely known that if the cultivation manual was of a higher grade then cultivation went smoothly. On the other hand, if it was of a lower quality, you could even end up with crippling yourself or shortening your life span.

    "B-but h-how? You have more cultivation manuals like this one..."

    He was half lying when he said that he had manuals for the two. He needed to use his system and combine some manuals to get something for his two friends first. He could exchange spirit points for crafting points, but first, he needed to know what the two were actually cultivating in, thanks to his analyzing technique that wouldn''t really be a problem though.

    "I don''t, but my Master does... He allowed me to go through with this plan, but he imposed a condition of you joining the sect that I will create."

    He had to somehow explain how he was able to acquire all those rare techniques, the easiest way would be to create a hidden master figure.

    "Your Master?"

    The Zhang Clan members had some reports of the Patriarch''s ''Master''s'' sighting back in Moonlight city, but the man was mostly a mystery.

    "Yes, my honorable Master, Wei Hung!"

    Matt had to strain himself to not make his lips twitch or not to chuckle while saying that name. He went with this friendly doctor persona as he was already presumed to be his hidden Master by his own clan.

    "With that, I want you all to swear an oath to join my sect! I have chosen Sister Liena and Brother Qiang to be the next Grand Elders of the new sect together with me! Time is of the essence, this chance is a once in a lifetime opportunity for your clans!

    The people from the Feng and Huo clan''s looked at each other. That manual was indeed unfathomable, if they were getting a similar one for free was there any reason to refuse? These people were quite simple, they weighted the pros and cons of each situation and then decided on the best path.

    This was an immortal grade manual the Zhang Patriarch was speaking about, this was indeed a once in a lifetime chance for them to make it big. The Dark Palm Sect was a terrifying foe, but they knew how strong the Zhang Clan Patriarch was while only being at the early stage of the nascent soul. He was able to easily dispatch someone at the middle stage, they of course knew that that cultivation manual had something to do with it.

    "Do you really need to ask? The Feng Clan will stand with the Zhang Clan and join the new sect as their eternal allies!"

    Feng Liena was the first one to step forward, her head bowing before Zhang Dong as she accepted the offer. Huo Qiang followed suit, smacking his muscular chest with his hand while laughing.

    "Haha, do you even need to ask, I and the Huo Clan will stand with you, if you get me into the nascent soul stage, that old fart won''t be able to deny me anyway!"

    Everyone agreed, one Zhang Patriarch wasn''t enough to win this, but if they had three cultivators of this caliber their chances of winning skyrocketed.

    "Well, if we all agree, then I would like to ask you for opinions about the sect''s new name."

    Matt took away the barrier that was blocking the view, the people outside were then promptly informed that their elders had decided to join with the Zhang Clan. They only needed to choose a name for their new sect.

    Matt rubbed his chin as he wasn''t sure what to name his new faction. He was criminally indecisive when it came to picking names and mostly went with silly sounding ones. This would be the name of his main faction from this point on, he couldn''t just name it the broccoli sect for the laughs, he needed something official-sounding.

    "Names, how about we name it after Senior''s glorious name then?"

    Feng Liena smiled as she gave her opinion, Huo Qiang was also for this.

    "Yes, how about the Big Dong Sect? Sounds very fitting!"

    If Matt was drinking something at this moment he would probably spit it all out after hearing that name.

    "Hm, how about Grand Dong Alliance instead?"

    "That also sounds very promising..."

    The people in the room started proposing names, but for some reason, most of them had the word Dong in it, together with an adjective mostly to do with large and big things.

    "Huge Dong Sect!"

    "N-no please don''t..."

    Matt just facepalmed at all the names, the thought of changing his own name being a lot more enticing at this moment.

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 176 Chapter 176

    "Oh, maybe we should include the Patriarch''s master into the name as well!"

    "How about we name it Hung Dong Sect?"

    Matt just stood there while his allies discussed nonsensual names for his new faction. He didn''t know why they wanted to put his name into this, but this was getting out of hand.

    ''Think I''ll have to choose one... unless I want to be part of the Huge Ribbed Dong sect or something..."

    He mentally facepalmed, he had come up with some names beforehand but was hesitant in choosing one. He wanted input from the people that would be joining it.

    ''Okay, whatever let me just go with that one...''

    He coughed into his hand to get everyone''s attention, the people that saw the immortal level manual were in high spirits. The others were more curious but still eager.

    "It would seem overbearing if the sect includes my name in it, I''m not the sect the people in it are."

    The people nodded, it would be kind of pretentious if the sect was named after one man. Though in their minds there was nothing wrong with it, mostly a sect depended on their leader''s power to actually get anywhere.

    "So I''ve been thinking. Our sisters from the Feng clan wield the Dao of air and wind, our brothers from the Huo Clan the Dao of fire and immolation. We from the Zhang Clan are primed for the Dao of the water and streams...if we are just short of one, the Dao of the Earth..."

    "But alas, we can''t have it all. So my idea would be to name our new faction, United Sect of Elemental Dao... or United Element sect for short."

    The people in the room rubbed their chins in contemplation, this did sound a lot better than their proposals. It was also the proposition of the only nascent soul cultivator in the room, so the people in here didn''t feel like they could chime in.

    "United Elements?... I like it... We do stand united!"

    Huo Qiang nodded while holding up his fist high into the air.

    Feng Liena nodded while smiling, but a bit saddened that her proposal of naming the new sect the ''Big Dong Sect'' was refused. She tried not to show it, but she did a small pout while nodding.

    "Senior Brother Dong''s naming choice... I will agree with it as well."

    Matt turned to Feng Liena, he felt a bit sadness in her tone.

    ''Hey there now, do you really want me to run around with a sect that is just a synonym for a big pecker girl?''

    He couldn''t explain what his name meant back in his home language, the people might be speaking English here but he knew that it was the systems doing and he was just getting an automated translation. The people also heard him talking in their home language that wasn''t English, so sometimes things were lost in translation. He couldn''t really learn this language, the system even translated all the books so he had no reference point to go of off.

    "Okay, great. With this, the name is set!"

    He clapped his hands, the moment the name of the faction was created he received a prompt.

    The Zhang Clan faction will be changed to United Sect of Elemental Dao, do you agree? Yes/No

    He clicked the ''Yes''. The whole faction page didn''t really change, he still had the same resources and the same cities that he had under the Zhang Clan. This was also the reason that he wanted to keep the old faction going and feared that he might have to restart everything with no passive spirit points coming in.

    "Well then, I would like to welcome everyone into the new United Element Sect"

    The most important people were Liena and Qiang, the only cultivators in the great circle of core formation. He peeked at their status, but it didn''t change much, they were still being shown as part of their own clans.

    ''I guess they will need to make that oath, the Zhang Faction was widely known and already had members even before I got here...''

    He kind of knew how this should work, the system recognized when people were joining the Zhang Clan, so it should work in this situation.

    "Hm..."

    He turned to Feng Liena first, the girl was all smiles.

    "Then repeat after me..."

    "I pledge allegiance to the United Sect of Elemental Dao, and to the people for which it stands, one Sect under the Dao path, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all..."

    He tried recalling some oaths from the countries back earth that he knew, this one was quite popular and widespread so he used it while changing some words here and there. The Feng Matriarch didn''t have any problem in remembering her lines, cultivators of her level already had close to photographic memory.

    The moment she ended her oath he could see her faction name switch from the Feng Clan over to the United Element sect that he just created. This made him sigh out in relief, the first part of the next step had worked and he could now move into the next stage. Huo Qiang was the next, his status window also updating to the new sect faction.

    "Good... now the rest of you..."

    The people perked up after seeing the Zhang Clan Patriarch going to the two and letting them take the oath before him. This would be quite the honorable moment in their lives, they could boast that a mighty nascent soul master let them take an oath before him at a critical juncture of the sect creating process.

    "Why don''t you all just do it at once, otherwise this will take too long..."

    Matt wanted to get out of here now, he had said most of the things he wanted to. He needed to get Qiang and Liena to the medallion space and hand them the cultivation manuals. Even before that, he needed to activate his crafting abode and actually create them first. So going through this large group of people and having them recite the pledge of allegiance would be a time-waster.

    ''Why did they all start frowning?''

    He could see the old farts in the room get moist eyes and look saddened by his proclamation. They looked like kids that got denied their favorite ice cream. They hesitated at first but soon recited the pledge that the new Sect leader told them. The person that was most hesitant was Huo Qiao, the man still being loyal to his own clan and thinking that this sect idea was a bit hastily constructed. He still recited the oath though, the sight of the immortal grade manual still engraved in his mind.

    "Let''s not prolong this any further, Brother Qiang, Sister Liena my clan members will lead you to a hidden treasure that my clan... our sect is in possession. Wait for me there, I will be with you as soon as I procure the technique."

    Matt looked at the Zhang Clansmen that were standing in the room, they nodded and moved forward.

    "Lady Liena and Lord Qiang, please follow me, I shall guide you there."

    One of the elders stepped forward, guiding future nascent soul cultivators was quite the honor.

    "We will await your return then, Senior Dong."

    "Don''t make us wait too long though, Liena gets lonely fast!"

    Huo Qiang laughed while receiving a swift kick to the shin from the Feng Matriarch in question. The sight of the tanned girl''s furrowed brows and kick making Matt hold a laugh. The woman turned around and covered her face with a fan, knowing well that she did something rude in front of Zhang Dong.

    "Ah, excuse me Brother Dong... I''ll be leaving first..."

    Since the secret ground ordeal, she was trying to act more refined, but sometimes her old tendencies could be seen. Qiang in return just shrugged and followed after the woman, the elder guided them to the Dimensional Regalia where they could cultivating in peace.

    Matt exited out of the meeting room after telling the people in there to pass on the information that the clans will be uniting under a new sect. He also spotted Zhang Zhi on his way out, the man looked depressed for some reason, but he made nothing off it. Later on, it would come to light that he felt dejected that he was left out from the Grand Elder discussions. He also didn''t get to pledge his allegiance to the new sect leader like the other two core formation experts.

    Back in his own room, Matt flopped face-first onto his large king-sized bed. He remained motionless, just trying to clear his head.

    ''I''m not fit to be the leader... this whole situation is barely holding on by some ducktape...''

    He pushed himself off that bed and then double smacked both his cheek.

    ''No, I must get my act together, that''s not how a leader thinks. If I don''t keep it together everyone here will die or will be enslaved...''

    While he was pumping himself up he heard a knock on the door, followed by a familiar voice.

    "Master, it''s me and Xue... may we enter..."

    He rose up from the bed and straightened his robes out, he was slowly getting tired to having to act like a master cultivator. His image had to be kept though, who would respect a leader that was acting too familiar with anyone or goofy like he sometimes did.

    "You may enter."

    He heard the large door open and the two walked forward, they had their heads lowered as if they were here to get punished.

    "What is it my disciples?"

    The siblings didn''t look up to him but immediately went down to their knees, their heads lowered in quite the deep bow.

    "Disciple Liu has come to seek forgiveness!"

    "Disciple Xue is also here to seek guidance and repent for her actions!"

    Matt looked at the two youths down on the floor, he could only see the back of their heads and the two were really faceplanting into that cold floor.

    "Yes, I heard about what transpired at Jade Grass City..."

    He had gotten a report about everything by Zhang Kuo, with a long formal letter of apology to boot for not informing him about the Dao festival. He wasn''t mad at the two, no one could have predicted that some young master would try to capture the old potato granny. He thought that the report was a joke at first, but the target turned out to be Feng Maling.

    He just scratched his head and leaned down. He was in the middle, Liu was to the right while Xue to his left. He placed his hand on their heads and gave them some headpats.

    "Why are you kneeling, you did nothing wrong. Standing up for someone is nothing to be ashamed off!"

    Xue didn''t really do anything wrong in the first place, the one in hot water was Liu who one-shotted that Dark Palm disciple. By cultivator logic, he did a stupid thing though. He implicated the whole clan and set them on the path of destruction. If he remained seated the only one hurt would have been the people from the Feng Clan. Yang Kai was aiming for them, going by the standard thought process in this world it was natural to let Yang Kai nab the granny and his disciple to beat up Nuana.

    "But Master, this is all my fault... if I didn''t..."

    "If you didn''t help your friend she might be dead now. There is no reason to believe that the Dark Palm sect wouldn''t have found anything else as an excuse to attack us."

    Zhang Dong cut Liu off as he was talking, not really thinking he did anything bad moral wise.

    "You might have hastened this situation... but this would have happened sooner or later."

    He knew that the Dark Palm psychos would find an offense with them sooner or later. They were an up and coming clan and would be gaining more prestige and power with each passing day. It was hard to tell how long they could hide before the war started, but the moment that sect found out that he was a nascent soul cultivator would be the start.

    "I''m glad that you came to support your brother Xue, he is lucky to have a sister like you."

    The two looked up and saw a smiling Zhang Dong, he looked a bit different today. It was rare to see their Master show any type of emotion, mostly he faced them with his back while explaining things. Or just used that painful technique to insert his knowledge into them before promptly shooing them away.

    "M-master!"

    They both shouted out in unison, Xue getting teary eyes while Liu gave him an intense stare of appreciation. If he looked in his disciple window he could see that the devotion of these two disciples had reached the apex at this point.

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 177 Chapter 177

    Matt felt uncomfortable, those kids had those puppy dog eyes and were worshiping him like some kind of diety. He on the other hand didn''t feel like he deserved this. If his communication skills were better then maybe this whole fiasco wouldn''t have occurred and he would have years to cultivate himself and the whole clan into a great strong sect.

    "That being the case, you need to alert your Master if you are facing odds like that!"

    "I will give you two something with which you can contact me without the use of a communication jade..."

    "Still, even though what you did was noble it was incredibly stupid, you endangered your whole clan and people close to you!"

    Even though Matt agreed with the moral choice that he made. It was only that, the boy had no plan besides beating up that enemy in front of him. He didn''t think about the master behind him, or that he was putting everyone there in danger by proxy.

    "Y-yes Master, I did a great disservice to the clan..."

    The young man that was all smiles after hearing the prise just a second ago went back to frowning.

    "If it would be any other situation you would be punished severely, but we don''t have time for such things now."

    "Go see if you can help the other elders with the evacuation of the regular folk, you too Xue."

    The clan for the past two years had been expanding, they created a large system of tunnels under the city for situations like this. They would have various traps along with being more or less a maze. This was to evacuate people and if someone decided to chase afterward they would find it hard to get through.

    This was the time to use it, the low-level cultivators and non-combatants were useless and more or less dead weight in this situation. They needed to be evacuated so that the warriors in the city had less to worry about when the Dark Palm Sect finally arrived.

    "Yes, Master!"

    The two didn''t stay for much longer, they agreed with everything their glorious master said. Matt started thinking that if he told them to jump off a cliff they would probably do it without even thinking.

    "This devotion might be a double-edged sword..."

    He shook his head, this wasn''t the time to think about the consequences of being too devoted to one person. He needed to make those blasted skills! He activated his crafting abode and appeared withing the large area, various smelting devices all over the place along with some weapons that weren''t quite finished.

    "I need to get this over with quickly and then use the nascent soul weapon I got from Wu Ming to advance my cultivation!"

    // The Sylph Empress Cyclone Manual [Heaven High Grade] //

    // Flame Emperor Pure Yang Manual [Heaven High Grade] //

    "Okay, these are the ones... who comes up with these names..."

    He arrived at the technique combining contraption that looked like a large desk with many small drawers in it. He placed the technique that Feng Liena used in first as the base, then his own Divine Golden Lightning Nascent Soul one was placed as the supplementary. This would produce a better version of her manual, but it depended on how compatible the two were with each other.

    "Hope this works... what kind of name will this produce though..."

    // The Sylph Empress Cyclone Manual and Divine Golden Lightning Nascent Soul Manual are 69,420% compatible... //

    He looked at the compatibility percentage, it wasn''t super high but it wasn''t low either.

    "Well, it''s above 60%... almost 70% that''s still good... guess I''ll need to spend some points to improve it..."

    Matt stared at the crafting screen, if he left it as it is the technique would end up an Immortal early graded one. But he didn''t want it to just remain at the bare minimum. He started adjusting the sliders and clicking some options, the divine part of his own cultivation method wasn''t very compatible with this, this was the first thing he dropped and focused on combining the lightning and wind components.

    "I am using two types of Dao''s with my own cultivation, so it shouldn''t be a problem if she has that too... lightning and wind should be compatible..."

    The options were clicked, he favored increasing the attack and speed of this technique dropping most of the defensive options in their favor.

    "You don''t need defense if you can dodge everything... but can''t overdo it..."

    The base manual was already focused on speed and long-ranged attack, he was just min-maxing a bit to give it even more power in that regard. In the end, after all the options were chosen and the technique was upgraded he remained with a manual in the immortal middle grade, but the advance grade for it was quite good at an A.

    "Even with just this... I need to spend over 25 million points on this... will I have enough points to further their cultivation to the maximum so they can breakthrough?''

    He started sweating, this was close to a quarter of his whole spirit point pool. He could exchange the points at a 1 to 1 ratio for crafting points so at least he didn''t lose out in that regard.

    "Here goes nothing..."

    He activated the machine and saw it glowing. It took a minute for the rumbling to stop and the large drawer in the middle popped open with a green looking manual.

    // Ascended Storm Phoenix of the Thunder Winds - Cultivation Manual.

    [ Immortal Middle Grade ]

    This powerful immortal cultivation technique combines the Dao of lightning and wind to create powerful storms that consume anything in their path. The Soul-Beast fashioned from it will be a Storm Phoenix. //

    "Okay... that sounds nice...quite the long name there...let''s move on to Qiangs..."

    He pocketed the green manual and absorbed the knowledge from it into his system library. The next one in line was the Flame Emperor Pure Yang manual. He just replaced Feng Liena''s old manual with Qiang''s and looked at the options that were given.

    // Flame Emperor Pure Yang Manual and Divine Golden Lightning Nascent Soul Manual are 54,666% compatible... //

    "Worse but still not that bad... this is going to cost a lot more..."

    He knew that Qiang was a close-range fighter that liked to use his large frame to overpower his opponents with large swings. So in contrast to Liena''s speedy build, Qiang''s came out quite tanky.

    "Hm, does that make him the Tank of the party and Liena the backline caster? Guess I would be the all-around DPS or something?"

    The cost of it all was even higher than what he had to spend on Liena''s, costing him over 40 million in one go.

    "Well, they are immortal techniques... I''m lucky that mine is in the perfect grade so it lowers the cost substantially."

    He tried to see how much points he needed to upgrade a heaven graded technique to the immortal grade before. Without any good techniques to base it of, he would need to spend over 100 million points to just get it to the early grade. Though all things considered, that was still a low cost. The other sects would probably throw their spirit stone mines at him if he told them he could fashion them one for that price.

    "Ah, the hard life of a rich person."

    The new manual popped out in the middle, steam rising from it.

    "Nice red color... these booklets have quite the cool designs..."

    // Plasma Ifrit Of The Perfect Yang Path Manual

    [Immortal Middle Grade]

    This forbidden cultivation art combines the pure Dao of Yang with the chaotic lightning energies to produce a destructive force. The Soul-Beast fashioned from it will be an Ifrit composed of red plasma energy. //

    "Oh? Plasma! That one is neat... might be even cooler than mine..."

    He imagined a large devil made from plasma energy fighting together with Qiang, next to it a wind Phoenix kicking up storms and in the back a golden dragon bringing in the pain.

    "Yes... this could work..."

    He had spent over half of his spirit point reserve but had managed to create two really good cultivation manuals. He absorbed the knowledge from this one to his library as well, later on, he could try using them as bases and fashion some nascent soul techniques for his two companions.

    "I need to give them these two manuals and then cultivate on my own... I also need to remake the grand formation, it won''t hold against those old nascent soul farts."

    He remembered the large wall at the border, that thing could take some damage even though he was using attacks that weren''t the strongest. They were still at the nascent soul level, he looked at this spirit point counter and would need to save some to upgrade the formation, and the biggest issue was the power source.

    He exited his crafting abode and headed towards the clan''s pocket dimension. He could hear people running around, the citizens were getting informed and evacuated even now. They all felt shocked that they had to leave, but they also felt reverence to the clan that was actually helping them evacuate in the face of danger.

    Normally sects or clans didn''t care about the general populace. When the Cheng Clan was fleeing from Moonlight city they took their core members and escaped. If the Zhang Clan turned out to be tyrants wasn''t something they were concerned with. The citizens from Spirit Spring City would remember this, their trust into the clan and now sect was going through the roof while they all evacuated.

    Matt appeared in the medallion space and saw Feng Liena and Huo Qiang. The problem was that the two were bickering again, he wasn''t sure why but the two didn''t get along too well. He wasn''t sure what it was about, but he thought that it might have something to do with Qiang proposing to her once while having a hundred wives.

    He was just in the time to behold Liena dancing around with the fans that he had gifted her, producing cyclone like winds that Qiang was finding hard to block.

    "Hey you two, what are you doing!"

    When the tanned girl saw Zhang Dong appear she stopped in her tracks, she was in the middle of her battle technique so she kind of fell on her butt afterward. This caused Huo Qiang to burst out in laughter.

    "Hah, serves you right you violent woman!"

    "Who you calling violent, you muscle brained pervert!"

    The girl glared at the red-haired man, he in turn just smirked and shrugged. Matt quickly got between the two, his hand going down to help the gyaru up from the ground. This pocket dimension didn''t look too great after he was done training, a lot of the ground was mostly destroyed and dusty from all the craters.

    "You two... here Sister Liena let me help you."

    He reached out his hand towards the lady, their eyes met. The moment they did Feng Liena''s expression changed, she started fidgeting and her gaze focused on the hand that was presented to her. An uncomfortable silence followed where the lady just stared at the large manly mitt, only snapping out of it when Zhang Dong called out to her again in that deep manly voice.

    "Is something wrong? Are you hurt anywhere?"

    She finally snapped out of it and grabbed his hand, the moment she was pulled up to her feet Matt could have sworn that he could hear a sound akin to ''doki doki''

    Matt might have been a dense person, but even he knew what this was. The woman was clearly interested in his and this wasn''t anything getting acted out like at the secret ground. She was showing clear signs of a maiden in love, this revelation only causing Matt to stutter in response before his tranquil mind calmed him down.

    "U-uh... right... I''ve got your cultivation manuals from my master... he said that he would help me out this once but he won''t be helping us in the coming battle..."

    ''Hey, don''t stare at me with those big blue eyes, this isn''t the right time for this!''

 178 Chapter 178

    At a faraway location, you could see destroyed walls and chunks of rubble everywhere. It looked like a large battle took place, craters and cracks in the hard rocky ground were seen everywhere.

    Up in the air, six people were floating on one side, they were looking in the distance where a group of five was staring at them from afar. Compared to the area around them these groups of people looked fine. They were glaring at each other but they were keeping their distance, both sides retreating.

    "I propose a ceasefire... I think no one here wants to engage in an all-out war..."

    The man speaking was Elder Wan, the strongest cultivator from the group that was previously chasing after Zhang Dong. After he attacked the border wall that belonged to the Demon Subduing Sect a fight broke out. The members from the Dark Palm Sect weren''t here to fight their long-standing rival though, but after the misunderstanding, they had to stay to explain themselves before this got out of hand.

    "You want us to believe that someone disguised themselves as Wu Ming to sew discourse between our sects? Aren''t you just afraid to attack!"

    An elder man that was at a similar level as Elder Wan shouted out. He was holding onto a large saber and his face was full of scars. The Demon Subduing sect was a virtuous one and had a bad opinion of the Dark Palm faction. There were a lot of rumors that they were a demonic sect, but there wasn''t any substantial proof. The two factions clashed here and there, but none were confident enough to go into all-out war.

    "Don''t try my patience Fan Ping, we from the Dark Palm Sect never turn our tails and run, but this was clearly a misunderstanding!"

    The man named Wan shouted back at the other five people, his eyes going bloodshot after the others accused them of being scared.

    "Please calm down, we will retreat to our side, there is no reason for this fight!"

    The old woman cultivator from the Dark Palm side floated between the two shouting leaders. She gave Fan Ping a small bow and whispered some words into Elder Wan''s ears.

    "We can''t fight the Demon Subduing sect while that cultivator is on the loose."

    "He was strong enough to defeat Wu Ming, we must retreat!"

    "We must alert the Sect Leader and the council!"

    Elder Wan listened, his sect member was saying the truth. They couldn''t let an unknown rogue cultivator run amok in their lands, he was the priority. They needed to go to their top bras and also examine the places that the enemy was seen before.

    "My junior sister speaks the truth, we will reimburse you for the damages to your broken formation and wall."

    ''They are probably telling the truth... but who was that man that caused this... we need more information...''

    His eyes gleamed in a cold light while he looked down, this might have been something trivial but there was also a chance that it could lead to something.

    "Fine...pay up and let''s be done with this!"

    The other side threw spatial pouch with spirit stones inside, there was enough to cover the costs. The two sides turned around and flew away, still they left more than one nascent soul elder on each side, just in case. The man named Fan Ping took out his communication jade afterward, he had to make some calls...

    .........

    Back in the Dimensional Regalia.

    Huo Qiang had his mouth wide open, drool running down his chin, his hands trembling as he was staring at the red manual in his hands. Feng Liena was right next to him, her eyes were sparkling and she had a similar dumbfounded expression as her fellow cultivation brother next to her. The thing that snapped them back to reality was the cough from the white-haired man opposite them.

    "I think you stared at them long enough... we should get on with it, time is of the essence!"

    The two cultivators looked between their colorful manuals and then back to Zhang Dong. Their hands began shaking, the aura that was coming off these two booklets was unfathomable.

    "S-senior B-brother are you sure we are allowed to read this?"

    "Y-yes, t-this is just too much..."

    Matt chuckled a bit, the two cultivators were acting like little kids. Their eyes were sparkling like a child that had received a toy for Christmas that they were waiting for long time.

    "It''s fine, you must cultivate this and quickly reach the nascent soul level, we don''t have time!"

    He moved over to Huo Qiang, his finger outstretched.

    "For this reason, I will have to hasten the process... first, let me impart you the knowledge."

    He had the Impartation of Knowledge skill, he had leveled it up to the pinnacle so he could force 100% of the techniques information into a given target. Though that what it was, information everyone was different and it would depend on them on how fast they could digest it. He placed his index finger on Huo Qiang''s forehead and activated the skill, the red-haired man twitched as his mind was filled with the Plasma Ifrit Of The Perfect Yang Path knowledge. Matt also included knowledge about some of the Dao''s that could be useful.

    "W-what...?"

    The man backed away and grasped his aching forehead, the pain subsided fast. He could then feel that somehow he knew the cultivation method now.

    "S-senior Brother... this!"

    "Yes, I can directly transfer the information of the techniques, it would take too long if you study it yourself. Keep the manual, for now, sometimes it helps to reread it yourself."

    Huo Qiang quickly opened the booklet, he started reading and it was just as Zhang Dong said. He already knew everything that was written down here, but there still were some pictures that could come in handy if he got stuck. Qiang looked between the cultivation manual and Zhang Dong, his eyes going bloodshot.

    "Huh?"

    Before Matt could react he found himself in a bear hug. The man that was hugging him was larger and more muscular than him, plus he had a thing for not wearing much to cover his chest. He was now getting bearhugged by a buff dude that was wearing a tiny vest that was exposing his hairy chest.

    "Hey, calm down, let me down!"

    "You are my sworn brother for life, Uooohhhh!"

    The man roared out while Matt pushed up against his face and slowly forced him away.

    ''God damn... use some deodorant dude...''

    He pushed him back and due to him being in the nascent soul level, Huo Qiang was flung into the distance and tumbled a couple of times before coming to a stop. He was still laughing out loud while clutching the red cultivation manual like a starving man clutching some bread.

    "S-senior Dong..."

    Matt looked back, a Feng Liena with sparkles in her eyes was standing there. She fidgeted like a small child while hugging the manual against her large chest.

    "Can I also receive your finger technique?"

    "My finger technique?"

    Matt looked down at his finger then back to the busty lady. She had closed her eyes and stuck her forehead out while looking up to him. He sweated slightly after misunderstanding what she meant and then placed his finger on her forehead. He imparted her knowledge for the Storm Phoenix cultivation technique. She gave out quite the cute low pitched sound during the process, then squatted down on the ground while holding on to her head.

    "W-was it that bad?"

    He was someone who got used to the headaches thanks to his system. He wasn''t affected by it anymore but it seemed that other people like Liena weren''t that resistant. He took the time that Liena was organizing her thoughts to peek at her status.

    Name :

    Feng Liena

    Age :

    42

    Faction:

    United Sect of Elemental Dao

    Cultivation :

    Core Formation [Great Circle 3%]

    Potential :

    B+

    Trust :

    78%

    "Similar potential to my disciples, eh?"

    "Only 3% progression this will cost a lot..."

    He could see that she was under his new faction, the process could move forward now. He brought up his faction window, he had an option to search for people that were in it. He typed up her name and could see a similar status screen like the one he used for analyzing people. He selected her cultivation and was given the option for increasing her progress but this wasn''t all.

    This member has a high trust rating, it''s possible to remove impurities in their cultivation, do you wish to start the process? Yes/No

    Just like everyone else who used weak cultivation methods, people built-up impurities in their bodies. For instance, Zhang Jin that used a really low graded one had his progress halted at the early stage of core formation. It took a lot of resources to push him into the middle stage along with remaking his original cultivation manual.

    ''Nice... didn''t know this option existed!''

    Matt knew that the two were studying lower graded techniques, so even when they reached the next realm some of the impurities would remain. This would lower their power level in some way.

    "Senior Dong?"

    Feng Liena was already off the ground and had realized that she already knew what was written in the manual she was holding. She wanted to thank Zhang Dong that made it possible but found the man staring intensively in her direction while poking at the air.

    "Ah... huh?"

    Matt snapped out of it, the system window appeared directly in the line of sight of Feng Liena and made it look like he was staring at her with passion in his eyes.

    "Ah sorry..."

    "N-no it''s fine..."

    The awkwardness didn''t last for long as Huo Qiang appeared from the side, his loud voice alerting the two to his presence.

    "Ha, this cultivation technique is great... An Ifrit Soul-Beast, everyone will bow before my might, long live United Elements Sect!"

    "Let us cultivate now, I can''t wait!"

    Qiang was ready to drop down into a lotus position and get to it, before he could go through with it Zhang Dong spoke out.

    "We need to do something before that... if we do it normally this is going to take far too long, please take this first..."

    Zhang Dong took out a round object, it looked like a marble that fit nicely into Feng Liena''s hand. The woman looked at the item that was handed to her. It looked quite ordinary, a normal orb made from glass without any major features.

    "Could you hold on to that and head behind that building..."

    The woman looked at him for a moment but nodded. She believed that this item probably did something great and decided to follow the instructions. Though, why she was to go behind the building was a mystery.

    "Are you in a safe spot Sister Liena?"

    "Yes, Brother Dong."

    "Okay, this might feel strange so please bare with it..."

    Liena wanted to scratch her head, what was she supposed to bare with. Was this glass orb that she received some dangerous spiritual treasure.

    "Something strangeeeeeeee?"

    She screamed out, she started feeling pain all over her body. She could feel that something was happening, her whole body spasmed as she dropped down to her knees.

    "Please bear with it, it should be over soon!"

    She heard Zhang Dong''s voice from the distance and followed the instructions. She clenched her teeth while the strange feeling took over her body. Besides the pain, she started feeling nauseous as if she was coming down with stomach flu. She couldn''t hold it in as vomit shoot out of her mouth covering the ground with black like ooze.

    The whole process took about five minutes and left a large puddle of black goop behind. Liena felt really weak but refreshed at the same time. The black stuff that came out of her body had a foul odor and she instantly knew what this was.

    ''Impurities! All of this...?''

    She felt stronger her body was cleansed, her cultivation path reinforced by this strange glass bead that had shattered into pieces while she was going through the process. While she was trying to get a grip on the situation she heard Zhang Dong shout out.

    "If you head back there is a hot spring you can use, you probably need a change of clothes after that."

    She realized now why he told her to go behind the building. She had a foul odor to her and looked like a mess, she needed a change of clothes. She smiled a bit and then moved towards the area where the springs were. During this time Huo Qiang received the same treatment his loud shouts could be heard all around the floating island in the pocket dimension.

 179 Chapter 179

    Huo Qiang was on the ground in a pile of black goop, breathing hard. His muscular body twitched after the transformation and he was already feeling a lot stronger.

    ''Surprisingly his trust in me is even higher than Liena''s...''

    Qiang was but a simple cultivator, you gave him some treasures and cultivation manuals as gifts and he would treat you well. This wasn''t over though, this was only the cleansing of impurities process he still needed to increase their cultivation level. He took out one more of those glass beads which were just regular glass. He was using them to hide how this process was working, hoping that the two would attribute their change to the balls of glass instead of his system.

    "Ohhhh... Senior brother...t-this is!"

    While Matt was looking at the status window and thinking about dumping spirit points into Qiang''s cultivation the man in question started charging at him. He opened up his arms wide and his face was all smiles, he was clearly going for another hug. Problem being, that he was covered in black sludge that stunk like dung.

    "Hey, get back, you stink!"

    Huo Qiang came to an abrupt stop as he hit something akin to an invisible wall. His nose was squished and his hands spread almost in a T-pose.

    "Brother, let me give you a hug, you have gifted me so much and I can''t ever hope you ever repay you!"

    He started squirming and pushing against the spiritual wall that Matt had formed with his Qi. He was so frantic that he even started biting it but wasn''t able to make it budge even an inch.

    "Calm down... the process isn''t even over yet...let us just get on with it..."

    He didn''t think that he could reason with this man, his eyes were bloodshot and he was looking at him like he was a juicy piece of meat. He promptly clicked Qiang''s cultivation option and started dumping points into his cultivation.

    "W-what is happening?"

    The man covered in black sludge backed away while looking at his own hands. He could feel his power rising, his muscles twitched and his core spun around as it exuded more and more power. Even when a cultivator entered the great circle of a realm, it wasn''t the end. There was still space to improve, both of them could still boost their cultivation to the maximum and at 100% of it, they would reach a tipping point referred to as the half step point.

    This was a moment at which the cultivator had the highest probability of reaching the nascent soul level. Most people couldn''t push all the way through to that point though. If they tried to push onward they would mostly not be able to reach the higher realm and the only thing waiting for them was a backlash and cultivation regression.

    ''Well... that looks peculiar... good that I tested it with him first... guess when I go over to Liena I''ll insert the points slower...''

    At the end of the procedure, Huo Qiang collapsed to his knees, his body was bulging and radiating strength. With time this subsided and the irritated muscles went back to their normal shape.

    "I... This power..."

    Huo Qiang roared out and bolted forward, he had his core formation cultivation pushed into 100% and had all of his impurities removed. He felt fantastic and he wanted to test out his newfound strength. This of course meant that he needed a target, which was Zhang Dong.

    The same transparent shield appeared between the two, the red-haired man waiting for this moment. He gathered all of his fire Qi into his right fist that shone in a crimson light.

    "Take this, Flame Emperor''s Pure Yang Destruction Fist!"

    The attack flew forward and there was a massive explosion that rattled the whole floating island. Feng Liena was washing up at the moment, the water in the spring splashed in her face and made her hair wet.

    "W-what is happening, are they fighting?... why is Qiang this strong?"

    Matt raised his eyebrow as he saw a bright red fist coming for him, he placed the same transparent Qi shield that had about the same defensive power as a regular nascent soul cultivator in the early stage. He watched as the fist continued to push against this barrier, the man that the fist belonged to shouted like a madman while inserting all of the Qi he could muster into the attack.

    ''...Crack...''

    "Hoh?"

    Matt raised his eyebrow as he felt the shield cracking slightly, but before it could give out Huo Qiang finally run out of steam. He suffered a small backlash from using too much Qi and his fist fractured in a couple of spots.

    ''Geez... why did he need to go that far...''

    He fell back onto his back, his fist shattered but his spirit not broken. He looked up into the air, the hand that was fractured held up high into the air. He looked at the blood that was flowing a grin plastered all over his face.

    "Ha Ha Ha! I heard it... it cracked! My attack reached you!"

    Matt moved over to the laughing muscle head, he was apparently satisfied that he managed to cause a slight crack to the shield that was at a nascent soul level.

    "You sure are an idiot... but that''s not necessarily a bad thing."

    Zhang Dong moved out his hand towards Huo Qiang who in response leaned forward and grabbed it. He helped his red-haired friend up to his feet and used this chance to insert his holy Qi into the fractured fist.

    "You should really wash up, you smell like a Sludge Beast''s asshole."

    At that remark, Qiang moved up one of his armpits and gave it a whiff. He then looked back at Zhang Dong and gave him a shrug, not really seeing a problem there.

    "This is the smell of a warrior Senior Brother, nothing to be ashamed of!"

    "Yeah sure... could you and your ''warrior'' smell go washup and then cultivate, we really don''t know when the Dark Palm sect will be here."

    At about this time Feng Liena appeared again, she was wearing a different robe and her hair was flowing behind her back while being slightly wet.

    "Brother Dong, what was all this racket?"

    She looked at Huo Qiang that was standing next to Zhang Dong, the foul odor that was coming of the buff cultivator could be smelled from even here. She came to a stop and realized that Huo Qiang had gone through the same process as she did, but he was also much stronger than before. She thought that Zhang Dong had to have done something to him besides the cleansing process, as she had gone through with it like him but her power level didn''t go up this much.

    "Ah, we were just finishing up here, I will help you advance your cultivation now as well."

    Matt turned around to Feng Liena that was looking quite lovely with those loose hanging wet locks. His eyes wandered all over her body which probably didn''t go unnoticed.

    "Hah, you see this Liena! I could take you out with a pinky now!"

    Qiang laughed while walking forward and towards the springs to wash up as well. The woman cultivator glared the man with no tact and just turned her head to the side while snorting. Matt just rubbed his head wondering why these two never got along with each other.

    "You two... you will be the next Grand Elders of our sect..."

    Qiang still laughed and Liena still snorted back, the two were clearly at bad terms which would be hard to fix. He felt like he would have to mediate things between these two in the future.

    ''Hope they don''t start fighting at critical points...''

    "Well then, let us get on with it Sister Liena..."

    Feng Liena stood tight next to Zhang Dong, they were an arm''s length away from each other. The foul odor was gone replaced by a perfume that smelled like cherries.

    "I am ready Senior Brother!"

    She looked resolute, she closed her small fist and jumped slightly forward. The problem was that when she did that, it caused her voluptuous mountain peaks to bounce. This delivered a critical hit to Matt''s psyche as he suffered a massive mental attack.

    "Tranquil Mind don''t fail me now!"

    He gulped and then coughed into his hand, he had a pair of sparkling blue eyes in front of him that belonged to quite the tanned beauty. He placed his hand on the girl''s shoulder as if he was going to insert the Qi by hand. He was totally not taking advantage of the situation, he was far too much of a gentleman for such things. He only wanted to mask the fact, that he was doing it with the faction option of his system.

    "Okay, I will begin the process now... this might feel strange..."

    He started inserting spirit points into Feng Liena''s cultivation. The percentages rose slowly as he didn''t want the woman to suffer through the whole process just as Huo Qiang did. Her reaction was different that was for sure as instead of screams she started giving off some sensual moans.

    "Oh...Senior Brother Dong...t-this f-feals s-strange...ahhhhh~"

    Matt raised his brow and started sweating slightly. He looked down at the fidgeting woman that started panting. Her face was all red and she was giving out various lewd sounding sounds. He even wanted to pull his hand back for her to take a rest, but before he could do that she grasped his forearm while leaning forward.

    "S-so much spiritual energy...uhhhh..."

    She held his forearm with both her hands to support herself. Her legs were shaky and she felt like she would fall down if she didn''t do this. This caused Matt''s mind skill to go into overdrive as due to this lean, she could see quite a bit of tanned cleavage.

    ''Why do they wear those robes with so much space cut out...''

    He gulped, even more, his heart racing as he tried to calm his little brother down. He was still a man and even though he had gone past his virgin phase, his dating experience was almost zero. The fling with the merchant daughter happened way to fast, which resulted in him not gaining much from the ordeal.

    ''I am but a rock in an empty field... nothing can phase me... I am one with the world...''

    He chanted while closing his eyes, but he still needed to open up to click the blasted system window.

    ''Yes... everything is one... everything is...boobs...yes massive and bouncy...wait no ''

    The moment his eyelid rose he got a glimpse of more bountiful cleavage. His eyes opening wide while the woman leaned forward even further, so close that he could even smell her shampoo.

    ''Noo... I will get through this... I must... don''t you get exited down there...''

    He really didn''t need excitement now, this would cause quite the loss to face, he would be able to face this woman down the road if she saw him pitching a tent. He decided to insert the rest of the points in one go even though they were only a bit over 50% done, this caused a drastic change to Liena''s disposition.

    She screamed out loud and just fell face-first into Zhang Dong''s chest. She panted, even more, her hands and cheek resting on his broad chest, and those squishy lumps pressing into him as well.

    ''Noooooo! Not like this!''

    In the end, Matt couldn''t deny his carnal desires and something bloomed down low. His little brother expanded forward like a mighty sword that stood resolute, demanding a worthy battle. The only thing he could hope for is that the woman wouldn''t notice it while being in that strange state of Qi absorption.

    ''My brother... why did you fail me in this time of need?''

 180 Chapter 180

    He stood there, motionless, his eyes shut and his fist clenched. He had a woman leaning up against his chest, her heart rate erratic, her pants echoing throughout the closed of space.

    ''I push away all negative distractions, allowing me to find clarity in my actions. To find peace of mind in this time of need..."

    He chanted a mantra to calm himself down, but to no avail, his lower half had decided to stand up like a pillar pointing towards heaven. He couldn''t just push Feng Liena away so he waited like a gentleman would,with his rear end pushed back in an awkward way.

    "Oh, this feeling... Senior Brother, this is wonderful!"

    She finally recovered and looked up, the coast looked to be clear as she didn''t notice the trouble brewing down low.

    "Ah yes Sister Liena, this increase in cultivation should help you reach the nascent soul level in no time! I think you should find yourself a peaceful spot here and cultivate, no one will bother you."

    Feng Liena finally noticed that she had gotten really close to Zhang Dong. Her body was pressing against his which made her blush slightly, but then she noticed that something was off. Something was poking her, her thighs in particular. She moved her gaze down wanting to see what the large thing that was poking her was.

    Zhang Dong sprung to action a glint in his eye. He could see her moving her gaze down for a peek, he quickly placed his hands on both her shoulders. This made Liena change the trajectory of her gaze and look up to meet Zhang Dong''s eyes. By grasping her shoulders he picked her up from the ground, then she was spun around and placed down in one quick move.

    "I think you should really start cultivating... I set the Dimensional Regalia to let you both out whenever you wish... so I''ll be seeing you two later..."

    He moved back and before Liena could turn around he was gone. She blinked a couple of times before heading out to find a spot where she could digest the new cultivation method.

    Matt appeared outside, the treasure item next to him and the coast clear.

    "Think she didn''t notice anything..."

    He glanced down, his little brother looked quite angry and ready for some action. For some reason, he wasn''t calming down even though he was activating his tranquil mind technique.

    ''D-did I overuse that technique or something... why won''t it go down...''

    He leaned down as standing up straight was becoming a bother, luckily after some time passed he started calming down. He almost thought that he would have to give himself a punch as the last result. Maybe his little brother noticed his intentions and decided to give up this time around.

    ''Whew... okay enough of this I need to cultivate my physique and reinforce the formation!''

    ''I should clean this place up once in a while...''

    He had obtained some weapons from the nascent soul elders that he fought so he didn''t need to fashion his own this time around. He decided to keep Wu Ming''s sword as his own had broken down during that fight. The other weapon that he had procured from that battle could be used though.

    He took it out, it was a large black glaive. It was nice and long and had some strange patterns of the bent bladed part at the end. Matt spun it around above his head a little bit while having some fun.

    ''Hm, maybe I should have gotten some glaive related techniques... this one looks nice...''

    He chuckled and places the weapon down while he himself sat in a lotus position. He had absorbed a vast amount of weaponry by this point but after the sacred ground event, he was rusty. The strange cube pushed his bodily cultivation to the apex of core formation at that time.

    "It should be fine, let me get this over with..."

    He placed his hand on the large sharp-bladed part of the glaive and activated the technique. His Qi resonated with the metals that the weapons was made of this making it glow with a reddish light. He could feel the particles and the Dao of what this item was made of slowly moving towards his digits. The sensation went further in going through his arm and then to his chest the feeling was slightly similar to goosebump.

    "This is going to take a while..."

    He had to spend an hour or two when he was absorbing core formation items, but this one was at the nascent soul level. He could feel the Dao getting absorbed by his physique but this was a whole new metamorphosis. He couldn''t rush it, getting a cultivation backlash or regressing was not something that he could afford.

    ....

    While Matt and the others were preparing for their next battle the news of what happened in Jade Grass City was spreading throughout the Dark Palm Sect area.

    The main sect area wasn''t located in a city, in particular. It was a removed area that was surrounded by ten large peaks. These were named the Harmonious Peaks and each one of them was owned by a Grand Elder of the sect. The Death of one of these elders caused a big scandal, this elder was Wu Ming.

    Wu Ming wasn''t the only elder that got hit though, Elder Zhu that was crippled also suffered bringing the number of peak masters down to eight. There were ten grand elders and ten Harmonious peaks, but now two of them were gone which brought the all-around battle prowess of this sect down a peg.

    Four from the group of people that were chasing Zhang Dong had returned back to their own peaks by this point and awaited further instructions from the sect leader. This man was living in a huge building in the central part of the sect. The Harmonious mountain peaks stood all around this place acting as barriers.

    "Lord Guanyu, this all information we have on the matter, the Grand elders have returned after failing to apprehend the mastermind."

    A core formation master was reading something down from a large scroll while looking at another man that was sitting on a large throne-like chair. The man''s name was Yang Guanyu and he was the Dark Palm Sects leader. Just as his son Yang Kai he had a gem embedded in his forehead. It was even larger than the one his son had,it was pulsating with a deep purple light.

    "Call those idiots over!"

    The man grumbled while leaning back. He was quite lanky, his whole face covered with wrinkles. He had a topknot of white hair coming out from behind his head, the front part shiny and bald. His hands were large, the digits long with sharp fingernails that looked like they could rip someone''s throat clean off. Even though he looked like a skinny old man, the aura he was giving gave everyone the chills.

    "So my stupid son is dead, his killer still alive..."

    The man that was in the room was gone, Guanyu looked in a certain direction of this meeting room his eyebrows furrowing.

    "Tell the council members that I will handle this myself, there is no need for them to act!"

    The shadowy figure that was sticking close to the walls didn''t reply, vanishing the moment the sect leader spoke out.

    "Those old bastards, only whining when they feel threatened."

    He leaned on his chair and supported his chin with his hand as he sighed. He was the sect leader, but there were other people close to his level in this sect. This was mostly called a sect ''reserve'' a hidden group of old monsters that had been long forgotten by the world.

    This was something that every sect did, when an old sect master or grand elder retired they would go into hiding. They would spend most of their life cultivating and trying to prolong their life, waiting for a time when they would be needed by the sect. They were old monsters all at the nascent soul level, but they were all running low on life energy.

    People like this would never leave the main sect area of their given sects. They would be there acting as the last defense if any other powers decided to attack. This was also a big reason why fights between other powerful sects didn''t lead to anything. It was hard to tell if those hidden elders were still alive which prevented takeovers from happening.

    Yang Guanyu couldn''t deny these elders, he had to resolve this situation before the body count increased. In the past years they have been suffering setbacks. First, the secret ground fiasco where they lost one of their grand elders. Now another one was dead, the second one crippled and useless. Even worse than the dead elder was someone that was at the middle stage of the nascent soul which was hard to reach.

    "We greet the Sect Leader!"

    The grand elder''s starter arriving one by one, soon four of them were here as one of them remained back at the border region to keep watch. In total there were eight active grand elders, three of them were placed at strategic locations at the borders with three other powerful sects.

    "Everyone listen, you all got the reports, the relation between this Zhang Clan and this mysterious cultivator is very probable."

    "That clan''s sin is high and it must be eradicated along with all of its allies. It is unlikely that the hidden master will come to aid this clan, but a small chance exists."

    "The other large sects are watching our movements so we must be swift, as we speak a new teleportation formation is being created at Jade Grass City."

    "It will take a weak before it is finished. Select two grand elders to bring that clan to justice."

    The sect leader started talking, the grand elders just kept listening not seeing many holes in the plan. Thanks to the teleportation gate they would be able to return to the main sect if something happened while they were away.

    "Sect leader."

    One of the elders raised his hand as he asked for a question, only continuing after Yang Guanyu gave him a nod.

    "What if that master appears at that Zhang clan location, he defeated Wu Ming on his own, two grand elders might not be enough to contend with him."

    Guanyu just nodded and snorted.

    "The other elders will wait by the teleportation gate, if that cultivator appears you will wait for me to arrive, I will take care of him personally..."

    The man squinted with his eyes and looked at the four people that trembled slightly. They knew how powerful their master was, if he made a move then there was no reason to fear the enemy.

    "The council will guard the main sect and activate the defensive array if something happens, it is highly unlikely that the other sects will react."

    "But... keep an eye out for the Demonic Subduing Sect, their movements have been strange...this is all!"

    The grand elders nodded at their leader and moved out. They would make preparations of their own in the wake of this battle. They knew that this Zhang Clan and its allies were good as dead and that strange master would probably not appear. It was something that needed to be done though, rumors were already spreading as the citizens of the city and even their sect members were left alive to tell the tale.

    The most likely answer for Guanyu was that this nascent soul cultivator was long gone. Apparently he reacted only when his so-called disciple was being attacked, the following destruction was probably something he did in a fit of rage. He even tried to push the Demon Subduing sect into a fight with them. Probably to gain some time and cover his tracks, which worked out for him in the end. The sect couldn''t find him anywhere and had to be warry of the other powers.

    "After we finish eradicating those bugs we will find that man and show him why the Dark Palm Sect shouldn''t be trifled with!"

 181 Chapter 181

    A white-haired man was sitting down, he was surrounded by various blades and weapons from all sides. His chest was exposed and it was glistering with sweat. His body was glowing in a golden hue radiating more and more power. This bright golden light soon filled the entire room, everything became bathed in its radiance.

    "Ugh..."

    His muscular frame expanded slightly and you could hear cracking sounds. The top layer of his skin was cracking and peeling away, what was underneath wanted to see the light of day. With a resounding explosion, all the items around him that weren''t secured flew to the sides. The room was filled with even deeper golden light, his body crackling with awesome power.

    // True Golden Body [Nascent Soul Early Stage] //

    "True Golden Body huh? Thought I''d move into Platinium, or maybe Diamond?"

    Matt slowly stood up, the whole place was ruined and he would need to spend some time on rearranging everything. After almost two days of absorbing he had finally pushed his body refining technique over the limit. He was now a true nascent soul body refiner, together with his Qi cultivation he was truly one of the best masters in the land.

    "Wonder if I can tank early-stage hits now..."

    He took out the other heaven grade weapon that he had earned from the sacking, this one belonged to the elder named Zhu. This was a green dao saber. He moved it over to his forearm and applied some pressure the moment he did he could feel the sharp age scraping against his skin.

    His skin was quite hard yet elastic at the same time, it was really good at resisting this heaven graded weapon. If he didn''t add much of his cultivation, it didn''t even leave a scratch behind, but he felt that if he tried whacking himself really good he would draw some blood.

    "I should be able to resist some attacks, but I probably shouldn''t get too cocky..."

    He felt like he could brush off early nascent soul practitioners with this. But if they had some better weapons then it got tricky, he should be fine if they didn''t get any good hits in.

    "Done with this, on to the next one..."

    He remained in his crafting abode and headed into the place where he kept the manuals he copied over. He had received some formation manuals from the secret ground. The grand defensive formation that was running through the city was also heaven graded, he would use that one as a base and level it up.

    "The problem is the power source...luckily there were some treasures in those spatial rings, I think I should be able to make something akin to a Qi battery."

    He focused on the grand defensive formation, he needed more time before his allies increased their power and had no idea when the Dark Palm sect would arrive. The process was similar to the previous one, though this time around the compatibility of his cultivation technique with the grand defensive formation was quite low.

    The only thing he could do was to put some other heaven grade formation manuals and spend some points to achieve a formation at the high heaven grade.

    "This will have to do... the more important thing is the power source... It requires many tower-like nodes to be spread throughout the city and they all need to be powered..."

    He rubbed his chin, he could place the cultivators that weren''t fighting as batteries around these spots. As long as the formation held up they wouldn''t need to fight. He could then battle the enemies outside the barrier if it came to it.

    "Uh... luckily the Qi gathering formations are spread through the city...but they can be improved upon..."

    He had all of the formations in the city mapped out. They were all placed during the two years of peace and were of high quality all things considered. He didn''t think they would stack up against the nascent soul monsters all too well though.

    "Damn, if we have enough time to prepare... I could have made this into a giant fortress..."

    He gave out a sigh and continued spending points while improving the formations with the help of his system. The millions of points were steadily decreasing.

    "I need to get all the resources available in the clan, not sure I can make it cover the whole city..."

    He left his crafting abode and raided the main Zhang Clan vault. The people guarding it after peeking inside couldn''t find a single spirit stone or beast core left to be found. Zhang Dong also gave an order for his people to gather all of the spirit stones, spirit cores, and spirit herbs that were good at storing Qi.

    What followed was a slight backlash from the order, no one wanted to give up their riches. They relented soon though, some due to fear of their Patriarch, some realizing that riches like these meant nothing if they were all dead, others just loyal and not caring about the monetary gains.

    While the people were gathering the items Matt was busy, he returned to his crafting abode and decided to start crafting. There was one thing in particular that he could make. It was a spirit cube, it was strangely similar to the one that he saw back at the secret ground. He remembered that it had given him a major injection of spirit points and he had a crafting method for it.

    "This might be the crafting method that the cube was based on, not sure if it''s the same this one is mostly used for storing spiritual energy and information. I wonder if you could record movies on this..."

    He recalled that that cube was made from some sturdy metal as at that time he couldn''t leave a dent on it. He began the smelting process almost immediately, he chose the best spirit metal that he could use and even began melting down the weapons that were made from it. This cube had to be tempered multiple times, each time he hammered a part into place some of the impurities would be dispersed into the surroundings.

    It took him half a day to make a simple cube that was ten centimeters in diameter. It was glowing with a bright blue light as he had infused it with spiritual energy from part of his leftover spirit stone stash. He had to melt them down into spirit essence and then direct it into the cube.

    "Hmm...."

    // Spirit Repository Cube [Low Heaven Grade] [Fully Charged] //

    He had spent hammering and working on this thing for close to twelve hours. He was slightly proud as this was the first heaven grade item that he had produced. Even though it was just a plain cube, it was still a monument to his progress.

    "Now to make five more..."

    The defensive formation was in the shape of a hexagram. He needed to place these cubes at those locations to support his cultivators. These cubes had a function of absorbing spiritual energy from the surroundings and from people. They would be placed in six locations along with people that would supply them with more Qi to run on.

    "I gave Kuo the plans for the improved formation arrays, hope they can make the changes in time. This formation has a size limit placing it around the whole city would require multiple hexagram formations. I hope we have enough time to cover everything."

    Luckily he had all those books from the sacred ground. For the past two years, he had shared them with his whole clan. In those books were secrets of formation arrays and he had some of the able people learn the production process. He couldn''t take care of everything himself, if he had the time he would come check up on them but for now, he needed to make even more of these.

    "Time is of the essence, maybe I can reforge this black sword into something better if I have the time. Now time to make more squares."

    He hammered away in his crafting abode while his clan members were running outside and frantically getting the defenses up in place. Most of the citizens that wanted to leave were already going through the long maze under the City. The path ahead of them was long but they would come to emerge at a safer location in a faraway forest. This forest had many places to hide, animals to feed on, and water to drink. They would be safe for months, they also had some food spatial pouches that they borrowed from the Zhang Clan.

    This was also the time where other Zhang Clan members were arriving. Some more honorable ones had decided to lend their family a hand, while others took a more wait and see approach.

    They weren''t the only reinforcements that were arriving though, The Feng Clan was a close second. Their Matriarch was all in on this battle so they brought over all of their forces. Besides Feng Nuana and Feng Maling, there were various other core formation ladies. They were mostly in the early or middle stages but would come in handy in powering the new defensive formation that was being reinforced.

    As always they were a head-turner, their quirky hairstyles and the overuse of bright cosmetics was something that these old fashioned cultivators weren''t used too. Feng Maling gave everyone the orders, they were to support the Zhang and Huo clans. The women gave out a battle shout after hearing that they were preparing for a defensive war and that their Matriarch might be reaching a new level of power soon.

    The last Clan to arrive was the Huo Clan, this clan also had the biggest force from the triforce alliance. The Zhang Clan was only in a higher position thanks to their Patriarch. The Huo Clan''s fire lord had come as well, they all had to flee from their domain after hearing what was going on. The only hope was this Zhang Dong that was supposed to be a nascent soul master now.

    "The Zhang Clan greets the Huo Clan''s Patriarch."

    A large man with a full beard and white hair walked down from one of the docked battleships. He was wearing a tight sleeveless red robe, this allowed everyone to see his thick tree trunk-like arms. His skin was quite dark making him look like he was a part of the gyaru clan.

    "You''re not Zhang Dong, I demand to see your Patriarch! This Huo Gang wants an explanation!"

    Behind the Huo Patriarch stood a group of ten core formation elders. The one receiving them here was Zhang Ya, one of Zhang Dong''s retainers. The lady just smiled while keeping a poker face, she knew that their leader moved to places that they could find him so she had no idea how to arrange a meeting. Zhang Dong at the time was busy hammering away on the battery cubes that were paramount to their survival.

    "Let me guide you to the inner sanctum, your clan members like elder Qiao are there."

    She tried moving the conversation in a different direction, maybe she could shove the responsibility on the elder from the Huo Clan instead.

    "Qiao? What is that idiot advising my son? How did this all come to be?"

    Huo Gang exploded in fury, his beard turned red and it looked like it was flaming. Zhang Ya had to back away, she was still someone only in the foundation establishment realm.

    "Please my lord calm down, we are all allies."

    She moved her head down not knowing what to do, infighting was something that she and the newly created sect wanted to avoid.

    "Now now, please calm down... we are all in this together now."

    Zhang Ya was finally able to relax as a strong counterforce pushed Huo Gang''s killing intent away. Who appeared was another white-haired elder his name Zhang Jin. He was all smiles and was wearing a more robust looking battle robe. He did a complementary fist bow at the large angry looking man and then started talking.

    "I''m sure we can talk everything through like civilized cultivators, isn''t that right Lord Gang?"

    Zhang Jin smiled but he was panicking inside. He knew that the man in front of his was more powerful than he could hope for, he also didn''t have his black armor anymore as it was turned to scrap metal by Wu Ming. The two remained in place just staring at each other, no one saying a word.

 182 Chapter 182

    Zhang Jin moved in front of the woman and shielded her from the angry looking Huo Gang. The two exchanged glances for some time, Jin was smiling while Gang was frowning. The thing that broke the stare down was the appearance of Huo Qiao.

    "Patriarch you have arrived!"

    The man with the mutton chop beard moved forward and placed himself between the two elders. He was afraid that his leader might do something drastic. He was a loyal follower but he was more scared of Zhang Dong than Huo Gang at the moment. The white-haired cultivator could flatten their entire clan if he wished for.

    "Qiao, where is that stupid son of mine? Bring him out, we are leaving!"

    Huo Qiao started sweating bullets, not sure what to say to his boss. The young master was brought away by the order of the Zhang Patriarch and was in some secluded location. He was apparently training to reach the nascent soul level, but Qiao was still skeptical about the whole thing. The only thing keeping him here was the knowledge that the Zhang Clan possessed an immortal level cultivation technique.

    "What are you waiting for? Where is he? We need to flee, we will head towards the west and seek shelter outside the Dark Palm Sect territory!"

    "Your son is busy cultivating now, Senior Gang if you come with me I''ll explain everything."

    Zhang Jin moved in, trying to diffuse the situation.

    "Cultivating? Why would he be cultivating at a time like this? Are you people sane?"

    The man started furrowing his eyebrows and clenching his fist. His core formation aura at the great circle filled up the docking area where they were holding this conversation. The core formation masters behind him started moving forward while pulling out weapons. Huo Qiao was taken aback, his clan was turning hostile against a nascent soul cultivators sect.

    "Please Patriarch calm down, we can''t offend the Zhan... no, the United Elements Sect!"

    The dark-skinned man stopped for a bit, not sure what his clan member was talking about.

    "What nonsense is this, a Sect? Have you gone mad, if you don''t tell me where Qiang is, I will consider this treason!"

    Not a second later after finishing that sentence Huo Gang felt himself getting pushed into the ground. Some kind of pattern appeared at the spot he was standing on and it was sapping most of the energies from them. From the side, Zhang Kuo appeared, in his kind some kind of pilot looking treasure.

    "You leave us no choice, the United Elements Sect will not negotiate with people like you!"

    This was a defensive array and the item Kuo was holding was a remote control of sorts. This was a large defensive array that started affected all the core formation experts that were hostile. It siphoned the Qi out of their body rendering them defenseless but keeping enough for them not to die.

    "You! ... Do you think something like this can hold me!"

    "You won''t get away with this! Are you working together with the Dark Palm Sect, what did you do to my son! Did you brainwash him like Qiao too!?"

    The man started thrashing on the ground while bringing out some false accusations. He had quite the bright imagination as he tried pinning any type of scheme on the Zhang clan members. The array was keeping him in place, Qiao on the side wanted to go after Zhang Kuo that was controlling the whole thing. He stopped himself from doing that as he knew that this was a misunderstanding.

    "Patriarch you are mistaken, Young Master is training to reach the nascent soul realm with the Zhang Patriarch that is already at that realm."

    Huo Gang quieted down the moment he heard the nascent soul get mentioned. He heard about someone rescuing his son from Jade Grass City, but this information was hard to swallow. Why would a master of that level oppose the Dark Palm Sect and be from the Zhang Clan that has no power?

    Huo Qiao knew that this old man was quite stubborn and would probably not believe any outlandish claims without enough evidence. The only thing they had to go off was from the call he had with his son. Huo Qiang after making a half-assed report decided to ignore all of his father''s communication attempts.

    It came to Qiao to try calming him down, but even when he described everything with detail. From the beginning till the end of the Dao festival, his Patriarch was skeptical. The only part he was convinced about was, that they had offended the main sect in the area and now had to flee.

    While most of the Huo Clan elders were squirming on the ground, Zhang Jin stepped forward.

    "Senior Gang we really mean you no harm, your sone is alive and well, if he was in danger your life indicating treasures would tell you this. Please appease your anger and we can talk this out like fellow Daoists."

    The Fire clan leader looked up and was feeling humiliated. He realized that he wasn''t the one with the upper hand here, the defensive measures this clan had in place were above the ones back home. He didn''t like this, but for now, it looked like he had to abide by the other party''s rules.

    After a few moments, the large man nodded, in response, Zhang Jin gave Kuo the signal to lower the output on the defensive array. This was one of the measures put in place thanks to the secret ground rewards, this new suppressing formation warked similarly to how cultivators suppressed weaker opponents. It outputted enough spiritual pressure to incapacitate anyone below the nascent soul level. Its only downside was that it was only applicable to people in the main Zhang Clan compound.

    "I hope we can start off again, Senior Gang."

    Zhang Jin smiled while everyone from the fire clan breathed a sigh of relief. They all looked at Zhang Kuo that was holding the remote control to the defensive array. He just needed to use the dial while thinking about who to suppress and it would work. The fire clan relented and didn''t try anything funny.

    Most of their cultivators stayed in their ships while a small elite unit was escorted into the main sanctum. In there they were greeted by the fire clan juniors that were rescued from the Dao Festival, Zhang Kong was one of them. He instantly spotted his grumpy looking grandpa in the distance and greeted him.

    "Grandson greets his grandfather!"

    He bowed respectfully, Huo Gang almost smiling as he saw that his grandson was fine.

    "Little Kong, where is your father, is what Qiao speaking the truth?"

    Huo Kong nodded and recounted what had happened from his perspective, most of it was the same but the youth''s eyes began shining whenever he started talking about Zhang Dong''s fight and appearance.

    "And then Lord Dong took off with that Dark Palm elder called Ming, he returned not long ago, I''ve even seen him wondering these halls he truly reached the nascent soul level."

    The grandson was set on convincing his grumpy grandpa on trusting this clan for one reason or another. His blossoming fondness towards Zhang Xue might have played a slight role in his decision-making process.

    "Is that so..."

    Gang was willing to believe his grandson, but there was also a probability of brainwashing. He still wanted to grab his family members and just bolt it for the hills. He still needed to find his strongest son, he was the future of the clan and already almost as strong as he himself.

    Then suddenly people heard the sound of thunder, out of nowhere a cultivator in a pure white robe appeared. The man looked to be in a hurry as he run-up to the man that was holding on the defensive array remote control. Huo Gang was watching this happen, he noticed that the Zhang members were instantly bowing at the man that just came in.

    He handed what looked to be a cube to the man along with a large scroll of paper. He wasn''t hiding anything as even he could see that that scroll had some sort of array formation on it. He focused his ears to listen to the conversation, quite interested in what this Zhang Patriarch was all about.

    "Yes Kuo, here is the improved array formation and here you have the first battery cube, you see these parts, you need to place them all there."

    The man took out more large paper scrolls, there were various things drawn onto them showing some strange pointy tower-like structures.

    "Here, give this to the formation masters, have them work on it."

    He also handed the man a spatial ring, telling him that he would find most of the building materials in there.

    "Supply the masters with more building materials if there happens to be something missing, now go we don''t have any time to waste I still need to make five more of those!"

    Zhang Dong had taken a small break, he needed to give the plans to his workers while he was crafting the items required to power the new array formation. When he was about to head back to his crafting abode a large burly man in a red robe stood in front of him, he looked like he wanted to say something.

    "Grandfather t-this is the Zhang Patriarch..."

    Huo Kong was to the side, bowing his head down and looked slightly scared. His grandfather wasn''t showing enough face to someone that was at the nascent soul level as he didn''t even bow. Zhang Dong looked to the red-haired youth and then to the muscular grandpa, the sight of those massive tree trunk-like arms was awe-inspiring.

    "Ah, you must be from the Huo Clan, I''m glad that you have arrived to aid us in these troubled times, we will take all the help we can get!"

    Before Gang could even say anything he felt the white-haired man''s palm be placed on his shoulder.

    "I welcome you to the United Sect of Elemental Dao, I don''t have the time to take your oath right now, but after the preparations are done I''ll be sure to arrange a pledge ceremony for everyone! Really glad to have you here!"

    Huo Gang listened to the man talking and grasped Zhang Dong''s hand by the wrist. He tried pulling it off his shoulder but it felt like he was trying to move a mountain. It just wouldn''t budge, the man just continued talking like there was nothing wrong. His muscles bulged and he even pushed his Qi into it but still, not even a millimeter of that hand moved.

    "Ah, I see that you have brought many ships with you, that''s great! If you have any spirit stones and beast cores with you, it would be great if you handed them over, we can use them to power the new improved grand formation!"

    Huo Gang just sweated, his attempt at resisting wasn''t being taken seriously at all. The man just walked away after a moment after monologing for a while. The large old man knew just from that short encounter that this Zhang Patriarch was a true monster and he wasn''t taking him the Huo Clan leader seriously at all.

    "Hah..."

    "Grandfather are you okay?"

    "I''m fine Kong''er..."

    The man had his fighting spirit sapped. First, there was this formation that could force them down to their knees and then there was this monster of a Zhang Patriarch running around. They had no way of forcing the Zhang Clan to do anything, the only thing they could do now is either stay or leave without Huo Qiang.

 183 Chapter 183

    Sometime later at Jade Grass City.

    This city had gone through a lot lately, the streets were mostly deserted. The people with enough money to move out were long gone, the regular commoners on the other hand were waiting in their houses. The tensions were high and they knew that someone earned the wrath of the overlord sect. The people were just bunkering up, if the overbearing sect cultivators didn''t see them, they might be left alone was their thought process.

    The old sect base was in shambles but people were working. There were a bunch of cultivators wearing the Dark Palm sect robes gathered around a large portal gate. It looked similar to the one the junior cultivators used during the Dao festival final test but it was much larger. It was at least the size of a football field in diameter. There was a large ramp going up to it and some symbols on the sides were already glowing.

    "The gate is stable... primary tests are all positive, we are ready to activate it."

    A man shouted out from the side while standing next to some other cultivators. The people around the large teleportation gate nodded and started infusing the large contraption with their Qi. The large ring part of the gate started spinning while water like spirit energy appeared from the side and started flowing out into the center. The portal gate soon formed, the spiritual energy stabilized but was still bubbling slightly.

    "That''s enough spiritual energy, secure the gate, activate the balance locks!"

    The ring that was spinning came to a halt, the rune-like symbols flickered around and shone brightly. Not long after that, you could see a person''s foot coming through the water like the surface of the teleportation gate. The foot was followed by another one from the side as multiple cultivators emerged from the inside.

    "Greeting''s elders and grand elders, everything has been prepared for the invasion, we await your orders."

    The ones that were stepping through this gate was Elder Wan and Elder Guo. These two were previously chasing Zhang Dong all the way up to the border, this time around they would be part of the scouting force. Elder Wan nodded at the fellow sect member before moving his had forward and speaking out.

    "We will proceed with the plan, the strike force will head towards the Zhang Clan."

    Everyone cupped their fists and was ready for some action. In the distance the people in the city heard some rumbling, some of them peeked through the cracks of their windows as the sound was coming from above. Their eyes bulged as they saw at least ten large flying ships going past them.

    The vibrations that were coming of those huge vessels were causing the windows and glass to shake, the loud sound was hurting the people''s ears. They knew that this was the sect making a move, their destination unknown but everyone knew that they would only leave death and destruction in their wake.

    This attack wouldn''t get unnoticed by the other large sects, but it was up to debate if they would do anything. While everyone was going toward Spirit Spring City Elder Wan and Guo started talking.

    "You think that person will appear, Senior Wan?"

    "Don''t think so, would you?"

    Elder Wan replied while rubbing his chin, the answer seeming obvious to this man.

    "I wouldn''t, I would flee to a secluded location if I didn''t have any backers."

    "Yes, that is if he doesn''t have anyone backing him, this could be some kind of elaborate scheme to split the clan up so be vigilant Junior Brother."

    Elder Guo nodded, the two knew that they had to watch out. They had brought treasures to aid their escape, they were worried that they could be going into a trap. They got the short end of the stick, being ordered by their Sect leader to act as scouts.

    "Can''t these ships move any faster? It will take us half a day like this!"

    The large scouting troop flew, hours passed as they were steadily moving towards their destination. While the Dark Palm sect was making its move word of it arrived at the Zhang Clan. They had planted various detection devices around their land that would alert them to such movement.

    "A large fleet of ships is moving towards our location Elder...ten of them plus... this reading... there are two large energy signatures in that group they are..."

    The person that was looking at a sonar-like device started sweating.

    "What is it!"

    The commanding elder asked.

    "We lost the signal, the large energy signatures were probably nascent soul cultivators, Sir!"

    "Inform the others, we are going into code orange, everyone remember your training, for the Zhang Clan!"

    The elder man shouted the orders as the scouting party got discovered, their tracing apparatus was found out but that wasn''t important anymore. It did what it was supposed to do and now they could prepare for the assault.

    Sirens sounded out in the vicinity of Spirit Spring City. The streets were empty and all of the common people had left anyone that remained was either from the three clans, or someone patriotic enough to lend a hand. This was it, the battle would be beginning soon and everyone knew that.

    Spirit Spring City was surrounded from all sides by a sturdy wall, upon this large wall there were many guard towers, spaced out about 200 meters from each other. The guard towers looked like your regular circular-shaped castle towers, but on top of them was something uncommon.

    Each tower was equipped with a large canon. These cannons looked more similar to anti-aircraft weapons that you saw in the modern era. A single cultivator sat on a seat to the side, the length of the cannons was close to ten meters. These cannons didn''t fire any projectiles, no they fired of condensed spiritual bullets and were powered by the city itself.

    Out in the distance, the Dark Palm ships were flying forward, Spirit Spring City was still too far away for their own cannons to reach. The two nascent soul elders where a bit to the side, they were there mostly here to watch over the junior members and to defend against a nascent soul threat if it arrived. One of the elders was examining a strange metallic contraption that he found buried deep underground while they were flying here.

    "This is a strange treasure, I''m sure it was giving off some kind of spiritual signal..."

    "Why would someone bury something like this in the middle of nowhere?"

    The nascent soul elder had found the miliary device that alerted the Zhang Clan of their arrival. They weren''t sure what it was used for but reacted to the strange signals the treasure was giving out. They had spotted it with the help of their enhanced spiritual sense.

    "Elder Guo, put it away, we will be reaching our destination soon, we must stay vigilant."

    "Hm, what are you worried about Elder Wan, not like that person will risk being here to defend them. Even if he does, we just need to alert the Sect leader and he and the other grand elders will arrive within the hour."

    The man nodded but still wanted to be careful, you never knew what would happen and he didn''t get to this level by not being careful.

    "Wait, something is coming!"

    While they were talking they felt a disturbance in the spiritual energy around them. The two put up a large shield blocking the spirit rounds that were flying towards them from the distance. The whole sky lit up in a blue color as the bombardment started, the people at the guard towers continuously firing their cannons.

    The two elders spread out their energies to encompass the ships, the cannon fire getting suppressed by the powerful masters.

    "Hoh, those are some nice cannons they have there, they put ours to shame... they are at the earth grade level."

    "Yes, surprising that a lower clan could build something like this and they have many, where were they hiding those?"

    The two elders were surprised, core formation-level power was paramount for these lower clans. These people at Spirit Spring City had many of those cannons, which meant that no one from the other clans would be able to attack their main base.

    "We should get the plans for those, maybe we can improve the design and place it in our sect."

    The two Grand Elders chatted while the cannon fire continued, their ships remained untouched while the two swept the sky from the spirit bullets that couldn''t puncture the barriers that they set up in place.

    "Still, we will have to take care of those cannons before the ships can move forward."

    "No need, we''ll just squash them while slowly approaching!"

    Replied Elder Guo, not really wanting to retreat with the ships while the two of them could protect them while moving forward.

    "Hah, you sure don''t like wasting any time Guo, fine let us just be done with... what?"

    Elder Wan felt something, he was stronger than Elder Guo that wasn''t paying attention and moved away to the side. He saw two golden beams of concentrated energy shooting out from the ground. One went for him while the other towards his ally. He was barely able to evade it while shielding himself with all his might and suffered minor Qi burns, his ally wasn''t as lucky.

    "H-how could this be? Elder Guo!"

    The man watched on with shock, his ally was pierced by the finger wide beam, struct directly in the chest. He looked below, to the source of this attack and saw him. There was someone there and he was already flying forward. He didn''t know who this man was, he was wearing a white robe and his hair was pure as snow. He had retreated to the side but Guo had suffered a direct hit, so he was a sitting duck for this cultivator that was certainly also at the nascent soul level.

    "It must be him, quickly alert the Sect Leader, we need reinforcements!"

    Zhang Dong didn''t let this chance be wasted. The moment he got the report that several flying ships were going their way he decided to ambush the nascent soul elders leading them. He used the underground tunnels and some digging to place himself somewhere between himself and the city, waiting and biding his time.

    He had improved some of his own techniques with the remaining spirit points, being able to hide his aura from even these two grand elders. While they were busy shielding their flying ships he took his chance and fired off two beams of concentrated energy from his fingers. He was quite far away from the two flying enemies, still, he managed to evade the notice of one of them, and now he was charging to finish the job.

    Elder Guo vomited blood and activated various life-saving treasures. A barrier formed around him while he healed himself and started to flee. He was already injured, his speed dropping severely, Zhang Dong wouldn''t let this opportunity slide. He pulled out a sword, it was black and belonged to Wu Ming, he didn''t have enough time to reforge it within this short span of time.

    "You''re not getting away! Sever the Heavens, Nascent Soul version!"

    Before he knew it radiant sword energy was moving towards him. He could only turn around and muster up all his power to attempt to block it. His defensive treasures trembled and split in half along with the man named Elder Guo, the sword strike traveled far and wide and slashed one of the galleon sized flying vessels in two. The ground trembled, the sky split apart as the cleanly cut body of the nascent soul cultivator exploded and signaled the beginning of the battle.

 184 Chapter 184

    Their protective shields weren''t strong enough to last. The leaders did the correct thing and signaled for a retreat. One of their ships was going up in flames while falling. Before it could crash it was bisected by an enemy cultivator. This was Zhang Dong and he was just delivering the ending blow to the Dark Palm Elder. His nascent divinity was badly injured and the chase wasn''t long, he was first grand elder causality.

    "That other guy sure ran away fast, he didn''t even bother to help his own comrade..."

    Elder Wan looked like a grain of rice in the distance, even with Zhang Dong''s enhanced vision he was hard to spot. He looked to the sides and saw the retreating ships and some Dark Palm Cultivators fleeing the scene. Even while escaping they were getting bombarded by Qi bullets, the scene was quite gruesome to watch.

    "So this is war..."

    "This is long past the point of no return..."

    Matt frowned while clenching his fist. His hand started glowing as golden lightning crackled, he remembered the time he mercilessly finished of a band of bandits two years ago. This would be something similar just on a larger scale. He threw the improved lightning spear into the air and watched it whizz past the clouds. A loud boom of thunder resounded throughout the area and a shower of golden lightning bolts rained down on everyone in the vicinity.

    The Dark Palm sect cultivators found themselves getting attacked from the back as they tried to flee and from the sky. Matt looked at the gruesome scene of people getting blown up and exploding while screaming for mercy. Deep inside he knew that these people came to his city to do the exact thing that he was doing to them. Still, it didn''t sit well with him.

    "At least I''ll give you a quick death..."

    He wasn''t in the mood to chase any straggler, all of the ships were going down after his lightning barrage. He propelled himself backward and headed back into the city, he expected more of those Dark Palm members to arrive as he didn''t think that killing one Grand Elder would be enough.

    "It would be nice if this was the end... but knowing these murder hobos they won''t take something like this lying down."

    While Zhang Dong was returning back to Spirit Spring City, Elder Wan was pushing his spiritual energy to the max just to get away from there. He was sweating bullets and using his spiritual sense to feel if he was being chased. He was vigilant as he barely noticed his opponent being there, only when the attack was fired off did he manage to react and dodge.

    He shouted into his communication jade while flying without looking back. He thought that the man would give chase but Matt was worried that he would be lured into a trap, or that they might attack the city while he was busy fighting the grand elders. Back in the Dark Palm Sect main base, Yang Guanyu was getting his report.

    "What... that fool Guo is already dead, just like that?"

    He was sitting together with the rest of the grand elders that were waiting for further orders. After pulling back the grand elder that remained at the border they were down to four active ones and their sect leader. All of them would have to head out, they needed to protect the honor of their sect but they had already lost far too much in this battle.

    "This... am I surrounded by fools? Can''t you kill one whelp?"

    The man''s dastardly aura filled the whole room, the three grand elders that were with him went down to their knees under the pressure.

    "Please grand elder, appease your anger."

    The woman cultivator called out while Yang Guanyu was having a fit of rage. The old man looked at his sect elders and finally stood up from his throne-like chair. He placed his long hands behind his back and floated forward.

    "I''ll take care of him, you fools follow me, I will not stand for this!"

    "This problem has to be kept a secret, the other sects can not find out about this, we might suffer further losses to our lands."

    The group of elders floated towards one of the Harmonious mountain peaks. This peak in particular was responsible for the teleportation arrays and gates that went through the whole Dark Palm territory. The personnel was already waiting for them and the gate was activated.

    "Mobilise the main troops, while I and the Grand Elders are taking care of the nascent soul threat, they will eradicate their crummy city, we will take no prisoners, no one will survive!"

    He proclaimed in a calm voice, even though he wasn''t shouting everyone at the sect could clearly hear this order. The proud sect members raised their weapons into the air and cheered out. With their Sect Leader leading them they had nothing more to fear. Everyone vanished through the large gate, even their large ships were able to fit through this thing that quite the wide diameter.

    On the other side, they were greeted by part of the force that remained in the city. Everyone had their head lowered not daring to look at their sect leader. They knew that he had a no-nonsense policy and would strike them down in a heartbeat if they showed him any amount of disrespect.

    "Where is Elder Wan?"

    The sect leader asked while the rest of the army was going through the teleportation portal.

    "Elder Wan has retreated, he is flying towards the city."

    One of the people reported while not looking up, far too scared to meet the sect leaders'' eyes.

    "So he left his men? Hm..."

    The sect elder just nodded, thinking to himself that it was probably the right thing to do when fighting an unknown enemy at their territory.

    "We will depart and meet Elder Wan halfway."

    "All the grand elders come with me, the rest of the sect will fly in the front."

    The sect leader didn''t put his trust into his sect warriors all too much but he still could use them as meat shields or a distraction. If the flying ships gathered around they could match the firepower of a nascent soul master. The only downside was that they were slow and their defenses were lacking. In a true battle, they would lose out but could act as a decoy or provide supportive fire from the back.

    Finally, everyone moved and the citizens of Jade Grass City trembled once more. This time around the armada was much larger, the ships blocked out the sky as their shadows were cast on the ground below. There was at least a hundred of those ships coming in, the teleportation formation was working overtime.

    "We must hurry and get done with this today, before the other sects find out."

    In Yang Guanyu''s mind, there was a low chance of the other sects getting here. Even they in their own territory needed a whole week to get their teleportation array going. Their opposition would need to do the same while being unnoticed by their Dark Palm sect faction. There was no movement at the borders and their nascent soul masters weren''t reporting anything out of place either.

    "I greet the Sect Leader!"

    Elder Wan bowed while floating in the air. He had a solemn expression and was slightly sweating while looking at the thin man floating in front of him.

    "So, Guo is dead?"

    "Yes Sect Leader, the enemy cultivator had hidden his presence and managed to land a surprise attack..."

    Elder Wan did a quick recap of the situation, he was the only person that returned alive from that encounter.

    "He was young and with white hair?"

    Elder Wan nodded, the enemy was known for changing his appearance.

    "Yes, but I didn''t feel that disguising technique on this man... it might have been his real appearance. From the way he looked, our intelligence faction has determined him to be someone named Zhang Dong."

    The sect had their own intelligence-gathering force and procuring information about the clan heads was an easy thing to do. Going in deeper would require more time though.

    "Do we have any information on this Zhang Dong you speak off?"

    The sect leader and the grand elders were mid-flight while talking. None of them made any inquiries into the lives of the people from the Zhang Clan. They weren''t treated as more than bugs in their eyes, there was no reason to do a throughout investigation.

    "We don''t know much, Patriarch... no one expected a small force like that to be protected by a strong cultivator like that."

    The rest of the elders tried contacting their own retainers, but it would take time for any useful information to get back to them.

    "It matters not, the only important thing now is that he and his clan gets eradicated. We must bring these people to justice for offending us."

    Everyone agreed with the sect leader as they finally arrived close to the spot that Elder Guo was slain. Parts of the Dark Palm Sects ships were scattered throughout the area. There were multiple craters and holes, the nascent soul elders felt the place out worrying that there could be another ambush.

    "Everyone is dead, I don''t sense any survivors."

    The Sect leader focused as well, his weaker sect elders weren''t able to see through the enemy''s hiding technique. He was the sect leader though, its most powerful official member. His spiritual sense reached far and wide, his eyes looking around as he searched for the enemy.

    His eyes suddenly narrowed and he pointed a finger at a certain location. The gem on his forehead started glowing with a purple light. The energy traveled from this gem into his hand and collected in front of that digit in a matter of seconds.

    "Do you think you can hide from this Yang Guanyu? Die!"

    A massive surge of Qi flowed out from that finger. It looked like a purple mass of energy with wailing souls trapped inside, the scratches were horrifying and even the grand elders started backing off. The attack landed at a certain location among the ship debris a giant explosion echoing soon after.

    The people from the Dark Palm Sect looked to that location, they felt proud at their sect leader who was able to sniff out the enemy master with just a glance. They started at that spot with eyebrows furrowed and their weapons drawn not sure if this was enough to slay this foe that had caused them so much trouble. After the dust had settled they saw someone emerge from the ground.

    "Heh, didn''t think the same tactic would work again, but I just had to try."

    It was a cultivator in white robe-like armor. This robe seamed to be reinforced mostly by having pauldrons and armguards out of some kind of metal. The man that emerged was holding one of his hands, it was trembling and his palm was giving out smoke.

    "That hurt... slightly..."

    "So, you are the one that is going against my Dark Palm Sect, is this some kind of rouse from the other Sects?

    Guanyu moved forward while looking down at the young man, his beady eyes scanning him over with his spiritual sense.

    "Ah yeah, just lured you here so that the other sects can attack your base!"

    The man said while smirking.

    "You must be joking. Even if they did that it would at least take them a month to get past our defensive formation, you think such a blatant lie would work here?"

    The man floated slightly backward while shrugging.

    "Not really, but it was worth a try. You cultivation nuts like to overthinking simple things, so it wasn''t that far fetched."

    Yang Guanyu frowned at his opponent, the man was only in the early stage of the nascent soul, how was he able to slay so many of his men?

    "Enough of this, you are clearly desperate to defend that little city behind you, there must be a reason for it."

    "Hear my orders, surround the city along with the Grand Elders while I take care of this whelp, Dark Palm Sect, attack!"

 185 Chapter 185

    The exact same strategy was attempted a second time even due to the complaints of the other cultivators, and just as expected it had failed. At this exact time, Matt was looking at his hand, it was trembling after he had defended himself against the strange ghastly attack of this new opponent.

    ''This guy might be tricky...''

    He clenched his fist while looking up at the enemies before him. He thought that his improved disguising technique would let him take out one more grand elder before the big battle. He underestimated their leader''s detection skills, he was now looking at the man while frowning.

    Yang Guanyu [ Nascent Soul Late Stage ]

    ''One in the late stage, one at the middle stage and three at the early stage...''

    Handling the four of the people that chased him down previously was hard enough. Now he had to go against this slender man looking old fart, which lowered his chances of victory even more.

    ''Those two haven''t come out of their seclusion and I have no idea how close they are...''

    The dimensional regalia masked any inside auras so he wouldn''t know if they were breaking through even if it was happening right now.

    "You want to go to the city while I''m here? Do you think you can handle me alone? Are you sure about that?"

    Matt clenched his fists and flew up into the air, he could see that army of over a hundred flying ships heading towards Spirit Spring City. Even without the protection of their nascent soul elders, it would be hard to shoot down all of these flying vessels.

    Yang Guanyu snorted while moving his palm forward in a grasping motion. From his perspective this man was only in the early stage of the nascent soul, there wouldn''t be a problem in just snuffing him out.

    "Arrogant welp, die!"

    A large purple hand of spiritual energy appeared out of nowhere. It was massive in size, each finger the size of a massive tree. The hand moved forward in a grasping motion as Guanyu attempted to crush his opponent with pure spiritual energy.

    "Two can play this game, you anorexic Palpatine looking, bastard."

    Zhang Dong mirrored the motion of the Dark Palm sect leader, he created his own massive hand that went against the purple one. It was crackling with lightning energies and was radiating golden-colored energy. The two huge energy hands of the two masters collided which caused even the grand elders in the area to stop in their tracks.

    "W-what is this, he can match the leader''s strength?"

    The two hands struggled against each other, Yang Guanyu raised an eyebrow and pushed more Qi into that hand which made it expand in size. The purple hand started wining out momentarily before the golden one expanded to match the other. After some back and forth both of the hands exploded into fine energy particles, the explosion causing hurricane-like winds that pushed some of the flying ships to the side.

    Zhang Dong flew back, his opponent did the same while the explosion pushed everything away. Guanyu narrowed his eyes, this wasn''t what he was expecting. His level of strength was enough to safeguard a large sect, there really weren''t that many people above him at this level.

    "Who are you... it''s impossible that someone like you has remained hidden."

    Zhang Dong just looked up and moved his hands over his chest, he struck a valiant pose before shouting out.

    "You got me, in reality, I am the son of the Azure Emperor, if you harm me you''ll all get eradicated."

    The grand elders stopped and gasped, could this be true, if this youth was the actual son of the Empires ruler they would be all dead.

    "Stop spewing nonsense, that is an obvious lie!"

    Zhang Dong coughed into his hand while shifting his eyes to the side.

    "You dare call the son of the Azure Emperor a liar! Hey, is that the Azure Emperor behind you?"

    You could see a giant vein on the old Dark Palm Sect leader''s forehead expanding. His pale face started getting red as he gritted his teeth.

    "Kill them all!"

    With this, the army of ships started to advance and it soon started getting bombarded by the city defense force that was set up on the walls. The four grand elders ignored the cultivator in white, leaving him to their sect leader. The man was confident and they wouldn''t argue with him. Plus there had to be a reason that this man was trying to defend that structure, it would probably be best to find out why.

    "Shit..."

    Zhang Dong started glowing with a golden light that filled out the sky with a glaring glow. The light expanded to the sides, thunderous sounds echoed through the area. It looked like a miniature sun made from golden electricity and light was formed. It didn''t take long for this effect to subside and be replaced by a large golden dragon that roared out into the sky.

    The dragon burst upwards and towards one of the grand elders that were approaching Spirit Spring City. Matt''s plan was to buy as much time as he could before his allies made some progress. The Dragon would help with protecting the city while he himself faced their strongest cultivator.

    Yang Guanyu didn''t just stat and look at Zhang Dong without doing anything. He unleashed his dastardly aura into the surroundings. Wails of spirits were heard and purple fog escaped from the gem stuck to the man''s forehead. The mist expanded and expanded into the sky before forming into a shape.

    The first thing Matt noticed about the mist was that it was taking a humanoid shape. The face looked like a skeleton, this skeleton was hovering in the sky while holding a large scythe. This was Yang Guanyu Soul-Beast, there were humanoid ones. This one looked like the grim reaper, it was dressed in a shadowy black robe and glowing purple energy was coming out of that hollowed skull.

    Compared to the golden dragon the grim reaper looking soul-beast was a lot smaller, maybe just twice the size of its user. It just hovered behind the Dark Palm Sect elder, it''s eye sockets burning with a spooky green glow. Yang Guanyu stood motionless in the air with his digits resting against each other in a triangle shape.

    The skeletal figure behind him gazed at the man in the white robe, it rose its bony finger out while pointing at him.

    "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

    Matt felt that something was off the moment that man uttered those words. He raised his golden lightning barrier instantly before some strange dastardly fog surrounded him. It came out of nowhere and was highly corrosive, he could see it trying to eat away at his forcefield by the holy energies that were imbued into his defenses kept the demonic energy at bay.

    "You... what is that awful Dao of the living..."

    The man''s beady eyes stared at Zhang Dong while he managed to protect himself from the strange energies. The grim reaper behind the man was still pointing out with his finger and probably resupplying this strange fog with more energy.

    "Weak to the holy element?"

    Zhang Dong smirked slightly and propelled himself forward while still keeping his shield up. He headed on a collision course with the Dark Palm Leader and his soul beast. The man in the late stage of the nascent soul level didn''t move a muscle. He kept his long thin digits together while just staring.

    The grim reaper behind him grew in size, its scythe moving out as it swung it against the incoming cultivator. The two energies collided with each other, the wails of many souls were heard as the reaper beast delivered a strong blow on the man surrounded by the circular barrier. The two energies fought with each other for a few moments before canceling each other out. Zhang Dong retreated a couple of steps and Yang Guanyu did the same, the man''s complexion getting even paler after this exchange.

    "Impossible! He was able to resist the Elder''s Soul beast and secret arts!"

    The grand elders were slightly busy with the golden dragon that appeared out of nowhere but they were able to see how their sect leader was faring. None of them would be able to survive one of Guanyu''s demonic attacks, they knew that he was a demonic cultivator.No one cared about this fact as what mattered was the power and prestige that he brought to the sect.

    He was mighty and not many could stand up to him due to the corrosive and poisonous nature of his attacks. He could even suck your soul from your body, leaving you nothing more than a skeleton. Somehow this man with white hair could protect himself from those attacks, they could feel that golden energy counteracting the venom that Yang Guanyu was producing.

    One of the grand elders bit his lower lip and wanted to fly over to aid their leader. The golden dragon beast had other plans, it roared out while producing storm-filled clouds. The area began getting bombarded with golden lightning bolts that set any flying ship in the nearby area up in flames.

    The whole place was a battlefield, the giant armada from the Dark Palm Sect continued on while getting barraged by the Zhang Clan defenses. Every able body was on those city walls, inserting all of their Qi into the long-range cannons. This was the only thing they could do to aid their leader in this battle, so they gave their all and some people were already passing out due to Qi depravation.

    Everyone saw the moment the Patriarch''s golden dragon appeared, this was overshadowed by the skeletal soul beast of the Dark Palm Sect leader. The strange aura from the creature was giving everyone the shivers it was as if it was sucking their Qi and Lifeforce away but just being there.

    Things were different now, the clan might have had the upper hand against the small group of ships the first time around. They could submerge them in the cannon fire, they also had their Patriarch helping them. Now, on the other hand, they were against a hundred ship strong armada even with the golden dragon keeping the other nascent soul elders somewhat busy the enemies were advancing forward.

    "Reporting Sir, the Patriarch has engaged in combat. He is facing off against what we presume to be the Dark Palm Sect Leader, he matches the descriptions."

    The man getting the report was Zhang Jin. He was sitting in a room with some screens and looking at them. This place was the command center for the city defenses and the clan had managed to somehow copy it from the secret ground. This was far worse than the hologram console and looked more like a game of sink the battleship. The enemies were indicated as red dots, while the allies by green dots.

    "Is there any word of the Feng Matriarch or the young Huo Clan lord?"

    Zhang Jin asked.

    "No sir, the secret treasure is inaccessible to us so we have no information."

    Zhang Jin slammed his fist on the table and looked outside, he wanted to just fly out there on his sword and aid his nephew. He knew that it wouldn''t change a thing and only might cause Zhang Dong''s morale to plummet as he wouldn''t last a second against any of those grand elders. He looked at the large gold dot that represented Zhang Dong and could only pray, pray for a miracle to happen.

 186 Chapter 186

    It was a peculiar sight to behold. The energies that the younger cultivator was exuding, energized the soil, and made the grass and plants grow. On the other hand, the energy that the old man was giving out caused everything in the vicinity to die and rot away.

    Somewhat further away there was another large battle taking place. There were four beasts attacking a larger one, the bigger one was a golden dragon that was shooting out lightning bolts from its maw. The four soul-beasts belonged to the four grand elders while the golden dragon was the one Zhang Dong was controlling.

    The dragon beast was somehow holding its ground, but it was mostly on the defensive. The other beasts didn''t give it much of an opportunity to counter-attack. The opponents varied by size and stature, one looked like a giant crane with a crimson red beak. Another one that was the closest to the golden dragon''s size looked like a snapping turtle with an outer shell coated with huge green spikes. The third one was a giant cobra that spit copious amounts of venom, the last one was a giant ox with a fiery mane.

    All of those colorful creatures were charging at Zhang Dong''s soul beast. The dragon repelled the Ox with its tail only to be attacked by the giant spikes of the turtle that fired them off. One of the spikes connected with the beasts scaly hide and shattered into many tiny pieces unable to pierce it. Before the Dragon could counter-attack with its long-range breathing attacks the cobra spit venom and the crane kicked up blade-like winds. The golden beast could do nothing more than protect itself by curling up with its wings together and focusing its Qi on a protective barrier that deflected the attacks.

    "That Soul beast is strong, how can it contend with the four of ours!"

    Elder Wan shouted out while the other three elders tried pushing the golden monster back. In response, it roared and produced a storm cloud that started shooting out lightning bolts indiscriminately. The surrounding area was filled by golden thunderbolts that gave Zhang Dong''s Soul beast some space but didn''t deliver that much damage to its enemies that quickly retreated.

    ''My Dragon is having problems... I need to beat Skeletor here and go help him out.''

    Matt thought while continuing his battle with Yang Guanyu. This old man looked like a walking corpse but was quite strong, he couldn''t just blitz him like the other elders with his superior speed and power.

    "You have a lot of gall to try and fight me without your soul beast."

    The old man showed an eerie smirk. He pointed out forward with his thin index finger, the reaper behind him swung forward and his scythe looked like it cut open the sky itself. Matt felt a shiver run down his spine the moment he saw that attack, he immediately propelled himself downward. The moment he performed his evasive maneuver, a large scythe appeared behind him aiming for his neck. He was quick enough to evade it but he lost an inch of his hair while at it.

    ''This guy is strong...''

    Matt gulped, sweat running down his forehead as he almost got decapitated. He needed to step it up a notch if he was going to land a decisive blow but he was hesitating to go all out. One reason being the other four cultivators fighting his dragon, if he went all there was a big chance that he would lose against the elder quartet due to the draining nature of his techniques.

    ''Should I go for it... or should I buy more time for the others...''

    He stared focused his spiritual sense behind him, the large armada of ships was heading for his city and the cannons weren''t as effective as before. The flying ships had some sort of protective formation, the barrage of Qi bullets couldn''t penetrate it effectively enough and they were advancing further and further. If this continued they would get into range and start returning fire.

    Before he could make a decision he felt another of those dimensional scythe attacks coming his way. It wasn''t one though as the grim reaper looking soul beast started swinging his scythe around at all sorts of angles. Matt finds himself dodging pointy black ghost blades left and right, his armor and clothes even ripping in various spots as he backed away.

    "Getting distracted? You really have a death wish!"

    Yang Guanyu shouted out while he started waving both of his hands around. The soul beast behind him increased in size slightly while the attacks continued, more ferocious and deadly than before.

    "Don''t get too cocky, you old fart!"

    Zhang Dong''s body started exuding a massive amount of Qi, he gave out a loud shout before charging forward. While flying forward he was continuously evading those dimensional blades. His body started transforming, golden lightning wrapped around his whole form and his muscles bulged out.

    The scythe blades came from all directions, tiny rifts appeared around Zhang Dong''s location. They shot out, going towards his body as they tried to impale him from multiple directions. The only thing they hit was his afterimage that exploded into thousands of tiny electrical sparks that caused some damage to the reaper soul beast.

    Zhang Dong appeared right next to Guanyu while in his improved Embodiment of the Thunder God form. He was holding his right hand back and then threw it forward in a palm strike. Everything happened in a fraction of a second, the Dark Palm leader mustered up all of his power to block this attack.

    An illusory figure appeared behind Zhang Dong as he was throwing his palm forward. It looked like a giant golden statue, similar to a buddha in appearance. This statue was sitting down in a lotus position and had multiple sets of arms. One of these arms was mirroring the attacking pattern of the Zhang Patriarch as he was pushing his palm forward.

    Matt was lacking high-level techniques after ranking up into the nascent soul level. Luck was on his side though, he was able to get a nascent soul technique when he leveled up his body refining into the true golden body. This was an attacking technique that summoned a giant golden statue behind him. This statue looked like a cross between an Ashura and a Buddhist monk.

    The shining palm went forward crashing into the defenses of the Dark Palm leader. The man formed a shadowy barrier in front of him, the reaper soul beast also used its scythe to defend against this attack. Guanyu found himself getting pushed back, slight cracking noises echoing as the attack connected fiercely.

    The enemy cultivator flew backward and crashed into the ground, the golden statue faded away into nothingness after the attack finished. Zhang Dong remained floating in the air while panting slightly.

    ''Damn, this body refining attack uses up a lot of my stamina instead of Qi... can''t use it that often.''

    The Dark Palm cultivators on the side reacted in shock, their eyes going wide after witnessing the giant explosion that almost made their ears explode. The four grand elders even stopped attacking the golden dragon that was even getting injured by them at this point.

    "T-the Sect Leader got pushed back?"

    "I...is he able to fight?"

    The four of them looked at the man hovering in the air, he was exuding massive amounts of radiant Qi. He was giving off an aura of someone that they shouldn''t be messing with. They then turned to the spot that their leader was smacked away towards, hoping to see him uninjured.

    Matt on the other hand was already pointing out with his finger, aiming at a spot behind all the smoke and dirt.

    "You think I''ll let you recover?"

    A beam of light shot out of Zhang Dong''s index finger, it impacted into the ground and caused another explosion to occur. Even though he wasn''t able to see his enemy with his eyes he had other senses that allowed him to see through the smokescreen. He could clearly tell where the man was standing and didn''t want to let him recover.

    ''I have to strike the iron while it is hot!''

    He took off going for his target that was the tall and lanky Dark Palm sect Patriarch. The man had suffered a setback after receiving these two strikes and was retreating. He burst out of the ground while frowning, some blood coming out of his mouth. Before he could shout out some curses at his opponent he saw a fist coming his way. The only thing he could do was to turtle up and set up a ghastly barrier made from purple soul energy.

    Lightning-fast attacks rained down on Yang Guanyu who couldn''t get a hit in between the barrage. He found himself on the defensive while the opponent that was clad in a mantle of golden lightning continued to attack. Soon his barrier burst like a soap bubble and the familiar golden palm speed for his face once more. The palm descended once again with even more power behind it.

    "I won''t let you!"

    Before the strike could be delivered Zhang Dong had to move his forearm upwards to cover his face. He felt a massive blow that caused his bones to strain and his muscles to twitch. He was sent flying to the side before his golden palm attack could land decisively on Yang Guanyu''s face. He looked to the person that interrupted his assault and discovered that it was one of the grand elders. He was a slightly larger man with a large two-handed battle hammer, it was a miracle that he didn''t have a broken bone.

    ''Damn... my whole forearm is numb...''

    He glared at the Dark Palm grand elder that came to the rescue of their leader. Before he could say anything he had to propel himself backward as another Qi attack was thrown his way, this time by the old lady cultivator that was also a nascent soul grand elder.

    "Sect Leader, let us help you take out this man, he is far too dangerous!"

    Zhang Dong panted, he had used quite a bit of his spiritual energy to rush this old slender-man looking elder. He hoped to end the battle fast or at least injure him before the other elders came to help him, his strategy had failed. He could see Guanyu rising up and his wounds healing rapidly as he circulated that demonic energy around him. The plants around the area started whithering and anyone below the nascent soul level would also be sucked dry as this demonic cultivator healed himself.

    "Yes, he needs to die!"

    The old man replied in a strange voice, his body had gotten paler and even lost some mass after this exchange. He had finally realized that this man he was facing was far more dangerous than expected.

    "Hear my order, all grand elders are to focus on this enemy cultivator, the rest of the sect will attack the city on their own!"

    Guanyu was positive that he wouldn''t beat Zhang Dong on his own. He was far too powerful to be left alive and was also someone that used the holy Dao that demonic cultivators like him were weak against. The city in the back had no value, this man had to go down and he needed to die fast before they continued.

 187 Chapter 187

    ''Outnumbered five to one... ''

    This reminded him about the time when he protected his clan from the initial invasion of some other clans. He was also outnumbered at that time, but there were differences. For one, these people were all the top brass and from one sect while the old enemies that he faced were far lower on the totem pole and their teamwork wasn''t that great.

    "I see that the noble Dark Palm sect knows how to gang up on people, very honorable of you..."

    Zhang Dong chuckled while rubbing his forearm that was still a bit jittery. The five cultivators stared daggers at him as they knew that he was making fun of them.

    "Being noble has no worth in battle, the victorious ones are always just."

    Yang Guanyu replied while moving forward. The five nascent soul elders moved in some kind of square formation with their leader in the middle. Their spiritual power had a serious spike in energy as they advanced. Zhang Dong moved his hand forward as he signaled his Dragon to attack.

    The beast released a massive blast of golden energy from its maw at the approaching cultivators. Sparks flew as the massive beam of golden plasma hit some kind of barrier that it couldn''t get through. The four soul beasts charged forward and Zhang Dong''s dragon charged in to intercept as they returned to their own battle. This left Zhang Dong against the four grand elders and their sect leader with his reaper like beast in the back.

    More explosions resounded throughout the Zhang Clan region, the large galleon ships flew through the air while suffering some casualties. They finally managed to get into range and returned fire at those anti-aircraft weapons in the city. The cannon fire was exchanged and the protective formation that was keeping the walls in place crackled and was close to shattering.

    The people that were on the city walls knew that the outer protective formation wouldn''t hold out for long. They continued to stay and return fire though, none of them was willing to give the enemy even an inch.

    "Keep firing, don''t let them get near the city!"

    "The Patriarch is holding the sect masters at bay, we must aid him!"

    "We need more spiritual energy!"

    "It is time brothers, let us destroy this clan we had suffered enough loss to our face!"

    A Dark Palm Sect elder in the core formation realm charged out while shouting. His bravado didn''t last for long as he received a stray hit from a Qi blast from one of the intact Zhang Clan cannons. He was the first of the core formation warriors to die, he wasn''t the last one charging forward though.

    The City defense force found themselves getting pushed back, soon enough the enemy cultivators reached the walls and started destroying the weaponry. Shouts and cries of the defenders were quickly drowned out as the Dark Palm sects blades fell onto their necks and turned everything crimson.

    The enemy cultivators charged into the city premise only to find the place abandoned. All of the city population was evacuated and there was not a soul to be found here. Some of the defenders from the walls had escaped before the sect warriors could get to them. The pursuit continued as the sect cultivators wanted vengeance for their members that died under the cannon fire.

    "Senior brother, we found some of the enemy cultivators in that building!"

    One of the sect members shouted out while a group of others charged at the spot he was pointing at. They kicked down the door to discover two people inside. The person was an old man that was wearing a blue robe, one that showed that he was a regular member of the Zhang Clan. The other one was an older lady with a more brownish tint to her skin and wearing a Feng Clan robe. The two were huddled together and the old man was holding something in his hand.

    "Heh, what do we have here, two old love birds?"

    The Dark Palm cultivators walked forward while brandishing large sabers that were already red from blood. Before they could deliver a deceive blow the two cultivators from Spirit Spring City nodded to each other and shouted out.

    "For the alliance, For the new Sect! May it live long and prosper!"

    A clicking sound was heard afterward, followed by a bright light that came from the ground. Before the Dark Palm cultivators could react the whole place exploded. The city defenders had placed massive amounts of explosives and attacking formations around the premises. With the people that lived here gone, there would be no civilian casualties.

    The shouts and cries of the invading forces were drowned out by the booming sounds of detonation. The ones that were on the ground looking for survivors suffered a quick death, some of the people that were hovering in the air and close to the blast radius suffered crippling injuries.

    "Get back into the sky, those bastards are blowing up the city with themselves in it!"

    The invading forces fled back into their ships or onto their flying swords, the less powerful ones suffered from the various traps that were placed around the city. This was long from over though as there was still a large force hovering in the air going towards the main Zhang Compound where most of the city cultivators were in.

    "The city is on fire..."

    The people inside looked in shock at the happenings outside. The city that housed millions of people was getting destroyed, the springs of water were erupting from all the heat and the buildings were crumbling the further the enemy army went in. The only thing keeping them out now was the new grand defensive formation.

    "Everyone stay inside, the new grand defensive formation can defend against nascent soul threats, we will be safe inside."

    Zhang Liu shouted out while trying to calm some people down, he and his sisters were helping out the soldiers that managed to return from the defensive walls. The two were also performing their duties but were forced by their elders to retreat faster than the other united elements sect members.

    Zhang Xue was quite adept at the water Dao recovery arts. These were boosted by their Patriarch to a new level and could even regenerate severed limbs. The process was quite slow though and required an ample amount of spiritual energy. She wasn''t the only one helping out though, her friends from the once established 9th Platoon were all here with her.

    Her senior sister Zhang Ai that got relocated to Moonlight City with her snake faced senior brother were both here. She was actually tending to his wounds he was badly injured from one of the explosions that occurred, his fingers were blown off and she was frantically trying to help him regenerate.

    Zhang Bao and Zhang Peng that looked even more muscular than two years ago were helping carry the injured people in. Both of them were in the mids of the evacuation and also helped during the bombardment. The only reason they were alive now, was that the older members from the triforce alliance decided to stay behind while the youngsters could evacuate. They were carrying them over to the twins Zhang Yuu and Mii for healing as the two were quite adept at it.

    Zhang Tai was also there, he had Zhang Hong''s large arm around his neck as this large junior brother had suffered the most. His body was riddled with holes and scratches as he had used his larger body as a shield to protect some of the junior members during the retreat. The war was now upon them at there were casualties on both sides.

    The attackers were now slowly encircling their main base while bombarding it with various attacks. The barrier rippled and shone in bright light as it managed to repel all of the attacks. After the smoke cleared the Dark Palm sect cultivators were surprised that the barrier didn''t suffer any damage.

    Everyone inside gave out a sigh of relief. The enemies couldn''t get to them but they were still trapped here and could only wait for the battle outside to go their way.

    The enemy sect didn''t just wait there while twiddling their thumbs. The flying ships that survived the offensive encircled the Zhang Clan compound. Their cannons were continuously blasting at the defensive formation as they tried testing its defensive features. Even a powerful battier like this would run out of spiritual energy eventually.

    "The formation is holding out, someone give me a report!"

    Back at the command base, the Zhang Jin shouted, a cultivator with a mustache that was sitting to the side quickly replied.

    "The Patriarch has engaged the enemy nascent soul cultivators in battle, an hour has passed since then and there is no clear winner yet."

    The man gave a recount of the situation, mostly mentioning that even after an hour Zhang Dong wasn''t able to deliver a killing blow to any of the five enemy nascent soul cultivators.

    "That Yang Guanyu is really powerful and also looks to be a demonic cultivator... how can the other sects allow him to roam free?"

    Zhang Zhi asked while looking at the little dots on the screen. The large golden one was bouncing about on it, it indicated Zhang Dong. Five other red dots were circling around it, this indicated the battle that was taking place between their Patriarch and the Dark Palm sect masters.

    "Alas, no one will make a move on someone of that caliber. They are afraid, afraid of the repercussions. They can''t risk losing valuable masters in a drawn-out fight. They might be able to bring the demonic cultivator to justice but then they will find themselves at the mercy of the other big sects."

    Zhang Zhi sat down after Zhang Jin did the explanation. He more or less knew why this was happening but it was a hard pill to swallow. There was no trust between the large factions and they cannibalized themselves constantly. Battles for resources and terrain occurred and if one side showed any sign of weakness they would get probed and then attacked. This was the type of world they were living in, if there was uncertainty the other large factions wouldn''t act.

    The people glued their eyes to the screen. The large golden dot was slowly decreasing in size, each time the smaller red ones moved closer to it, it would slightly waver.

    "Can the Patriarch win alone... are we supposed to wait here for our deaths after he draws his last breath?"

    The others in the room deliberated. Zhang Dong had ordered them to stay behind the fortified barrier and just wait for the battle to be over. This didn''t sit well with the warriors here, they would rather fight to their deaths than just wait for their demise. Still, they knew that they wouldn''t be much of help against that many core formation and nascent soul cultivators. They knew that they could at most be meat shields for their leader.

    While they were contemplating a loud sound could be heard outside. The large defensive formation churned with power and shone brightly. The trapped people looked with astonishment as they saw all the large ships in formation around an even larger one. This larger one had a massive cannon at the bow. This cannon was blasting a condensed stream of spiritual Qi at the forcefield, slowly eating away at its defenses. Would the formation hold up, or would the beam of Qi cut through in time no one knew, the people inside were aghast as they could only watch as the barrier was slowly thinning.

 188 Chapter 188

    Zhang Dong thrust his sword forward, following his motion some golden energy shot forward. The sword energy collided with a purple beam of light and the two forces canceled each other out. He then propelled himself backward with haste as another attack came for his head, a few strands of his hair got severed as he propelled himself to safety.

    At least that was what he thought, the moment he reached his destination another enemy cultivator was waiting for him. This time around he wasn''t lucky enough to just dodge it. He felt something hitting his side, his mouth opened up wide and some blood escaped as he groaned. He held his midsection for a moment before looking at the person that hit him, the man was the same one that had previously struck him with that large sledgehammer.

    ''Five on one ... I can''t land a decisive hit on any of them...''

    He felt like a ball getting kicked around by some rowdy kids. His enemies continuously attacked him from all sides, he wasn''t able to evade everything and found himself getting hit constantly. He was worried about the thin elder in the late stage the most, so he was making sure to keep watch over him. Though due to this he was getting pummeled by his four cronies whenever he dodged his attacks.

    His white robe was ripped up and some of the armor parts were also falling off. This robe wasn''t made to resist nascent soul attacks. The only reason that he wasn''t dead yet, was thanks to his body refining technique. It proved to be essential in protecting him from the strikes but it also had a limit and he was slowly getting riddled with injuries. His soul beast wasn''t doing much better as it was also battling against the odds.

    "Heh, is that all you''ve got? I can keep this up for months!"

    He spat some blood to the side and wiped his mouth. His opponents glared at Zhang Dong, he was proving to be a tough opponent even for them. Yang Guanyu flew forward and pointed at Zhang Dong with his bony finger, the other four elders shifted their positions to move around him.

    "Don''t listen to him, he is bluffing!"

    The other four nodded at each other while getting into a battle formation. Guanyu gave some kind of signal with his eyes while flying back, his hands started moving as he formed some strange symbols with them. The other four didn''t wait for their leader and continued with their attacks.

    The Dark Palm sect leader smirked to himself while looking at his sect members battling the white-haired cultivator. He started murmuring something under his breath and continued making some strange hand seals.

    ''Hehe, just you wait...''

    His eyes glowed as he saw the enemy cultivator glowing brightly and dispersing some attacks while dodging.

    "Don''t think that you are the only crafty person around, you just activated my trap formation!"

    "Argh... what is this?"

    A thick green pillar of light shot up from the ground and went straight to the heavens. Matt was right in the middle and felt like vomiting. This beam of light appeared out of nowhere and it was draining him of his Qi. He tried pushing his cultivation to the maximum in an attempt to get out but before he could the four nascent soul cultivators reacted.

    They placed themselves around the green pillar of light with their hands stretched out. The moment this happened the light flashed brighter and Matt felt his cultivation getting drained. He found himself unable to move from the spot, he could barely move his hands and legs as he inched forward sluggishly.

    "Truly monstrous, even when faced with the devouring soul formation he is still able to stay conscious!"

    Said the only female grand elder from the bunch. She was pushing all of her remaining Qi into this trap that they had set up. While Zhang Dong was getting distracted by the group of nascent soul cultivators they were placing special array forming treasures. They had hidden them away during the scuffle and then successfully lured the young cultivator into their trap.

    "He is resisting, we can''t hold him for long Sect leader!"

    Proclaimed the third nascent soul elder that was in the early stage. The man was quite lanky and his eyes were really small.

    "No need to worry, I only need a second to eradicate him!"

    Matt didn''t like the sound of that, not for one bit. He pushed his cultivation to the apex, his eyes started glowing and he could feel power returning to his limbs as he flew forward.

    "Ugh..."

    The four people that were keeping him in place gritted their teeth and activated various spiritual treasures. They felt a new burst of power entering their bodies and the trapping formation burst with even more power. The green energy pillar expanded in thickness and it looked like Zhang Dong was getting swallowed up by a swamp.

    His advance stopped and he found himself getting bombarded by excruciating pain. It was as if a million tiny hooks were getting pressed into his body and then pulled on his skin and flesh from all sides. He could barely hold on thanks to his pure holy energies that were surrounding his body, but even he couldn''t go against four nascent soul masters working together while getting backed by various high-quality heaven treasures.

    The golden dragon in the back couldn''t come to his aid either, the moment he got his by this strange trap formation he felt his connection to his soul beast getting muddled. The beast''s power dropped and it was now getting pummeled by the four enemy soul-beasts, unable to aid its master.

    "This is the end, you will die for offending my sect, your city and everyone in it will fall next!"

    Yang Guanyu had taken out a weapon of his own. It was, of course, a large war scythe, its blade crimson, and laid out with strange black runes. A war scythe was different from a regular scythe that was associated with the grim reaper. It was similar to a spear with a curving single-edged blade with the cutting edge on the concave side of the blade.

    The blade released a strange black fog that covered the crimson edge that shone bright red. The power coming of this high-grade heaven weapon was astronomical and would surely deliver a massive blow to Zhang Dong if he didn''t manage to dodge it. His whole body trembled as he tried to move, the four elders around the pillar pushed even more Qi into the formation to keep him at bay.

    ''Shit... I can''t move...''

    He couldn''t budge a muscle, he could feel that the enemy cultivators wouldn''t be able to hold this soul-devouring formation up for long. They didn''t have to though, their sect leader was already close to being done with charging up his attack. Matt tried activating his system window, his only hope was reaching the disciple window and teleporting away from here.

    ''Damn move!''

    There was a problem though. He needed to manually move his finger over to the system window and perform a couple of clicks. He wasn''t able to even move his fingers, even less his whole arm to go through all the popup windows.

    ''Goddammit, who designed this shitty system this way!''

    Yang Guanyu raised the war scythe up into the air while looking in the direction of Zhang Dong. The whole blade was giving off a sinister aura and it seemed that he was ready to deliver the finishing blow.

    "You have caused enough trouble you whelp, now die and become nourishment for my cultivation!"

    The old man brought down the blade of his weapon downwards in a swipe. The moment the war scythe blade descended it produced a surge of dastardly weapon energy that looked like black blood. It descended on Zhang Dong that was trying to escape. He pushed himself to the brink, his whole body expanded and his muscles bulged.

    He tried activating both his bodily cultivation along with his nascent soul that was kicked into overdrive. The four enemy cultivators that were holding him in place started bleeding from their noses as they did the same, not willing to let this enemy go.

    ''Can I take this hit? Will I die? Can the others flee in time?''

    A myriad of thoughts filled his mind while he thrashed about, unwilling to die at this moment as many lived depended on him. Still, he was only one nascent soul cultivator going against many. He was still an inexperienced fighter that had entered this trap without knowing any better.

    The bloody scythe energy descended and was about to deliver a massive blow to the Zhang Clan Patriarch but then something strange occurred. One of the grand elders vomited copious amounts of blood, it was the one with the lanky one with the small eyes. The trap array wavered and Zhang Dong managed to release more of his aura.

    The killing move from Yang Guanyu finally hit the spot that Zhang Dong was in but due to one of the elders faltering he was able to push himself to the side. Everything exploded and the other three grand elders defended themselves while moving back.

    "What!? Who dares!"

    After the smoke had cleared they spotted the cultivator in white a hundred meters away from them. He was still alive and kicking, he wasn''t uninjured, his left thigh was bleeding profusely as his leg was almost severed from that attack. The attack went right through his metal-like muscle and almost went through his thigh bone, he was lucky enough for it being such a hard bone to cut through. If the attack went for the neck as his enemy intended, he would have been dead.

    The other three grand elders and their sect leader glared at the man that had wavered and allowed the trap formation to break. He was holding his mouth and still vomiting the others only noticed now why he was doing that. They turned around and saw a large red soul beast choking out the large cobra soul-beast with its hands.

    The red monster beast looked like a devil. The upper part was humanoid and the beast had large black horns, its hair was on fire as well as the rest of its body that radiated red plasma energy. The legs of this creature looked to be goat-like, it had coal-black hooves that connected to muscular bright red legs. The soul beast that this creature was mangling belonged to the grand elder that was suffering a backlash and explained how this happened.

    This wasn''t the only problem, the old woman grand elder started feeling quite weak as well as her own soul-beast was suffering a life-threatening attack of its own. It was getting attacked by a bird soul-beast. This beast looked similar to a legendary phoenix but instead of having fiery red feathers it had green ones. It was spitting out wind Qi out of its beak together with lightning bolts that were causing her crane soul-beast to loudly wail from the pain.

    "Who dares attack the Dark Palm Sect!"

    Yang Guanyu shouted while turning around. He wasn''t expecting this young nascent soul master to get any backup, from the way he operated it made it look like he didn''t have any type of backing. He could see two figures approaching, they were coming from the city. One looked to be a large muscular man, his hair and fists were on fire, his body was radiating dense fire energy. To his side was a woman, she was surrounded by green energy and her eyes were glowing with the same color. Whenever the woman flew storm clouds gathered and produced lightning strikes that devastated the area.

    "Why wouldn''t we dare to protect our Sect Leader?"

    Proclaimed Feng Liena as she flew forward.

    "That''s right! You think we from the United Element sect are easy to bully?"

    The five Dark Palm Elders looked at each other with question marks above their heads. They had no idea what this sect that they were speaking off was but apparently, they were the enemy as they came to help the man that they were attacking.

 189 Chapter 189

    ''Damn... those demonic energies are eating away at my leg''

    He could feel and see some black Qi entering his body, thankfully his spiritual energy that had a second holy attribute was managing to fight against this invading force. The combination of powerful defense and healing capabilities from his upgraded cultivation method was proving to have been the right choice.

    He used the time gained from the confusion to push his holy Qi into this thigh to stop the bleeding. He worked fast while activating his spatial ring. A transparent thread flew out and quickly pierced the flesh of his thigh muscle that got severed. He used this suture that was made from special spider silk to sew up his wound. The cut was quite deep and the demonic energies made it hard for him to just heal up without any help from external items.

    "Blasted, he is recovering, don''t let him!"

    Yang Guanyu shouted while pointing his thin finger at Zhang Dong''s direction but before he could fire off his demonic spell he felt a large amount of spiritual energy coming his way. He protected himself with a similar bloody moon defensive spell against the beam of golden light. This beam was the breath attack of Zhang Dong''s soul-beast that was now able to aid its master, the other soul-beasts were now clashing with the two belonging to Feng Liena and Huo Qiang.

    The dragon roared while placing itself between Zhang Dong and Yang Guanyu. It looked banged up, one of its eyes was missing, its webbed wings were pierced in a couple of places and one of the horns was broken. It had done its best and lasted to this point but it was also quite tired. Zhang Dong wasn''t fairing much better as he had burned through a lot of Qi while he was trying to free himself, he also had already taken a lot of hits.

    "You think this changes anything, Grand Elders attack!"

    The Dark Palm sect leader proclaimed while shouting out, the problem here was that two of his elders were suffering backlashes from their soul-beasts getting mangled up by the other two that appeared. He forgot that they have been tangling with this white-haired cultivator for so long and were tired from holding him in place with the trap formation. For some reason the enemy was still standing, normal cultivators would have run out of Qi by this point. This was all thanks to the grade his cultivation method was, thanks to which he had multiple times more juice to run on than other people did.

    "I''ll leave those four to you, keep them occupied while I take care of this bastard over there!"

    Zhang Dong called out to Feng Liena and Huo Qiang that already in speaking distance. The two had managed to push into the nascent soul level not too long ago but needed some time to get used to it. The two did it at almost the same time and rushed out of the medallion treasure just in time to destroy a large armada of ships that were trying to cut a hole into the large protective formation of the newly created sect.

    "Yes Senior brother, leave these old farts to me, I was itching to test out my new abilities!"

    Huo Qiang was glowing red and his already muscular body looked as if it reached a new high. He charged forward the closest opponent that in this situation was elder Wan throwing a fist forward. His opponent felt a massive spike of energy in the surrounding area along with scorching heat that almost caused his beard to catch on fire.

    After finishing up with the crane looking soul beast Feng Liena appeared next to Zhang Dong while causing a massive cyclone to appear around them. The battlefield got even more hectic with the appearance of these two young nascent soul masters. They were still green behind the ears but thanks to their cultivation manuals being at the immortal grade they were a notch above these four old farts.

    "Let me aid you Senior Brother Dong, here use this to recover some strength."

    Feng Liena threw over some recovery pills that Zhang Dong chomped on. The pills were meant for core formation cultivators, but Matt was happy for the gesture. He nodded at the beauty that looked even more enchanting now than before and then charged at his enemy. His cut leg was still hurting after the quick patch job but it would have to do, the enemies wouldn''t let him recover any more than this.

    Feng Liena nodded while looking at Zhang Dong. He looked beat up, his pure white robe was soaked in blood, his hair was messed up and he looked a lot paler than usual. She pressed her lips together tightly and then turned around, she looked at two of the grand elders. One was the female cultivator while the other one was the larger elder with the great hammer.

    She showed the two an icy stare the two battle fans that were gifted to her by Zhang Dong already clenched tightly. She moved one forward while producing a mini cyclone that flew forward at the old lady. She then moved her other fan that produced a similar cyclone that attacked the larger man. The two wind twisters charged forward expanding in size, besides sharp blades of wind you could spot small lightning bolts inside of them.

    "You dare harm my Senior Brother! This offense must be paid in blood!"

    She strode forward, her soul-beast was already fighting its own battle in the back. The two grand elders got swept away by the powerful winds, unable to evade them.

    "Is this all you got? Are Dark Palm grand elders this weak?"

    Elder Wan retreated, he looked down at his palm that was sizzling and smoking after he received the attack of this red-haired cultivator. The man was old and had lived through many battles but had never faced anyone with such pure fire energies. This was true as this wasn''t any simple fire Qi that Huo Qiang was using, he was using plasma that could burn hot as a star.

    Elder Wan wasn''t alone, the fourth grand elder that suffered a backlash a moment ago was aiding him in battle. The two were somehow able to contend with the burning cultivator as he seamed inexperienced. This was the only reason that they were alive as he outperformed them in any other aspect, be it speed or power of his attacks.

    "You had your fun fighting five against one, I hope you can at least give me somewhat of a challenge, I''d like to test these new techniques of mine!"

    Huo Qiang laughed while charging forward. His eyes were glowing red and his breath was pushing out condensed fire Qi that scorched anything that got in its path. The tables were slowly turning, with the added help of his two friends Matt was now able to face their leader on his own and he wouldn''t let this chance be squandered.

    Zhang Dong gritted his teeth while slamming back into Yang Guanyu to engage him into a close-range battle. The man looked paler than before, the previous attack had drained him of some spiritual energy but he was still able to defend himself. Matt was the one that was looking far worse now, each time the two clashed he could feel his leg throbbing. The quick suture patchwork that he had performed was somehow holding but due to the clashing energies, his leg wasn''t healing fast enough.

    Even though he was in pain, he didn''t shy away from using that injured leg. Far too many people had already died in this battle and he was frantic to end it as fast as possible. The exchange was similar to the previous one, the two clashed but this time around Zhang Dong had his golden dragon to back him up. Yang Guanyu found himself on the defensive, his own soul-beast was still behind his back just blocking the combined attacks of the Zhang Patriarch and his large dragon beast.

    In the distance among the destroyed city, the other cultivators looked on. The Dark Palm sect members that were in the remaining flying ships were now in disarray. No one could have predicted this outcome. They were already fighting against this puny clan and its weak allies for hours and their elders weren''t able to even kill off anyone. Even worse, two other powerful cultivators that were able to contend with their grand elders appeared, the whole situation looked grim.

    "Commander, what should we do? Should we aid the elders and retreat for now?"

    One of the core formation cultivators from the Dark Palm sect asked. The man he was talking to was the impromptu leader after the general died. The general was in the largest flagship that was now a pile of debris on the ground after those two nascent soul monsters appeared.

    "We... we need to alert the council of the ancestors! This is a dire situation, if this continues all of the grand elders might die today!"

    The person that was asking the commander about the next line of action nodded. He directed the orders to the communication expert that started calling for help from the main sect. They wanted to ask for help from the old monsters that were living under the main sect, if all of them acted these three young nascent soul cultivators wouldn''t stand a chance.

    "Some of the ancestor elders are on the same level as the sect leader, if they act our victory is assured!"

    Everyone nodded and awaited a positive reply from the sect, the stakes were just too high. The communications officer came looked at the communication device with a solemn expression though, something was off.

    "What''s wrong, report!"

    "C-commander... I can''t reach the main sect... something must have gone wrong... no one is responding..."

    "What! Impossible! We must reach the main sect, the communication devices are probably damaged or these blasted Zhang bastards are doing something! Quickly examine it and get rid of the problem!"

    The man shouted with large veins popping up on his forehead and his eyes bulging. The Dark Palm communications officer nodded and quickly got to work, he needed to get to the bottom of this, otherwise, he could kiss his life goodbye.

    While the battle was raging, in the distance a couple of robed figures were standing. They nodded at each other while concealing their presence. They were clearly looking at the battle that was taking place in the distance while waiting for something. After a couple of moments, one of the cultivators approached the person that was standing in the front along with some others.

    The person was handed a communication jade and started going through the report that was handed down. The person nodded and handed the communication device back to the person that gave it to him. He slipped his hood down while revealing his face, this face was full of scars.

    "Fan Ping, how is it?"

    "You don''t need to worry Senior Brother, everything is going according to plan. I propose we wait some more, maybe that man can take out Yang Guanyu for us."

    "Yes, I agree."

    The people nodded at each other while slowly getting ready. Everyone here knew that this battle was slowly approaching its apex and that they would be reaping the rewards in the end.

 190 Chapter 190

    The hole exposed the leftover from his lungs and part of his heart. Even though this wound was massive it wasn''t bleeding all that much as the flesh around it had melted. This was due to the attack that caused this having quite a high temperature. The Dark Palm elder could feel his vision getting hazy, the last thing he was seeing was a large muscular man with red hair smirking at him.

    "Heh, was that all?"

    Huo Qiang laughed while cracking the bones on his fist that went through his opponent''s chest. The other grand elder that he was fighting with was somewhat to the side and looking distraught. His eyes were bulging and his forehead was sweating due to the sight he was seeing.

    "Im...imposible!"

    The man with the massive wound in his body started spasming and twitching. Huo Qiang quickly injected his plasma Qi into his opponent''s body and was now ready to see the fireworks.

    "Haha, explode!"

    Almost on cue the man''s body gave out one last quiver and exploded into many smaller chunks. His nascent divinity was already damaged due to his soul-beast early departure. The cultivators watched as it crumbled soon afterward and evaporated into tiny soul molecules. The man was dead and now it was four against three.

    "Nothing is impossible for this Lord Qiang! Now it''s your turn!"

    Qiang shouted out, he was aching for a good fight and now after having slain the injured opponent he could finally let loose in a proper one on one. His Ifrit roared out along with its master and started forcing his opponent back, which was a spiky snapping turtle. The fire beast''s claws dug into the hard shell and started to slowly melt the hard exterior thanks to the massive heat.

    A bit away from this battle there were two other nascent soul cultivators. They were back to back and they were holding their hands in a strange fashion while glowing. They were inside the eye of a tornado, every second or so a green lightning bolt would randomly shoot out from within the thick winds. The two would frantically protect themselves from both sides, never knowing where the next attack would come from.

    "Who is this, I''ve never heard about anyone being able to produce such a lightning storm... and what is that soul-beast!"

    The female grand elder shouted out while protecting herself from a stray lightning strike that went for her head. The more they stayed inside the eye of the storm the more lightning strikes came.

    "I don''t know junior sister, but we must escape from here, this is a death trap!"

    "You wish to leave? There is no escape!"

    The moment the two tried to move the thickness of the winds increased. The sharp green wind blades were keeping them from diving into the twister and the lightning bolts were slowly whittling away their defenses.

    Feng Liena was hovering above in the clouds in a lotus position. Tiny wind spirits were dancing around her as she was concentrating. The wind cyclone was slowly closing itself around the people trapped inside, the longer she kept them inside the easier it would be to finish them off with her final attack. Though in reality, she was prolonging the whole situation quite mad at the opposing cultivators that brought death and destruction here. Though she was mostly angry at the fact that they dared to attack her senior brother.

    ''You think you can have an easy death? Think again!''

    She narrowed her eyes and pushed more of her Qi into her attack, she was intending to shred the two opposing cultivators with her blender like attack. She was still best at ranged attacks and with her increased cultivation things like this weren''t a problem now.

    Yang Guanyu wasn''t looking all that well either. Since the battle started a couple of hours had already passed, he was burning through his reserves and there were no fresh bodies to absorb his dastardly Qi from. He was getting continuously pushed back by this bright glowing opponent that even managed to somehow heal and recover from one of his strongest attacking techniques. He was slowly realizing that this might not have been the brightest plan.

    The skinny man looked to the sides as he tried to look to his sect members for aid. When he turned he noticed that one of them was already dead and the other was getting pummeled by one of the new arrivals. He could sense the remaining pair trapped in some kind green Qi cyclone and unable to escape. He was truly alone and would have to get himself out of this situation by himself.

    ''Damn useless cretins! This battle is lost, I must flee... the council of ancestors will protect me!''

    His eyes started moving left and right as he looked for a way to escape. He still didn''t use his trump card, unwilling to put himself in danger after the backlash. He was more or less certain that his remaining sect members wouldn''t last for long so he needed to act fast.

    "Don''t think that this is over!

    Guanyu ripped out one of his pinkies and threw it at Zhang Dong. He in response encased himself in a golden barrier while realizing what kind of attack was coming his way. The small digit exploded into a strange cloud of dark green corrosive gas that encased Zhang Dong''s body that was now protected by his barrier bubble. The Dark Palm sect leader then flew back while taking out a talisman from his spatial ring.

    He quickly threw it forward and activated it. The talisman glowed in a blue light and transformed into a small teleportation portal that was big enough for one person to pass through.

    "The next time we meet, I will crush you and everyone that you know! Remember this you whelp!"

    Yang Guanyu snorted and dived towards the opened portal, escape the only thing on his mind.

    "God damn, is he going to just run like that?"

    Matt was surprised by the sudden turn of events. His opponent just turned around and started escaping, he thought that he would remain here till one of them was dead but the old fart had other plans apparently. He was an old monster that knew when to give up, he was just that type of person and this was what kept him alive for this long.

    Matt looked on while grimacing, he was covered by the corrosive fog and couldn''t fire off an attack against his opponent without dropping the barrier, it looked like the old cultivator would escape. The Dark Palm grand elders realized that their leader was abandoning them but they couldn''t follow suit as they were being held back by the two nascent soul cultivators.

    Yang Guanyu was moments away from escaping, his hand was already close to touching the portal. Before he could pass through though, a flash of energy blocked his way. The old man pulled his hand that was ready to access the portal back but not before his fingertips got incinerated by the invading energy. The reddish bolts of Qi were aiming at the portal and the moment they connected with it, the portal sizzled out of existence.

    "Who dares!"

    Guanyu backed away with fear, he could already tell that the attack didn''t come from any of the three cultivators that his group was fighting against. No, the attack came from much further away and the people that were responsible were already rushing over here.

    "Why shouldn''t we dare?"

    A group of people appeared out of nowhere. Some of them were hiding high up in the sky, some were hidden behind the trees or rocks in the distance. More and more of those cultivators started flying over and they were all at the nascent soul realm.

    Matt managed to get out of the poisonous fog and looked around. He had also noticed the sudden arrival of the new cultivators, their allegiance was something that he was worried about. They were just popping out of everywhere and slowly surrounding the area that he and the Dark Palm sect elders were fighting.

    "Qiang, Liena!"

    Zhang Dong called out while retreating towards his allies, those two had also noticed that there were unwanted nascent soul cultivators coming towards them from all directions.

    "Let us retreat towards the city."

    He called out while the two nodded, their fights were interrupted. Elder Wan had a bloodied nose and a burned palm print on his back. His other two allies that were previously fighting finally managed to get out of the lightning twister after Feng Liena retreated with their two sect brothers.

    The two enemy parties didn''t get far as before they could regroup they heard a booming voice and at least twenty nascent soul cultivators surrounded them. Their energies encompassed the area and made it difficult for the already tired and injured fighters to escape.

    "Halt, you shan''t go any further!"

    One of the people called out while flying forward, he was wearing a golden robe with a gate pattern that showed it opening, two serpentine dragons were above the gate. After this man appeared another joined him, this one was wearing a different kind of robe that was red and had various flower patterns sewn into it. Finally, a third man appeared that was holding onto an exquisite looking sword. His robe was pure white and reminiscent of what Zhang Dong liked to wear, on the back it had two Chinese symbols for ''limitless'' and ''sword'' put in.

    "Dragon Gate Sect?... the Demon Subduing Sect? and the Limitless Sword Society!?"

    Yang Guanyu shouted out distraught, his eyes going red and his whole body shaking while his allies slowly moved over to his side. Even though this sect leader had abandoned them just a moment ago, the other elders knew that they stood a better chance if they fought with him.

    "Yes, you have seen better days... Dark Palm Sect Patriarch..."

    One of the men called out, it was the man in the golden robe. He was a handsome looking older gentleman with a sharp gaze and quite the chiseled chin.

    "Why have you come here Xu Qing... and you brought those two over..."

    Matt and the others were floating closer to Spirit Spring City now but they couldn''t go any further as the twenty so nascent soul cultivators had surrounded them from all sides and they were looking at five of them now.

    "Yes, you do remember brother Cheng Yang from the esteemed Demon Subduing Sect and let us not forget about Lord Zhan Jie from the Limitless Sword Society."

    The two men just nodded while staring at the beaten up Darp Palm sect leader. The three people that had moved forward were all in the late stage of the nascent soul realm, equal in power to him.

    "How is this possible, you never crossed the border how did you get here so fast!"

    Yang Guanyu shouted while spitting out, both his arms closed into a fist and the one without the finger was bleeding black blood profusely.

    The three sect elders looked at each other and smirked, one of them motioned with his chin to the side to one of the people there. This person flew forward and when he was seen by the Dark Palm members they clearly recognized him.

    "We had a bit of help from one of your elders, you didn''t think that you are the only ones with spies?"

    Zhang Dong and his allies looked at the happenings from the side, apparently one of the border guards from the Dark Palm sect had changed sides and this was how they managed to slip in unnoticed.

    ''This doesn''t look good... I''m not sure if those guys will let us be after they clear up those four...''

    Matt gulped while moving his spiritual sense into his spatial ring. He had prepared one last surprise, his last-ditch effort he would probably need to use it soon as he didn''t think that these cultivators would just let three new nascent soul elders just establish a new sect without a fight.

 191 Chapter 191

    "Even if you kill me this doesn''t change anything!"

    Yang Guanyu shouted at the man that appeared to be the traitor from his sect. Zhang Dong and his allies were to the side, they were being watched by the nascent soul realm cultivators from three various sects. While this was happening Matt was concentrating most of his attention on healing his leg. The wound was still hurting like crazy but the holy energies were slowly removing the demonic Qi while healing.

    "The ancestral council? Hehe, you should probably worry more about yourself."

    The man in the golden robe replied while smirking, Yang Guanyu furrowed his brows.

    "What do you mean? What did you do!"

    "Do you think that you are the only sect with hidden senior elders? Use your head, why do you think that we are all here?"

    The conversation in the distance continued while Zhang Dong and his comrades waited in the back.

    "What do you think their intentions are, Senior Brother Dong?"

    Feng Liena asked while glancing at some of the old men and women floating around.

    "We can be certain that they are here to get rid of the Dark Palm sect..."

    This group of cultivators must have been waiting for them for a while. They only reacted when Yang Guanyu was making a run for it. From Matt''s point of view, they were probably waiting for both parties to weaken or kill themselves before pouncing on the survivor. The sudden escape attempt of the Dark Palm sect leader made them do it prematurely as only one person had died.

    "Yes, they were waiting for us to tire."

    Feng Liena agreed.

    "Hey, stop prattling!"

    One of the nascent soul cultivators shouted at the trio, he was wearing a similar robe to the first person that spoke out with the dragon gate on it.

    "Or what?"

    Huo Qiang answered and pushed his killing intent along with this nascent soul aura in the direction of the person. The man backed off after feeling the large man''s superior aura but soon his friends moved in to back him up.

    "What do you think you are doing!"

    The group of five had increased to six and they started glaring at Zhang Dong and his allies, they weren''t attacking just yet though. They had seen the fight from start to finish and were wary of the man that was able to contend with Yang Guanyu. Most of the nascent realm cultivators here were in the early stage and the three main ones that were now holding a conversion with the Dark Palm sect members were all in the late stage.

    "That''s enough Qiang."

    Zhang Dong stepped in as he placed himself between his group and the new arrivals.

    "Everything depends on you... what are your intentions here? If you are after the Dark Palm sect then we won''t stop you, but we would like to know your intentions towards us."

    "You don''t need to know, the three seniors will decide, just stay still and wait!"

    Another man from that group spoke out, he was wearing one of the whiter robes and belonged to the sword sect. Matt frowned as these people weren''t willing to give them answers.

    ''Should we wait or make a run for it? Will those people let us go just like that?''

    There were a couple of ways that things could go here. In most of them, his side wouldn''t be getting out unscathed. From his point of view, the powerful group of cultivators would either try to dispose of them or demand some payment. He didn''t think that they would just let three powerful nascent soul realm cultivators just roam the land under their noses.

    ''They might even try to force some of those soul contracts on us...''

    He glanced back into his storage ring and then to Spirit Spring City. The Zhang Clan headquarters were still standing and the large defensive formation was working fine.

    ''Think I''ll have to use that to get out of here... but first I want to see what they will do to that skinny old fart...''

    Zhang Dong had to place his hand on Huo Qiang''s shoulder to pull him back. His red-haired friend just wanted to charge forward but he knew that fighting this sect alliance here and now wouldn''t be the smartest thing to do.

    "Sister Liena, Brother Qiang let us wait for now... we should see how it all plays out first..."

    The two others looked at him and nodded, the group of cultivators that were around them backed away slightly but they were still glaring at them while on their guard. It wouldn''t take long for the matter to be resolved as everyone felt a rise in demonic energy followed by shouting.

    "YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST KILL ME, ME!?"

    Apparently the talks have broken down and they were ready to fight. The Dark Palm sect elders found out that while they were talking their base was getting assaulted by similar ancestral elders from the present three sects. They were all dead set on destroying this demonic sect and taking their riches for themselves. This was all thanks to Zhang Dong that managed to divert their attention to himself.

    While the Dark Palm sect was distracted, the three other sects slowly moved their masters through the borders unnoticed and waited for the battle to start. They didn''t believe that Zhang Dong''s side would be actually able to last for so long but they were happily surprised and could now come in and just take the rewards for themselves.

    Yang Guanyu wouldn''t just sit back and let himself be killed though. The old man started glowing purple, the glow was mostly concentrated on the gem in his forehead that was spitting out more and more ghastly apparitions.

    "THIS CHANGES NOTHING, YOU WILL ALL DIE HERE!"

    His body started changing, it expanded in size and became immaterial. The change was similar to how his disciple transformed during the Dao Festival. His monstrous appearance was much bigger and the dastardly Qi radiating off him was far grander though.

    "Ha, do you think that we didn''t come prepared you fool?"

    The three commanding cultivators gathered together and surrounded the demonic cultivator. One of them took out a necklace that was made out of white beads. He threw it directly at the monster of a man, the moment the beads collided with the blackish purple energies they started absorbing them.

    "What!?.. are those devil sealing beads? Where did you get those!"

    The bead necklace broke apart after it absorbed more and more of that demonic Qi. The round orbs that were pure white started to dim and take up a dark purplish color the more of Yang Guanyu''s energy they absorbed. The man that looked more like a lanky monster with blades for fingers started shrinking back as quite a chunk of his energy got absorbed by the items.

    The three leaders that were up against this demonic cultivator used this chance to attack. Each one quickly performed one of their strongest attacks.

    Cheng Yang performed a lengthy chant before pushing his palm forward, a large golden hand appeared that descended on his enemy. Xu Qing roared out and punched out, a large illusionary gate appeared behind him. It opened up and you could hear a dragon''s shout escaping from it followed by a surge of flames that flew at the Dark Palm Sect leader. Zhan Jie brandished his blade and with one swift move cut forward, his sword energies carrying his Dao were at a collision course with his opponent.

    The attacks came from three sides and they had killing intent behind them. In his weakened state and after his trump card had failed Yang Guanyu looked around not sure what to do, his eyes moved separately from each other as he searched for a way out.

    The three nascent soul elder''s attacks finally collided with each other, exploding and causing everything in the area to shake. It looked like a nuclear explosion took place as a giant mushroom cloud expanded to the sides bringing around dust and destruction.

    "Is he dead?"

    The other members of this ambush party kept the explosion contained in the area with their spiritual energy. They looked with attentiveness at the spot that the techniques collided with themselves, hoping to see a dead Dark Palm Sect leader. What they saw though, was a slightly different scenario.

    The monster of a man looked hurt but he wasn''t dead. He was holding three bodies pierced by his claw-like fingers, even now they could see those bodies squirming and getting drained from their vital energies. These were the three remaining grand elders from the Dark Palm sect. Their glorious sect leader had used the confusion to pierce them in the backs in hopes of absorbing their energies to recover and it had apparently worked.

    "YOU CAN''T KILL ME!"

    The ambush party didn''t have enough time to react as the man bolted forward in one direction, he was going for some cultivators and trying to absorb them as well. The boost in energy was apparent as his strength had apparently recovered. Zhang Dong and his allies were to the side watching, he in particular squinted with his eyes as the lanky monster was heading their way.

    ''It looks like he had recovered... but his body is deteriorating... that technique is probably incomplete or he absorbed energies past his limit... he probably won''t last for long.''

    The group of nascent soul elders from the other sects started backing away at the sight of the monster coming their way. Huo Qiang, Feng Liena, and Zhang Dong, on the other hand, looked at each other. The three just nodded at each other and started concentrating, their Soul-beasts appearing behind them while roaring.

    "IT''S ALL YOUR FAULT, DIEDIEDIEDIE"

    Yang Guanyu sounded more like a crazed person now, his eyes had gone fully black and he was drooling from his mouth. He focused on Zhang Dong that holding two fingers out towards his incoming enemy, the tips were already glowing with golden light while arcs of electricity crackled to the sides.

    In a similar fashion as the three nascent soul elders before, Qiang, Liena, and Dong fired of their respective techniques. The three energies, red, green, and gold intertwined with each other to form an even larger attack. The giant torrent of spiritual energies looked like a massive pillar. The elemental energies collided with the incoming monster and bathed it in spiritual Qi of the three nascent soul masters.

    The screams of Yang Guanyu that had transformed into a beast were heard by the twenty so nascent soul cultivators in the area. They looked with astonishment at the giant torrent of energy that washed the demonic cultivator away. He dissolved into particles and not even his nascent divinity was able to survive after this massive attack. The large column of flew upwards and into the sky, it parted the clouds and escaped into the atmosphere exploding in the distance.

    The Dark Palm sect leader was no more, his grand elders slain by his own hand. There was a moment of silence, the remaining people that were in the area looked up into the sky. The energies that had detonated in the sky looked like a blooming flower which then shattered into many tiny whisps of light that scattered.

    The battle was finally over, the people in the Zhang headquarters wanted to cheer for the victory but instead, their faces were solemn. This fight had ended but another one looked to be upon them. Their three new sect elders were now hovering above the mostly destroyed city, twenty or so nascent soul masters looking at them with various expressions.

 192 Chapter 192

    ''I used up a lot of spiritual energy in that last attack, I don''t think I can fight those three late-stage cultivators even with the help of Liena and Qiang.''

    Matt looked at his surroundings. He was hovering close to the Zhang Clan headquarters, underneath him was a desolate wrecked city that used to house ten million people in it. It was now deserted and most buildings were destroyed during the assault by the Dark Palm sect.

    ''I guess I should try talking with them first... maybe not everyone is so unreasonable like those Dark Palm guys.''

    Zhang Dong straightened out and placed his hands behind his back. He hovered forward while Feng Liena and Huo Qiang supported him from the back while flying half a step behind him.

    "Greetings honorable Daoists, we are thankful that you have aided us in this time of need."

    He bowed slightly in a show of respect while the twenty so nascent realm cultivators approached. The previous group of six flew to the back after they saw what these three young cultivators were capable of, they were now on their guard. Zhang Dong continued talking as the group wasn''t answering him quite yet.

    "As you can see we are a new sect, I''m sure we can work something out..."

    Matt was even willing to pay tribute to the three sects if that got them out of this situation. Finally, the three main elders showed a reaction as they gathered in front.

    "Work something out? You have a strange way of speaking friend..."

    Xu Qing from the Dragon Gate sect spoke out first as before while glancing at the three people before him. They all felt that he was scanning them with this spiritual sense and they were quick to block him out. This also let the man know that these people were close to his strength.

    Cheng Yang and Zhan Jie were also feeling them out. It looked like they would attack them if they showed weakness and backed off. The atmosphere got stuffy and the other cultivators waited for the decision of their leaders.

    "This is quite the conundrum my fellow Daoists, these circumstances are unique..."

    Cheng Yang said while placing his hands behind his back in a similar fashion as Zhang Dong. Zhan Jie didn''t reply but he had his hand close to his sword, his intention was obvious to everyone gathered there.

    Matt gave out a sigh and then asked.

    "Right... what are your terms..."

    Xu Qing smiled at the question as it looked like the situation could be resolved without bloodshed.

    "I''m sure my friends from the Demon Subduing Sect and Limitless Sword Society will agree on the usual."

    "You will sign a soul binding contract with our sects. You can keep most of your belongings besides anything at the heaven grade that will be shared among the sects. Who goes to which sect will be discussed later."

    Matt didn''t know how these people would react if he tossed out one of his immortal grade cultivation manuals. Would they start infighting, or would they torture him to get his secrets?

    ''Sign my life over to them or go with plan B instead...''

    He looked to Feng Liena and Huo Qiang. The red-haired man was clenching his fist tightly, Matt didn''t need much intelligence to figure out that the man was holding himself back from attacking the cultivators in front. Feng Liena just held one of her fans in front of her face before giving Zhang Dong a small nod. Both of them were willing to go at it with this group of old farts if he decided on it.

    ''They trust me too much on making the right decision...''

    He wanted to give the two a hug for trusting in him so much but also wanted to ask where that unshaken confidence towards him was coming from.

    He straightened out, his eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Xu Qing from the Dragon Gate sect. His eyes started glowing and some lightning escaped from them for more of a dramatic effect. The older gentlemen flinched and backed away at the display of power as he noticed that this white-haired cultivator was reacting in an unfathomable way.

    "Sign a soul binding contract? ... I don''t think we will be doing that, we can offer you some spirit stones and secret techniques but that''s as far as we are willing to go!"

    He replied, his voice getting deeper and deeper the longer he talked as it got backed by his cultivation. While talking he made sure to grip a certain item in his hand, he had taken out this device that he had created in preparation for something like this. It was finally time to unleash its power and bullshit his way through this dire situation.

    "You dare go against the three great sects?"

    One of the nascent realm elders in the back shouted out clearly surprised by the outburst from this white-haired man. Xu Qing moved his hand up so that the man behind him would quiet down before asking.

    "My friend, do you think you can go against our sects, we are giving you a lot of face already, don''t be unreasonable."

    The Dragon Gate sect leader didn''t think that Zhang Dong would be able to come out on top. He saw him fight Yang Guanyu and thought that the man was at his strength level. That was at the beginning of the battle though, he was sure that at this point he or the other sect leaders wouldn''t have a problem in winning in a one on one battle.

    The only way that those three could come out on top, would be if they were hiding something. It didn''t seem like they had any trump cards anymore though, from his perspective they would have used them by now as Zhang Dong had almost died during that trap formation. The two allies that came to aid him should have been the ace in the hole.

    "Xu Qing, if they want to lose their life it''s their decision."

    Zhan Jie from the Limitless Sword Society proclaimed while moving his hand to his sword to unsheath it. He wasn''t a man that liked to debate for long, he liked to have his sword do the talking. Cheng Yang gave out a sigh but he also prepared to do battle, he floated next to Zhan Jie and was also ready.

    "If more blood needs to be shed, then so be it!"

    "You think this will be easy?"

    Huo Qiang snorted while unleashing the full extent of his cultivation. His whole body began burning up and he looked like a person made from pure fire. Feng Liena wasn''t far behind as she also started releasing copious amounts of her spiritual Qi into the surroundings. The nascent soul elders that ware at the early stage gulped hard, they could tell that this man and woman were also quite strong, at least in the middle stage maybe even on the cusp of the late stage.

    The three sect leaders jumped back, the air around the area got filled with copious amounts of Qi and even the defensive formation in the background churned to block it from entering the Zhang headquarters.

    "C-can the seniors win?"

    "T-there are so many nascent soul realm cultivators there..."

    The people that were hiding behind the barrier focused on their allies, this looked to be the final challenge between doom and survival. Before the battle could start though, something peculiar started happening. Zhang Dong''s whole body started glowing, it wasn''t the golden glow, as usual, it was more of a colorless glow.

    His body slumped forward as if he was a puppet with strings getting cut. His hands and legs dangled about while he flew upwards. The cultivators from the other sects looked on with quite the interest at what was happening.

    "What is he doing?"

    "That Qi... it''s massive... its that the great circle? How is that possible, he shouldn''t have any Qi left!"

    The other nascent soul seniors took up defensive stances, everyone was ready to defend against anything that this unknown cultivator was going to throw at them. His power kept rising, everyone''s eyes started going wide as Zhang Dong was reaching the apex of what a nascent soul realm cultivator could be.

    "Was he hiding his strength... no... what is that?"

    Cheng Yang pointed up into the sky, behind the shining Zhang Dong there was someone and it was he that was radiating this power. The man looked like a ghost, he was semi-transparent and looked quite familiar to some of the people gathered there. Mostly to the ones from the Zhang Clan police unit that had visited Moonlight city before.

    "Wait isn''t that that that mysterious senior..."

    "Yes... what is he doing here...could he be here for..."

    The glaring glow of the light started subsiding, what was left was a floating Zhang Dong with his head down low and with his body unmoving. He was radiating light and behind him stood a phantom of another person. This person looked like an old man, his beard white and lengthy. He was wearing an exquisite robe with many dragons sewed into it, his body looked in shape and he was smiling down while looking at the people below.

    "Greetings young ones, I''m afraid I can''t just let you continue with this. My disciple''s life is at stake, why won''t you give this old man some face and just forget about this?"

    The three sect leaders backed off, they could feel that this ghost or illusion of the man wasn''t anything simple. In their eyes, this must have been some kind of safeguarding function. This wasn''t anything new as strong masters usually gave their core disciples ways of defending themselves while they were away.

    "Honorable Senior is?"

    Xu Qing cupped his fists as he reevaluated the whole situation, it was one thing to battle against someone with no backing and another if they had a strong force behind them.

    "Oh me? It doesn''t really matter, but if you must you can call me, Wei Hung!"

    The man smiled cheerfully while replying to the question, the others took their time to rack their brains. From what they knew, there was no one by the name ''Wei Hung'' that was known in the Empire and that was this strong. Before they could ask any more questions they felt a massive surge in spiritual energy getting exuded from that transparent figure.

    "I won''t take up much of your time, young ones. As you can see, I''m not really here, this is only a sliver of my true spirit that I have left with my disciple. I hope you will let my silly disciple be. If he wishes to establish a sect on his own so be it."

    "You can have what is left of that demonic sect, I just wish for my disciple and his companions to be safe."

    "If for some reason, you cannot go along with this old man''s wishes..."

    The old man paused and narrowed his eyes at the group of cultivators. Everyone shrunk down after they felt his overbearing power wash all over them. They all felt like small mice getting looked at by a ferocious lion, they were unable to utter a word or move just shocked by the display of his might.

    "If you don''t, well... let us just say that the number of sects will decrease by three in this empire, understood?"

    The three sect leaders turned to each other and then back to the man that was talking to them. They just nodded out of sheer fright, knowing well that there was no one close to this man''s strength even back at their headquarters.

    "Then it''s settled! I hope we can meet under better circumstances next time!"

    The man''s illusionary figure started flickering out and it soon exploded into many tiny particles of light. He wasn''t there for more than a few minutes but he had left an impression that wouldn''t be forgotten. After leaving Zhang Dong''s eyes stopped glowing and he managed to awaken from his trance. His face showed confusion as he started looking around, the enemy cultivators were now slowly backing away unsure of what to do.

 193 Chapter 193

    The gears in their heads started spinning around, trying to figure out this Wei Hung''s true identity. There weren''t many masters on the continent that were at the great circle of the nascent soul. Just as with core formation, there was a difference with someone at the beginning stages of it and at the end stages when they reached close to 100%.

    This man had clearly shown power going beyond the beginning stages, which caused these cultivators that were at most at the late stage to be concerned. While they were thinking, that seniors disciple was floating down, his expression showing confusion.

    "Wait... did my master take over my body?" What did he say?"

    He looked around between the cultivators there, but wherever he looked the people from the other sects would evade his gaze, too scared to offend someone with that amount of backing.

    "Senior Brother, I didn''t know you had such a powerful master, now it all makes sense!"

    Feng Liena moved closer, her big eyes were sparkling with admiration while looking up to her sect brother. Huo Qiang wasn''t far behind as he also nodded whit agreement.

    "Such power! Such presence! Now that was a true master!"

    Zhang Dong glanced at his two friends, his mouth twitched slightly. He knew well that the master that showed up was something he came up as a defensive measure and he wasn''t a real person. How he managed to do it is thanks to the holographic technology he came up with that was slowly spreading through the city along with the cubes that stored spiritual energy.

    This was also why he had moved closer to the city where the holographic projector that he previously prepared was. He purposely made his body glow in a blinding light to get everyone''s attention. He then activated the device that had a model of his Wei Hung persona inscribed into it. He could control what he was saying remotely and he used the cubes that stored large amounts of spiritual energy to create the illusion of the man behind him being really strong. From the look on the three main elders faces, it seemed to have worked.

    "W-well yes, that''s my master for you! No one can go against him if he makes up his mind!"

    Zhang Dong laughed awkwardly while trying to hold a poker face. This little stunt had cost him most of his Qi reserves as he needed to add some juice to make it look realistic.

    "Brother Yang...brother Jie... I think this requires more time to discuss, why don''t we consult with the other elders in our sects..."

    Xu Qing was the first one to speak out, he was unwilling to risk his and his sect''s life. Even if the risk was small, they could also gain new allies with these people if they showed mercy.

    "Yes, that might be the wise path to take..."

    Cheng Yang nodded as he replied.

    "Hmph!"

    Zhan Jie was the only one that looked maddened by the decision but if the others weren''t willing to risk it, he wouldn''t either.

    "Zhang Dong was your name, right fellow Daoist?"

    After everything was decided Xu Qing looked to Matt that was clearly the leader from this new sect.

    "I hope there won''t be any bad blood between our sects, we will allow you to reside here, but we will be taking the resources from that demonic sect. Don''t think you will have anything against that?"

    Zhang Dong nodded, he didn''t really care about the cultivation resources of that sect. He had the cultivation manuals from the secret ground which were far superior to anything these sects could offer. It was enough for them to be able to survive, with time they would rise above the others.

    "That is fine, we don''t care about those demonic techniques or their resources. We just wish to establish our sect in peace, I''m sure we can decide on the land distribution at a later date."

    Matt moved his hands behind his back as always, his body was slowly reaching its limit as he was feeling tired. He wanted to end this and end it fast, he could think about everything else after he had rested.

    "I see that Daoist Dong is a wise man, yes let us decide on that later."

    The three sect leaders nodded at each other. The siege of the main Dark Palm sect was still ongoing, there were also many large cities spread through this vast land that would be taken over. The help of these nascent soul masters would hasten everything and would lower the death count on their side. They had already spent some time here, so they wanted to resolve everything with haste.

    "Yes, let us aid our brothers and sisters with taking down that demonic sect first, we will discuss everything later."

    Everyone nodded and they bade Zhang Dong, Feng Liena, and Huo Qiang farewell. The two kept staring daggers at the invading cultivators all till they were little dots on the horizon.

    "Sigh..."

    "We should go back, let''s keep the grand formation working, for now. We don''t know if they will have a change of heart after they discuss everything with those so-called ancestral elders of theirs."

    Matt said while gently floating down towards the remaining large structure. The two brand new sect elders agreed and continued after him, somehow everything got resolved with less bloodshed than anticipated. In their hearts, they knew that this wasn''t over though. The three sects would probably keep testing them until they saw a chink in their armor. They needed to get stronger and they needed to do it fast.

    With a wave of his finger, Zhang Dong created a little opening in the barrier and gently floated into the defensive formation. His two allies went in right behind him and closed it right after. This formation was intricate enough for it to record the energy signatures of some cultivators. Thanks to that it could be opened and closed without having to fully deactivate it.

    The three were greeted with sounds of cheers, everyone was shouting the names of the new sect. The three elders'' names were also called out, Zhang Dong''s was of course the most prominent one. All three of them descended down to the ground as they did the crowd finally managed to calm down.

    Everyone looked to their new leader, the man that made it happen. This, of course, caused Matt to sweat bullets internally, he had to yet again act his role and straighten out. Hands behind his back and his posture straight as a sword, unnoticed to most though his hands were trembling slightly. Not because he was nervous but because he had used up almost all of his spiritual energy and was now having a hard time keeping himself on his feet.

    ''I can''t show them weakness...''

    He wanted to laugh at himself, here he was a big sect leader now, looking out for his face as he was unwilling to show a flaw in front of this crowd of people. His motive was a bit more honorable than this as he wanted to present himself as a powerful leader that doesn''t falter. If his people saw him stumble or throw up, they would probably see him in a worse light which would affect the morale.

    ''I can do this...just nod a bit and get this over with...''

    He steeled his resolve, a few more minutes should be fine.

    "My sect members this battle is over but we still must remain vigilant, the other sects will probably take some time with what remains of the Dark Palm sect."

    "We require more information, we must gather up our forces and bolster our defenses. The grand formation will protect us for now but it''s not the answer to our problem."

    He continued talking rapidly while everyone was listening. His eyebrows quivered as he was close to falling asleep.

    "M-my Master had bought us some time, but we don''t know for how long the other sects will remain neutral. They might test us in the future, so I expect you to not cause trouble for your sect but remember to not show weakness. We will hold a meeting with all the senior members, we will discuss everything then."

    Zhang Dong nodded after his quick speech, talking it over more throughout later would be the best option for now. The other''s nodded without saying anything, how could they interrupt or ask questions when a senior elder like him was talking.

    "There is still much work to be done, we will not be holding any banquets or victory events, it is still too soon for such things. Now go! there is still much to be done, I must retreat to my chambers to prepare!"

    "Yes, Patriarch!"

    "Yes, Sect Leader!"

    "Yes, Senior!"

    People bowed while giving him variously honorable titles, people like Zhang Jin and his two disciples were also there. Right in the front, their eyes were sparkling with so much admiration that he could probably light a football field with it if he could harness that power.

    "Master!"

    "Dong''er!"

    Matt took a step forward while almost falling over, he had to stop himself as the people closest to him walked forward. They started praising him and he even received a firm smack to his back from his grandpa, which almost made him faceplant onto the cold hard floor.

    ''Don''t you donger me you old fart, you want me to die?''

    He wanted to shake his family member off and his disciples but they surrounded him from all sides. There they were, his two pupils with their mother, then there was gramps that even brought over his two wives. There were some other family members that he wasn''t sure about, by this point he had no idea how many relatives he had. He would even believe if they told him that he was somehow related to Yang Guanyu that they just killed.

    "Ah yes, dear grandfather and my two disciples I bet you worked hard, but your master has to..."

    Before he could get himself out of it they all moved in closer and started barraging him with praises and questions. They all wanted to congratulate the man that made it all happen why also asking about this elusive Wei Hung that was pulling strings in the background. Before they could continue though, someone interrupted them. It was Feng Liena that stood right in front of the crowd that backed off after seeing the second nascent realm master of the sect.

    "Senior Dong is a busy man, we still have preparations to make!"

    She covered part of her face with a fan while speaking. The people that were in a circle around Zhang Dong moved apart a bit scared of this new senior elder. They were familiar with their Patriarch but this woman was still unfamiliar to the people close to him. Zhang Dong nodded at Feng Liena.

    "Ah yes, I must take care of a few things that can''t wait. Junior sister is right!"

    He was finally able to leave, the people didn''t dare to stop him after Feng Liena got involved as it seemed that he had some important things to tend to. He quickly walked towards his bed chambers, the corridor towards it was now empty as every able-bodied person was working.

    Just before he could open the door he felt a bout of drowsiness washing over him. His vision got blurry and he felt like he was going to pass out. He buckled under his own weight and had to keep himself on his feet by placing one of his hands on the corridor wall. He slowly inched towards the door, he couldn''t pass out in front of his room he at least had to make it inside where no one could see him.

    He tried hard, yet he would not succeed. The battle was over and the tension was gone, his body started giving out as there was no reason to stay conscious. So he fell forward but he didn''t land face down on something hard, instead, he felt like something soft had damped his descent. He couldn''t quite put his finger on it, but he smelled a familiar scent of cherries. Soon everything faded and he passed out unable to hear the voice of the person that had caught him.

    "It''s okay Senior Brother, you can rest now..."

 194 Chapter 194

    He didn''t say anything and just looked up into the sky, fuzzy white and like cotton, the clouds were dancing. This seemed a bit out of place but he couldn''t remember why so he just took a sip from his drink and leaned back in his chair, not a care in the world.

    "Ah, this is the life... but I think I''m forgetting something... It''s probably nothing."

    He closed his eyes and started listening to the calming sounds. The wind was slowly pushing the leaves of the coconut tree by which he was sitting and some birds were squawking in the distance.

    The calm day was suddenly interrupted though, by the same coconut tree that he was sitting under. A pair of coconuts fell down, hitting him on the head one after another and landing in his lap. The funny thing about those coconuts was, that they weren''t hard at all. The hit to the head didn''t hurt at all as the two-round objects bounced onto his legs.

    "Hmm?"

    He grasped one of those coco fruits that weren''t actually nuts. He gave the left one a grasp and could feel it squishing uncharacteristically, you''d expect one of these to be hard as a brick but no, both of these coconuts were soft to the touch.

    "Something isn''t right here...I should investigate!"

    He grabbed both of the nuts and brought them over closer, one of his eyes opening further than the other as he stared. He moved his hand closer and gave it a flick with his finger, the coconut wobbled in an odd fashion. The moment the flick occurred, he heard some kind of womanly voice that was strangely familiar.

    "Ahhhh...n-nooo!"

    He backed off for a moment, astonished by strange voice after the finger flick. The feeling he got was quite pleasant, he even reached out to grasp the large coco fruits with both hands. After a moment of feeling them out, he got the strange urge to bring them closer to his own face and so he did.

    ''Hm... what are these made of, marshmallows?''

    "Ehhhh...w-what are you doing!"

    The familiar voice was heard once more, this time it felt even closer than before. He wasn''t sure why the coconuts were talking, but they sure felt soft against his manly face. He leaned back with the two round objects against his face and hugged them tightly a silly smile on his face.

    "S-senior you...you mustn''t, what if someone walks in!"

    Then he finally remembered. He recalled the battle with the nascent soul elders from the Dark Palm sect and then about the other group that came to clean up afterward. The world around him turned dark and he opened up his eyes, the beach he was in was just a dream he was having.

    The moment his eyes opened he saw blackness but he wasn''t blind, no he just had his whole face pressed into something. This something was immensely soft and squishy, blocking his view from all sides.

    "Huh?"

    He was finally awake. His hands were holding onto someone and this someone was on top of him. He could smell a characteristic perfume that one person that he knew liked to use it. He started sweating as he finally realized his transgression.

    "S-senior brother...."

    He slowly pulled his face back and looked up, he could see the blushing face of Feng Liena and her large blue eyes. Finally, the truth had been revealed, it was only a dream and the squishy coconuts belonged to his sect''s junior sister Feng Liena. He was in his bed with his hands around the woman, hugging her tightly. His whole face was pressed into her large bosom that was bulging out due to the fact that he was pressing into her hard.

    "Uh...this is..."

    The moment Matt wanted to explain himself he heard a creaking sound. The sound was his bedroom door opening, he instinctively moved his face to the side to look at who had entered. Due to this sudden movement of his face Liena gave out a cutesy high pitch sound that echoed through the entire room.

    "Senior Brother my father wishes to speak with yo..."

    It was Huo Qiang walking through, his father had begged him for an audience and so he was here. He wasn''t alone, Zhang Jin and his two grand-kids Zhang Liu and Xue used this chance to peek in as well. What they were greeted with was a half-naked Zhang Dong, that for some reason had his robe down. He was hugging a blushing Feng Liena and looking at them with his face between her globes.

    The two quickly separated but what had been seen couldn''t be easily forgotten. The group of four had different reactions, Zhang Jin just nodded with approval. Huo Qiang rubbed his chin but then just gave this senior brother a thumbs up. The two youths were a bit more bashful, Liu moved his head down while blushing and used his sleeve to cover his sister''s face so that she wouldn''t look at their master doing naughty things.

    "Take all the time you need..."

    Zhang Jin was quick to react, he pulled his two grand-kids away with haste and also whispered something into Huo Qiang''s ear that made him grin and retreat as well. The others had left and Zhang Dong and Feng Liena were back to being all alone with each other. The girl was facing away from him with her face covered by her hands, blushing and not sure what to do.

    Matt needed some time to process what had just happened. The last thing he remembered was trying to walk to his bed chambers so that he could pass out without alerting anyone from his sect members to his moment of weakness. He didn''t make it in time but he recalled feeling someone''s presence there before he fully lost his consciousness. He put two and two together to get his answer.

    ''It must have been Feng Liena that was there, she probably brought me to my room. But why am I almost naked in my boxer briefs...''

    Yes, Zhang Dong was wearing undies made by himself as he couldn''t get used to what the people in this world used instead. They had various ways of covering their nether regions, some even only wrapped some cloth or used some baggy underpants.Now he was all down to his undies and in bed, was Feng Liena always this bold?

    "Y-you were sweating a lot so I''ve tried changing your clothes S-senior Brother..."

    The woman noticed Zhang Dong looking at his robeless form wit confusion on his face, so she gave him a quick answer.

    "Ahhh...well... uh..."

    He rubbed his head slightly while quickly going through the room, he saw his robe to the side. There was a bowl with some spirit water there and a damp cloth was right next to him, it probably fell down from his forehead the moment he stuck his face between his sect sister''s bosom.

    "I think I have to apologize... and also, thank you..."

    The woman clearly just tried to help him out, he probably had a fever from spiritual energy deprivation after the big battle. He still felt weak but he was slowly recovering. The thing that he did was probably seen as something shameful in this society, but his junior sister that was actually older than him didn''t seem to mind. She finally turned around, her hands covering her eyes parted away to reveal her large blue eyes, her face slightly pinker than usual.

    "You shouldn''t get up senior brother, you are still suffering from Qi deprivation, you need to rest!"

    Matt looked at Liena that had recovered her composure, he did feel slightly weakened but it wasn''t anything that he couldn''t walk out at this point.

    "Ah, no need. I think I''m alright now, thank you for..."

    Before he could finish his sentence the woman moved forward, her head shaking in disapproval.

    "No! You must rest!"

    He got surprised as she raised her voice by a note and more or less ordered him to rest. He wasn''t really in the mood to argue with anyone and the danger was gone so he just nodded.

    "Um, alright... I''ll rest?"

    He nodded and wanted to pull the bedsheets over himself but then Liena moved closer while holding a damp cloth.

    "Senior Brother before that... I think you need to get cleaned... I couldn''t finish before we got interrupted..."

    "Interrupted?...oh..."

    He recalled sticking his face into a large valley and just coughed into his hand.

    "Finish what?"

    He asked while looking to the woman, she in response took out a white cloth that was already moist from some of that spirit water. She held it up while looking at him, their eyes meeting.

    "C-could you turn around, I''ll clean your back..."

    "My back?"

    He looked down to himself, he was indeed sweaty. Luckily he didn''t exude any kind of bad odor. He looked to the damp cloth and then to himself knowing what the woman intended to do.

    "I could just wash up in the springs... there is one right there..."

    He looked to his private springs where he even used to cultivate. It wasn''t far from here so he could just soak in it if he required too.

    "No! You shouldn''t be walking and straining yourself, what if something happens just like before!"

    Matt blinked a couple of times before nodding, Liena was uncharacteristically persistent this time around. She stared at him intensely as if she would tackle him down if he dared to stand up and go to the spring to soak in. He finally relented and nodded, she moved closer and placed the damp cloth against his wide back and started cleaning it up from the sweat.

    He felt a bit strange with someone washing his back, he couldn''t remember anyone doing such things besides his own mother and that was in his early childhood. He followed the instructions moving his hands up so she could take care of all the crevices. Unbeknownst to him, Feng Liena was seriously blushing all the way up to her ears while performing this task. Even though she was older than him, she had zero experience with men. Though as time passed she started getting more comfortable with the task.

    "Junior Sister?"

    There was a moment of silence between the two, he noticed that she was done with the task but for some reason, she chose to stop while placing her hand on his shoulder from the back.

    "Senior brother..., thank you... for everything... for trusting in me, if it wasn''t for you..."

    She suddenly started thanking him out of the blue, he felt a bit uncomfortable and not sure how to react.

    "You don''t need to thank me, you also helped a lot. If it wasn''t for you I would probably not be here either."

    He tried deflecting the praise as he wasn''t good at receiving compliments. Feng Liena smiled and moved her free hand to give the man a gentle tap on the shoulder, which of course took him by surprise.

    "Senior brother, you should learn to accept other people''s gratitude, even more, if it''s coming from a beautiful maiden."

    "Ahh, sorry..."

    "If you''re apologetic than prove it, Senior Brother."

    "How would I prove that?"

    He heard a giggle from the back and then felt the wet cloth moving away from his back. Feng Liena moved to the front a smile on her face.

    "How about inviting this beautiful junior sister to some tea next time?"

    She asked while slightly fidgeting, but the red on her ears didn''t go unnoticed.

    "Tea?...ahh..."

    He would be quite dense if he didn''t realize where this was going. He thought for a moment before nodding and looking straight into the beautiful woman''s eyes.

    "It would be a pleasure!"

    The two looked at each other while smiling. In the background there stood a small group of people, they were all pushing against the large door with their ears. This was, of course, his two disciples Zhang Jin and Huo Qiang eavesdropping. If Zhang Dong and Feng Liena weren''t so focused on each other they would probably feel them being there but they were blissfully unaware.

 195 Chapter 195

    "Tea huh?"

    This was left by his junior sister Feng Liena. She was now part of the sect he was running and also part of the big three along with him and Huo Qiang. He thought to what transpired a few moments ago which put a dumb smile on his face.

    ''Well... I guess she is interested in me?''

    He thought back to the interaction that they just had but most of his thoughts were pulled to the moment that he hugged her while sleeping. That soft sensation against his face was hard to forget along with that nice smell that she had.

    ''Does this mean that I have a girlfriend now?... What do you do with girlfriends? Wait, she only asked me out for tea...am I getting ahead of myself?''

    He moved his head up and stared at the ceiling, he had agreed to go get some tea with Feng Liena later. This was akin to going on a date in this world and showing interest in a person of the opposite sex. He was someone with zero dating experience, not in his previous life or this. He had that small encounter with the merchant lady two years ago, but that couldn''t be considered as dating but more of a one night stand.

    ''What do people do for fun here?''

    He had no idea how relationships worked in this world, he only knew his grandfather and Huo Qiang that had many wives. They would probably not be the right people to ask about help unless he wanted to build a harem. He wasn''t really the type of person to go for such things and having multiple wives felt like the road to disaster.

    ''I''m probably worrying too much about it... I should get dressed, there are many things to be done.''

    His date would have to wait, the sect problems came first. There were also millions of people waiting in the woods probably hoping of returning to their homes. He needed to figure out if he wanted to still stay in this location or to move to a different area to establish a proper sect. This city was already destroyed and they had to rebuild it but the spiritual energy concentration here wasn''t really adequate for a large sect.

    ''I promised them a meeting, it''s already the next day.''

    He had been forced to sleep it off by Feng Liena, the woman was apparently more strong-willed than he anticipated. He didn''t want to argue too much so he decided to take the day off and just sleep it off. After a good night''s rest, he was feeling much better, his spiritual energy wasn''t fully recovered but it was enough to move around without needing others to look out for him.

    ''Wonder if she will be so overprotective if she has any kids,... why am I thinking about kids?''

    He shook his head while standing up, he used his spatial ring to remove a fitting white robe for himself. He would need to design some uniform sect robes for the future.

    ''Hm, should I make them have different colors depending on the element a practitioner is adept at?''

    He had the system with him, finding out what a person was talented at wasn''t a problem. Still, no one was really locked to an elemental proficiency as even his disciples could train up in his lightning Dao. But it was still faster to progress in something you were naturally gifted.

    He called over Zhang Kuo and Zhang Ya, he had to clear up some things with his two main retainers. The two looked a bit concerned and had their heads dropped, they both knew that the time came for their punishment.

    "The main crisis is over... but there is still much work to be done."

    "You two..."

    He looked at them with a stern expression. The two withheld valuable information from him, they didn''t inform him about the city his clan members were going to and that it was ruled by the Dark Palm sect. Still, no one knew that they would meet some kind of crazy young master there that would then lead into a full-blown war.

    Could the clash have been avoided if he knew? He felt that even if he knew, his grandfather would probably have convinced him into allowing his clan''s juniors to participate. He might have even put off his ascension into the nascent soul if he knew which would spell instant disaster. He wouldn''t have been able to go against Wu Ming or any of the other nascent soul masters, running would have been the only option then.

    "You held back information from your Patriarch. Do you have anything to say in your own defense?"

    The two dropped down to their hands and knees.

    "We are sorry Patriarch... no Sect Leader, we deserve death!"

    The two nodded, Matt raised his brow at the instant death sentence that the two gave themselves. In their eyes, they caused a massive disservice to the whole clan that almost caused their downfall. Matt on the other hand didn''t really blame them, they were only following orders that Zhang Jin gave. Those orders weren''t actually wrong as he might have caused a bigger scene if he ever went together with their small expedition.

    "Death? Do you really think that I want to see more people die?"

    He was slightly ticked off by their response, why were these people always so quick to go to their demise for things like making their superiors look bad.

    "S-sect leader?"

    "There have been enough deaths already! You two, I want you to work hard, harder than you ever worked before!. After the sect is well established and doesn''t need you, you have the permission to die, if you so wish."

    These two were talented managers, they had already lost people to this useless war. There was no reason for two loyal people like this to be sent to their deaths over a small mistake.

    "Do you think you can do that? The Sect needs you!"

    "Yes, Sect Leader!"

    The two started smashing their heads into the hard floor tiles.

    "That''s enough, go and call over all the elders for a meeting, we must discuss our next move, stop hitting the floor with your heads, it''s going to leave a crack..."

    He was more concerned about the holes in his floor than about the damage these two would suffer from hitting it. They were both close to reaching the end stages of foundation establishment so they were really resistant, the floor wasn''t.

    After some more apologizing and bowing he managed to get rid of his two unruly retainers. He fixed his clothes one last time and went on with the day, he moved to the large auditorium looking room where they had their meetings. His people worked hard as even before he got there almost everyone was there and waiting.

    "We greet the sect leader!"

    "Welcome, Patriarch."

    He got the usual greeting from his Zhang family members, the Feng clan women were quite enthusiastic as well, though the people from the Huo clan looked a bit reserved from how they handled themselves. He could see Huo Qiang waving at him, next to him was an old man that he saw before, he was even more muscular than his red-haired sect brother and the two looked alike.

    Before he could start the meeting the two moved over and he got a nice smack to his shoulder from his little bro. Thanks to having his body refining upgraded, he didn''t feel the hit all that much.

    "Ha ha, hard as fine spirit metal, you see that father, that''s what a real man should be like!"

    Matt looked at Qiang and then to his so-called father. The man was big, but due to his musculature, he was even more imposing. He didn''t look pleased, he didn''t even bow his head at Zhang Dong which bothered most of the people from the Zhang faction.

    ''Oh he looks mad... well, we did pull them into a war with the sect and it''s still unclear if we will be left alone...''

    From Huo Gang''s perspective, his son was at the same level of power as this man now.He was the father of a nascent soul senior, so he saw himself above the others by association. His son was right next to him, so he felt reassured while talking to Zhang Dong.

    "Zhang Clan Patriarch... what are you planning, my Huo Clan never agreed to any of this! My son isn''t the clan leader, I am!"

    "Hey, you old fart, what are you talking about!"

    Huo Qiang looked at his father with a frown on his face.

    "Quiet, I am still your father!"

    The man shouted out loud, he was obviously mad for the way this all played out. From his point of view, this was all too risky. There weren''t enough nascent soul elders and he didn''t trust Zhang Dong at all. He hadn''t seen the immortal grade techniques either, so he had no idea why his son and so many others were following this white-haired man.

    ''Uh...if I explain everything this guy will probably see reason, but...''

    He did a quick scan of the room. Every person from the senior generation was here, they were all leaders and future elders of the sect. Some of them could probably reach the nascent soul level if they got the correct techniques and more time. His authority was getting questioned by this man if he pulled back he would probably look weak in front of these old fashioned cultivator types.

    ''I bet he is banking on me respecting Qiang''s authority and not going overboard...''

    To Matt, it looked as if this man was doing some kind of strange power move. He probably wanted to show that he was the father of one of the core sect elders and that he wasn''t afraid of the sect leader. Maybe he was even convinced that Huo Qiang would jump into his defense if Zhang Dong went on the offensive.

    ''Maybe he thinks that I wouldn''t dare to offend the father of an important ally as Huo Qiang?''

    ''I guess I need to make a show of force¡­ this is the way these old farts operate¡­''''

    He also noticed Feng Liena fuming in the back, her eyes were staring daggers into the man''s back and she was ready to pounce.

    "How dare yo..."

    She shouted out but Zhang Dong moved his hand up while looking at her with a gentle smile. He then looked to the man while still having the same smile. Huo Gang then felt a rise in spiritual energy in the area and it was focusing on the place he was standing in.

    Zhang Dong''s eyes glowed with golden light and small lightning bolts started getting expelled from his eye sockets. The man felt a massive amount of weight getting put on his shoulders. He was unable to resist as he collapsed to his knees, sweating under Zhang Dong''s aura. Huo Qiang was surprised by his senior brother''s fast reaction and by reflex tried reaching out to help his own father. He felt a jolt to his hand the moment he leaned in, the suppressive aura was even strong enough to push him back who was a nascent soul cultivator.

    "Your son agreed, that was enough at that time. I will not keep your clan here if you wish you may leave. Though, I''m not sure the other sects would allow you to do this after your association to the United Element sect is known."

    "The Zhang Clan, Feng Clan, and the Huo Clan... those names won''t matter much in the future. We are a sect now and as a sect I expect everyone to work together, I might be the Sect Master but I will still consult the senior members on important matters."

    "I do not wish for this sect to eat itself from the inside as the Dark Palm sect did."

    He released the pressure allowing Qiang''s father to stand up, he patted him on the shoulder while continuing to speak.

    "Your son is like a brother to me, I do not wish to see you using him to further yourself. I know that you are afraid about your position and your clan''s in this sect. I assure you that I will not treat your family with scorn. Everyone''s place will depend on their individual achievements and nothing more!"

    He finished his speech and moved over to the spot of honor at the helm.

    "Well then, let us start this meeting, any questions?"

    Everyone looked a bit bewildered by Zhang Dong''s outburst and most of them were now afraid to bring up any personal matters.

 196 Chapter 196

    "Give me a full report on the situation... I can feel that we are being watched..."

    Matt could sense that there were some nascent soul elders far away but still close enough for him to sense some of their spiritual essence. They were probably keeping watch on the small locked off area, ordered by their elders. Zhang Kuo stepped forward, everyone in the room looked to him as he was going to give the report.

    "As the Sect Leader says, we have sighted some of the nascent soul elders from all of the three sects that were here previously. Each one of them left a senior behind, probably to keep watch over us."

    "Regarding the Dark Palm Sect, their main sanctuary is being attacked by the combined forces of the three sects. They have not yet fallen but they stand no chance against the combined strength of those three large sects."

    They still had some spies that were outside Spirit Spring City that could relay some information through their communication jades. The demonic sect that was here the other day was now on the defensive. They were huddled up behind their defensive formations and fighting for their life.

    "We are not sure what is happening inside as it was far too dangerous for our spies to go in closer, we can only speculate on what is happening."

    "Hmm... they''ll probably last a bit before they fall, what about the people that evacuated into the forests?"

    "They are safe and are being guarded by some of our sect members, they have enough food and water to last them a couple of months."

    Zhang Dong nodded, his people weren''t in any danger at the time being which was reassuring.

    "What about the city?"

    "Spirit Spring City has mostly been destroyed... the Dark Palm sect bombarder everything with their cannons. The city has been leveled, there is nothing left to salvage, besides rubble."

    The Zhang Clan members were unhappy, to say the least about this turn of events. They had spent the past two years upgrading the whole city infrastructure to the peak, they had hospitals, police stations, and even a fire station all in working condition. They knew that rebuilding everything would cost a lot and their Patriarch had burned through every single spirit stone that they had saved up.

    "So only the Zhang Clan main compound remains..."

    Zhang Dong shook his head, not happy that two years of work went down the drain just like that. He wouldn''t be getting any spirit points from his system from Spirit Spring City anymore if it was like this. He was now contemplating moving his base of operations elsewhere, somewhere with more spiritual energy.

    Feng Liena interrupted while smiling at Zhang Dong, who nodded at the proposition with gratitude.

    "Red Lotus City? That place is too small, we can just go to my Qingliang City!"

    Huo Qiang shouted out while smacking his broad chest with his large hand, if his senior brother wanted a new base of operations he wanted his home to be it.

    "Ah Qingliang City, is it?

    Surprisingly his father didn''t reject the idea, instead, he moved his hands over his chest in a cross shape and nodded.

    "I agree, what better place for the new sect than in Qingliang City!"

    "Red Lotus City has a better location and it''s closer to the Zhang Sanctuary as well, I think it would be a better option!"

    Feng Maling interjected on Liena''s accord as she could see that her granddaughter was fuming with anger after Huo Qiang interrupted her.

    "Patriarch, why should we move, we can just rebuild the old city and make it better and stronger than it ever was! Like a Phoenix, it will rise from the ashes!"

    This time Zhang Zhi shouted out, some of his clan members also nodded as they were hesitant about just leaving their old home behind. The main sanctuary of their clan was still intact and it was even protected by a very powerful defensive formation. Not even nascent soul seniors could muscle their way into it.

    Matt put his hands together while nodding at the propositions. To spend resources and rebuild, or to move on to greener pastures? He wasn''t sure but he was leaning into another direction then the three main forces in this room. A small shouting match ensured where the Zhang Clan, Feng Clan, and Huo Clan were trying to convince Zhang Dong of seeing it their way.

    "The United Element Sect, what is it?"

    He asked, interrupting everyone in the room.

    "It''s a gathering of our three clans?"

    One of the older members called out while the others nodded.

    "Is it? I don''t think this sect will have a future if we are just that..."

    "Do you wish to conscript more people into the sect, Sect Leader?"

    Another elder asked.

    "That''s a given, you saw those large sects, we pale not only in the number of nascent soul cultivators, but we also have fewer core formation experts and our foundation establishment juniors aren''t enough."

    "I don''t think we should move into any of those two cities, and neither should we remain here, we need a more suitable spot."

    "Where would we find such a location, Senior Brother?"

    Feng Liena asked a bit saddened that her proposition was denied.

    "That is something I can''t tell just yet, I must go through the lands to see..."

    Matt''s mapping feature had gotten a boost since he reached the nascent soul level. He could now check to see below the earth as well, he wanted to scout the area''s out. He wanted to find something akin to the spiritual veins that could be found in the deeper regions in the empire. He wasn''t hoping for that much but even another spirit stone mine would be enough.

    He had heaven grade spiritual energy gathering formation in his library, so he didn''t need a place with a high concentration of it, he just needed it to be manageable.

    "It would be best if those three sects allowed us to stay at the area where the Dark Palm Sect was located but don''t think they will let us."

    The people nodded, the large sects had their bases located in places with strong spiritual energies. It wouldn''t be odd if those clans left some of their members there after they conquered it.

    "Maybe if the honorable Wei Hung acted, we could gain that land for ourselves?"

    One of the Zhang Clan Elders asked the others nodded with approval while looking at Zhang Dong. In their opinion, if that strong master acted even the three sects would have to listen. Wei Hung''s illusion had left a big impression on these people, they thought it was just a slither of his true might and it was already that strong, how powerful was Zhang Dong''s master in person? He might have even been on par with the Azure Emperor that ruled the land!

    Zhang Dong just shook his head side to side while answering.

    "My master won''t act unless it''s really dire, he only acted when my life was in danger, I fear he doesn''t care for this sect of mine. I wouldn''t put my faith into him that much, personal strength is always better than borrowed one."

    The elders in the room sighed out after Zhang Dong''s reply. They knew those types of masters that weren''t concerned about anything besides their disciples. Wei Hung was apparently one of those, only taking action when his pupil was in danger but not caring about the people involved with him or her.

    "That''s¡­ understandable¡­"

    "Regretful¡­"

    The elders voiced their concerns but still encouraged Zhang Dong to seek out his master for help. He just nodded at the request, though he knew no help was coming as he was his own master.

    "The main concern is the three large sects, Dragon Gate, Limitless Sword, and Demon Subduing¡­ we don''t know what they will do but I don''t think they will let us have any of the more bountiful lands."

    "I agree with Senior Brother, they probably won''t allow us into the mainland that is closer to the spiritual veins."

    Feng Liena responded while everyone in the room nodded. It would be quite foolish from the three powerhouses to let them reside in places with a high concentration of Qi. The spiritual veins were something that formed naturally in this world.

    Cultivators in this world liked to place their sects in areas with spiritual veins with high concentration. This was also how things in this empire were constructed. The spiritual veins with the highest concentration were further into the mainland, the closest place to it was the Empire''s Capital city.

    The Azure Emperor lived there with his clan, he wasn''t part of any sect but that didn''t matter if you were the strongest person around. His clan had many powerful experts and even if they had fewer people than some of the sects they excelled in quality over quantity.

    "Yes, they just might make us remain in these lower lands where the spiritual energy isn''t high enough to produce nascent soul cultivators¡­"

    Everyone nodded, that was the likely scenario and they wouldn''t be able to go against all three of those sects even if their three nascent soul elders could contend with the opponents.

    ''Hm, the improved versions of the techniques are superior which mostly means that they require more spiritual energy to cultivate in.''

    Matt rubbed his chin, he needed to get his sect into a good location, otherwise it would take decades until they achieved anything.

    ''Should I sneak into their territory and raid their spirit stone mines?''

    Matt didn''t really want to do risky things like that, even with a spirit stone mine converted into points he couldn''t produce that many nascent soul masters, unless he dropped a grade with their cultivation manuals.

    "Yes, that is probably what they have planned but not like we can do anything about it."

    Zhang Jin commented from the side with a frown on his face.

    The meeting continued well into the night. While they had Zhang Dong''s attention the other members from the new sect were sure to ask him many questions. Some of them were even trying to reel him into their families with marriage proposals. This of course earned the scorn from the Feng Clan side of the sect.

    They went over the death reports and decided on giving all the warriors a proper send-off. Their families would be getting some monetary compensation and could even get a position as a disciple.

    Further discussions were halted as no one knew where their new base of operations would be. They needed to plan the internal structure of their sect and also needed to build the proper facilities to house the outer, inner, and core disciples.

    They decided that a merit-based system with incentives would be the best. Every new disciple would be put in an age bracket and tested. The average recruits would be outer disciples, above them were the inner disciples with more privileges and even further were the core disciples that were the true elites.

    They didn''t go into much detail about the merit system and rewards as no one knew how much resources they would have to spare.

    "Then it is decided, we will wait till the situation with the Dark Palm sect is resolved, we will bolster our defenses and me and the two Grand Elders will continue cultivating in preparations."

    Zhang Dong went with the term ''Grand Elder'' just like their enemies did as it was something easy to follow. Soon enough everyone dispersed and went to prepare for the future tasks of making the sect.

    While Zhang Dong was heading out he came across his female grand elder, she was apparently waiting for him. She gave him a smile, her face beaming as she just stared into his eyes.

    "Ah, yes!"

    He straightened himself out a bit, it was time to get some tea. The future was uncertain but it also held many wondrous possibilities.

 197 Chapter 197

    The Dark Palm sect was in shambles, some of the peaks had crumbled before the combined might of the enemy alliance. The ancestral elders did their best to keep the defensive formation working but they were at an impasse. They were trapped in a defensive battle, unable to flee and far too old to last a prolonged battle against multiple nascent soul masters at a similar level.

    Without much else to do, Zhang Dong and his allies had to wait. They cultivated with diligence, increasing their understanding of the newly gained Dao they were cultivating in.

    The tensions were high, no one knew what would happen. Everyone was on edge, preparing for the worse while trying to bolster their personal might.

    With more time passing news of the evil sect''s demise reached their ears. After two months of continuous struggling, the demonic sect was announced vanquished. The ancestral elders were all slain and everyone associated with the evil sect was sentenced to death.

    As it goes with large sects like these, there were many stragglers left outside. There were just too many members to eradicate and not enough time or manpower. There was a slight chance that someone could try taking revenge on the three sects but it was highly unlikely that they would succeed. The best they could hope for is a quiet life in the lower levels or being taken in by other sects while hiding their identity.

    The war was finally over. The giant sect was no more but life continued. Demon Subduing Sect, Dragon Gate Sect, and The Limitless Sword Society they were the true winner of this short war. They had used the confusion that began with Zhang Dong''s appearance and managed to vanquish a long time rival.

    They all wanted a piece of the pie now, the alliance wasn''t one that was build of friendship or necessity, it was built on profit. Any one of them could have been in the Dark Palm Sect''s place if things went differently. They didn''t voice it but everyone knew that they would betray each other at a moment''s notice if it proved profitable and safe.

    Back at Spirit Spring City or what was left of it, Zhang Dong was sitting in the lotus position .He was in the Dimensional Regalia along with Huo Qiang and Feng Liena. The three of them used this opportunity to strengthen themselves, they did some light sparring while increasing their cultivation bases.

    ''Mmm... it''s not as easy as it used to be...''

    He gave out a sigh and decided to take a walk, sitting around for hours while just taking in energy was still a boring past time. Luckily as a cultivator, he entered a type of cultivation trance that made the time seem to pass faster.

    The floating island had gotten larger than before as well. He had convinced both his friends to donate some spiritual energy each day along with him. Three nascent soul cultivators that had immortal grade cultivation methods were infusing this island with their power now. It went from a couple of kilometers in diameter to close to twenty. With high-quality Qi it was growing steadily and could now truly be used as a secret space of the sect.

    Before plans to further this place could come to fruition they still had to resolve one problem.

    Zhang Dong didn''t interrupt the others with their cultivation and stepped out, which was just in time to hear someone running up with haste. He could tell with his spiritual sense that it was Zhang Kuo.

    "Is there any news?"

    The man looked a bit more frantic than usual, his body temperature was also higher and he was clearly sweating.

    "Yes Patriarch... the Dark Palm Sect... is no more!"

    Zhang Dong nodded, this was about the time he thought it would take for them to get through their defenses. He straightened out while giving his reply.

    "Any word from those three sects? Did they send someone or made any demands?"

    Kuo nodded at the question and gave a swift reply.

    "Yes my lord, they have actually sent word, although..."

    Zhang Dong could see the man clench his fist tighter as if something was bothering him, his body language was making him look angered.

    "Good, what do they want? What are the terms?"

    Kuo took out a jade slip and presented it to his Patriarch. Zhang Dong raised his eyebrow before scanning the jade slip with his spiritual sense. He was actually expecting them to send someone in person to do some negotiating, he received a message via jade mail instead.

    "Hoh? I kind of figured this much but they don''t take us very seriously, do they?"

    Zhang Kuo nodded while taking the jade slip back. The three sects gave their terms, the United Elements sect would be allowed to exist but they were to remain in the regions previously occupied by the middle-sized clans. This meant that they wouldn''t actually be getting any land that was previously used by the Dark Palm Sect. They were also required to pay a large sum in spirit stones or other resources like herbs or weapons. The explanation given for that was that it was a payment for the land they were graciously given.

    "Mmm, you can leave."

    Zhang Kuo nodded and left, Zhang Dong on the other hand was just glad that it was now over. Even though it looked like their new sect wouldn''t go far, he knew that things weren''t all that bad. He still had all those high-level techniques and he had his system. With him being the sect leader he was now the proud owner of a vast tract of land. Many people lived there, many people that if treated right would give him many spirit points which he could spend to improve his techniques even more or even increase his own cultivation or from his sect members.

    It was time to stabilize his new faction. Even though the other sects weren''t taking them seriously, he preferred that. It was easier to go against someone that was underestimating you.

    ''I bet they fear my Wei Hung persona more than they fear me. They will probably place spies all around the place to keep watch over us. Well not like it matters...''

    Thanks to the Medallion treasure he was content. No spies would be getting their hands on their cultivation manuals, he had ways of catching those types of people. The screening process that he was planning to implement would catch them in the act, only loyal disciples and elders would be allowed inside, growing in power through the years until they were strong enough to break away from the shackles.

    He continued walking outside, his gaze on the still destroyed scenery. He had come to this world over two years ago, he was slowly integrating himself with the people. He sometimes asked himself about why he was even going so far. There were many occasions for him to just leave, he would have been safer as a solo act but he decided to stay.

    He never felt like he had a purpose in his life before this. He lived his life alone, he didn''t depend on others and no one else depended on him as he led his boring life of going to work and playing games. Somehow he ended up in here, many times stronger than an average man and many times over his head.

    He somehow managed to survive until this point but he attributed it to luck and his system. Going forward he wanted to further his relations with these people. They were quirky and strange but somehow they grew on him. He was slowly growing into the role of a leader, caring more for his people than his own well being.

    He floated up into the sky, going past the defensive formation that opened a little hole for him. He didn''t go unnoticed from his sect members that offered him bows.

    If he was an original resident from this world he would have been quite maddened. The three other sects just dumped their demands on him without giving any space for negotiation. This would be considered a big blow to the face for the entire sect and could even evolve into a full-blown reason to go to war with.

    Zhang Dong on the other hand didn''t care as much for this so-called face. Regretfully, he was still a flawed human and sometimes he would feel like being petty. He closed his eyes and released his spiritual sense into the area making it travel far and wide to find someone.

    It didn''t take long for him to spot his target, his enhanced system map made it appear as a dot. He opened up his eyes and without much warning bolted into that direction. His colossal nascent soul immortal grade aura blasting into all directions as he kicked up a storm.

    "What is the Patriarch doing?"

    This was the thing the people down below were asking themselves. They just saw their leader take off in a certain direction, one of the more informed elders from the sect took a moment to realize where Zhang Dong''s destination was.

    "Oh no... why is the leader going towards that person... I must report this to the other two grand elders!"

    He took off running while sweating profusely.

    Zhang Dong on the other side was close to arriving at his destination which was a person. The moment he arrived he could see an old man wearing a Dragon Gate Sect robe. The man was very old and was looking at Zhang Dong with a frown on his face and with a raised eyebrow.

    "What is the meaning of this?"

    "Oh? What do you mean honorable elder from the Dragon Gate Sect? Can''t I greet such an esteemed senior from such a profound sect in my own lands?"

    The man was even more confused than before. He was a nascent realm practitioner left here by his sect leader to keep an eye out. He was now trembling slightly as Zhang Dong''s massive overbearing aura was causing him distress, from the look of things this man had come to cause trouble.

    "Why don''t we invite your other two friends?"

    It didn''t take long for the leftover elders from Limitless Sword Society and Demon Subduing Sect to arrive. Both of them were on guard and unsure of what this man was up to. They were all early stage, nascent soul cultivators, ones of the weakest from their sides as the more prominent ones had left to help in the war efforts.

    "What do you want! Are you trying to go against us?"

    They didn''t take out their weapons but they were on guard. Zhang Dong just smiled while hovering in mid-air, his aura becoming even more overbearing after the three had gathered together. He was someone who jumped realms, even at the early stage his Qi was above a middle stage practitioner. If he added his empowering technique on top of that he could contend with late-stage cultivators.

    The three started feeling dizzy, he was clearly too much for them to handle. They saw this man fight during the war and he was at the level of their own sect leaders, without them around they didn''t feel confident.

    "Why the long faces? I''ve just wanted to greet you, three esteemed friends. Just trying to be a proper host, you are in the United Element Sect''s lands, even your leaders agreed to this."

    He nodded while the three men shrunk back. He was clearly threatening them with his aura while saying those friendly words and the three were smart enough to get the memo. Don''t get overboard in my land was the message he was trying to give.

    "Don''t think you look interested in tea... how about I escort you to the borders, they aren''t that far, think they start off at Jade Grass City."

    The three were getting crushed under the overbearing pressure and knew well that this man wasn''t willing to negotiate. They just nodded and turned around, he at least made some sense as the war was over and it was considered rude to have other sects come to your lands uninvited.

    "We shall leave, but don''t be unreasonable, your sect might not last long otherwise!"

    The three snorted while leaving, Zhang Dong just remained in mid-air while smiling he even waved them goodbye. His waving hand changed into a fist with a middle finger raised, no one really knew what this hand gesture meant though.

    With a resounding sigh, he then turned around, there was more work to be done.

 198 Chapter 198

    The new sect had to momentarily pause their spiritual formation as the power cubes were slowly running out of juice. There were spirit gathering formation set up to lower the burden on them. Regretfully they couldn''t keep up with the Qi usage this grand formation had as it could keep most of the nascent soul realm cultivators at bay.

    The main base was left with Feng Liena while Huo Qiang had to be moved closer to the border region as a defensive measure. Zhang Dong on the other hand was now flying around the large piece of real estate that he has graciously received from the three sects.

    "Still nothing..."

    He gave out a sigh, he made sure to fly as close to the ground as possible. He did it so that his mapping feature could pick up on spots below the ground that were high in spiritual energy. He had been on it for a week now just zig-zagging between locations while hovering half a meter above the ground.

    To his dismay he wasn''t able to find anything worthwhile, the best thing he came across was a tiny spirit stone pocket that wouldn''t be more than a million spirit points if he converted it. It could be used to pay the high taxes that the other sects were putting on them, so it wasn''t all bad.

    Zhang Dong stopped and was looking at his new 3D map. He could see his movement patterns, he was sure to inspect all the places and he even made sure to have the borders selected so he didn''t anger the other sects by going into their territory.

    "I was hoping that I''d find something by now..."

    He rubbed his glabella in concern. He wanted to create his new sect home base somewhere new, somewhere where there was a lot of spiritual energy for the sect disciples to flourish. He would even take a spot where there are some other resources like herbs that could be used for pills at this point.

    He stared at his map once more and then looked at the scenery, he ended up in a forest area. The trees could be seen for kilometers without end. He blinked while thinking back to the past, he knew this area.

    "Hey, isn''t this..."

    Part of his lip raised itself into a small smile, he remembered this area. This was where it all started, the same forest that he appeared after being stuck in this world. He had flown all the way back here while being preoccupied with looking at his system map.

    "Found it...but..."

    He furrowed his brows, he had located the place where he spent a couple of weeks at hunting monsters and grinding points. The problem was that he could feel some uncharacteristic Qi signatures there. For one thing, there were people at the foundation establishment stage as well as someone at core formation there.

    "Could they be..."

    It didn''t take him long to figure out who these people were. He took off with haste worried about the outcome if he didn''t interfere. Luckily he detected that there was no bloodshed just yet, he would probably make it in time. He was hiding his presence so the cultivators below wouldn''t notice him, the moment he arrived he could see a scene playing out.

    The Tatar Tribe people were getting rounded up into the middle of their square. They were surrounded by a group of mean-looking cultivators from all sides, the auras of these people were far too strong for the Qi condensation tribesmen. For the moment he just listened in, wondering what those people plan was.

    "Senior... we have gathered all of these lowly commoners."

    The cultivator that looked to be in charge nodded after another person came over to give him a report. It was an old man that was wearing an eyepatch and looked slightly beaten up. The people were wearing black robes with a familiar symbol of a dark palmprint on their backs. They were obviously remnants from the destroyed sect that had somehow escaped into the lowest region.

    "Well done, take their clothes, then kill them all. The old sect is gone and we must remain hidden from that upstart sect..."

    Zhang Dong continued to listen as the man in charge gave his instructions. The plan was to take this village over, the Dark Palm remnants would use these tribesmen''s clothes and live like them in this small village. They probably didn''t think that anyone would find them all the way here were most respectable cultivators never showed up.

    Which wasn''t such a bad plan all things considered. They were from a hunted sect, they could either disperse and go about as rouge cultivators or set up a base of operations. Unless a nascent soul cultivator or at least a core formation elder appeared, they would probably go unnoticed while hiding their aura. While the order to kill and strip was given, one of the tribe youths shouted out.

    "You won''t get away with this, The mighty Lord Dong will eradicate you all!"

    Matt wanted to cough after hearing his mighty tittle. He did a quick scan of the name of the person that just shouted out and was surprised that it was the silkypants youth that he had met before by the name of Yang Rong. Next to him was another youth that nodded with approval while yelling. His name was Cheng Yun and he was also someone that he knew from back in the day.

    "That''s right!"

    "Lord Dong? Do you think Zhang Dong from that upstart sect will ever come to a shit hole like this?"

    The senior from the group laughed and so did the people from the Dark Palm sect, no one expected a nascent soul elder to ever come to an area with a low amount of spiritual energy like this was. There was a reason why the tribe people were considered the weakest in all of the empire. Their location was in a place where cultivating was extra difficult.

    "Now stop talking, this will be all over soon!"

    The Tribe''s people started shouting out, they were unwilling to die here. There were hundreds of people gathered here and they would be put to death so that these renegade cultivators could escape their death sentence. The tribe''s people were being held back by the suppressive pressure of these superior cultivators and they couldn''t move.

    They could only sit together while trembling, indignity in their eyes. They looked at the various faces of the people that were pulling out swords and sabers. This looked like it was going to be it for them, the women and children weren''t even going to be spared in this massacre.

    But just as the sobbing started something unusual occurred. The pressure that that murderous group was giving out suddenly stopped while they themselves stopped in their tracks. The people from the Tatar Tribe were baffled by the display as the cultivators stopped mid-stride.

    "What is this?"

    They asked aloud while standing up, the Dark Palm remnants were clearly unable to move and alive. They could see them sweating and their brows were twitching.

    "Hello there people of the Tatar Tribe, we meet again."

    The villagers heard a voice coming from above, it was very familiar as it belonged to someone that had left an impression on everyone here. They all glanced up and saw a man in a white robe descending, his white hair was fluttering in the wind and he had his hands behind his back. He looked like a god descending from heaven, he even had some kind of unearthly glow about him that seemed to be golden.

    "B-by the moons, it''s the honorable Lord Dong!"

    One of the tribe members finally managed to shout out while all the others were still slack-jawed. The answer to the unmoving evil cultivators was right before them. This man had come to aid them in their time of need and he did it once again just like two years ago.

    "Its the Lord!"

    "The Mighty Dong!"

    "Yeah!"

    Everyone cheered out while Matt was kind of contemplating if he could get some kind of pseudonym. It wasn''t odd for powerful cultivators to change names, maybe he could find something more fitting and not be referred to as large genitals anymore.

    He moved his hand up, instantly everyone quieted down while bowing in respect. Zhang Dong descended right to the ground and looked at the Dark Palm sect remnants that were being all held back by his nascent soul realm power.

    "Quite a gathering of scumbags if I do have to say so myself, got anything to say for yourselves?"

    He stopped some of his aura from seeping out allowing the Dark Palm cultivators to speak out. What he got in return was a lot of pleading shouts.

    "No please honorable senior it was all Shi Tao''s fault, we couldn''t go against him!"

    "You bastards, you want to pin all the blame on me now!"

    "Yes venerable Daoist, it was all him we couldn''t go against him, no one wished to harm these good people!"

    The lower realm cultivators were quick to blame their leader for everything, he was the sole core formation expert in the group so he was an easy target to shift the blame to. Zhang Dong just shook his head side to side.

    "I hope my sect doesn''t become like you..."

    "I should kill you all here right now, you wanted to murder all of these innocent people here, women and children included."

    "Lucky for you, my sect is in need of ''free'' labor at the moment, you will spend the rest of your life working in mines."

    He had also found pockets that had some mineral deposits scattered here and there. The metals there weren''t anything all that special at most usable for earth grade materials but it was still a source of revenue. He would cripple all of these evil cultivators and they would spend the rest of their life working as slaves.

    "F-free labor senior?"

    "Slaves, you will be slaves. Death would be too easy of a punishment for the likes of you. You will have a lot of time to repent."

    The Dark Palm remnants trembled in indignation. Their plan had failed and now a future worse than death awaited them, slaving away god knows where while getting whipped and abused.

    Zhang Dong brought out his communication jade and informed his sect members about the issue. They still had some flying ships so they could transport these people. After taking care of that issue he turned to the large group of trembling people. He waved his hand forward and they all started floating up into the air and towards each other.

    They started shouting out, pleading for mercy but Matt wasn''t going to be lenient with them. A giant share of electricity surrounded the group of cultivators, shocking them with golden lightning while destroying their foundation pillars.

    The Tatar Tribe''s people looked with shock and awe at the bright light show. They were astonished by the power this man possessed, to them he was getting closer to a godly being than to a man. They all dropped down to their knees and started bowing at the display of his might.

    "These guys shouldn''t be a problem for you anymore, so please tie them up until people from my sect arrive to pick them up."

    He dropped the charred and twitching cultivators down to the ground, they were all passed out and their cultivation path was broken. A child at Qi condensation level was now stronger than them.

 199 Chapter 199

    "So¡­ long time no see?"

    To his question there was no reply, the people were bowing face down and with their butts raised into the air. They were probably afraid to meet the gaze of the man that almost single-handedly took out the Dark Palm sect.

    Zhang Dong just wanted to facepalm but instead, he just nodded and gave a more compelling order. He knew from his experience how people like this operated.

    "Rise up, that''s enough."

    The people slowly moved their heads up, their eyes were uncharacteristically sparkly. He could tell that he was getting revered by this group. From their standpoint, he was one of the most powerful experts in the whole empire, a nascent soul realm master. He had also aided them in this time of need and previously saved the Chief''s son from a powerful monster.

    The first man to get up and walk up to him was the old Tribe Chief, he didn''t change all that much in these past two years, maybe a wrinkle or two here or there. He clasped his hands in respect once again before finally opening his mouth.

    "Honorable Senior, you have aided us once again, how can this Tatar Tribe ever hope to repay you?"

    While the chief was speaking the rest of the Tribe people started standing up. Yang Rong and Cheng Yun that he met before were side by side. They had apparently buried the hatchet and Yang Rong in particular had grown up to be a respectable young man that was on his way to be the next Tribe Chief.

    "Ah, You don''t need to repay me, just live your life, as usual, it was just luck that I was close by while all of this was happening."

    Zhang Dong glanced at the charred Dark Palm members and was brought back to reality. He didn''t have time to exchange more pleasantries with these people. He had to map out the area and find a good spot for his sect to flourish.

    "But I shouldn''t linger, I didn''t come here to play around."

    He wanted to leave but the Tribe''s people couldn''t let such a chance slip by. This was a powerful nascent realm master, they wouldn''t have a second chance like this in their lifetime. They needed to somehow lure him in and maybe accept one of the youths as a disciple.

    "Please Honorable Senior Dong, we must hold a giant feast, why don''t you rest and let us show you some gratitude?"

    The village chief glanced to the side at some of his people that were quick to pick up on his scheme. They sprung to action fast, they surrounded Zhang Dong even closer and started begging him to stay, they were a lot of young ladies even mixed in to appeal to the man''s male side.

    "Please Grandmaster won''t you stay?"

    "Won''t you stay to enjoy our tribe''s best foods?"

    "Do you need some servants for your travels, I''m sure the youths would be helpful, take as many as you want!"

    "My daughter is a good cook and she can clean, she would be great as a maid for you my lord."

    Various people started clamoring for his attention. If they had even one of their family members work for this man their status would skyrocket.

    Matt raised his eyebrow at the Tribe''s people. They were moments away from getting massacred by the evil cultivators. You''d think that no person would be able to make a quick 180 after a traumatic event like this but here they were.

    He got reminded of how tough people in this world were. When they saw an opportunity to further their cause they went for it. He knew well what this was about but he needed to quench their enthusiasm. He had no time to stay here, he even remembered what happened last time. They sent him a group of young girls to his quarters as a bribe. He was in the middle of courting Feng Liena so he didn''t think this would be appropriate.

    ''Wonder what she would do if she found something like that out¡­''

    He was a bit curious if the woman would be jealous or envious. It wasn''t strange to have multiple wives in this society so would she care if he had any flings? He on the other hand was an old fashioned modern type of man, that would rather have one warm woman than ten lukewarm ones.

    "Stop, let me speak."

    Everyone quieted down after the white-haired man raised his hand while speaking out.

    "I don''t need any more servants and I don''t need any disciples."

    "I also really don''t have the time so I''ll be leaving."

    He started floating up to the people''s dismay. They knew that they couldn''t keep this person here but they just had to try. They kept their eyes on his magnificent form almost as if they were hoping to get a cultivation boost from it.

    He then vanished from their sight, almost like a blur as he took off into the deeper parts of the forest. Everyone from the Tribe was saddened that they couldn''t real him in.

    "What a shame¡­ if he took one of our girls as a concubine no one could go against this village."

    "Or if he took one of our boys as a disciple, we would be the greatest tribe!"

    The people chatted it up almost forgetting about the charred Dark Palm sect people. The same that were still out cold and they would probably take a few hours to get over their shocking experience. The only reasonable person was the Tribe Chief that immediately ordered his people to get some rope and tie up the evil cultivators. They might have been crippled but that didn''t mean that they couldn''t escape into the woods.

    Zhang Dong had moved forward into the forest but he had seen something odd. While passing the village from the top he noticed his name being mentioned on some signs. After further investigation, he figured out what it was.

    The bathhouse he previously used had his name added before it. There was something about it being a secret ground for cultivation. He could feel some residual Qi in the water that was probably left by him when he cultivated for the first time. He had caused lightning to descend from the clouds which was enough to make this a desired spot for cultivation for these Qi condensation tribe people.

    "I should sue them for copyright infringement!"

    He flew away but he didn''t realize how far his presence here had changed the place. The secret cultivation ground was just one thing. The Tribe even hosted sightseeing tours. They took people to where he fought the tentacle faced monster and told the tales of his gallant adventures. They also let people stay at the building he lived for those weeks at exorbitant prices.

    His mind was preoccupied with the strange Tribe that was going crazy for him so he didn''t notice that he had arrived at the place that started it all. He came to a halt and saw the damaged tree stump from where the miniature version of cthulhu sprung from.

    "Hey... this brings me back¡­"

    He moved towards that leftover stump, it was in bad shape as the monster burst from under it, destroying most of the tree in the process. He was still wondering if this was some kind of tutorial area and if the monster was a pre-planned encounter. He could have also been unlucky arriving at a bad time.

    "This thing sure pulled a fast one me¡­"

    He remembered running away in fear even though he was much stronger than the creature. He was inexperienced and unable to use his techniques to their full extent. It took the Tribe''s people getting in trouble for him to finally man up and face the creature. In the end he just overpowered it with his powerful body and lightning.

    While reminiscing about the past he realized that he had come far. He had managed to somehow bumble his way into a leader''s position. Going from a shut-in to a sect leader which was comparable to kings from his old world.

    He snapped out of it, this was no time to remember the good old days. He still needed to find a good location for his sect to set up shop. He looked to his system map while disgruntled as he didn''t expect to find anything worthwhile in the lowest of the low regions that he was in now.

    "Hm?"

    His eyes went wide as he noticed something out of place. There was some kind of signature here and it was right below him. He was standing right next to the tree and the open field that he was transported to at the start of his journey. Could this have something to do with it, was his question.

    This was quite a strange signature as it didn''t show up normally. It looked like a giant black spot and it was right below him. The blackness spread throughout his system map. It made it seem as if something was blocking out the signal from reaching there.

    He had to investigate, it was a highly unusual sight and he had reasons to believe that it had something to do with his arrival here.

    "This looks sketchy¡­"

    He didn''t like this, the spot below him wasn''t that far underground but even he couldn''t feel anything there when he used his spirit sense. If he didn''t have this graphical interface he would probably never have spotted this anomaly.

    He steeled his resolve and dived down into the rocks below. At his level of power, he could force his way down the hard ground but at a slow pace. He burrowed his way while lighting the path with his golden aura, eyes glued to the map.

    Zhang Dong could see that there was a naturally formed cavern leading to one of the blacked-out parts. He descended into it and burst through the wall. He came out in a large cave, the area lit up the moment he came through from his shiny aura.

    There was nothing out of place with this corridor so he followed it towards his destination. The splashing of water echoed through this place as it was some kind of naturally formed underwater passageway. The further he went in the closer he got to the black spot on his map.

    Finally, he arrived at his destination, the black spot in the area revealed itself to him. It was an out of place obsidian wall. He moved closer to it, it was clearly nothing that had formed naturally as it was way too smooth.

    "A wall?"

    He placed his palm on it, it was really polished and the light he was exuding was bouncing right off of it. It looked man-made as if someone placed or carved it here. This strange wall was clearly made of a different material than the ones in the corridor. It looked like hard obsidian.

    He knocked on it with his knuckles and noticed that this material was very resistant. Normally a simple knock on some rocks from someone with his strength would have caused some cracking.

    He decided to form a fist for his next test. He inserted a small amount of spiritual energy and punched out. The hit landed on the black wall and the whole place shook, the wind pressure alone from his hit caused the normal corridor to quake and tremble.

    The obsidian wall stood without a scratch though, he felt like a normal person punching an iron wall. His hand was even trembling and he didn''t even leave a dent on it.

    "What is this made of¡­"

    He wondered if he should put all of his power into another punch but before he could do that the wall started lighting up. Some strange symbols appeared which glowed blue and a light shot out that enveloped his whole body.

    ''Scanning in progress, please remain still, intruders will be eliminated.''

    He heard a strange robotic voice call out to him. A small orb appeared out of the wall and started scanning him from top to bottom. He had activated some kind of mechanism, it talked about elimination if he was deemed an intruder. He could only put up his defensive bubble and hope that it wasn''t powerful enough to cause him harm while he waited.

 200 Chapter 200

    "Error...Subject number 80082...error¡­deceased¡­"

    The strange light started flickering on and off, it was red in hue while saying the part about the subject number but then it changed to green.

    "Error...Overseer identification number 6893, identified."

    "Welcome, Overseer. Have a nice day. "

    The light flickered out and the sphere object that was scanning him absorbed itself back into the wall as if it was never there. The walls started rumbling and a human-sized door appeared before him.

    "Subject number 80082?... Overseer?"

    He had no idea what the robotic voice was talking about but he was really curious about what was inside. The walls were robust and he didn''t think that he would be able to force his way out of this place if he got stuck. This made him a bit concerned and halted his progress inside.

    "I know this is incredibly stupid, but¡­"

    He knew the risks but for some reason, he didn''t feel like there would be something dangerous inside. He felt that the status of Overseer that this machine gave him would keep him safe. Why it was calling him that way was still unknown to him.

    He made a step towards the wall and then another until he vanished into the door. The door closed itself after him as if it was never there in the first place.

    Matt felt a certain lack of ground under him and he quickly used his floating ability. The whole place quickly lit up and he was greeted with a large spherical room with not much in it.

    He appeared out of a random spot in the wall, these doors could probably be formed in any location.

    The whole place looked like an abandoned hangar, the walls were made from that black substance that he couldn''t budge with his current power level.

    The most interesting thing was right in the center, it looked like a floating cube and it was similar to the one he saw back in the secret ground. The cube was spinning around by itself while radiating faint light, even from here he could tell that this thing wasn''t simple.

    "T-that''s¡­ that''s an immortal grade item!"

    The moment he got in here he could feel the massive power radiating off that small thing. How could something like this evade everyone''s detection was his question.

    "It must be these walls¡­"

    "How many spirit points can I get from this thing if I absorb it¡­ a hundred million? a billion?"

    He had no idea how an immortal treasure would be counted by this system. This cube was clearly storing a lot of energy inside of it and it seemed to be powering this whole place.

    There was also another question on his mind, will the person that this thing belongs to notice if he just took it. Also, does this place have something to do with him being transported to this world?

    He strained his eyes and looked at the intricate etchings on the walls. He had some knowledge about teleportation gates and arrays from the secret ground. Maybe if he could decipher this formation he could come to some kind of conclusion.

    "As I thought¡­ it has some similarities to some of the teleportation arrays in those books but it''s many times more complex¡­"

    He tried placing his palm on the black walls with the arrays, but his system wasn''t willing to analyze this so he had to give up on that possibility.

    He started trembling at his discovery, this meant a lot. He came to the realization that someone or something had yanked him from his original world and placed him here. This grand teleportation formation was directly over the spot he appeared here over two years ago, this was too much of a coincidence.

    He tried theorizing about the point of this all. He had somehow placed the strangeness of being brought over to a xianxia world to the back of his head. He attributed it to being some kind of game and his Tranquil mind had made him not worry.

    Now from this evidence, he believed that it wasn''t a game. He started thinking that his own world, his home was out there and he could perhaps go back. He thought to his family members that he left and to the time he had spent there.

    ''Do they think I''m dead? What happened to my original body? What is this system anyway?''

    He had a myriad of questions now, ones that couldn''t be easily answered. He felt like his original body might have remained in his old world. His soul might have been taken here and placed into this Zhang Dong that might have actually been a real person before. The possibility of this being a created world by some higher being was also out there.

    He decided to move towards the cube that was floating around and radiating massive amounts of Qi. Maybe if he examined it with his system he could come up with something. He focused on it and looked for an answer, to his surprise his identification skill wasn''t able to identify this item. Even more, he was getting a jumbled mess of characters over this particular cube.

    For some reason he felt drawn to it, he moved his hand towards it with his index finger outstretched. The moment his finger was one centimeter away from the floating object a tiny spark of energy flickered. His body came to a halt and he felt like he was deep under the ocean. His ears started ringing and he was close to passing out.

    "Ugh¡­"

    He couldn''t pull his finger away instead, his body jolted forward and grasped the whole floating cube which made it exude more energy. This energy was going directly into him, he was lighting up like a Christmas tree, glowing in bright white. Matt felt his bones rattling and his teeth gnashing as a massive amount of pure energy was pushed into him.

    Just as his body felt like it would crumble under the pressure something occurred. The massive force was somehow redirected towards his dantian. Something in there started absorbing the enormous energy wave that the cube was trying to inject into his body as if trying to destroy him.

    The whole place went dark and the floating cube that was giving out copious amounts of light shattered into many tiny pieces while being grasped by him. Matt himself fell down and landed on the cold hard ground which was composed of the obsidian material.

    "Hey, you okay there, friend?"

    Matt slowly opened up his eyes, he felt like he was run over by a truck. To his surprise someone was now talking to him, his vision was blurry but he could make out an outline of a figure.If it was a man or a woman he didn''t know, the voices also switched between low and high pitched.

    "I don''t have much time, so listen well."

    "Don''t worry, the overseers won''t notice you just yet, I''ll be sure to block the signal."

    "I need your help."

    "You must gather more .....c¡­.s ...so...ble¡­.to¡­.bzzzzz"

    Before his vision could focus the person talking to his fizzled out of existence. It felt like he was talking to him through a really bad microphone with a lot of static and he couldn''t make out the last part of the massage at all.

    He slowly stood up, he didn''t know who that person was or where the energy that he was somehow absorbing went. His system wasn''t showing any more spirit points than he had. He looked all over the place but he was now in total darkness.

    He infused some energy into his body to produce a light source. From what he could make out the cube had shattered into dust, there was nothing left. It was clearly the power source for this place but now it was gone, he feared that he would be stuck in here as he probably couldn''t break the walls.

    "Damn what was that?... was that some kind of hologram?"

    He had more unanswered questions now, why did he get drawn into grabbing that cube. The moment he got closer he felt like he should touch it. He didn''t even get the opportunity to put on some gloves.

    Then there was the strange voice that called out to him, it sounded like a man but he wasn''t sure. He wanted him to get him something, but he wasn''t sure what. This all started after the secret ground encounter and after he absorbed the cube that was there.

    ''Does it have something to do with these cubes?''

    He wasn''t sure if he could trust that person. Wherever that energy went it wasn''t him, there might be something stuck in his dantian getting nourished by it. His mind made him think about a certain movie about aliens, he really didn''t want to end up with someone bursting out of his dantian.

    He tried scanning his body, looking into all of his parts even into his nascent soul but he couldn''t find anything. The only thing he had to go off of were these energy cubes.

    ''Does that mean there are other people like me here? Or there might have come here before me¡­''

    He racked his brain about the purpose of spiriting people away to xianxia styled worlds but he couldn''t think about anything worthwhile. The more important thing was getting out of here. He hovered over to the spot he came from and managed to find it thanks to his good memory.

    He placed his palm on the hard surface and gave it a good few knocks to no avail. He then kicked it with all his might and to his surprise, there was some kind of reaction as the intricate array symbols started glowing.

    He thought for a second and then placed his hand on the surface. He then started infusing the wall with his own spiritual energy. After a certain point, the door sprung open and he quickly jumped outside into the previous corridor. The whole thing was lacking a power source but was still in working condition. He had enough juice to at least make this part of the structure move and let him out.

    ''I guess it still sees me as this overseer thing?''

    He was now back outside. He had gone in with a lot of questions and came out with even more. This whole expedition had proved to be a big fat failure. He didn''t find a place for his sect to stay as and now he was having an existential crisis about being played with by some kind of higher being.

    He was almost ready to take off and return home but then he felt something. He had to pull up his map once more to examine it. After the cube was gone the whole area became visible. Right below him was another surprise, there was a large spiritual vein buried deep underground and it was exuding copious amounts of spiritual energy.

    He put two and two together and came to the conclusion that this device was probably hiding this source of spiritual energy. The cube might not have even been the source of energy, it was probably siphoning it from the spirit vein.

    Zhang Dong gave out a sigh, he had decided to bring his sect over here. One of the reasons was this newly discovered vein the other was that he didn''t want others to discover this teleportation array. He needed to examine it further and with his sect on top of it, it would be a lot easier.

 201 Chapter 201

    Just like Zhang Dong was able to use stormy weather to hasten his progress, so could others use these spirit veins. Just that these were far more universal and didn''t require any specialized techniques. The vein placed here wasn''t the largest, maybe the floating cube had sapped it of its energy for all these years it was buried here.

    The good thing about these naturally occurring treasure areas was that they recharged themselves over time. This was actually something good as the sect could set up their spiritual formations now and block other sects from finding this place. If those three sects noticed that the United Element sect found a better location for cultivation then they had, they would surely come asking for trouble.

    ''Yeah, I found something, bring more people we need some architects. I think I found the new location for our sect.''

    Matt ended his communication with Zhang Kuo while outside of the hole. He knew that they could somehow hide this place from prying eyes but that didn''t mean that they would be suspicious of them. The whole act of placing your sect in the lowest of low areas was already really sketchy. He didn''t think that the other three sects would act before gathering more evidence though, they just needed to somehow falsify it.

    If they managed to make it seem like there was a smaller pocket of spirit metals or spirit herbs here instead of a spirit vein then the other sect would probably leave them alone.

    ''Hm, can I somehow redirect the spiritual energy from this spirit vein into the Dimensional Regalia, with its aura masking traits I should be able to hide everything.''

    His first thought was to use the pocket dimension. On the outside, they would look like a small sect while on the inside they would prosper into a mighty hidden titan. He went back to his library to find the right array formations for the job. He flew up into the sky and was already mapping the whole area out, his map feature was quite handy in situations like this.

    ''This planet is as huge as the sun but I remain in this little part of it¡­ it''s kind of funny¡­''

    He thought back to the life he was living. His life here wasn''t very adventurous, he had remained in the vicinity of a couple of cities he knew and never left. His clan kept him from moving, the only freedom he ever had was when he worked as his demon hunter persona and even then he didn''t really wander into the large sect territories.

    ''Well, might as well do a good job while I''m at it.''

    He pumped himself up, he could create the best and strongest sect that this world had ever seen. He was already in the nascent soul realm so he had enough time to do it meticulously. He went back to examining the surroundings until some of his sect members arrived. It was Zhang Kuo and with him were a couple of unknown elders from the other sects that he didn''t have the opportunity to talk too. With them was also Zhang Zi piloting the large flying ship that was hovering above the tall trees.

    "Sect leader we are here!"

    They all bowed to him and jumped down to the ground. They looked around the forest area and noticed some of the weak beasts scattering out of the way to hide themselves. They were curious why the sect master wanted this to be the new location.

    "Good, let me show you something."

    The people here were mostly in foundation establishment but all of them stuck through till the end so they could be trusted. He brought them down to the hole that he had dug up. The spirit vein was in a separate cave of its own, the walls were all crystallized and these crystals were close to spirit stones but not quite.

    Everyone''s eyes opened wide with surprise, this was truly a magnificent spot to set-up their sec.

    "As you can see, this is a spiritual vein, it''s a bit drained now but it should recover within a year."

    "We must secure it, set up formations to block out the spiritual energy from leaking out."

    Zhang Dong said what he thought about the situation. About how he wanted to hide this from the sects and how the Dimensional Regalia treasure would be used. He even wanted to design a separate teleportation gate and place it into his treasure. This way people wouldn''t have to constantly use the small medallion as an entrance. This would also hide its true form and whereabouts from any potential spies.

    The whole sect became busy overnight, the most concerned people were the tribesmen. The small pickup for the Dark Palm sect turned into a large event as they started seeing more and more people from the United Elements sect coming to their village.

    It didn''t take long for them to notice that they were building something in the forest. They were concerned at first but they had trust in Zhang Dong and that he wouldn''t hurt them. The days started passing and the word that this sect would be using their forest as their main base of operations was brought to light. The tribe members were ecstatic about this news, they were even allowed to stay here.

    The whole building process would take a while but Matt was mostly concerned about keeping the spiritual vein hidden for now. Unless a spy appeared then it would be safe. This is also why he decided to stay in person, he would use his map feature to catch any people unrelated to his sect in the area. His spiritual sense filled the locations around the spot that the new sect was being built.

    This was quite a boring task as he could only sit around and stare. His people were mostly finished with setting up the smaller formations that would block out the spiritual energy from seeping away. The buildings started to slowly take shape, the first thing going into place would be the walls around the center area.

    He was going to place a giant castle right in the middle of the spirit vein. It would have an angular hip roof at the top with the Sects name written out on a flag. There would be six large pagodas all around it that would house some of the stronger elders from his side. He wasn''t sure what he wanted to place into the courtyard just yet, probably some gardens and maybe a place for people to train in.

    This grand structure would be nothing but a distraction though, the real sect would be right in the immortal grade treasure that he had found so long ago. He didn??t think killing one demonic cultivator would let him discover such a useful treasure but he was apparently a lucky man.

    This center castle would be the most important structure, but not like it would be the only one. There would be smaller yet similar buildings spread out throughout the forest area that would need to be cut down. They would be placed in strategic locations in a decagonal fashion around it. More walls would be placed between those Chinese styled buildings to complete this large defensive fortress.

    On the inside, there would be more buildings like apothecaries, training areas, smithing shops that would aid the disciples on their journey into the future. Matt really wanted to place his sect on some large mountain peaks but there just weren''t any at this geographical location and he wasn''t quite powerful enough to raise giant mountains from the ground to carry them over here.

    While he was overseeing the construction he noticed some people sneaking around. There have actually been a couple of spies that he had apprehended during the weeks of this construction. The three sects might have looked uninterested but they still sent cultivators over to snoop about. It started with foundation establishment cultivators trying to peek then evolved into core formation elders trying to glide through the forest on their flying blades.

    He had promptly taken care of them, he knew well that the sects wouldn''t actually admit that these people were from their side. Such was the life of a spy if they got caught there would be no rescue party coming. Thanks to this he was free to relocate them into the ''free labor'' initiative movement, maybe he would release them after his sect got powerful enough to not fear the three larger ones surrounding them. He still knew that they were just following orders; this wasn''t something he would want to punish people for.

    This day was a bit different though as the people snooping were far too weak.

    ''Qi condensation?''

    He raised his eyebrow while continuing to hover above the construction site in a lotus position. He used his spiritual sense to gather more information. There were two people coming and they were still quite far away, if they moved too close then the United Element sect guards that were also placed around the area would find them out.

    ''It''s those two kids?''

    The ''spies'' were actually just two youths from the Tatar Tribe. It was the silkypants that he had met over two years ago and the youth that he saved while flying towards civilization. The two were now moving in unison towards the construction. This location wasn''t that far away from their village so they could probably reach it within the day.

    ''Did someone fall asleep on the job back at the village?''

    He had told Zhang Kuo to make sure that the villagers wouldn''t go towards their sect''s new location. Even if the possibility was low, they could be captured by the enemy sects and forced to cough up some intel if they wandered in too deep. He gave out a sigh and used his communication jade to call his retainer. He couldn''t really leave his spot and this wasn''t something a sect leader should be dealing with.

    In a matter of minutes, there were two cultivators at their location. The youths were scared out of their wits and tried apologizing, from what he could tell the reason they wandered into the forest was to join the sect. They were promptly removed from the premises by the two sect members that consisted of one Feng Clan member and one Huo clan member.

    ''They wanted to join the sect?''

    He thought to himself. It was a bit too soon for that but in the future, he wanted to expand. He needed a batch of fresh recruits that were around the land. Some of the sects were strenuous with this process making the new disciples go through rigorous tests. Some used connections with rich families to procure favor while accepting their youths into their midst.

    He didn''t really want people getting into his sect just by association, the three main clans were an exception as they were considered the founding members. He moved his gaze back to the people below as he went back to watching the progress. If you didn''t count the spies from the other sects the days went by peacefully. They were on the right path but as always he and his people needed time and he hoped that this time around they would have enough on their side.

 202 Chapter 202

    His two friends weren''t here either. Huo Qiang was patrolling the borders and Feng Liena was moving between the lands and guarding their resource convoys. He, as the strongest of their cultivators, was defending the Dimensional Regalia along with the new location. There was nothing interesting to keep him busy though.

    He couldn''t really cultivate as they needed him to keep watch. There was no radio, no TV, and the holograms that he made were back at the old Zhang headquarters. If they were here he could at least listen to some news and laugh at the stern presentation.

    ''This sucks¡­ how much longer will this take?''

    They had managed to prepare a makeshift room for him. He had a quill in his hand and there was a large canvas on the wall. He was using it to redraw the area around them while using the system map as a reference.

    He did find some mineral pockets deep underground along with some other resources. They could use them to bolster their depleted stock as after the war there wasn''t much left. Luckily the Feng Clan and Huo Clan weren''t hit that hard, they still had all of their stock.

    After Huo Qiang''s father discovered that his son was using an immortal grade technique, he quickly changed his tune. He was all in from that point, Qiang even asked Zhang Dong if he would permit him to let his father use the same cultivation technique as him. He just shrugged and gave him the okay, he had given Qiang that as a present and he could do with it as he pleased.

    The idea of drawing the map came to him as a means to end this boredom. He was also working on copying down some cultivation techniques for the future sect disciples. He had even decided on the color grading of the robes. With the help of some sect members that were not as color blind as he was.

    At first, he wanted to separate everyone into a different element. Red for fire, blue for water, and so on. This would be a bit jarring as there were quite a few elements and it would just be too bothersome.

    First, the disciples would start out in plain gray robes. These would be what every outer sect disciple would get. Then the inner sect disciples would get blue robes and the core disciples violet as it was apparently a color of nobility and royals. He and the other two grand elders were free to choose their own robes.

    They needed to house various types of learning halls to produce specialists in professions. They needed pill makers, weaponsmiths, beast tamers, and of course a martial hall to house the best fighters.

    They had a long way to go as they were just setting up the basic scaffolding. It would probably take at least a year till this actually started to look like something. Luckily he didn''t have to lift a finger during all of this. His main purpose was to act as a deterrent against the other sects but this also meant that he needed to remain here.

    ''And done¡­''

    With the last stroke of his quill he had finished the large map of the area that he was responsible for. There were many large cities that housed millions of people in them. This world was truly gigantic, it was even bigger than his previous home planet.

    It took about two days to make a round trip around his old planet. When he was at core formation his flight speed was comparable to a jet plane and he still needed a day to fly between some cities and sometimes longer.

    He was now the proud owner of this land. There were many millions of people living here, most of them scared as a new force had taken over. To them there wouldn''t be much of a change, from one tyrant to another was their consensus. No one thought that the other large sects would be any different from the others. Overbearing and quick to anger if face was being tarnished was the way people lived in this world.

    Matt was trying to defend himself against this way of thinking but even he saw that it was hard to make these people change. Even he knew that unless you had the biggest fist around, no one would listen to you. He didn''t want to rule with it though, he would rather have everyone work together in a more coherent way.

    ''Living as one big happy family is all nice and fine, but¡­''

    He still would need to use his fists. The sect was weak and they had many eyes looking at them. Looking for them to fail, ready to pounce at an opportunity. He would still need to act as a powerful and all-knowing leader. Maybe if he had ten more nascent soul elders on his side he would be able to relax. Though controlling so many powerful individuals might cause some internal disputes.

    The finished map would be placed in the new meeting room. It would act as a good prop for further plans. He decided to take a stroll through the new area, outside he could see his sect members working together. All of the three main clans were here, everyone working diligently new relationships created day by day which made him happy.

    He looked to the side as his senses picked something up. It was one of their large transports bringing over more building materials from the other clans. This one arrived from the Huo Clan. He perked up a bit as he felt a familiar person coming with this convoy, it was Feng Liena acting as the guard.

    She would be free for a couple of days now as everything needed to be unpacked. With her around, he could probably take a bit of a breather as she also was a nascent soul master with a powerful spiritual sense.

    He looked at his reflection in the mirror while slightly nervous. Previously he never did care about his outer appearance, now he was checking out if his white robe didn''t have any wrinkles in it. He even raised his armpit to see if he wasn''t sweaty. Luckily his body had evolved so much that there wasn''t really any foul odor produced by it.

    "Hello, how have you been?"

    "Eyyy, how you doin?"

    "Junior Sister, you''re looking as lovely as ever¡­"

    He practiced in front of the mirror, his face looked tense, and the way he smiled looked forced at best. It was really hard for an unsocial person like him to actually talk to women. There wasn''t really anyone that he could ask for advice and most of them would probably just say that he should propose.

    Dating as a concept wasn''t really a thing in this world. People got together with the sole purpose of forming family ties or making kids. There were relationships with love involved but most of the time it was arranged by your elders. Unless your standing was high, the privilege of choosing a partner wasn''t your own.

    He wanted to punch the mirror in front of him as he looked like an idiot. The amounts of cringe coming out of his mouth were over the charts. He finally decided to leave his temporary room. His destination was the large flying ship that had precious cargo on it.

    He went out instead of flying as the ship that had already landed. He had a bit of stage fright but he had gone on some mini-dates with Feng Liena a couple of times before. They had some tea with each other while discussing the sect''s current predicament.

    When exiting his room he garnered some attention from the other sect members that gave him the usual salute. He just nodded at them and continued forward, the guards by his new room followed right after him as they were ordered to tend to his needs. This didn''t help with his predicament as it only meant that there were more eyes on him.

    He continued forward, whenever someone saw him they stopped in their tracks to bow. Even if they were performing some difficult task they would take some time to show their respect. He even saw some people dropping a massive block made from solid rock just bow with appreciation.

    He took his time, not really being in any hurry. The days felt slow as he had to be here guarding the construction site. Taking a little stroll through the new land was one of the things that could make time pass a bit faster.

    The sect workers were busy with flattening the land and clearing out all the trees. This was also the main reason why this was taking so long. They had to remove their roots along with the trunks. The only good thing about this task, they were getting a lot of free construction materials. The trees here weren''t of such good quality so they would probably be mostly used as timber or for furniture. They could also be used for things like shacks that didn''t need to be too sturdy.

    The rapid deforestation caused a lot of friction with the beasts living here. They were all lower-level beasts so they didn''t pose a threat. By his order, they were to be captured for future beast taming training.

    He came out of the corner and finally saw their ship. It previously had the Feng Clan flag hanging from it but now it had changed to the United Element sects characters. He didn''t hide his presence at all so people probably noticed that he was already approaching.

    Feng Liena wasn''t the only person coming. To his surprise, his two disciples were also here, with them was Liena''s younger sister Nuana. She was hanging around Zhang Liu''s arm like a tick while the youth looked uncomfortable. His sister Zhang Xue was walking while being accompanied by Huo Kong, Huo Qiang''s most prominent son.

    There were also various other members from the other clans from the junior generation tagging along. They had become bored with staying at the Zhang Clan sanctuary and asked Feng Liena to take them along on her escort mission. It was a lot more interesting to fly on a large ship and visit other places than being cooped up in one place. They had quickly gathered together and most of these people were the youths that had gone to the Dao Festival together. Matt even saw one of the youths being surrounded by at least ten Gyarus , he looked like he would be having a similar fate to his grandpa.

    This made things a bit more awkward but he didn''t falter while walking forward. He wanted to try smiling in front of the arrivals to greet them but he came out stone-faced as always. The moment the people saw his white-robed form coming their way they all stopped in their tracks. This was their sect leader that was coming to greet them, they all felt honored.

    "Greeting sect leader!"

    Before he could welcome them they called out, giving him the usual show of respect. He glanced at some of the people, some were being more respectful than the others. His two disciples seemed glad that he was here and he could tell that they wanted to chat with him. His gaze was glued to the person that was walking in the front, his so-called ''girlfriend'' Feng Liena.

    "Ah, greeting to you all and to you to junior sister."

    He made sure to single her out from the group a little smile appearing on his face.

    Feng Liena nodded slightly while covering her face with a fan. The people that came with her looked between the two, they had noticed that something was going on. The person most interested in this exchange was the one hanging on by Zhang Liu''s arm.

 203 Chapter 203

    This was also why she was clinging to Zhang Dong''s disciple so much. Through the texts, she had deemed him worthy of being her partner.

    She was looking at her sister blushing slightly while covering the lower half of her face with a fan. She looked to the reason why she was doing this and saw Zhang Dong standing there. The man was quite handsome but she still preferred the more youthful looks of Zhang Liu''s.

    She narrowed her eyes while looking at her sister moving over towards this white-haired man. That the two were growing their bond was an obvious thing, which would mean that this person in front of her would become her elder brother. Due to the secret texts not presenting any boundaries between others, she thought it would be natural to greet him. She would do it in quite the overblown way though.

    Feng Nuana stopped clinging to Liu''s arm and skipped forward. She appeared next to her sister that was busy hiding her bashfulness. Zhang Dong had noticed her approach but not like he would stop the little sister of his love interest. He also just thought that she would do the usual bow of appreciation.

    To his bafflement, the girl just quickly jumped out and gave him a big hug. He was on the taller side at 190 cm of height so she had her face planted in his abs. He was quite surprised by the sudden act of affection by the girl he only knew as ''that girl that always clings to Zhang Liu''

    "Elder brother, little Nuana is happy to see you~"

    "Uh¡­"

    He stared at the girl that was wiggling up against him and then looked to her older sister. He could see a vein appearing on her forehead while her eyebrows inclined.

    The junior members that were standing behind the whole scene were dumbfounded by the act of affection. Was the sect leader already this close to the Feng Matriarch and her younger sister that they were okay with hugging each other?

    No one knew what to do, was the girl going out of line and offending the new sect leader? Normally people in such high positions were quite pedantic about their face. What if he decided to punish her and the good relationship built with the Feng Clan would cease to exist.

    The first one to break the silence was Feng Liena. The fan was used to block out her rage but she was quite angry about what her little sister did. Not because he was being rude towards the sect leader or that it could cause some misunderstandings. No, she was mad that her sibling had managed to hug the person she admired before she could. She was even rubbing her face all over his belly, this was something that she was supposed to do!

    "No, I don''t wanna! Save me elder brother, big sis is being a meany!"

    What ensued was a scene of the nascent soul elder trying to peel away her younger sister from the sect leader. The smaller girl was clinging to him hard though, just as Zhang Liu had feared she did indeed have some dastardly clinging technique. Feng Liena even started pulling her by the legs which caused Nuana''s lower body to move up in the air. She continued clinging while her sister kept pulling, the other sect members just looked without doing anything as the sect leader was involved.

    Zhang Dong didn''t know what to do either, it felt odd having one cute girl clinging to you, while another beautiful one was trying to pry her off you. Even if he liked the attention he knew that this couldn''t go on any further.

    "You have quite the interesting little sister there, Junior Sister Liena¡­"

    He finally spoke out and poked Nuana''s forehead with his index finger. The girl felt a strange force rushing through her body before going limp and losing all of her strength in her body. She was pulled backward by her older sister but the two were enveloped in a gentle golden aura. Feng Nuana was spun around and placed onto her feet, the moment of weakness subsided rapidly.

    Zhang Dong moved over and gave the troublemaker a pat on the head before moving next to Feng Liena. She looked kind of angry at the whole predicament but he didn''t really want to cause a further scene. He also noticed that for some reason her Qi went into disarray when he gave the little sister a head pat. He could only think that she was mad that he dared to touch her little sister without consent.

    "Ah, think we should head inside¡­ the sect members are working diligently, I''ll be your guide."

    He laughed a bit to himself. The younger sister pouted a bit before moving back to clinging to Zhang Liu''s arm. The youth''s expression switched from confusion to defeat in a span of a few seconds as the small busty girl was back.

    Everyone just nodded while Zhang Dong walked forward, they couldn''t decline the leader if he was going to show them around the new sect ground. Feng Liena remained half a step behind him while the rest followed in the back. Everyone was still thinking about their status so everyone lined up accordingly.

    Zhang Dong peeked behind him, everyone was keeping their distance even Liena was lagging slightly behind. He noticed that she and Qiang kept doing this, they always remained half a step behind him. This was just a show of respect to their leader but he wanted to move past that. Have wished the two accept him as an equal and not like someone above them.

    This prompted him to stop in his tracks while peeking behind himself. He made a little controlled maneuver and placed himself at the right next to the tanned beauty with the pink hair.

    Feng Liena stopped momentarily as she found a certain white-haired man right next to her. He just smiled while nodding as he tried to indicate that it was okay to walk with him as an equal. The junior members in the back looked in with awe at the man before them as they knew what this kind of gesture meant.

    Regretfully Matt wasn''t someone from this world so he didn''t realize what his little act caused. In this world allowing a woman to walk beside you was akin to declaring her as your lover. This was something he was slowly trying to go towards for but this was seen as quite the power move on his part.

    The girls in the back were surprised by the boldness of this sect leader. The youths were just shocked by how nonchalantly he had done it, there was no hesitation, no fear. He just went for it and the lady next to him was looking quite glad.

    ''Why is she blushing like a ripe tomato?''

    ''Why is everyone looking at me like this?''

    Matt was curious about the reactions of the people in the back. He just took a step back so that Feng Liena didn''t have to do this saving face nonsense and walk next to him. He didn''t make anything off it, it was just a simple gesture of good etiquette.

    "Shall we?"

    He asked, indicating that he wanted to move forward. Feng Liena''s heartbeat increased and he could hear it. The increased heartbeat caused him to think that she was having some kind of panic attack as it was highly irregular to behave this way. He stepped forward, he was a physician as well so he could probably give her a checkup if he just grasped her hand.

    So he did. The people in the back and from all around opened their eyes widely. Her Sect master was so brazen, he just more or less asked for the woman to be his lover and now he was already moving ahead and asking her for marriage. To Matt, this gesture didn''t mean much, to the people here it meant that he was proposing. The people around them went wild, their eyes glued on the two as they hoped for a good reply.

    ''The heart rate is a bit high but nothing out of the ordinary, think she is just nervous?''

    ''Is she stressed out from having to guard the convoys?''

    ''Maybe I should give her some time off?''

    "I¡­"

    He finally heard Feng Liena replying, she started stuttering at first but then she came to some kind of conclusion.

    "I accept!"

    "You accept?"

    He replied.

    "She accepted!"

    Everyone shouted in the back with a lot of emotion that caught him off guard. Why were these people acting like weirdos again?

    "Yes, I accept!"

    She replied again while dropping her head down and turning to the side. He let go of her hand and they finally continued on with the tour of the base.

    Unbeknownst to him, the people from his sect were on this like rabid dogs. Everyone sent out information with their jade tokens about the good news. The Zhang Clan Patriarch, now the United Element Sect leader, was going to wed Feng Liena, the Feng Clan Patriarch.

    This was quite the scoop for their people and also a morale booster. This brought two powers together in a bond of unity and the Zhang side and the Feng side would be even closer than before.

    This did bring the Huo Clan into a bit of a predicament as they didn''t have any bargaining chips from their side. Their biggest opportunity was in Huo Kong''s relationship with Zhang Dong''s female disciple. If they could get the two together, they could expand their influence in the Zhang Clan and get a better foothold.

    When the news reached Zhang Jin that remained behind at the old Zhang Clan sanctuary he was ecstatic. He feared that something was wrong with his grandson as he was taking his time with courting. He himself would have already sealed the deal and a baby would be on its way.

    He alerted his wives to the good news, they were to prepare a list of people to invite to the wedding. They could host it in a few months after more of the sect was set up as a large banquet. It would bolster the spirits of the people. Seeing two of their leaders as a couple could be used as a tool to further the sect agenda.

    They could invite all of the scattered clans from all the other cities. Show off their power and also stabilize their position in their hearts. They could also send invitations to the three powerful sects that would probably send some envoys of goodwill.

    Marriages like this were perfect for finding new business partners and allies. If all went well, they might bring someone from those three overbearing powers over to their side. There was also a chance of offending them in some way but they just needed to take the risk. They still had Zhang Dong''s master protecting them from the back.

    "The sect leader is getting married? To senior Feng Liena?"

    "We must prepare a big banquet!"

    "A banquet? We should make a whole festival, invite everyone to show off our mighty sect!"

    Zhang Jin''s wives started chuckling with each other while making plans. The festivities were going to be big, the problem was the lack of funds from their side. They were still a bit low on spirit stones due to the war and were in the recovering process.

    "Don''t worry, just ask my grandson''s sworn brother for some aid, their clan should have the funds."

    Zhang Jin gave his advice. The Huo Clan section of the sect would probably be worried about not really being included in the whole wedding. But if they covered most of the expenses they would also gain some face.

    Everything went in motion, the people were already picking out the venue and designing the best wedding dresses for Feng Liena to pick out from.

    The man of the hour, Zhang Dong had no idea what he had started. He was just trying to be nice while slowly courting his target. He had never gone through this process so he wanted to slowly enjoy it while their emotions developed. Soon he would discover that today''s actions had brought something into motion that he couldn''t stop anymore.

 204 Chapter 204

    Whenever he passed by the female cultivators he could hear them whisper and when he left their eyesight they would start squealing like little kids. The male ones looked at him with some kind of devotion that wasn''t there before like he had accomplished something great. This felt different from the usual Patriarchal loyalty that he grew accustomed too, it felt a lot more crazed.

    He just shrugged it off while thinking that they were just being goofy and that he just wasn''t accustomed to some of their hijinks.

    There was also the problem with Feng Liena, she felt a lot more bashful than before. Then just one day after she came to the construction site one of her retainers stood in his way. She had informed him that going by tradition he wasn''t allowed to see her until the big day. What was this big day, or this tradition he had no idea? He just backed away thinking that it just might have been that day of the month and that it would be rude to ask about a detailed explanation.

    He was a bit saddened by the lack of company so he had to take out his frustration in the best way possible. He would do this by beating up his disciples and their friends that had come begging for some pointers. There was nothing better than putting some snotty kids in place with a good whack.

    "Your right side is wide open!"

    ''THWACK''

    Zhang Liu flew into the distance after he got tapped on the cheek by his master. Zhang Dong had lowered his cultivation base to fit his disciple''s but he was still someone at the nascent soul level. Just the fact that he had an evolved spiritual sense let him predict every attack that was thrown at him. He also had absorbed all the knowledge from that sacred ground. He was a master of hand to hand combat with both a high level of Qi and body refining.

    "Don''t swing so wide!"

    ''WHAP''

    Zhang Xue tried attacking her master after he brother took a swan dive into some trees. Her master just leaned back while evading a lightning charged kick. The girl then got smacked on the back and tumbled into some bushes. The two were already at the foundation level so the impacts of their hardened bodies made small craters.

    "Take this!"

    Zhang Dong peeked to the side after defending himself against the two youths. A fist engulfed in fire was heading his way. He just lowered himself while redirecting his Qi into his forehead. The one punching was Huo Kong and the moment he delivered his punch was also the moment that he realised that he made a big mistake.

    The youth flinched back while grasping his hand; it felt like he hit some kind of anvil made from precious metals.

    He flicked the muscular youth''s forehead with his finger which caused him to fly away into the direction that Zhang Liu went. Both of them ended up on top of each other. More junior members were looking on from the sides, their eyes straining not to blink as they were worried that they would miss something in this lecture.

    The only person left was Feng Liena''s little sister. The busty shrimp just went into a frenzy and started attacking Zhang Dong with all she had. She wasn''t weak for her age but he had realised that these youths weren''t that great at strategizing.

    They mostly tried to overwhelm their opponents with superior techniques that quickly drained them of their Qi and stamina. You just needed to be good at evading and reading their movement patterns. After they tired themselves a bit you could move in for the kill.

    Just like the rest she was sent flying into the distance. She landed with her posterior on Zhang Xue and the fight was over. Zhang Dong moved his hands behind his back and looked at the defeated youths, his head moving side to side as if he was disappointed.

    "You all need to work on your basics."

    "What is the most important part of combat?"

    "The power of your techniques? The sheer amount of Qi you can store in your body? Or maybe is it your cultivation realm?"

    The defeated youths gathered up. His two disciples were a bit surprised that their Master was so chatty today. Most of the time he just implemented some knowledge into their brain and then went on his way. Somehow he felt more genuine today and more carrying.

    The group of young cultivators looked at each other and started to think. They were mostly inclined to believe that power in general was the most important part. Having to battle someone of a higher realm was considered suicide by almost everyone. They all looked to the sect leader, ready to receive his wisdom, no one was even willing to make a prediction.

    "Hah, I guess I''ll tell you then."

    "It''s your footwork."

    The youths were a bit surprised by the answer. There wasn''t even any footwork involved when nascent soul or core formation experts fought with each other in the air. So how could this answer be true?

    "Footwork isn''t limited to the ground."

    "You can defeat your opponent just by feeling out how they move."

    He explained further. The place they were training in was on sand where their footprints were left behind.

    "Look at the area I''m standing in and then take a look outside it"

    The youths started examining it. The stretch of space that the sect leader was standing in wasn''t large but they could tell that he wasn''t moving in it all that much. Compared to that his opponents were flying all over the place, making big jumps and dangerous techniques that made them move around a lot.

    "Make your opponents work against themselves, you can control the flow of the battle like so."

    Zhang Dong made it even more obvious by making his footprints glow in gold while the other ones had a blue hue. The youths could instantly see that his feet stayed in one general area while all the others were random and erratic without a sense to them.

    "This does translate into aerial battle later, but it gets more difficult."

    "But we will take that step after you create your core. This shouldn''t be that hard for such promising youths."

    These juniors here were all the cr¨¨me de la cr¨¨me, they would be the future powerhouses of the sect. Reaching the core formation-level would probably be achievable in the coming years.

    The group really perked up at the mention of a core being created. They were all from clans where a core formation expert was the pinnacle. So they felt quite good about themselves when the sect leader made a statement that it should be easy for them.

    Matt laughed a bit after he saw their eyes go wide. These kids were still cultivators, the most important thing for them was to reach the next realm.

    "Kong, Nuana, Liu, Xue and Tai, You five, in particular, show the most promise. The sect is expecting a lot from you but I also would like you not to rush with your cultivation. Building a good foundation is paramount, take your time and don''t rush it."

    "Yes, Sect Leader!"

    "Yes, Master!"

    "Little Nuana will make sure to make my elder brother proud!"

    Everyone shifted their gaze to the short girl with the pink hair. She had continued calling the sect leader with ''elder brother'' since the day she got here. They all knew that her older sister was getting married to Zhang Dong so she wasn''t doing anything wrong. Still, she was going a bit overboard and not really giving him face which caused his disciples to be a bit apprehensive about it.

    "Ah yes¡­ you don''t get discouraged. Everyone progresses at their own pace, when we are finished with building the sect ground you might have your opportunity."

    Zhang Dong turned away from his new ''little sister'' and looked at the other junior members that were standing there. He gave them a little pep talk while hoping that they wouldn''t feel discouraged. He was clearly favoring his own disciples and the relatives of his friends that also were probably only stronger due to their wealthy upbringing.

    He already knew that talent and potential could be measured by his system. This didn''t mean that someone''s progress was set in stone. This was only a number that would indicate natural progress. It didn''t really take into account how passionate and hard working the person was.

    For instance, if you took a person with A grade potential and one with B grade potential. The one with the B could very well outperform the A grade if they were diligent in their work while the A grade was being lazy.

    The rest of the kids just did the usual clasped fist bow while he nodded. If he was wearing one of those flowy robes he would probably turn around while swishing his sleeves. Alas, he was someone that was practical and he wore more form-fitting clothes.

    "Well then, all of you line up and show me your punching form!"

    "Yes, Sect Leader!"

    "Yes, Master!"

    "Little Nuana will do her best~"

    He cringed a bit at the reply he got from his new little sis. She was acting similarly to how Feng Liena did the first time he met her. He knew the cause of it but at this point, he didn''t really want to argue about it. He still hadn''t seen those so-called ''secret texts'' and he didn''t really want to see them. He would have to somehow explain everything again which could make things worse.

    The day continued while he tried giving the youths some pointers about fighting. He wasn''t sure if he was the greatest teacher but the kids seemed to like him. He even managed to drop his stone face and show a bit of a smile as he got more comfortable with being around people.

    The day passed quickly, Matt had a lot of fun working on the kids and had to rethink his whole disciple situation. Maybe he could even give some lessons in the future martial hall when it got built.

    ''Maybe I''m just that bored though¡­''

    He shrugged and returned to his temporary quarters. He went back to sitting in the lotus position while scanning the area. He remembered reading about people in his position. They were rarely mentioned in the books. Always in the back and only appearing when the main protagonist needed saving. It was probably not very fun or interesting to read about some old man sitting in the room and scanning everything with his spiritual sense. Now he was this kind of expert, just sitting there and keeping watch.

    His spiritual sense swept the whole area, no further spies had appeared since he took out the core formation ones. The other sects had probably given up after they got reports of him being here. He wasn''t worried about the secrets leaking out as even after months of being here there was no retaliation.

    The calm days continued, Feng Liena finally flew away with the ship without telling her farewells. His disciples remained here along with their friends as he had started giving them pointers from time to time. The sect continued to grow and his workforce became more diligent with each day. This all culminated in one faithful day when his grandfather arrived.

    He was awfully chipper as he arrived on a flying sword that he had previously made for him. The truth finally came out, the amounts of sweat forming on his forehead made it look as if he had just taken a bath after he got the ''good news''

    "Huh? I''m getting married?"

 205 Chapter 205

    While he was thinking about the coming days and what he would do when this whole grand defensive array was fully operational he spotted someone coming this way. It was a core formation expert that he knew. Surprisingly he was coming alone and he was on a flying sword and not on a flying ship.

    ''You don''t see gramps moving much without some cute maids, was he in a rush or something?''

    Matt already gave up on this man. He knew that his libido was unstoppable and he would probably die while being embraced by some kind of womanly figure. He only wished that his many relatives would stop sending him letters. They always tried to either offer him a concubine or someone as a disciple.

    ''Is this how a lottery winner feels like?''

    He wasn''t sure why his grandfather was coming here unannounced but he would at least say his greeting. He wouldn''t have to leave his room though as the old man was apparently flying right to him. He just waited for his arrival while scanning the area for anything suspicious.

    It didn''t take long for Zhang Jin to come bursting through the entrance. The wooden doors almost flew out of their hinges after the old man made an entrance.

    "There is my favorite Grandson!"

    "Yeah, hi gramps. Try not to destroy the door, someone will have to repair them."

    He looked at Zhang Jin, the old man felt quite chipper. Did he perhaps get married again or something?

    "This is truly a grand occasion Dong''er, you must make a toast with your Grandfather!"

    Zhang Jin moved his hand out that had his spatial ring on it and produced a large bottle of spirit alcohol. It was an aged spirit from his personal stash that he only brought out on special occasions.

    ''Huh? Is he really getting married?''

    ''Instead of a harem protagonist, he is probably a hentai protagonist instead¡­''

    He would oblige this old man. He didn''t care if he married another thousand women, if one of them stabbed him in the neck while he was sleeping it would be on him. Still, it would probably be best to ask about the joyous occasion, maybe someone else was getting married.

    "What ''grand occasion'' are you talking about here? Did one of your wives have triplets or something?"

    He asked while Zhang Jin was pouring the alcohol into some drinking cups.

    "Hah, Dong''er you sure like to joke around, I''m talking about your marriage."

    "You made your grandfather worry, you were taking so long."

    The old man started rambling about the good old days while Matt stood like a statue. Did he mishear, he was getting married? Did he miss a memo or something?

    "Wait...Gramps hold on there¡­ who is getting married?"

    "Stop fooling around Dong''er, you of course, to Feng Liena, I came to congratulate you and decide on the guests."

    Zhang Dong received a strong smack to the shoulder that didn''t make him budge one bit as he was in a state of shock. He started thinking back to when this could have happened, when did he get married. Then it dawned on him, people started acting strangely the day he received Feng Liena that one day. He remembered touching her hand and moving to her side, he also remembered her blurring out that she accepted something.

    ''Was it then?... Was that considered proposing?''

    His whole face went white with horror. He was getting married and apparently the date of the wedding ceremony might already be set in stone. He only wanted to get to know Feng Liena a bit better and treat her like an equal and this was the result.

    "Why are you being so quiet Dong''er? Here drink!"

    He looked at the filled cup in his hand and took a swig. Due to his high cultivation alcohol like this didn''t really work and cause him to get drunk. Though he would really like to drink his woes away right now. He grabbed the whole bottle that Zhang Jin brought over and started chugging, soon enough there was nothing left and he still felt like his heart would pop out of his chest.

    "Hey, leave some for your Grandfather! You''re lucky that I brought moreover!"

    The two continued drinking but Matt didn''t feel like talking about the wedding ceremony and told Zhang Jin to take care of it.

    After his grandfather left he flopped onto his back and started staring at the wooden ceiling of his temporary residence. He had somehow proposed and the woman said yes. Normally this would be a good thing as this confirmed the woman''s emotions as she was willing to marry him. He was still someone from modern earth though, he didn''t feel like he knew Feng Liena that well.

    The most time that they had spent with each other was during the sacred ground. Even then he only got glimpses of her true character as she was acting with those secret texts in mind. Only in the end she started behaving like a normal person.

    ''Should I break it off?''

    This was one of the options. If he did this now though the relationship that he had built up with the Feng Clan would cease. The women from that clan would probably never forgive him if he did such a thing to their Matriarch. This could even split the whole sect into parts, maybe even the Huo Clan would follow suit and feel like he couldn''t be trusted.

    Matt wasn''t someone that believed in love at first sight. He was more inclined to believe that love would blossom slowly after you got to know a person better. That''s why he felt that unless he lived with someone for a prolonged time he wouldn''t really know if they meshed together.

    There was no such thing in this world though. It was straight to marriage and then you were supposed to pop out children. This also brought another thing out into the open, was he supposed to father children now?

    He felt like packing up and fleeing into the deep mountains. He already had trouble interacting with teenagers like his disciples. How was he supposed to be a fatherly figure to a toddler? He didn''t feel like he would be a good dad. As a socially awkward person that grew up in the modern world, he didn''t even think something like this was an option.

    Still, he couldn''t abandon his people. He felt like he had done enough fleeing from his problems in one lifetime. It wasn''t as if he disliked Feng Liena and couldn''t see himself marrying her in the future. This situation only hastened things a bit.

    He was already past his thirties which even in his original world was considered old to form a family. He was getting a beautiful wife that liked him and not like he disliked her in any shape or form.

    ??This might not be that bad¡­''

    He rolled to his side while analyzing the situation. If he wanted to keep the good relations between his clan and the Feng clan he needed to go through this. The woman he was marrying was also a nice person that he didn''t mind being in the company of.

    ''...''

    He gulped while calming himself down. The thoughts of running away had left his mind and got replaced by something else. He started imagining himself with a child on his shoulder and Feng Liena walking next to him. Hand in hand, just walking through a grassy field.

    ''I think I''m getting ahead of myself here¡­''

    He rose up to his feet as he made a decision. He would go through with this, he had already taken a swan dive headfirst. He might as well make a nice splash at the end. Another problem arose though, he didn''t know how people operated in this world when it came to getting married. Asking his grandfather about it wouldn''t be appropriate so he needed another opinion.

    He grabbed his communication jade and sent out a message to one of his retainers, his female one that was Zhang Ya.

    "How may I be of service, Sect Leader?"

    She bowed in while asking, she was rarely called in by Zhang Dong as he mostly used the more analytic Zhang Kuo. She understood soon after she heard the question which brought a tiny smile on her face.

    "Uh, how do wedding ceremonies work?"

    The woman covered her mouth a bit as the Sect''s leader''s facial expression was kind of bashful. She kept it in as she went through the ceremony and what was required from the groom and the bride. Surprisingly the whole ceremony was really similar to western-style weddings.

    The groom wasn''t allowed to see the bride until the day of the wedding. They needed to send out invitations to the people they wanted and the bride would wear an expensive dress. Instead of it being white though it was supposed to be red.

    The whole banquet would be set up in a red theme, this color was associated with success, loyalty, honor, fertility, and love. You also could insert some gold colors for wealth, from what Zhang Ya was saying his wedding robe would probably mostly consist of that color scheme.

    ''I need to make the wedding rings¡­''

    The traditional wedding bands or rings came into play as well. The wedding night was also a staple of the tradition. This was something that he would be a bit stressed out about, luckily he was someone with some experience so he was even willing to be the lead in that regard.

    "That''s everything my lord, the wedding needed to be pushed back. The elders want to host it after the main sect facilities are complete."

    This was a happy occasion but accidents could happen. The sect''s protective formations that could go against nascent soul threats needed to be put in place. The main castle area and the side buildings where the large banquet would be held needed to be prepared as well.

    The sect had even hired some outside help with these wedding preparations as there was just not enough time. They wanted to have everything done within the next three months. The sets building process had already lasted for half a year and quite a bit of the main structure was standing.

    The formation that was going to siphon energy into the medallion was going through the testing phase. They could even hasten the building process by moving some smaller structures with the help of the flying ships towards the main sect area.

    He let Zhang Ya go back to her previous assignments as she was also quite busy with all the wedding planning.

    He took a peek into his storage ring, there were some materials that could be used for creating these wedding rings. He didn''t only want to make them beautiful he also wanted them to act as a protective accessory. With his current knowledge he could add some nice features to these two rings, even make them connect with each other.

    ''Hm, red and gold huh? Think I''ll just make them gold¡­ maybe into a dragon design?''

    He was thinking about making the rings into the shape of a coiling dragon. He could add some features to them like teleportation, so if his wife was ever in trouble he could always transfer himself to her location to aid her.

    He needed to wait a bit for the arrays to be activated before heading into his crafting abode. The wedding was getting closer and he needed to create some presents for his fiance.

 206 Chapter 206

    All of the prominent clans in the United Element sect area were invited to this event. This would be a chance for them to meet up with their new overlords. There were a lot of rumors about this Zhang Dong, mostly positive ones. He was supposedly a generous man that favored the weak while being an honorable warrior.

    Every large city that was comparable in size to Spirit Spring City or Moonlight City had one of these clans. They mostly had to have a core formation elder in their mids to be eligible for an invitation.

    Everyone was skeptical at first. The Dark Palm sect was gone but not due to the United Element sect. They were taken out by the three other large sects from the area and not by this new one. They feared that if they socialized too much with these upstarts that the other large powers could take their anger out on them.

    They took a wait and see approach without taking any sides. Time continued to fly but for some reason, even after the Dark Palm sect''s demise, the other three sects didn''t seem interested in attacking the upstart. Then updated news arrived that Zhang Dong''s master was apparently someone that was to be feared. He was the sole reason that the three sects didn''t move in to seize the rest of the lands. There was also info that the three United Element sect elders outclassed regular nascent soul masters.

    This was evidence enough for the weaker clans to seek an audience. Everyone knew that the quickest way to prominence was joining a powerful sect. Even though this one was only starting out and it was dangerous they still had nascent soul elders on their side. This wedding would be a good opportunity to make a good impression so they all needed to get some gifts ready.

    Everyone used their spies to get information about the most prominent people in the sect. There were some discrepancies but everyone agreed that Zhang Dong was probably the strongest one from them all. The next in line was Huo Qiang followed by Feng Liena in tow, though her status might have been higher as she was the bride.

    Then the fourth most influential person in the sect wasn''t even at the great circle of core formation. No, Zhang Jin was considered next up as he had the ear of the Sect leader and could affect his decisions. After that, it blurred as the sect was still new and the inner workings weren''t clear.

    The clans were wary of the nascent soul masters so most of them decided to go for an easier target to bribe. This would be Zhang Jin and he was quite infamous in the land. He had stolen quite a few brides in his younger days and never ceased doing it to this day.

    There were also lower priority targets like Zhang Dong''s disciples. Also anyone from the inner circle that belonged to one of the three clans that established that sect. The probability of gaining their trust was low but they had to try as it was a golden ticket to prosperity.

    While the clans with lesser power made their preparations the three sects were in a bind. Should they send envoys to the wedding, or should they ignore these newbies and show that they weren''t on their level by ignoring the invitations.

    Each one of them had tried gathering more information during the period that they were building their base. They didn''t come up with any substantial evidence of the reason they were in the lower lands. From their standpoint, Zhang Dong had to be crazy to wish to build his sect at that location. There was just nothing of value hidden there.

    The investigations brought nothing and all of the spies that wandered too close to the building site vanished. They then received word that their sect leader was seen patrolling the whole area and figured that they would need someone close to him in strength to get anywhere. This they weren''t willing to do as they still feared the man that was backing him.

    In the end, they decided to send someone over that was expandable. They didn''t need to move their nascent soul masters yet but could at least show some good faith. This was also an opportunity for them to see how this new sect operated. It had been about a year since they started rebuilding and they were close to completion.

    While everyone was finalizing their schemes of either getting on the good side of the new sect or spying on them, a nervous Zhang Dong was pacing back and forth in his room. He had managed to prepare the wedding rings and was now getting cold feet.

    While busy with his work he could relax and not think about the commitment he would be making towards the Feng Matriarch. He had made two identical golden rings, they were of a dragon and phoenix that were entangling each other. He got the idea from Liena''s and his soul beasts that were a dragon and a phoenix.

    Just as he wanted he had added a teleportation function to both of them. He could either teleport to her or have her teleport to him in times of need. There was also a tracking function connected to his system. This would show him his wife''s last location if ever something blocked out his teleportation or if the rings got damaged.

    There wasn''t enough space to fit too many enchantments into the items. So he had to settle for the teleportation function and a barrier that would appear as a large bubble and shield her from harm. It could also be later recharged if she used up this protective measure.

    He had been able to relax after the protective arrays had been set up. He inspected them by himself and even tested out their power. They were able to even take hits from him that were equal to a nascent soul expert at the late stage. Thanks to the spirit vein he didn''t need to use his system points to power the cubes that acted as batteries.

    The siphoning array that was the most important one was also completed and now all of that natural spiritual energy was being funneled into the Dimensional Regalia treasure. The longer this continued the larger the floating island got. There was now enough space to fit large structures for their core disciples and core elders.

    Building them would have to wait till they started with their recruitment drive. They were finished with the main structure and the walls surrounding it but still had to prepare the side buildings that would be used by the outer sect disciples. They also needed to organize the food and prepare some occupations for their new disciples.

    They wouldn''t just allow strangers into their minds without making them work for it. That''s why they were going to set up a merit-based system. They would also have something akin to a notice board with job listings.

    The elders would place jobs that the disciples could perform for them. Like helping with pill forging, procuring herbs, or even going out of the sect to hunt beasts to bring back cores or food. Everything was moving forward fast and it seemed that the sect would be taking flight soon.

    The sect wasn''t the thing on Matt''s mind though, no. He was the groom and he hadn''t been able to see his bride for a couple of months now. The closer to the date of the wedding the more nervous he became. He had gone through the whole thing in his head a couple of times but he was still anxious. What if he says something stupid? What if they don''t get along with each other? What if that sister of hers tries doing something silly again?

    There was a myriad of questions flying around in his head. The tranquil mind technique seemed to be working a bit less since he got to the nascent soul level, probably because he got it while he was still at the core formation level. While he was looking over the wedding rings, checking if they weren''t chipped in any place a small group of female cultivators walked in, Zhang Ya at the front.

    "Sect Leader we have brought the designs for your wedding robe"

    There were five women of various ages here, even one that could be his grandmother. They started bringing out robe after robe and hung them out for him to see. A giant mirror was also brought out and placed to the side so he could see how they fit him.

    They were mostly in red and golden color, some of them purple or violet as that was also considered the color of nobility. He would rather use his white clothes but apparently white was attributed to mourning and bad luck. Which didn''t really fit the joyous occasion that was the wedding.

    The women that Zhang Ya, her included looked quite eager to make their sect leader try on all of these robes. He had to get this over with so he let them use him as a dress-up doll. They continued to squeal with joy each time he came out in a brand new robe. He even was coerced into putting on a silly hat and a black and gold fan with a dragon pattern.

    In the end, he was forced to decide on a long flowy red robe. It was all in crimson with dragon patterns running all over it. He was also wearing some kind of rectangular hat with twelve strings of beads hanging out in the front of his forehead. From what he knew these kinds of hats were worn by men of power. The wiggly beads on the strings were there to remind him that he shouldn''t make any sudden movements to make them wobble. They were to remain unmoving while he kept a straight posture.

    The group of ladies finally let him have his rest and the date of the wedding approached closer. He didn''t know what kind of wedding dress Feng Liena was going to wear but considering it was the Gyaru clan we were talking about. She might appear in something closer looking to a western wedding dress. Though he had convinced her to lose those traditions so she might appear in something to match his red and gold appearance.

    Soon the day of the wedding came. The banquet would be held inside the new large sect castle building in a giant hall. There were numerous round tables with golden tablecloths. Everything was on red and gold, the chairs and decorations included. There were beautiful fountains with golden dragon and phoenix heads spitting out spiritual water that glowed in a blue hue.

    Murals depicted some of the struggles that their Sect leader had to go through. The soul-beasts of Huo Qiang, Feng Liena, and Zhang Dong were all depicted on the walls looking quite ferocious after one of the more artistically inclined sect brothers witnessed their battle.

    This space was quite empty at the moment as the guests from the sects were only just arriving. The large numbers of ships and cultivators on swords were slowly flying this way. If you didn''t know better you''d think it was some kind of invasion. In reality, there wasn''t even a single person that was at the nascent soul level that was coming this way. Most of the people gathered here were from the clans that were even weaker than the Huo Clan was before they rose to more prominence with the United Element sect.

    While the guests were coming a pale looking Zhang Dong was looking at himself in the mirror. He was all dressed up in his groom''s robe and had to now go out to greet the guests. His wife was going to arrive soon and he was getting cold feet.

    He gave himself a double smack to the face with his palms. His cheeks went slightly red as he finally mustered the courage to walk out of the room. He put on his poker face while pushing the large door wide open, his retainers already waiting outside.

    ''Let''s get married!''

 207 Chapter 207

    Some people might think that all this extravagant gold coloring scheme was extremely costly but they would be wrong. Gold wasn''t really a metal that cultivators appreciated that much. You even stopped really trading in golden coins after reaching the foundation establishment level and then switched over to spirit stones.

    This wide path would be the one that Feng Liena would walk through. Zhang Dong was supposed to receive her by the entrance of the castle. After which the two would walk in and be wed by a marriage officiant, there were no religious priests here so this would be done by Zhang Jin. In most cases this would be done by an elder that was of a high ranking, such an honor would fall on Huo Qiang but he refused and Zhang Jin was chosen instead.

    After this was done everyone would be led into the banquet hall for a party. This part was less extravagant than the weddings from back on earth. There wouldn''t be any dancing and the couple of the hour were going to just greet the people and accept some gifts. This would probably be quite boring and take a while as there were quite a lot of people coming to this event.

    At the moment Zhang Dong was looking at the inside of the castle structure. He was standing at the large gate-like doors through which he would be guiding Feng Liena inside. On the inside was a large hall that was decorated in red and gold yet again. He could even see the podium on which they were supposed to repeat their vows.

    ''Uh¡­ this is really happening¡­''

    If his body was normal he would probably be drenched in sweat. The little hat with the green jade beads was wiggling around each time he made a step. If he concentrated a bit he could move without it wobbling around but he was a bit too nervous to focus now.

    "Sect Leader, the guests are arriving as we speak, you should get ready."

    Zhang Ya''s voice sounded from the side which made Zhang Dong''s flinch a bit. Even she could tell that her Patriarch was a bit out of it, which made her hold her hand to her mouth and chuckle. She was glad that she saw some humanity under that emotionless face from time to time. Due to Zhang Dong keeping up his facade most people considered him to be the perfect stone-faced no nonsense cultivator. In reality, he still wasn''t quite sure if what he was doing was something that a leader would do.

    ''Ah yes, when the door opens I''ll just step out and greet the bride just as we rehearsed¡­''

    Matt moved his hands up, the robe he was wearing was quite long. His sleeves were super baggy and when he moved his hands around they would just swish and shake. He wondered how people could actually consider fighting in robes like these as he faced some cultivators that wore similar ones to battle.

    Suddenly the doors started opening this made his heart jump. He quickly straightened himself out, he couldn''t let this annoying flowy bead-hat jiggle. It would be considered bad luck and also a hit to his face if he didn''t move as a proper kingly figure. Though he could probably force the beads to stop from moving with his spiritual force. This would be noticed by the other cultivators which would be quite shameful.

    He gave out one last sigh before stepping forward. His posture impeccable and even when he stepped forward his ceremonial hat didn''t move at all. He was greeted by bright lights and the shining sun that momentarily stunned his vision.

    After his eyes adjusted he was stupefied even more. On the other side of the long pathway that was lined up by cherry blossoms stood his bride. She was wearing a red dress with golden patterns that looked like phoenixes.

    Parts of the wedding dress were very form-fitting as he could see her thin waistline and pronounced chest. On the other hand, her sleeves were uncharacteristically long. They would reach all the way to the ground if she stretched out her arms to the side.

    The lower long skirt was also quite a thing to look at. Besides all the intricate pattern designs it was being held up by small green birds. The birds were probably some tamed beasts and they were holding up the long skirt from the back as it stretched for at least five meters.

    He couldn''t see Liena''s face yet as it was under a veil, but he could kind of see her eyes under that semi-transparent cloth. She took a step forward and her high heels clicked on the smooth polished marble floor. All of the guests stood up as the bride approached, some were crying some were smiling while some remained untouched by the occasion.

    Zhang Dong gulped a bit that made his hat almost move. He was astonished after seeing Feng Liena''s curvaceous figure. He wasn''t sure if she was just blessed or if it was due to the body refining technique that she was using. He straightened out while people were focused on the bride, finally, she began to move.

    Some kind of eastern tune started playing, there were a couple of people playing on the zithers while the bride moved forward. To his surprise, one of them was Zhang Xue that was also wearing a slightly less extravagant red and golden robe.

    The closer his wife got the more nervous he became but she continued. Her strides were short but resolute, he wasn''t sure if she liked him that much but she didn''t seem as on the fence as he was. This was a reassuring thought which made Matt a bit less nervous.

    The cherry blossoms danced around behind her as she continued with her slow walk. Behind her, you could see some of her family members. They were all dressed up and most of their faces were unknown to him.

    The only two people that he recognized was her younger sister and the baked potato granny that was bawling her eyes out. She was loudly sobbing while voicing out her appreciation that her little granddaughter was getting married.

    He also was a bit scared that that little sister of hers would try to pull something during this wedding. There were works of fiction where someone interrupted the wedding while the pair was taking their vows. What if she tried to grab him from the altar while he and Liena are repeating their vows?

    He shifted his gaze back to the bride and tried to calm himself down again. The strange image of Feng Nuana knocking on some glass while shouting his name came to his mind and made him chuckle. This silly image was enough to cheer him up as the bride had arrived. The music stopped with the bride and everyone waited for Zhang Dong to follow up.

    He had to strain himself immensely to keep his head steady. He reached out towards his wife and presented his palm towards her. The woman responded with grace and grasped it with hers. His hand was a lot larger than hers and he could feel the warmth coming from it after they held hands.

    He turned to the door that they were supposed to walk through. Side to side they continued with the people just looking on. He was on the right while she was on the left akin to a traditional earthly wedding. They stepped through the entrance to the wedding hall and soon the people behind them followed suit.

    While walking forward Zhang Dong continued to focus on not making his hat jiggle. The sensation of holding a woman''s delicate hand was quite distracting though. The two remained silent to each other, Matt was feeling shy and didn''t really know what to say while Feng Liena remained courteous as it was rude to speak out before the husband did.

    When they finally arrived at the altar, Zhang Jin was there in a black robe with more gold in it. He was also wearing a really tall hat with a Taoistic symbol on it. Everyone from the senior generation was here as well as some junior members that were close relatives. The others had to wait outside and had their own outside banquet to mingle in.

    "Zhang Dong and Feng Liena. Today you enter as individuals, but you will leave here as husband and wife, blending your lives, expanding your family ties, and embarking upon the grandest adventure of unity."

    "All those present have come to witness and celebrate your love and commitment this day."

    The people cheered a bit from the back, quite a bit of the ladies were already tearing up as Zhang Jin continued to speak.

    "Today, as you join yourselves in marriage, there is a vast and unknown future stretching out before you."

    "Through your commitment to each other, may you grow and nurture a love that makes both of you better people, a love that will last throughout generations to come."

    "Now, repeat after me!"

    Zhang Jin looked to Zhang Dong with a smile on his face, he could feel how nervous he was even though his facial expression wasn''t changing.

    "Zhang Dong, are you willing to marry Feng Liena as your wife, in sacred marriage together for life?"

    "Whether she has sickness or health, poverty or wealth, beauty or is plain, in good times and in bad, are you willing to love her, to comfort her, to respect her, and protect her?"

    "And willing to be forever loyal to her?"

    The bride was still covering her face by the veil but she could see her eyes through it. After a slight pause, he mustered the courage to reply.

    "I am!"

    Zhang Jin smiled a bit and then continued, making Feng Liena repeat the exact same vows that Zhang Dong just said. It didn''t take long before she also replied with a resounding¡­

    "I am willing!"

    Zhang Jin nodded again and looked to the side. Zhang Liu approached with the golden wedding rings placed upon a red pillow. He looked quite proud that he could do this for his master on this occasion.

    "Zhang Dong, take this ring and place it on Feng Liena''s finger. Repeat after me¡­"

    "Feng Liena, I give you this ring as a symbol of the promise I made to you today."

    Zhang Dong repeated the short sentence and placed the ring that he had made on Liena''s finger on her left hand as it was the closest hand to the heart.

    As before Feng Liena repeated after Zhang Jin and slid the wedding ring on Zhang Dong''s finger.

    "May the blessings of life, the joy of love, the peace of truth, and the wisdom and strength of Spirit, be your constant companion, now and always, as husband and wife."

    "You may seal this union with a kiss."

    Zhang Dong moved his hands towards that veil and moved it out of the way. He finally witnessed his wife in all of her glory. She was just stunning, her large blue eyes were focused on him but they soon closed, her pink lips puckering up. He gulped momentarily before leaning down. He placed one of his hands against her neck and cheek, finally, he leaned in, their lips meeting in a kiss.

    A lot of people started cheering, hands going into the air while some flower petals started to fly around the room. The wedding was finally complete and now the banquet remained.

 208 Chapter 208

    There was an old friend from two years ago looking at him. He was bald and looked like a monk and his name was Bankei. He had met him and Feng Liena during the forced expedition to the sacred ground. They received a bunch of talismans and evil repelling treasures as also an oath of recognition from him and his sect. They didn''t reach out in their time of need though so Matt didn''t feel like he owed them anything.

    The boring exchange of bows and presents continued on, all various clan names were being thrown about but he didn''t remember any of them. He even felt like some of the last names started repeating themselves. This made him realize that he was sitting on even more power and land now, it was as if he was an emperor on his own planet, at least surface wise.

    He tried recalling what the next part of the ceremony would be. He would have to go through the whole sect on a decorated flying platform and wave at everyone there. He had already made his greeting speech and was just waiting till all of this was over.

    The thing that he was anxiously awaiting was the ending of this wedding, namely the wedding night. He was equally eager and equally afraid of not fulfilling his wife''s womanly needs. The only thing he had to go back to was the one night stand almost three years ago and knowledge from internet movies from back in his earthen days.

    "Now from the Dragon Gate Sect¡­"

    His nervous contemplations were brought to an end after he noticed the name of one of the three great sects being mentioned. He went a bit on alert and also could feel Feng Liena gripping his hand a bit tighter. If he liked it or not these were people he had to contend with and offending them would never be anything good. Still, a line had to be drawn and there were certain things that they wouldn''t be able to turn a blind eye to.

    The person that appeared was an older man, his cultivation wasn''t high or anything and he conducted himself with grace. The gift wasn''t anything grand but it made Zhang Dong feel like this sect was being respectful. He just nodded and thanked the man and that was it.

    Next came the Demon Subduing Sect, this time it was a lady close to his age. She looked a bit haughty but she also managed to deliver the present of goodwill without making much of a scene. The trouble only started with the third and last guest that was from the Limitless Sword Society.

    The first red flag was that he was carrying his sword on his hip. Apparently the Limitless Sword Sect''s cultivators treasured their weapons and would rarely allow them to be taken away. Still, this young man wasn''t at a position where he would be allowed to do that in front of a nascent soul master like Zhang Dong. He was clearly disrespecting them, not afraid as he had his sect to back him up.

    Matt just gave out a sigh as he watched the man that looked to be in his late twenties strut in. He wasn''t sure how old he was but he could very well be over fifty even if he looked like this. His core formation cultivation gave him quite the longevity up to 500 years of age. A nascent soul elder in contrast mostly lived between a thousand and two thousand years.

    "Greetings from the Limitless Sword Society~"

    The man had a couple of people behind them. They didn''t bow or even clasp their hands while approaching Zhang Dong and Feng Liena. Liena grasped Dong''s hand even tighter than before and he could feel like she could have some kind of a rage outburst soon.

    ''Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned¡­''

    Matt wasn''t all that mad, he had already kind of gotten used to those haughty young master types. He already went through battles and knew that nothing good came from aggravating them. This showed after the Dark Palm sect debacle which was caused by one of their junior members. He even started blaming the parents more than the young masters for how they acted. If their elders showed them how to present themselves and not see everyone as a little bug to squish they would probably be normal people.

    He was just a bit afraid that his wife could do something emotional as this was her wedding and women tended to take it a bit more seriously than others. He did a small side glance to his wife, he could see her eyebrows twitching furiously at the display of disrespect.

    "We came bearing gifts for you honorable lord and your beautiful wife, hope you cherish this treasure."

    The man from the sect clapped his hands together and two of his retainers brought out his gift. It was in a polished bronze container which they placed on the offering table. They opened it up while everyone looked with curiosity, inside were low-quality pills that made more brows furrow.

    The people started whispering with each other. This was a blatant show of disrespect, those pills that were getting presented looked to not even be above mortal grade in rarity, probably at the lower end of it.

    The people from the United Element sect were appalled by this behavior. They were sure that the young man was just throwing his weight around. He had some backing as his granduncle was indeed a nascent soul master from that sword sect.

    Still, the United Element''s sect leader managed to last through the battle with the Dark Palm sect''s Yang Guanyu and even took on five cultivators at once. This young man was probably unaffected by this fact and probably thought it was just baseless rumors.

    "Oh, quite the high-quality earth grade pills you have brought with you there¡­"

    After a moment of silence, Zhang Dong''s calm voice resounded through the banquet hall. Everyone looked to the sect leader and wondered what their leader was on about. The pills that those people brought in were clearly low-grade mortal ones.

    Before anyone could ask about what Zhang Dong was talking about, one of the pills moved upwards. It flew towards the United Element sect''s leader and stopped in front of his face. He moved his free hand over to the pill and tapped it with his index finger.

    The people weren''t sure what he was doing but soon realized that it wasn''t anything they could fathom. After the little tap, the pill started changing, it spun around and exuded a large amount of spiritual energy. The ugly brownish color started to change into a golden one as the pill increased in quality shooting all the way to the pinnacle of earth grade in a matter of moments.

    This was one of the upgrades that his crafting abode. He didn''t need to be in it for some of its functions to work as he could affect the items outside. What the haughty young master had brought over were simple Qi replenishing pills, they could be easily upgraded as they didn''t really require any more ingredients, just some pure spiritual Qi.

    The shameful present was turned into something more bearable. No one really offered anything at the heaven grade which was not something many were willing to do. By doing it like this Zhang Dong was trying not to start a fight while also showing off his power.

    The young master in question looked surprised, by turning the trash pills he brought over to something valuable Zhang Dong had delivered a blow to his face. Before he could speak out about it though he felt a strong presence washing over him.

    "Listen here you little shit, I''m not sure what you were trying to achieve with this, but those trinkets that you are wearing won''t be able to protect you from me."

    Zhang Dong was the one speaking while concealing his voice so that only this person from the Limitless Sword Society could hear him. The young master was stunned, the protective treasures should be able to block out any nascent soul master''s spiritual power and even teleport him back home if he got into trouble. For some reason, they weren''t activating and he couldn''t move a muscle or even speak.

    "I will ignore this only once if you dare disrespect me or my wife again¡­"

    "Your elders won''t even find traces of your soul behind. Now just smile, apologize to my wife and move on with your pathetic excuse of a life."

    The man felt the strong power vanishing and he could breathe again. He quickly scanned his treasures and to his surprise, they were all unresponsive. They were all heavenly grade but somehow they all stopped working, he couldn''t even teleport out of here to save himself.

    He realized that he could very well die now if he continued with this charade. He just did what he was told too, bowing down while his face went pale.

    "Excuse me, honorable elders¡­ I''m not feeling too well... "

    He stumbled back and almost fell over the people with him surprised at the reaction of their young master. They rarely saw him this way, he looked meek and afraid. Zhang Dong was good enough in masking his aura so that most of the people in the room didn''t know what he did.

    Two people did though, Feng Liena was one and Huo Qiang was the other one. The latter burst out in laughter and even pointed at the Limitless Sword Sect cultivators that were leaving.

    "Look at them run with their tails between their legs."

    The two people that came before him were a bit surprised but it didn''t take much knowledge to figure out about what transpired here. None of them could tell what the United Sect Patriarch did but it had to have left an impression of the young haughty man. They were surprised that his protective treasures didn''t activate, this prompted them to be extra careful.

    This was Zhang Dong''s home turf. He had designed all of the formations and with the help of the spiritual vein, they also boosted his power. The youth''s treasures were all heaven grade but at the lowest spectrum so deactivating them while he was under his grand formation was easy to accomplish.

    The gift-giving continued for some more time and finally, the day was coming to an end. The street lights that were spread out through the entire sect lit up as the sun went down. The whole sect has a more modern look to it as those lights also had lightbulbs in them instead of candles.

    Feng Liena and Zhang Dong were now making their rounds on the decorative flying platform. Waving at their new sect members, the two didn''t talk that much. Whenever Zhang Dong tried doing some small talk the woman started blushing, he didn''t think she would be this bashful right before the big night.

    The two finally flew out into the sunset and glided towards a secluded villa. A separate protective formation churned and engulfed them in a thick barrier that didn''t allow anyone to peek in.

    The other people continued mingling with each other and Zhang Jin found himself surrounded by beautiful women from all sides. In the future, there would be tales of the big female cultivator brawl that happened after the famous Zhang Dong''s wedding that would be recounted in history books for generations.

    The woman and man of the hour awkwardly went in through the door of the villa their sect members had prepared for them. Apparently, it was lifted from somewhere and brought over by a flying ship instead of being built. Now they were supposed to consummate their marriage. Zhang Dong looked at his blushing wife and nodded to himself.

    ''The final battle has just begun..."

 209 Chapter 209

    Feng Liena laid bare under the red bed sheets. Her wedding dress was tossed to the side along with Zhang Dong''s bead hat. He smiled a bit as he descended without making any noise. He used his nascent soul powers to cover his sleeping wife with the rest of the bed cloth before heading outside.

    The villa that the two were now resting in was quite large and it even had a nice room with a fireplace. He sat down with a towel wrapped around his nether regions, his chest exposed. He started spacing out, the memories of the previous night still fresh in his mind.

    ''Well, that was something, she is surprisingly flexible...''

    He found himself comparing this night to his first time. That was a long time ago, reaching three years now. It felt a bit different and somehow better, but he wasn''t sure if it was only due to him not having done the deed in a while. This cultivator body worked differently than his old one as he didn''t feel like he needed to perform the usual tasks.

    ''We didn''t use any protection either, but she is my wife so that shouldn''t matter.''

    He recalled that he might have gotten a bit overzealous but what was done was done. He would face the consequences later. He stayed seated there without doing much, there were no servants or anyone to bother them here either. Soon enough he heard the door opening up and the figure of Feng Liena appeared.

    "Husband?"

    His mouth quivered a bit after he heard the way she referred to him. He was certainly not used to that one as the woman used to refer to him as senior brother not long ago.

    "W-wife? Wifey? I''m down here."

    He felt a bit awkward, the two might have known each other for years now but their interactions were limited to mostly business.

    Feng Liena had woken up a bit after Zhang Dong left the room. She was a bit out of it at first and then confused as she didn''t find her husband next to her. She recalled the previous night and how forceful her hubby had been which caused her to blush furiously. She then left the room in search of him, worried that he might have left somewhere. She didn''t need to go far as he was sitting just there on the floor below with only some cloth covering his lower parts.

    "Are you hungry, the sect had prepared a feast in the other room and even set up a formation to keep everything fresh."

    He stood up from his seat while looking up, Feng Liena covered her face a bit but followed the movements of her hubby while looking between her fingers.

    "No need to be shy after what we did yesterday¡­"

    He had gotten over his nervousness during the deed, his wife on the other hand was still acting a bit reserved. He flew up to her and lifted her up into his arms before heading out into the room with the food. Liena was skittish at first wiggling in his arms while trying not to show too much skin. She would probably need a bit more time to get used to this type of treatment.

    The two continued their lovey-dovey honeymoon for a couple of days before heading back to the sect. They still had a lot of things to do and even if they wanted they couldn''t just remain there.

    They were greeted back by their family members. Zhang Jin and Huo Qiang had smirks on their faces, Zhang Dong was unsure why but soon he would discover the earthquake he caused.

    "Welcome back Patriarch and Matriarch¡­"

    The people clasped their hands while acting awkwardly, even though their two nascent soul masters were behind a defensive formation, the tremors reached up to the main castle structure. Luckily they had reinforced all of the furniture in that villa beforehand.

    "Anything happen while we were gone?"

    Zhang Dong asked while floating down, hand to hand with his wife.

    "The guests have already left, the people from those three sects left on the first day¡­"

    He recalled the young man that tried to insult him and the other two. He managed to resolve the situation somehow but wasn''t happy that they still weren''t getting taken seriously.

    "Good, how are the formations? We should be able to proceed with the plans"

    "Yes, the crafting masters would like a word with you, they want you to approve the teleportation gate design."

    "So we are close to the finish line¡­"

    He continued talking with Zhang Jin. The moment they connected the Dimensional regalia with the outside was the moment they could start setting up the true sect. This was an immortal grade treasure and it was repairing itself the more energy they fed it. There was no danger of it getting destroyed by a cultivator, the only thing that could cause damage to it was another item at that grade.

    The medallion was hidden in a closed location at the sect. He deliberated hiding it in the place that he found the floating cube. But he was afraid that someone or something could appear there and snatch the treasure with his people in it.

    Feng Liena and Zhang Dong finally parted with each other. Huo Qiang and her would leave the sect for now and patrol the rest of their lands. There was still danger of other nascent soul masters trying to sneak in.

    The Patriarch would remain and help set up the core area for their most trusted people. There was much work to be done and now that the defensive arrays were fully operational Matt didn''t need to remain so passive. He could start crafting weapons, creating pills and combining techniques to form new superior ones. If this continued they could finally become a proper sect and even open their doors to new disciples.

    He also had the option of traveling through the lands. There were a couple of undiscovered places that reached into the lower areas of the empire. Most people didn''t bother with those as spiritual energy was faint there, unsuited for cultivation. He was able to find some treasures in that type of location. There was a spirit vein hidden here as well as the obsidian material that he couldn''t even budge with his full power.

    He wasn''t in a hurry, the sects wouldn''t be going against them for quite some time. Everyone adopted a wait and see approach as they weren''t willing to offend his so-called master. Their new sect was also flying under the radar of the true behemoths of the empire. The other powers also had others to contend with, just as the fallen Dark Palm sect if they showed any sign of weakness they would be eradicated.

    ''Think I can design that testing course for new disciples now¡­''

    He thought back to the words of fiction that he used to read. They were weirdly similar to how this world operated. He remembered the sects setting up various tests that the prospects could go through.

    He already approved one idea, it would be a corridor with some wooden puppet soldiers. Similar to the test that his disciples went through at the dao festival. They would need to reach the end to qualify further.

    There would also be a Qi measuring device but it wouldn''t require a person to perform any punches. He had his system to help him out, he could imbue some devices with some nice measuring features.

    He wanted to create a machine to measure all-around aptitude, current strength level as also their deposition. His system could tell a person''s alignment, if they had an evil heart or were someone just. The system showed it to him in a D\u0026D alignment system, raging from lawful good to chaotic evil.

    These alignments weren''t set in stone though, they could even shift in the middle of battle. For instance, the Dark Palm sect leader''s alignment was Lawful Evil before they started the fight. When he turned himself into that monster it shifted to Chaotic Evil in a matter of seconds.

    Still, this would save him from accepting anyone sketchy into his sect, he was still on the fence if he should accept Chaotic Neutral people, they were a bit random to work with. You never knew what they would do, they could very well abandon their sect brothers in a time of need.

    ''Would be probably better to cap it at true neutral, just to be safe.''

    While Zhang Dong was thinking about the improvement of his sect another scene was playing out somewhere deeper in the empire.

    There was a certain gathering of old men and women taking place. Only two from them were talking with each other, the rest remained in place without moving a muscle.

    "Hey, old Wang, that grandson of yours has been causing quite a ruckus in the sect."

    "He even crippled old Jing''s grandson and stole his fiance."

    One old man asked another one while laughing. Everyone in here was a nascent soul cultivator and a pillar of this behemoth of a sect.

    "He won the duel fair and square, if that bastard even dares to lay a finger on my grandson he knows what will happen."

    "Is he taking after you? So ruthless!"

    The two laughed while sipping on some spirit alcohol. The other people in the room didn''t respond, one of them seemed a bit dejected by what was being said here but he held his mouth shut.

    "He sure has been progressing at a fast pace since two years ago, quite the late bloomer."

    The person called Wang nodded at the remark while sipping on some more alcohol.

    "As long as he progresses..., wish he didn''t develop that little hobby of his, that girl probably won''t last long either..."

    The moment the nascent soul elder mentioned his grandson''s ''hobby'' the other people in the room started coughing and looking to the sides.

    "Well, geniuses are like that as long as the sect prospers I don''t think we should worry about that. Not something we can''t fix with some spirit stones."

    The other man laughed out loud while the others looked even more uncomfortable after hearing him talk. The man named Wang just gave out a sigh and nodded.

    "Enough about my grandson."

    "Anything of note in the empire? It would be nice if we got some good news for once. Maybe that bastard of an Azure Emperor died?"

    "If only old Wang, if only."

    "Nothing much besides one of the middle-sized sects going under, what was their name again? Dark Foot? Dark Fist? Well never mind, they weren''t important, think the other little sects already had their fill of their lands."

    "They colluded with each other to ransack their remains, not like they pose a threat to our Soaring Dragon Sect."

    Old Wang just snorted.

    "That''s a given, there is only one reason we aren''t at the top of this empire."

    The other man that Wang was talking too also gave out a snort of disdain. They talked some more while the other people in the room remained silent, not uttering a word unless they got asked. The two elders delved into the country''s politics some more, rumbling on for quite a bit till everyone left and it was already dark outside. The old man stood up from his seat and walked outside.

    "Junior greets the Sect Leader."

    The man didn''t look back as he continued going, his eyes started glowing with a blue light before he disappeared into the ether. He appeared moments later above the large sect ground that he was the master of. He just glanced at the massive structures that were on even larger mountain peaks.

    "Soon my sect will reign supreme over this land, we will crush everyone in our path and even the Azure Emperor will stand no chance."

    He smirked slightly before disappearing once again, this time towards an unknown destination.

 210 Chapter 210 Vol 3. Star

    A large burly man was giving his son a pat on the back, this man was the Tatar Tribe''s Chief and he was talking to his son Yang Rong.

    "Don''t worry father I''ll be sure to get in, the sect is really close so I''ll come to visit often!"

    The youth laughed out loud while smacking his chest that had gotten quite wide within the years. He wasn''t alone here, there were many other youths at the Qi condensation level gathered. People from the village were seeing them off as finally, the honorable sect that they owed their lives too was opening up their doors.

    Cheng Yun was also there, the boy was one of the first people that Matt had come across in this world. The two youths and some of their tribe members were packed up and ready to make the walk towards the United Element Sect''s location.

    The sect had set up their main headquarters in the nearby forest. This caused some trouble with the beasts that fled in all directions, but the sect was nice enough to reimburse the tribes for the loss of food.

    After some years they had finally announced that they would be accepting new disciples. They were divided into age groups depending on the realm someone was in. For instance, they didn''t accept anyone above the age of 25 that was still a Qi condensation practitioner. This left most of the people in these lower lands without any hope. Only the youngsters would be allowed to participate in the Sect trials.

    Cultivators of the foundation establishment level were also tested, they would receive higher positions also depending on their age. There was also a cap there that ended at fifty. It was obvious from these limits that the new sect was looking for youthful cultivators. There were a couple of theories out there why it was like this. The most feasible one being that they didn''t want talentless old cultivators in their midst.

    The trials would be taking place in a week. The Tatar Tribe was located a day away from the United Elements sect. The tribe people were going there a bit early as they just couldn''t wait any longer. They knew the woods like the back of their hand and would probably arrive even sooner.

    "Take care."

    "Make us proud!"

    "For the tribe!"

    People were waving and hugging the youths that were below the age of 25. There were no tribesmen that were at the foundation establishment level. There was quite a bit at stake here, the future of this tribe was on the line here and the youths knew this.

    The Tatar Tribe wasn''t the only one around here. There were many similar tribes in villages scattered all over this massive forest. Everyone knew that if even one person gets accepted in as an outer sect disciple it would be enough to protect them.

    Cheng Yun and Yang Rong that was in no way related to the Dark Palm Sect leader finally left the village. They had about twenty people in their group all trained and previously tested by their village elders. The sect didn''t really specify anything besides the age limit but no one was willing to let untrained kids participate in the trials. The sect might take offense if they send juniors of low cultivation bases and low skill.

    "Brother Rong, do you think we will succeed?"

    Cheng Yun asked while the group moved through the woods. The two didn''t use to see eye to eye all those years ago but they have gotten past it. The reason the two were so close now and considered themselves brothers, was Zhang Dong. He had saved both of them and the two bonded over it.

    "Of course we will succeed, the mighty senior even blessed us with his presence twice already!"

    Rong was pumped and believed that there wouldn''t be any problems. He had been training for all those years, even hogging most of the bathhouse that Zhang Dong cultivated in to get faster breakthroughs.

    "You are right¡­ he might favor our tribe! I wonder what the inside of that sect looks like, we never got far enough to see anything¡­"

    The two were caught by some United Element elders sometime ago when they tried seeking it to ask Zhang Dong to accept them as disciples. They were punished harshly by the tribe elders after returning home. It was seen as quite the disgrace at the time, their parents were even worried that the tribe might be annihilated if they offended someone from that overpowered sect. Luckily nothing like that occurred, the sect apparently was quite honorable and didn''t act out in anger against weaker factions like this tribe.

    "I bet everything inside is covered with white and green jade! You can hear calm zither music and beautiful elder sisters fly on their swords every day, their long hair just dancing in the wind!"

    The two blushed and drooled a bit. They were still young men and were hoping to find a partner in the sect. Cultivators that practiced body refining techniques tended to be more beautiful than your regular people. They got a glimpse of some beautiful elder sisters when they came to pick up the remnants of the Dark Palm sect.

    "What if we manage to catch the eye of Fairy Xue?"

    "Huh? Do you think Fairy Xue will look twice at an ugly bastard like you? She will be mine!"

    Rong replied to Yun while laughing, the two started pushing each other in good faith. The other one just smirked as he retaliated. Zhang Dong''s disciples were quite famous among the younger generation. Liu was considered to be the epitome of a young man while Xue was of a woman, they were seen as perfect disciples both in looks and cultivation. Everyone wanted to meet them and call them senior brother and senior sister.

    "I wondered why it stunk so much, it were some smelly brats from the Tatar Tribe."

    Rong''s and Yun''s wrestling was interrupted by some voices. They looked to the voices and spotted some people wearing pelts.

    "Scum from the Black Scar Tribe!"

    "Who are you calling scum? You trash!"

    The two groups faced each other. Both sides had a similar number of people. This was one of the tribes that were in opposition to the Tatar tribe. They lived close to each other and always competed for game or other resources, sometimes there were even bloody battles.

    "Brother Rong, we shouldn''t if we battle them here, we might not make it for the sect trial¡­"

    Cheng Yun positioned himself behind Yang Rong and tried pulling him back. On the other side, the Black Scar tribe was acting in a similar way. Their two leaders were at their throats but the others knew that it would be better to conserve their strength for the tests.

    "You are lucky that we are close to the esteemed sect grounds! After I secure my spot as an inner disciple I will make your tiny tribe pay for all its done!"

    The groups started barking insults at each other but luckily no one was willing to fight just yet. They weren''t willing to lose their chance of getting into the powerful sect. A small injury could very well cause them to fail one of the tests. It was unknown when the next trials would take place, they could be too old to participate if they don''t make it in now.

    "You an inner disciple? Hah. You won''t even qualify as a servant!"

    "We will see, you should pray to not meet me at the trial!"

    The two leaders of the tribes glared at each other before moving away. There was still some more walking to be done but with the other tribe now with them, Yang Rong decided to increase the pace.

    A little competition took place as the Black Scar tribesmen realized that the people from the Tatar tribe were trying to get to the renowned sect first. They started off slow by speed walking but soon enough it turned to running. Everyone was giving it all as they sped towards the sect grounds at full throttle.

    With the speed increase, it didn''t take them that long to get there. They realized that they were someplace new the moment they got there. The forest vanished and they could see flatland and grass that stretched out for kilometers.

    The United Element sect workers cleared a lot of the forest around the area that Zhang Dong designated as the center. The trees were uprooted and the ground was covered with green spirit grass. Through the grass a brick road path was going through, in the distance, the youths could see massive walls stretching far. There was even a moat before that wall and a drawbridge at the entrance.

    "We are here, it''s ''New Spirit Spring City.''"

    Cheng Yun said while panting, tired from all the sprinting he was doing for some hours.

    "Yes, the sect is past the city and further in!"

    The sect was established first, the whole area was sealed off with a grand formation and walls. Still, there were many residents from the old Spirit Spring City remaining. Zhang Dong gave the people two options.

    The Zhang Clan would be relocating which was a given. They would welcome them to establish the city here if they wished or move back to the old one. The previous one was destroyed during the quick war that took place. Some of the costs would be covered by the sect and the people could rebuild.

    A staggering majority wished to remain with the new sect. The people felt that the sect leader was an honorable man which was proven during the battle that took place. They let all the residents evacuate and were even willing to pay for their losses. Who else than the United Element sect would do such a thing? No one!

    They would be lucky if some other overbearing sect would even let them live in one of their towns if they paid them for it. This one would be letting them stay with fewer strings attached. They still would need to pay taxes but they would be given enough time to set up their shops and businesses for that.

    The youths looked at the giant walls, they were at least fifteen meters tall and there were even larger guard towers connected to them. They also noticed that they weren''t the first people to arrive. There was already a big line to the large main gate and it was moving very slowly. Above them flying ships and cultivators were whizzing past them and they could even see some of the robes that the United Elements sect wore.

    "Hey look there! That person is flying on a big jade sword! He is wearing a blue robe, it must be an inner sect disciple!"

    The youths came informed. They even knew about the types of robes that the disciples were wearing, a blue one represented an inner sect disciple which was quite an honor. After getting past the trials they didn''t expect to get anything but a gray robe of an outer sect disciple.

    This wasn''t a problem as they knew that you could rise in ranks. How did they know all of this? The sect released some information before the recruitment drive, some of their disciples traveled the lands in hopes of attracting promising young students and maybe some older masters that were looking for a new home.

    "Brother Rong, we should get in line before those bastards from the Black Scar tribe get there before us!"

    "You are right Brother Yun, we must be there before them, brothers and sisters run for it!"

    Everyone ran towards the long line with smiles on their faces. The only thing on their mind was successfully entering the big glorious sect.

 211 Chapter 211

    "Think this is going to take a while, didn''t expect so many people to show up¡­"

    Two people in United Element sect robes were talking with each other. They were blue with a sort of emblem attached to the shoulder part. This was something that indicated that they were elders and not disciples. There was also the violet color which was above this, it was reserved for core elders and disciples that were even above them in prestige.

    One was a large fellow, quite rotund yet muscular. The robe he was wearing had to be custom made to fit around all of that mass. His name was Zhang Hong and he had a moderate amount of fame in the sect from the old days when the Zhang Clan was still going solo.

    The other person was a lot more ordinary. His face was plain and his height might have been a bit short. He was also a person that lasted through the old times and his name was Zhang Bao.

    The two young men were in one of the guard towers. They were looking down at the space in front of the large gate entrance to the New Spirit Spring City that was considered United Element sect territory. It was the first time the sect would be accepting new disciples into their midst.

    Zhang Hong was holding a bag with some pastries and eating while squinting. What he saw was making him worry. Outside the city gates, there were hundreds of thousands, maybe even a million of people. Tents and impromptu made shelters had been set up even a month before the sect trials could take place. The latecomers were continuing to pour in and some of them even camped out in the forest that hadn''t been cut down.

    Zhang Bao just gave out a sigh. He had managed to gain an elder''s position and was even an inner sect elder but this honor came with added responsibilities. Their first task would be to get the prospects through the trials and they had to screen everyone, there were no exceptions.

    They weren''t the only blue robe elders tending to this. The more potential disciples appeared the more people the sect had to assign. They had to make sure that everything went smoothly. This wasn''t the only gate that was letting people come through, there were three others.

    "Luckily the seniors designed that device, it will make this process more bearable¡­"

    Bao nodded while looking at the swarm of people that were getting ready to be accepted through their gate.

    "Yes, thank god we have the divine artifact department. We''ll be able to root out the unfit before they can enter the city."

    Hong nodded while munching on some sweets as the two people headed out of the tower, some other people in gray elder robes followed behind them.

    At the middle point there stood a strange looking machine. Similar looking treasure devices were placed at all the other gates. It was cylindrical in shape and there was an entrance from one side. It was connected by some thick wires to a console in a closed section. The people could see someone operating those consoles through a small window that was covered by glass. There were more than one of those devices here and the sect members were performing the last inspection before opening them up.

    "Remember the training, move every potential disciple into the scanner artifact. The result will appear on the console and depending on it we will grant them entrance or have them leave. Only the ones chosen by this artifact will be allowed to participate in the rest of the trials."

    Zhang Bao delivered his short speech while moving to the side. He and his brother Hong were responsible for this gate, they would need to stay here and make sure that nothing went wrong. They had permission from the elders in higher positions to use force if anyone got out of line. They didn''t think that anyone would be stupid enough to do this, but there could be a spy among the people and this device apparently could tell this as well.

    "Let them in, everyone form a line towards each divine artifact scanner, the faster we finish the sooner you all can go home!"

    The people behind the gate started shouting as the metal bars were lifted up into the air. No one dared to move in quite yet though. They waited for a person in a gray robe and with the united element sect''s emblem to go out. He did a short speech explaining what would be happening.

    "Please follow the instructions in an orderly fashion. If any fights break out, you will be removed forcefully¡­"

    People just wanted to run through the gate and be done with everything. The people that were at the front had waited for a whole month, just sitting there and meditating. The first person moved forward and was instructed to go into some strange looking artifact. The doors slid open and he found himself in a well-lit space.

    ''Please place your hand on the measuring orb.''

    The man flinched after hearing a woman''s voice call out to him. He looked around wondering if someone from outside was calling out to him but before he could ask an orb the size of a bowling ball popped out from some kind of hidden slot. It looked to be made from glass or some kind of crystal. The man didn''t react and kept wondering what this was about, the woman''s voice repeated the massage again before he finally reached out to touch the sphere.

    The moment he touched it a jolt of electricity ran through his body and he felt weak. He wasn''t able to move a muscle or utter a word. A ray of light appeared above his head in a horizontal line and it started moving downwards. It moved through his entire body, scanning it and feeding that data to the console outside.

    A woman from the sect looked at the console. It showed her various biometric data, height, weight, bone structure, and age. Every small detail was revealed thanks to this machine. The woman looked at the numbers and her eyebrows furrowed slightly. There were a few red indicators that didn''t spell anything good for this potential disciple.

    "Age 27¡­ Qi Condensation 5th stage¡­ Potential: low¡­ Disposition: Orange¡­"

    She did what she was trained to do and pressed a red button. The large capsule-like device where the man was in opened up. It had a little monitor above it that showed a ''Failed'' message all in red.

    "What, I failed? T-this is impossible!"

    The man trembled in utter shock, he wasn''t even able to take any kind of test of might or knowledge. He hadn''t heard of any other sects doing things like this one, most of the time there would at least be some practical trials for the potential disciples to take. At most, they only tested your realm before allowing you to take a trial.

    One member from the United Element sect stepped out to the man that started shouting and demanding to be let into the artifact again. He thought that he must have failed when he couldn''t free himself from the scanner in time.

    "You lied about your age, this is enough to disqualify you. Leave, or you will be forcefully removed."

    The man from the sect activated his spiritual energy and suppressed the Qi condensation cultivator with his foundation establishment aura. The man that failed the test shrunk back and promptly left, other people looked at him with fear. This sect was using some kind of strange treasure that could even tell your age.

    Before the next person could move forward Zhang Hong appeared in front of the gate. He activated his cultivation and shouted out.

    "If you are above the age of 25 and still at Qi condensation, don''t even bother. If you are discovered, you will be lashed ten times! Don''t waste mine and the sects time!"

    Some people flinched, the sect already announced the age restriction. But some people that were a year or two above 25 still tried coming here. They didn''t think the sect would be that strenuous and if they made it through the tests they would probably forgive them. This was apparently not the case and they would be lashed in front of the crowd. They looked to the crafty looking sect members, they all looked tough and radiated power, getting lashed by them could be deadly.

    "Continue with the screening. Next!"

    The warning seemed to have worked as some of the people that were standing in the line moved back. Not all of them got discouraged though as after half an hour another person that was past the maximum age popped up. Zhang Hong gave the order and the man was pulled out to the front of the gate. He was lashed ten times, his back was now bruised and bloodied and he was tossed outside. They couldn''t stop people from trying to sneak in but they had to be resolute with their rules.

    The scanning continued and quite a bit of people were getting sent home. No one knew what the criteria of making it through were. There were a lot of people to go through and even though most of them were denied some made it in.

    ''Passed''

    A beautiful woman walked out of the scanner. Every man in the vicinity craned their necks to get a good look at this beauty. She was quite curvaceous and her choice of clothes made the men gulp. Zhang Bao and Hong couldn''t keep their eyes off the female either, besides her beauty there was also something else.

    "Foundation establishment¡­ late stage? Potential¡­ high!"

    The woman that was reading the scanner looked at the results. The woman here had better stats than a lot of the current sect members. She clearly was suited for an elder''s position and not for a disciple and she wasn''t even that old.

    The woman was given the okay to go through, her shapely hips swayed side to side and you could see a whip-like weapon attached to her hip. There was a small gathering of people that made it through the strange artifact inside the city. Other sect members were greeting these people and showing them the way towards the next area.

    This woman wouldn''t need to attend that though. People that were of high enough caliber could skip the trials altogether. She only needed to register with the sect and receive her robe. She would then go through a trial period while learning her duties as a senior.

    She looked at an emblem that she was given, it had some kind of long number on it which was apparently something that identified her as a member of this sect. She could use this emblem to gather sect merit which she could trade in for various resources and even spirit stones.

    "Interesting¡­ He really made it big. Shouldn''t have let him escape that time¡­"

    The woman gave out a sigh while mumbling to herself. She had managed to make it inside this sect, her new life was finally starting and she would be making the best of it. Her frowning face changed into a smirk as she tossed the emblem that looked like a small shield up into the air. She caught it right back before placing it on her shoulder just as the other people in the sect did.

    "Time to start a new life!"

    She was promised her own cultivation residence, she wasn''t sure if it would be a cave or a building quite yet. While she left other people were still getting analyzed. The lines moved forward slowly and more people were failing than passing. The testing would continue for multiple days as there were just too many people outside the city. The next part would be the practical trials that would force even more people to prematurely retire.

 212 Chapter 212

    The leader from the Black Scar tribe that was previously at odds with Yang Rong walked into the scanner tube. The other members from his clan looked at him with anticipation. Rong wasn''t far behind as he also was the first one to get into another measuring device that was standing to the side.

    The machines took some time to process the information and the two stepped out into the open. A ''Passed'' in green letters appeared over each of the cylindrical treasures as the two went out. Each one of them wanted to laugh at their enemy when they failed but both passed at the same time.

    "Please move, there are other people waiting to take the test."

    One of the members from the sect had to move in as Yang Rong kept glaring at the person from the Black Scar tribe. Both of them made it in so they headed inside the city, they stopped right outside the entrance and they waited for more of their tribe members to appear.

    "I bet more of my brothers will pass than yours!"

    "As if!"

    Yang Rong replied while crossing his arms over one another and glancing back into the gate corridor. He had made it through the first test but he was still worried about his tribe members.

    "Brother Rong I made it through"

    Cheng Yun strutted out right after Yang Rong which caused the person from the Black Scar tribe to frown. They weren''t the only three that made it through, each side ended up with 10 people passing which halved their numbers.

    "This isn''t the only trial, we will see who remains till the end you trash!"

    The two enemy tribes slung some profanities at each other before walking away. They all finally looked into the city, it was a lot different from their old fashioned village. The houses here were mostly made from stone and bricks which was the biggest difference. The villages used wood for their houses and straw for the roofs.

    The people that passed the initial scanning test weren''t left to their own devices on the inside. Everyone was guided to the city square that was quite spacious. When Yun and Rong arrived they spotted something that they recognized.

    "Isn''t that?"

    "Yes it is!"

    It was a statue of the renowned Zhang Dong. He was standing gallantly in his tight robe while looking out into the distance. The statue was located in the middle of the city square and was in the middle of a large fountain. There were two other people standing next to him both on the sides while he was in the middle.

    "I think that''s the Senior''s wife Elder Feng Liena."

    "Yes and that man over there must be Huo Qiang, the three Elemental Lords!"

    Zhang Dong was sometimes also referred to as the ''Lightning Emperor'' but that name was a bit problematic due to the Azure Emperor''s existence. At most they could call him the ''Lightning King'' otherwise they might offend people in that camp as they couldn''t be two emperors in an empire.

    The two youths looked around, there were many people here close to their age. They were standing or sitting while just waiting. The person who guided them here told them that they needed to stay here for now. They would be provided food but no shelter for the night.

    "This is probably another test, we need to be resolute!"

    They all nodded and sat down in their lotus positions. They would use this time to relax and wait. There were still many people waiting to get tested and it would probably take days until everyone was processed.

    Everyone took their time to examine the surroundings they were in. This was the new Spirit Spring City that was built after the short war with the Dark Palm sect took place.

    The buildings all looked sturdy and had an oriental feel to them. They mostly had hip roofs or xie shan roofs. The area they were waiting in had some parks with flowing water and small bridges outside the square. They could also see some larger pagoda-like structures in the distance sprinkled here and there. They were akin to modern-day skyscrapers and probably could house thousands of people in them.

    This city was owned by the sect, but it wasn''t populated by the sect members. They lived inside the sect compound that was further in. Even from here, they could see another wall that was twice as tall as the one outside the city. This was where the real sect resided and where they would be taking the trials.

    Night came and everything became well lit. There were many soldiers patrolling the area that were mostly in Qi condensation but there were some others that were above it. These people had different uniforms, they were dark blue but not like the inner sect disciples.

    "I think they are part of that ''police'' unit."

    One of the people from the Tatar Tribe spoke up, after the sect rebuilt the police force was reestablished. The only change being that it was now mostly populated by the people from the city. The top bras were made of outer sect disciples and the police chief was at least a core formation expert.

    These people in those strange uniforms were all spread throughout the city. There was quite a bit of them out as they were worried that some of the trainees were going to cause some trouble. They were there to break up fights that might occur between the participants. One such fight was taking place right about now but it was swiftly resolved. The rowdy cultivators that couldn''t follow the rules were promptly kicked out. This was enough to keep everyone else silent as they still wanted to make the cut.

    It took another two days for all of the participants to get examined at the city gates. The moment everyone was at the square the fountain sculptures started rumbling. The eyes of the Sect Patriarch started glowing and his head started turning.

    "Welcome potential brothers and sisters, we welcome you to this Trial!"

    A beam of light shot out from the statue and produced a hologram of a beautiful woman. This wasn''t one of the inferior holograms that the Zhang Clan made all those years ago. This one looked very lifelike. The person was a young woman in a violet robe and snow-like hair. Her characteristic hair color gave her away as most people knew that it was the fabled Zhang Xue.

    "Fairy Xue!"

    "Such beauty!"

    "Is she really here?"

    "H-how could this be?"

    Everyone''s mouth went agape after they saw the hologram projection of the beauty. She floated above and looked like a giant which made everyone realize that this wasn''t probably her real body.

    "Everyone here will have the chance of being accepted into our sect. The trials inside might be harsh on your body and soul, if you aren''t willing to suffer through them you are free to leave."

    Everyone nodded and was unwilling to go back now, there was far too much at stake. A sect that could create such a treasure must have been quite powerful and resourceful. Everyone felt invigorated as they continued to listen to the beauty.

    "Good, listen well. Our sect members will escort you to the trial area, please follow their instructions at all costs¡­"

    The introduction continued for a while as Zhang Xue listed out some rules. The participants were to listen to the seniors and do whatever they demanded of them. They could quit at any time, they just needed to voice it out and then they would be removed outside. There wouldn''t just be your regular strength-based tests. There would be other various ways you''d be allowed to get in, even with a lower realm than on average.

    "That is all, please follow the instructions."

    The hologram fizzled out and turned into multiple colorful lights. Zhang Dong statue''s eyes stopped glowing and they went back into looking into the distance.

    "This is it, brothers, let us depart!"

    "Yes!"

    Everyone shouted in unison. The participants here were all hopeful, they had made it through the initial screening so there shouldn''t be any problems on the inside. At least that is what they all thought.

    They soon arrived at the large gate that would take them into the sect grounds. It was made out of white jade and it was absolutely massive. There were some intricate carvings on it depicting strange monsters like dragons, phoenixes, and qilins. The moment they arrived those doors started to part. As they parted everyone noticed that there was a single person right in the middle.

    He had similar snow-white hair as the beauty that they had seen in the square. He was quite handsome and was even standing on a large green crystal sword. He flew forward while everyone watched, his ability of flight gave away his cultivation level to the people here. Everyone did the natural thing and clasped their hands while greeting this senior.

    "I welcome you to the sect, please follow me inside."

    He did a quick turn and moved inside. He was standing like a grand pillar with his hands behind his back and a stoic expression on his face. The crowd of people didn''t ask any questions and quickly moved inside. Even they knew who this man was and it would spell death if they offended him in any shape or form.

    From the one million people remained about one fifth. The screening process was quite brutal on these participants. This was still far too many people, the sect could at most accept up to a hundred thousand. This was their first recruitment drive so they would be a bit more lenient with their first new batch.

    "Listen up!"

    "This is the United Element Sect! We do not accept people without talent that can''t offer the sect anything in return. We expect you to work and work hard! These tests will prepare you for your future life as a disciple, if you show us your worth, you will be rewarded!"

    Zhang Liu performed a little introduction speech, listing a couple of things that Zhang Xue might have left out. He then pointed the participants in a direction, what they saw there shocked them quite a bit.

    Past the gate was another wide-open space, walls were closing off the view of most of the buildings and there were many people in sect robes standing. This wasn''t the most interesting part though, there were many circular looking contraptions lined out. It didn''t take them long to figure out what they were for as one activated.

    "I-is that a teleportation gate?"

    "My lord, this sect is really a grand sect!"

    The people became abuzz with chatter. Teleportation technology was something that wasn''t available to the regular clans spread throughout the land. Only powerful sects like the old Dark Palm sect were able to gather enough resources to build one. This cemented the United Elements sect''s position in their hearts and made them crave their knowledge and strength even more.

    "As you might have heard, combat trials aren''t the only way of proving yourself. Alchemy, blacksmithing, healing, herb gathering, and many more. Each gate will take you to a different trial¡­"

    Liu continued explaining, there were multiple trials and the participants had a limited time to pass them. They could abandon trials they were failing at and for instance, try pill creation instead of battling combat puppets. There were many ways of passing the tests and they needed to prove their worth by getting merit points.

    "Each trial has a set number of merit points assigned to them if you manage to gather 100 points you will pass!"

    The potential disciples looked at the teleportation gates that started activating one after another. Soon the blue light filled the entire area, the strange sound of those gates brought goosebumps of anticipation.

    "The trial will commence now, I wish you luck, and may we see each other in the future!"

    Zhang Liu nodded before taking off, the trial would have a time limit of a week and would probably bring down the number of participants to one-tenth of what it was before, maybe even lower.

 213 Chapter 213

    "Glory to the United Element sect!!"

    Zhang Dong was walking through one of the corridors in the main sect sanctuary building. He nodded at the people that greeted him and continued forward. The sect recruitment trials were taking place at this very moment and he wanted to check upon them.

    Five years had passed since this sect had been created. Everything had been built to completion before they decided on opening their doors. It took a bit longer than expected but he was also busy with his own personal business.

    He was a married man and didn''t want to waste away only cultivating for the rest of his life. He made sure to have a good relationship with Feng Liena and the two were seen walking hand in hand quite often. The culmination of their relationship finally resulted in an offspring, the same one he was now carrying in his arms.

    The one-year-old was looking around, her eyes sparkling and green like emeralds. Her hair was similarly pink like her mother???s but a lot lighter, this probably due to her father''s hair being snow white. The Sect leader was known to bring his child out and the sect members never missed a beat to compliment him on his cute little daughter.

    "Greetings Patriarch! I see little Xiu is looking as precious as ever!"

    A couple of female cultivators were walking past and spotted their sect leader walking around. They instantly surrounded him, the small child being the talking point. With the years the people from the three clans managed to figure out Zhang Dong''s true nature. Which was quite stoic and docile, he never got mad at anyone and didn''t think much about face. He cared more about his family members than himself and would come to their defense more than towards his own.

    He was also known as a doting father and as a good husband. Zhang Dong looked at the group of ladies and then to his cute daughter that was looking up to him with a smile. His face started twitching as he couldn''t help but smile back, this didn??t go unnoticed by the people from the sect.

    "Yes! Isn''t she the cutest!"

    He gave the little girl a couple of gentle head pats but didn''t offer her up to the group of women. He remembered his daughter crying a bit when someone pinched one of her cheeks. The sect member in question then tried to appease this fault by slitting his belly with a sword. To not have a similar encounter he decided to just not let other people touch his child. This only made everyone think that he was being overprotective.

    ''She is getting sleepy, I should go back. Better not have her sleeping outdoors.''

    He took off with his daughter in his arms, the little child''s head started wobbling around but he stabilized it with his aura. They slowly flew through the air while taking in the sights. The 10 million large city that used to be Spirit Spring City was moved here along with all of its residents.

    "Bwo bwaaa¡­"

    The girl said while pointing at something in the distance. Zhang Dong just placed his hand on those pink locks and ruffled them up a bit. The girl protested and squirmed but nothing could save her from those head pats of fatherly love.

    He descended towards his own residence that was floating right above the large castle structure. He didn''t want to stand out at first but he managed to recreate the technology that would allow their structures to float. His advisors said that it would be best if he set up his own residence above everyone else, it would show that he is there protecting everyone from above.

    He finally relented and had his sect build him a pure white castle that was fit for a shogun. They planted cherry blossoms all over the place as his wife was quite fond of them. She also favored the more Japanese looking kimonos than what you would see the other people wearing. This was probably due to the secret texts of her clan having those types of esthetics.

    He did finally get to see her secret stash after they got married as everything from the Feng Clan was put up into their sects mega vault. It housed quite a bit of their treasures and spirit stones. If a sect member had enough merit points he could head over to the treasury department and get a pass for an item.

    The text as he had thought was drawn mangas. He didn''t recognize them or the art style. He came to the conclusion that they were drawn by someone that just as he came here from another world. The plotlines in those were your usual rom-com scenes with ecchi parts included. They were heavily focused on the tanned gyarus and ganguro girls for some reason. Each story had one as the main heroine and the male lead always went for them in the end.

    He was sure that he wasn''t the only person that came from earth here so this wasn''t much of a shock anymore. The massage that the person he heard after he touched the cube was still fresh on his mind. He wasn''t able to find any more of those places after going through the lands again. He didn''t venture outside his sect yet as he was afraid to leave his wife that was in labor.

    "Good morning~"

    He heard a sweet womanly voice from afar and looked down. There she was, his beautiful wife. She looked a bit rounder than usual and there was a reason for it, there was another little person growing in her belly. He already knew that it would be a boy this time around, even Feng Liena could scan herself with her spiritual sense to tell the gender.

    This was quite the joyous moment for the whole sect as they had a legitimate heir to it. Zhang Dong was considered to be the king, little Xiu was the princess and this boy would be the crown prince. The people were quite surprised by both the children as it was quite rare for nascent soul cultivators to ever have children. One reason was that most of them were far too old for such things and the other one that birth was a lot harder on the woman''s and the baby''s body.

    "Bwaba~"

    The little girl called out and stretched her hands out towards her mom. Feng Liena just smiled and moved closer taking the child into her hands and giving her a big smooch on the cheek.

    "Yes, it''s your mommy."

    Zhang Dong smiled slightly as he saw his wife rub her nose with his cute little daughter. He moved closer and placed his hand on her protruding belly. The time of the birth was close and it would probably put a strain on his wife.

    "How are you feeling? Are you hungry? Are you sure you should be out here? You might catch a col..."

    Before he could finish his sentence a finger was placed against his mouth. Feng Liena looked up to him with a smile on her face while chuckling.

    "I''m fine, this child will be fine as well, I know my husband won''t let anything bad happen to the both of us~"

    Zhang Dong nodded while rubbing his neck. He was concerned about his family, finally he could relate to the adults who were responsible for their own children. Luckily with his healing abilities, he could help out during the childbirth, he had done it during the first one successfully and was planning on repeating this procedure.

    "Now let us eat, the maids made dumplings and they roasted a spirit duck for my little glutton."

    Feng Liena pinched the side of Zhang Dong''s belly which made him flinch to the side. He wanted to return the favor but couldn''t due to the baby in belly situation.

    "Oh, you¡­"

    The two-headed into the house and started chatting. He gave his sleeping potato of a daughter to one of the maids that helped her into her baby bed. He still needed to check up on the sect test so after giving his wifey a smooch he flew outside. His destination, the command center, or at least that''s what he liked to call it.

    Without the child in hand, he was a lot faster, no one even spotted him whizzing by in silence. He appeared unannounced and opened the door and gave the people inside quite the scare as always.

    "D-Donger please stop doing that, you''ll make your grandfather suffer from cultivation backlash."

    "Hah, like you''ll die from something like that, heard your wife count increased again, maybe giving you that cultivation technique was a bad idea¡­"

    Zhang Dong narrowed his eyes, he was looking at his grandfather that should be over 200 years old. The problem was that he looked like a 25-year-old man. After the library building was set up for the disciples he had put every technique that he knew in there, this along with his disguising technique that was now even improved into heavenly grade.

    His old casanova of a grandfather had come across it and used it to sire even more children. Now no one could even prove that it was him sleeping around, his old wives were at an uproar. He had also progressed into the great circle of core formation with the help of his grandson and would probably make it into the nascent soul level soon. Zhang Dong was afraid to prolong this man''s life as another thousand years could bring a million kids out of wedlock.

    ''Maybe when he dies half of the world''s population will be related to him?''

    He shook his head and went back to business. He looked at one of the screens that was in his command center of his. He had gone with a very futuristic look for it that made it look like some kind of command ship from old sci-fi shows.

    On the monitor, he could see some people sitting in front of pill furnaces. They were sweating while creating pills as part of the trial. He watched as one pill furnace exploded and the explosion had to be contained by one of the judges. The person that had failed could continue but some of his merit points would be deducted each time they failed.

    On another screen, he could see the puppet corridor where a person was trying to squeeze through it. The many puppet soldiers were keeping the youth away from reaching the destination but somehow he made it till the end. His body looked all bruised and battered but he looked to be satisfied with himself.

    ''Hm, not bad, that''s a good expression he has.''

    On another, there was a large pit of lava. This trial was also designed by him, he got the idea from the platformer games that he used to play. Some of the platforms were moving around it and you had to time your jumps correctly so you could get to the end. You could also show overwhelming physical ability and make it through some other way. The lava on the ground looked more dangerous than it was and the contestants wouldn''t die if they fell.

    He continued walking through the room while looking at the various tests. There was even a scoreboard showing the current contestants and how well they were doing. He didn''t recognize the names of the people there but he would have to give the top three medals for good placements.

    "Oh and this one is?"

    He asked while one of the people answered.

    "This is the waiting room for the people that passed on the merit of having a high cultivation."

    Apparently the people here had good results from the scanner he designed. It scanned for potential, age, their alignment, and calculated if they would be a good fit for his honorable sect. There weren''t that many people there, only twenty but they could be trained up if they decided to invest.

    ''Wait¡­ what is she doing here¡­''

    He raised his brow as he recognized someone, it was a woman he would probably never forget for the rest of his life. Her curves could give his wife a run for her money. His face twitched for a second she had already made it inside the sect, would his wife get mad if she knew this?

 214 Chapter 214

    She was apparently a candidate for an elder. This role became available after you reached the late stage of foundation establishment. In the lesser clans, this was already enough to be its leader. Here at most you would be allowed to be the lowest ranking senior. In the future core formation practitioners and up would only be allowed as elders. They still didn''t have enough people for that jump.

    He could see that Lan Fei took his advice to heart and was now using a whip weapon. She did have talent in that as well as high potential. This wasn''t that important though, there were other thoughts going through his head.

    ''Uh¡­ will Liena be angry if she meets a girl that I''ve been with before?''

    He was a married man and already had kids. Normally having an ex-girlfriend wasn''t a big deal but he wasn''t sure how his lovely wife would react to this news. He didn''t want to lie to her but he also didn''t want to bring this information out into the open either.

    "Oh interested in that one, Dong''er?"

    Zhang Jin called out while glancing at the monitor that had the elder candidates in it. He had a somewhat similar face to Zhang Dong in his younger form but was slightly shorter.

    "Gramps¡­ keep it in the pants¡­ you can''t be doing this with our sect members. Think about your position..."

    Zhang Dong wanted to give his grandfather a smack to the face. Ever since he got his hands on this transformation technique rumors started spreading. Some people even confused the old fart with him which got him in hot water with his wife. Luckily he only had to pull the old pervert over for an explanation and it ended at that. His wife trusted him enough and didn''t make a fuss.

    ''Think I''m worrying too much¡­''

    He thought to his child and to his wife. They had grown more fond of each other through the years and even started calling each other cute names. He was the hubby and she was the wifey.

    "What, want her all for yourself?"

    Zhang Dong narrowed his eyes and moved his fist up into the air. Zhang Jin just started laughing as he ran away acting as if he was a teenager.

    "Anyway¡­ Is everything proceeding as planned? Were there any issues with the artifacts?"

    He asked while turning to the other sect members in the room. Everyone here was already used to how the sect leader and his grandfather interacted and were relaxed around the two. One of the people moved forward with some papers and started giving a report.

    Zhang Dong nodded at the report, the sect member even mentioned a couple of people by name that were quite promising. He was only interested in the ceremony that was going to be held after they gathered the disciples as he had to make a speech. He had kind of grown accustomed to things like this by now but that didn''t mean that he liked to do it.

    The way this sect was handled was a bit unconventional. First, every disciple was required to take classes on things like reading and ethics. They had created large buildings that were similar to how schools back in his old world looked. The schools were separated and named differently to somehow produce an atmosphere of competition. There would also be regular competitions hosted between the schools, the ones that came out on top would be rewarded accordingly to their achievements.

    He was slightly worried that some of the created schools would fall back behind the others. This was something unfortunate but it had to happen to give others motivation not to fail and to work harder.

    There would be a four-year curriculum and then they would graduate becoming true disciples. The recruitment drive would then resume to get new students while the old ones started their work at the sect facilities. He deliberated on having a yearly infusion of new students to produce some upper and lower classmates. This would strain their budget too much as handling so many people each year was too much on this growing sect.

    He remained in the command center and looked through the monitors some more. He could see people failing and succeeding. It was hard to watch the ones that didn''t make it, the expressions of disappointment and sadness were plastered on their faces. Some were even breaking down into tears after getting removed from the trials.

    He didn''t like this part of his work. If he could he would accept everyone into his sect and form one big happy family. This wasn''t feasible, his sect might have been a large faction but they still had limited resources. If they started sharing it with just anyone then they would just spread themselves too thin. He still needed to contend with the other powerful sects but he was slowly building up to a point where they wouldn''t need to.

    After going through the screens he decided to go check how things were going in the ''true'' sect. Zhang Dong needed to perform a small task there. He was going find this task in his ''Dimensional Regalia'' immortal treasure that had gone through a slight change.

    He was the item''s master so as long as he was within a ten-kilometer radius of it he could just teleport in. He didn''t use that feature though as he wasn''t in a rush, he just used what the other sect members did, a teleportation gate. These handy artifacts were now widely spread throughout the sect.

    They had connected all the cities that were owned by them. Moonlight City, Red Lotus City, Qingliang City, and others. In reality, all of those large megalopolises that were situated in their land belonged to them. The sect didn''t invest in all of them though and only set up smaller outer sect bases in the ones at strategic locations.

    The original Dark Palm sect area shrunk down and they only needed to contend with two other parties at the borders and not with three. This was not due to one of them having perished, no the Dragon gate sect just took more of the treasures instead of the land while the other two split it between them. The United Element sect also didn''t have anyone bordering them from behind as that was where the forest area where spiritual energy was low.

    He used one of the teleportation gates that were available to the elders. They all could be accessed and operated thanks to the shield like emblem that he had designed. It was similar to the ones that the new disciples would receive, each one acted as sort of a smart key. The higher your rank the more access to the sect''s resources you would have. You could also spend merit points to gain temporary access for a limited time to some of the facilities. This was made so that the new disciples actually worked for their progress and not have everything handed to them on a silver platter.

    The gate churned with spiritual energy and he disappeared into it. On the inside, there were already people there to greet him.

    "Junior greets the Patriarch!"

    There were guards placed on each teleportation station and just as any other job in the sect you would get merit points for performing this task. Zhang Dong went a bit capitalistic with his sect but it was working as the sect members were happy to work in exchange for resources. These being cultivation techniques as well as pills and combat weapons.

    "At ease."

    He nodded while going in. The gate that he walked through was located at a steep hill that overlooked the pocket dimension in the dimensional regalia. He was looking at the spot where the old dorm building stood before. The old building was renovated into a huge pagoda that was several stories high.

    The air around here felt different, it was due to the siphoning formation that was absorbing most of the spiritual energy from the spirit vein. The Qi here was more comparable to what the largest sects at the very top were used to. The Dark Palm sect and the three other factions in the area could only dream of something like this.

    The small floating island that was only a couple kilometers in diameter when he first found it had changed into a giant landmass. It was similar to the size of a continent from his old world and it was still growing. By his calculations, the treasure would become complete when this landmass fully formed and it would probably be the size of a regular planet. This was the true power of an immortal treasure, something on the scale of a small world!

    There were no enemies here so the sect didn''t need to build any defensive structures. Most of them were built to help the core disciples to train. They also kept most of their spirit herbs in here as the high concentration of Qi let them have bountiful harvests. The more energy the treasure absorbed the more lively it got.

    Even without their help, trees, grass and all sorts of plants were beginning to grow. It was as if this small world was healing itself, gently regrowing what it had once lost. There were even some spirit beasts appearing here and there that could be used as food and wielded quite potent meat. They were friendly as well, they reacted to the orders of the one that was the master of this treasure, Zhang Dong''s thoughts. He could even order them to attack the people here as if he was the master of this whole small world.

    He wasn''t here to watch the spirit herbs growing though, no he was here to spend some spirit points. The time had come to help one of his more trusted sect members to make the jump. He moved towards one of the larger hills in the distance, there he spotted four people waiting for him.

    "Hey Senior Brother, you''re finally here!"

    Huo Qiang called out while waving at Zhang Dong. Next to him was another muscular man, his father Huo Gang. The man that butted heads with Zhang Dong looked a lot stronger than before and he was also radiating the aura of a nascent soul master. The two had long buried the hatchet.

    The third person was a woman that looked to be about forty but her true age was a lot higher. Her name was Feng Suyin, she was the strongest senior beside his wife from the Feng Clan side and she was also at the nascent soul level. Her skin was light brown and she had the usual gyaru features along with the curves that they all had. Her hair was platinum-blond and the makeup was strange to look at.

    He wasn''t here for those three though, no he was here for the third person. A man that had stayed loyal to the Zhang Clan for quite some time, his name was Zhang Zhi. He had finally reached the pinnacle of core formation and was ready to take the next step towards the nascent soul level. He would be the first one besides him that had reached that level from the Zhang Clan, which for him was quite the honor.

    "Greetings Patriarch!"

    Zhang Zhi cupped his fists with vigor. He was sitting down in a lotus position with his chest bare. Before he would be allowed the step into the nascent soul he needed to get cleansed. Yes, Matt still used his system points to clear the impurities of the people that were close to going past the core formation level. This was one of the better uses he could spend all those passive points he was getting from his large territory.

    "Well then, are you ready? This might feel a bit funny¡­"

    The other three nascent soul elders chuckled to themselves as they all had gone through this cleansing. It was something that would be hard to forget, Zhang Zhi nodded, and soon Zhang Dong''s hand was placed on the sitting man''s back. Soon the inner core disciples that were training close to this spot could hear a man''s sensual moans...

 215 Chapter 215

    "Ahhh¡­P-patriarch..."

    The strange stuttering sounds of a grown man were heard from atop of the mountain peak. Matt didn''t like this part of the process of cleansing his sect members from impurities. If he performed it fast they would feel an excruciating amount of pain. If he did it slow it wouldn''t be bad, it was actually the reverse, it felt good.

    He did it the first time with Feng Liena and thought that she might have exaggerated her reaction. After he went through Huo Qiang''s father and the second member from the Feng Clan he noticed that she might have underperformed her reaction. This was why Zhang Zhi here was moaning out like a little girl while he had to pretend that he was doing something. The process of cleansing the impurities happened via his system window but he had to pretend that he was doing it himself.

    "Sect L-leader n-no more, I can''t¡­"

    ''It would be nice if you stopped shouting out my title while you are moaning dude¡­''

    He thought to himself while Zhang Zhi''s toes continued to curl up. The black ooze that he discharged had a really bad smell to it and he had to be in touching distance of it. Huo Gang and the lady from the Feng clan were looking at the moaning man with mixed expressions while remembering their own procedure. The only curious look was on Huo Qiang as his process was less than stellar and mostly painful.

    Luckily this didn''t take so long and he had learned from the time with his wifey that he should stand behind the targets. Having them sit down on the ground was also something he came up with so that they wouldn''t lean on him.

    "There, now go clean yourself up."

    Zhang Dong pulled his palm back, it felt sticky and some black goop was on it. Zhang Zhi almost face planted to the ground during the procedure. Now he was just panting while blushing. Zhang Dong used a moist towelette to wipe his hands and then moved down from the peak. While Zhang Zhi was cultivating Huo Gang and Feng Suyin would act as dharma protectors. They would keep anyone away while their junior took that large step forward. This was a delicate process and if he got interrupted he could suffer cultivation regression or even die.

    "With junior brother Zhi that will put us on even grounds with the other sects, don''t you think so, senior brother Dong?"

    Huo Qiang floated next to Zhang Dong and proclaimed while grinding wide. The man was a battle junky so if it was possible he would like to cause some trouble with the other sects and fight some of their nascent soul elders.

    "With him we only have six nascent soul elders, if we go by what the Dark Palm sect had¡­We still fall short by four regular elders, that''s not counting the hidden masters that they had."

    "That is true, but with our immortal cultivation manuals we won''t have trouble trashing those old farts even two on one!"

    Huo Qiang performed a smack to his chest as always. This was actually a good point, even though they had lower numbers their nascent soul elders were far stronger than a regular cultivator at the early stage of the nascent soul realm. They were more in line with a middle stage cultivator that practiced a regular heavenly grade cultivation method. They also didn''t need to spend long to cultivate their soul-beasts either.

    About five years had passed since the war with the Dark Palm sect. He had since made some progress and reached the middle stage a couple of months ago. Now even without his powered-up form, he could battle a regular late stage cultivator. If he fully let loose then he could contend with someone in the great circle.

    Huo Qiang and Feng Liena had progressed further as well but both weren''t quite there. Liena was about halfway into the middle stage while Qiang had progressed by about 70%. He could clearly see the numbers on his system screen so they had to be true. He attributed Liena''s slower progress due to the pregnancies. He also gave her a little boost here and there and she was still behind Qiang.

    "You might be right there brother Qiang but it would be better to not show them our fangs just yet. Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak. Always better to catch your enemy off guard otherwise, they might prepare some contingencies against us. We might suffer the same fate as those Dark Palm lunatics if we don''t prepare well."

    Matt was somewhat convinced that they should be able to at least tie if they went against one of those three sects. They had also increased the number of their core formation elders by improving all of their cultivation manuals all the way up to heaven grade. This was of course only for the ones that were core disciples and for some of the inner ones.

    They just had to train them up as they were just falling behind the others far too much. This brought some trouble with corruption which they would have to clear up with time. Some of the new core formation experts were a bit drunk with power and sometimes caused trouble to other people outside the sect. Matt even had to create a special sect division of internal affairs to root out any corruption.

    He gave the position of the chief there to the person that was most loyal to him, Zhang Zhi. His promotion would become official after he broke through to the nascent soul realm. Just as all the rest of the grand elders he possesses an immortal grade cultivation technique. The soul beast that would be formed from it would look like an evolved version of a water serpent. Similar to the one his clan used as a formation.

    He had to spend some points he had gained to upgrade. Luckily the land that he was considered the owner of was a lot larger now. It encompassed millions of people now and brought in quite a lot of spirit points. The increase in cultivation level of his people also made his points jump up.

    "If you say so, Senior brother¡­"

    Huo Qiang slumped his shoulders forward, he was itching for a fight. Ever since he reached the nascent soul level he didn''t have a chance to have a good fight. He was stuck patrolling the border regions and giving the opposing sects the stink eye.

    "If you ever change your mind be sure to get me first! You can even activate one of these treasures!"

    Qiang flicked the earring from his left ear lobe. It was another treasure that Matt had made, the teleportation feature was just far too good to not use. His elder members could be teleported into battle whenever he needed them. There were even waypoints in their territory that they could instantly appear in.

    The other sects would probably be really surprised if they try sneaking in to only find themselves against every single nascent soul elder from the United Element sect. These treasures came in various shapes and sizes but they had a limit to them and needed time to recharge. He could activate them to bring his allies to him, or they could send out a signal when they were in distress to alert everyone. Then the others could just teleport to them.

    "I''ll be sure to do that."

    Zhang Dong laughed at his overzealous friend. The only thing he was good at was fighting but he felt reassured that he had him on his side. Matt was planning to stop paying the tributes to the other sects soon as they were slowly becoming self-sufficient. A show of force might be required when the time came but he wanted to wait some more till they were done with the new recruits.

    Zhang Dong inspected the rest of the Dimensional Regalia while Huo Qiang went back to training. Thanks to this place being so large he could let loose, his training ground had long turned into a desert riddled with holes and molten lava. Matt also had his own section to train in and cultivate, the lightning energies in that spot were quite volatile.

    These pockets were rich in elemental energies which could even be used by the future disciples. Zhang Xue and Liu would be allowed to absorb the golden lighting that appeared there from time to time. Both of them were in the early stage of core formation now and their hair was fully white just like their master''s.

    ''Nothing out of the ordinary here, I should get back home.''

    There wasn''t much for him to do besides cultivating and making artifacts for the sect. His crafting system was able to copy weapons which just made him have less to do. Thanks to this he could flood the market with affordable goods but he made sure not to sell his wares to his enemies. Most of the weapons and armor that he created would be used by his sect disciples and the seniors.

    Before he left he could see a cleaned Zhang Zhi sitting on a mountain peak. He was already back at it and cultivating. He vanished through the gate that he came through and flew right back home. His lovely wife and cute daughter were both waiting for him. The child was getting spoon-fed some baby food by one of their housemaids.

    Her mother would probably like to perform this task but she was out of commission due to having quite a large bloated belly. When he arrived he was greeted by smiles, the worries of the day seemed to disappear the moment he saw the mother and daughter duo. Time flew by fast and it soon was nighttime. He watched his wife and child fall asleep before going out to get some fresh air.

    He went out onto the balcony and looked off into the distance. The recruits were giving their all even now as there weren''t any breaks even for sleep.

    ''I hope nothing goes wrong¡­''

    He was holding onto a parchment. It had a golden seal on it and the symbol of the Dragon Gate sect. This sect was the friendliest one from the three, with the Limitless Sword Society one always acting rudely towards him and his sect.

    The piece of paper was an invitation. He was to go into their territory and take part in a sort of banquet. It was something of a get together for the more powerful sects. Besides the three sects that he knew there would be others from all around. This was a good opportunity to gain allies but also to gain enemies. He knew how these people operated and just as there was a fool trying to start a fight with him at his wedding, someone could appear there.

    He was in no position to show weakness now. He knew how strong he was and he was certain that he could beat any of those three Patriarchs in a one on one fight. He still wanted to avoid any animosity if it was possible but he couldn''t show that his sect was weak. This part of this society didn''t change, the strong got stronger and the weak got weaker. If push came to shove he might have to show some of his hand.

    ''Being the one making the big decisions is hard¡­''

    "Hubby?"

    He heard Feng Liena calling out to him. He turned his face and saw her concerned expression.

    "Is something wrong?"

    He moved over and gave the woman a smooch on the cheek before answering.

    "Everything is fine, just don''t want to leave the sect grounds while you are still in this condition."

    He placed his hand on her belly which made Liena chuckle. He needed to leave for a few days but the protective formations along with the multiple nascent soul masters should be able to protect his pregnant wife.

    "Everything will be fine, a certain worrying husband has created many defensive treasures for this wife of his."

 216 Chapter 216

    The two youths weren''t the only ones here. The tired bodies of other disciple candidates were similarly unmoving on the cold ground. The test had finally ended and now the only thing that was left was to count the merit points. Most of the people knew if they had already passed or not as there was a certain scanning device that would show you the number you had. The contestant just needed to go over to it and have it scan their emblem to show the number of merits.

    The two weren''t quite sure, they were ejected from the last trial they were taking. They were frantically trying to pass and didn''t use the scanner to tell how many merit points they had. The two had to settle on the combat and physical trials. There were various other ways of passing even with no fighting ability whatsoever.

    There were trials where you could show your knowledge about formations. There were even ones that required you to read and write as that was a skill that wasn''t that common in this world. The sect wasn''t only looking for powerful fighters, they also needed intelligent prospects that were good at management. Strength with no reason behind it wasn''t something this sect wanted.

    A large gong sounded which indicated the end of the sect trials. The gates started to forcefully eject the participants that were still on the inside. Those areas where the tests were being held were specially built with an ejection feature. This was mostly for safety reasons as the people inside would be brought outside if their life signals dropped too low. If such a thing happened the contestants would be taken away into one of the clinics for a checkup. Matt didn''t really want people to be dying when trying out for his sect.

    After a long week of trials and tribulations, the potential disciples that had passed would finally become part of the sect. They would not become true disciples though, they would first have to go through a trial period in the sect academy. They would be given the title of trial disciples and could always fail during the years the school was active. They could at most be held back by a year there, if they didn''t manage to progress they would be kicked out.

    Zhang Liu came out once more on his flying sword. The sect could remotely tell who had passed and who had failed. The last thing that these youths had to do was just walk through another gate.

    "Congratulations brothers and sisters, you have shown us the determination and worth of a United Element sect member! Now, anyone with at least a 100 merit points is allowed to walk through this door."

    "The sect emblems that you have been given will allow you to access some parts of the sect. If you have enough then follow me inside, if you don''t then please leave the sect premises."

    Zhang Liu performed another short speech before moving before the last gate and demonstrating how everything worked. He just stood in front of the gate and a similar scanner like ray hit the emblem on his shoulder. The gate then slid open, it was apparently a giant jade sliding door and would open each time someone from the sect stepped forward.

    After Zhang Liu vanished inside the tired people started walking up slowly. The first person that stepped forward was a handsome young man. His robe looked tidy and neat if you compared it to the ones the two youths were wearing from the Tatar tribe. The moment he arrived the gate slid open and he just walked in without stopping.

    This handsome young man was the person with the highest number of merit points from this batch. He was soon followed by a ravishing beauty, the woman caught every man''s eye as she also headed inside. She was second on the merit list and was followed by a large burly youth with a bare chest that finished at the third spot. The others just looked on flabbergasted by the looks of these people, everyone could tell that their cultivation was quite high for their age.

    "Everyone please line up in an orderly fashion."

    A person from the sect finally walked up and started organizing everything. The youths had stopped before the last hurdle and not everyone was willing to step forward. Everything moved slowly and some of the trial takers weren''t allowed in as the door remained shut before them. They were excused to the side with a pat on the back, maybe they could try again in a couple of years if they weren''t too old.

    Cheng Yun and Yang Rong were the only two people to successfully make it through the door from the Tatar tribe. To their dismay the other clan they were feuding with had three people make it over to the other side. The only good part about this was that it was forbidden for sect disciples to fight with each other outside the sect.

    It took some time for everyone to get past that gate, the logistics of moving all of these people inside and outside the sect were tremendous. The way they performed the trials might have to be evaluated in the future as most of it was just people waiting in lines.

    On the other side the new trial disciples were greeted with quite the sight. There were various massive buildings standing everywhere but the most eye-catching was the giant castle right in the middle and then a smaller one floating right above it, radiating power. Before anything could happen further Zhang Dong had to do his speech.

    The youths that had gone through the week-long trials were all tired so he wanted to do this fast. He was looking at the statistics, close to fifty thousand people had made it through the trials. This might have sounded like a large number but there were over a million candidates at the start. Huge sects tended to have millions of members spread throughout the lands that they owned, so when they added fifty thousand they still were much smaller than the other superpowers.

    Those fifty thousand were all now in the square while being surrounded by some official sect members. Before they could ask what was happening everyone felt a massive spike in spiritual energy in the area. The Qi in the air started vibrating as if something big was coming. Everyone here started getting goosebumps before they looked into the air and there they finally saw him.

    Zhang Dong was floating in the air and looking down at them. He was wearing a long gold and violet ceremonial robe. His sleeves were long and they along with the bottom of his robe gently floated in the wind. Not everyone recognized this man as the sect leader but some noticed that he had a striking resemblance to the statue that was in the city.

    "Greeting to my United Element''s Sect, you have managed to take your first step towards greatness. Keep this in mind though, this isn''t the end of your struggles, it''s just the beginning."

    The man smirked a bit after completing that sentence, the potential disciples flinched as they didn''t like the sound of that. Most of them barely scraped by to get those merit points and supposedly this wasn''t the end.

    "For now rest, you did well."

    Something strange happened as the floating person reached out forward with his hand. The space around became distorted and he started shining. The whole square where the young cultivators were standing in became bathed in rays of golden light. They were surprised, what was this powerful master doing? Soon they realized as the fatigue and wounds that they had suffered during the trials faded away.

    Somehow this elder used his power to heal so many of them at once. For a powerful nascent soul cultivator restoring Qi to lower Qi condensation cultivators wasn''t that difficult. Still, there were fifty thousand people here so he had to get the aid of the sect formations in the area to boost his power.

    ??You three did well !"

    Zhang Dong waved his hand and three disciples that were the top of this class floated up. It was the handsome youths along with the icy beauty and the macho. The three that looked composed earlier were amazed by the display of power. They were all young masters from their own clans but they could do nothing about this powerful senior.

    They found themselves up in the air about two hundred meters above everyone else. The white-haired man was directly in front of them. They all dropped their heads down as they bowed, directly looking into a powerful master''s eyes was considered rood.

    "Raise your heads, you did well young ones."

    "Fang Shu, 546 merit points you did well."

    The handsome youth with long black hair moved his head up. He saw the white-haired master wave his hand around and some kind of necklace appeared around his neck. It was golden and had the characters for the sect''s name on it.

    "Take this small gift, it will protect you from harm in the future."

    He noticed instantly that what he got was a mortal treasure of the highest quality. He dropped his head down and clasped his hands while thanking.

    "Fang Shu thanks the honorable master for this gift."

    Zhang Dong just nodded and looked to the other two. The girl and muscular man had anticipation in their eyes after seeing what the person next to them got.

    "Zhao Zhiruo 498 points¡­"

    "Wen Xiufeng, 486 points¡­"

    The two received silver pendants instead of a golden one that were of slightly lesser quality than what Fang Shu got. Matt at first wanted to make a bronze one but then decided to have two silver medals and a golden one instead. He gave the trio a little pep talk before sending them back to the ground. He started concluding everything, his speech was coming to an end.

    "Follow the instructions of the elders, you will be guided to your new homes. Study hard young ones, show me that you are worthy of the resources the sect provides. If you are diligent our paths may intertwine again. For now, farewell my disciples. Live long, prosper, and may the Qi be with you."

    Zhang Dong finished up with his speech while the young disciples kept their eyes on him. Some were even unwilling to blink, this was the first time they laid their eyes on someone as mighty as this master. Everyone interpreted his words differently but a lot felt that the intertwining part meant that he might accept them as disciples if they proved themselves.

    This gave everyone here another boost in confidence. They knew how ferocious this sect leader was, he even managed to go against five nascent soul cultivators at once and came out on top. The United Element sect members were sure to brag about their ''Lightning Emperor'' whenever they had the chance.

    Zhang Dong vanished from the spot he was standing and his aura that was giving everyone here goosebumps was also gone. The Qi condensation cultivators weren''t able to follow his movements at all as he just sped away back to his home. His pregnant wife was waiting for him and he left the busywork to his sect members. In times like these, they were the ones to shine.

    He picked up the pace and even a sonic boom was heard in the distance as he left a couple of after images. His part in all of this had ended for the moment. He was still listed as the new school''s special teacher. If the students gathered enough points they could even receive some pointers from him. The number required was quite staggering though. The leftover youths were left waiting but soon their new life as trial disciples was going to start, a bright future ahead of them.

 217 Chapter 217

    "Quiet down! You are all trial disciples now, you are not yet fit to be considered true disciples of the sect! You will now follow us to the dorms, this is where you will spend the next four years of your life."

    The man was an old-looking cultivator with an eyepatch that wasn''t able to cover the giant scar on his face. There were other members from the seniors with him and they were mostly composed of the three clan''s side family members. Those occupied the spots of the outer sect members while the main family branch was all composed of the inner sect members.

    Of course, everyone from them could be promoted to an inner sect elder if they worked hard. The reverse would also be possible and everyone could be demoted.

    "Listen up, we don''t have the whole day. Your emblems are the most important item you could have in this sect. It stores all the information about you, your merit points, and also allows you to freely move through select parts of the sect¡­"

    The man explained how the emblem they were carrying work as a sort of key. It stored their data that was then saved in the sects database. The trial disciples had free access to some training facilities as well as the new dorms where they lived.

    "Remember the 100 merit points you needed to pass the trials? Those points can be spent on cultivation resources."

    He gave them an explanation about the merit point system. The points weren''t just for show, everyone was going to keep those 100 merit points. They would be able to spend them on various things as it was considered money around the sect. They would be provided basic living and food but if they wanted more they would need to use them.

    There were various ways of earning merit points. The easiest one was attending classes and passing the tasks that were given by the teachers. Rising your cultivation level gave you points, getting through challenges or performing tasks for the current sect members was another one.

    The biggest reason for gathering more points was pointed out here. If your points dropped to 0 you would be thrown out of the sect. If they ever fell so low you had a month''s time to gather more in any way possible. You could even battle other disciples and get their merit points. This was the easiest way of getting them and the sect allowed friendly competition. This was also the best way to take care of the disputes between disciples.

    "Listen well, the emblem you have received has a number on it."

    The elder said while people looked to the emblems that they were previously assigned. He also explained that they were required to never lose them. They all already knew that this little treasure would allow them to walk around the sect.

    "You will be assigned to an academy by your number, look here."

    The man said while pointing to the side. The moment he did a large flat contraption started rising out from the ground. The youths had never seen anything like this before so they were quite curious.

    It was about twenty meters wide and fifteen meters high and attached to some thick columns. Soon they figured out what this was for as the treasure flickered on with light and showed many numbers.

    This was a giant screen that Zhang Dong had based on his old world''s flat-screen TVs. It had brackets that split into five academies, each one had a name.

    "Find your number on the list and then follow the path to your academy, the seniors there will guide you to the dorms. You will be spending at least four years there. You have two days to look through the academy before the lessons start."

    The introduction soon ended and the new disciples moved forward, curious what this ''academy'' that they would be living was. The two youths from the Tatar tribe pushed forward to look as well, luck was on their side as they ended up in the same academy.

    "The Primal Dragon academy? What a ferocious name, it must be the very best one!"

    Yang Rong proclaimed while Cheng Yun nodded, the two youths were very excited. They were just itching to get their hands on the sects cultivation techniques. Their moment of happiness was interrupted by the three tribe members from the enemy village.

    "Heh, Primal Dragon academy? My Regal Phoenix academy will crush your smelly Dragon academy!"

    Enemies were already forming as these five people glared at each other. Fighting was forbidden for now though so they would have to wait. Slowly people started clearing the square and moving towards the academy grounds. These ''academies'' were more akin to small cities as each one of them had to contain at least ten thousand disciples along with the teachers and other staff.

    The two youths were guided into the dorm district of the academy. These buildings were quite plain to look at and were just built with simplicity in mind. They were rectangular in shape and were many stories high. Each floor could fit hundreds of disciples in small rooms meant for two people.

    At the reception area, the new trial disciples had the choice of finding their own roommate or having the sect choose a random one for them. The sect leader was all for mixing people up but even he knew that it was better to keep the girl''s dorms and boy dorm rooms separate. He knew how the youths were and it would probably cause less of a headache if they didn''t live so close to each other.

    The two Tatar tribe members decided to live together. The new room they received was quite small. There were two beds on each side with two dressers and two desks by a window through which they could see outside.

    They were used to straw and wooden huts, so this building that was made from stone and bricks was already an upgrade. The beds that they received were also a lot softer. Both of them felt tired after all of those trials. The moment they sat down on their new beds to test them out, they both fell asleep instantly.

    The announcement that the new sect''s recruitment drive had ended reached outside. From the million or so people only about fifty thousand remained. This wasn''t actually such a lower number as some other sects accepted far fewer disciples. This was due to them already having millions of disciples and thousands of elders in their camp.

    Some of the people thought that the new powerhouse would accept more people under their umbrella. They clearly needed more people below the nascent soul level. Apparently, this sect was going for both quantity and quality.

    While the youths were resting the sect leader was back at his home. His beautiful wife and his child were both fast asleep so he had time to ponder the next big event. This was him leaving the sect to attend some kind of gathering of the more powerful sects.

    He already knew the structure of this empire by this point. Even though sects like the Dragon Gate Sect seemed like real powerhouses, they weren''t. They were only considered middle-sized sects when pitted against the real titans.

    There weren''t really that many that were considered ''large'' though. You could divide them into three camps. The first one was the Long Clan with the Azure Emperor at the helm of it. It might have been a clan and not a sect but they were gigantic with many branching side families. They were considered the strongest power in this empire.

    Next were the two giant sects that kept them in line, the first one was called the Soaring Dragon Sect and the other the Blood Sabre sect. These factions were similar in power to each other and slightly lagging behind the Long Clan.

    This trinity of giants were keeping each other in check. None of them could act against the other in fear of getting wiped out. If one of them was seen to be weak the other two factions would swiftly finish them off.

    The trust between the three was paper-thin. Neither of the three powers was willing to risk making a deal with the others. They knew that they could get backstabbed in the middle of the fight. They were all greedy and wanted to be the sole ruler of the whole empire but had to divide it between each other. The Azure Emperor was deemed the strongest cultivator but even he didn''t have control over the whole empire.

    There was also another reason why these three weren''t willing to fight. This wasn''t the only country on this giant planet. There were other kingdoms and similar empires bordering with them. If one of the giants was slain and their cultivators vanished then the other superpowers could try their luck and invade.

    So a shaky period of peace was now in place. Everyone could be attacked at any moment and no one knew when war would break out. The battles mostly happened at the core formation level with the nascent soul powerhouses rarely making an appearance. At least not the ones that were part of the big three.

    Battles between the middle-sized sects were still ongoing but unless you were someone at the very top of the nascent soul, you weren''t a problem in those giants'' eyes. Matt didn''t know if there existed anyone at the immortal realm of power.

    His own cultivation method would bring him to the very top, but there were no upgrades before he reached the great circle. He felt like it was a bit odd that no one had gotten to this level yet. If he managed to do it, then he would probably be considered this king of this giant planet but that was something quite distant.

    He had also studied some of the texts that Feng Liena gave him. The ancestor that lived in that clan had long left this place and there were some records. He believed that they had ascended to that fabled immortal realm. The problem was that there wasn''t any information about that, it was as if they just vanished.

    This made him think about them moving on to another realm like in some of the works of fiction that he read. If he reached the immortal realm, would he also get ejected from this world and forced to live in another one?

    This was something he feared, he didn''t really want to leave his place. He had his sect here as well as his wife and kids. He wasn''t a person born here and he didn''t really care about being the strongest person in the world. He also didn''t mind staying here while not reaching the pinnacle of cultivation like most of the other cultivators that lived here. He already had a hard time believing the fact that he would live for a thousand years with his current cultivation level.

    ''I should stop worrying about those things. I need to look at the current problem first. Who should I bring together with me...''

    Zhang Dong thought about the gathering that he would be supposed to attend to. He needed to take some people with him as he couldn''t just show up alone. This was an event where sects were supposed to show off their power. Normally he would go there with his most powerful members and disciples. This was something he was afraid of.

    ''I''ll need to change the scenario a bit here¡­''

    He smiled a bit as he was going to try not to stand out, he knew how gatherings like those always ended. Someone always got offended and fights broke out, he just needed to take the right people with him so that they didn''t stand out too much...

 218 Chapter 218

    There was a list of the attributes that these people from the sect should have. One was that they were supposed to be old, the Patriarch even added that if they were ugly it would be a big boon. None of his disciples were to come with him or from the junior generation. They were all supposed to be composed of the senior generation elders. Even the people doing chores were supposed to all be old and not good on the eye.

    Zhang Jin was banned from going and Feng Liena''s grandmother would be coming with him instead. There were actually a lot of elders from the Feng Clan, Zhang Dong even mentioned that it would be best if they had a lot of makeup on and really dark skin. He even added that the people coming should be good at etiquette and not standing out.

    Zhang Kuo scratched his head and just shrugged. He was already used to his sect leader''s quirky ways so he wouldn''t even ask about an explanation. He was already a core formation senior as well so he knew that if he continued working hard that maybe he would make it into the next realm. There were already other people that did it before him, so this wasn''t just a pipe dream.

    While Kuo was working hard on his future, Zhang Dong was sitting in his own room and cultivating. He was thinking about the sect get together and how he could evade it going wrong. He already knew that things tended to go astray where they could.

    ''Okay, what else¡­ I eliminated all the good looking people from the equation so I shouldn''t run into any horny young masters¡­''

    The first thing he did was forbid people like Zhang Xue to even set foot in the flying ship. He knew that her beauty would get the young lords all riled up. They would probably start fighting over her hand in marriage almost instantly.

    He also couldn''t bring her brother along, that fool had a knack for getting in trouble as well. He would jump to defend anyone he could, if he saw someone in distress he would try to protect them. Fights were sure to break out with other disciples due to this. He would also be the first one to defend his master, Matt feared that if his name was tarnished there Liu would want to face the opposition with a sword in hand.

    His plan of action was to bring only old farts that were nice and docile. They would be the types that would drop their head and apologize if there was a chance of avoiding a fight. They would be far too old and crafty to engage in combat with another sect. He needed people experienced in diplomacy instead of warriors even though this would make his sect seem weaker.

    He certainly couldn''t take his wife or daughter with him. Feng Liena was the biggest problem, when she would be giving birth was a big unknown. Pregnancies at the nascent soul level mostly took longer than regular births. His daughter only came out after a full year and he had to support both of them with his golden healing aura during the whole process.

    If he didn''t have to go he would stay but he was afraid to send Huo Qiang or any of the other masters instead. He could tell that they were all itching for a fight after achieving a breakthrough. This was something he needed to do on his own as he at least wanted to keep this fake peace until his son was born.

    The city was well protected and with the spirit vein as a power source, it would last for quite some time against a middle sized sect. The number of defensive cannons was also increased as well as a whole legion of beasts and beast tamers to aid. He didn''t need to fear about his city falling unless the sects made another pact and attacked altogether.

    ''Maybe I can strike a deal with that Dragon Gate sect master, he seemed a bit more sensible than the other two.''

    He paced through his room, he had gotten a bit older and was even past his mid-thirties. The first few years were the most hectic but after establishing the sect everything had somehow settled down.

    Thanks to his system he was able to identify any spies that tried sneaking in here, even through these five years the sects had never really given up. There were even several people from their camp during the trials. They were promptly apprehended and sent down to the mines along with the others. He would not refuse free labor if it was offered, maybe in the future, they could be set free.

    The time of the departure was in a couple of days and his people were already packing up. He was a guest at that banquet but he was still required to bring a gift or two. He didn''t want to reach far into his pockets but he still needed to bring something with him. This something would mostly be pills that aided cultivation. He also had some other goodies packed if he felt that it was worthwhile to share them.

    He gave out a sigh after finishing up with all the plans. He was worried, this life as a leader and a family man wasn''t the easiest. Still, he couldn''t grab his wife and kids and fly away or give the sect over to another person. This whole enterprise was his creation, without the system backing it up it might crumble into dust within a couple of years.

    He soon went to bed while worrying. Time flew by fast as the sect members got the large flying ship ready. This was something that took over a year to build and was the sect''s crown achievement.

    It wasn''t made from wood as all the other ships, no it was entirely made of spirit metals. It also didn''t have the usual galleon design as the old Zhang Clan ships that Zhang Dong had used before. This one looked more like a modern capital ship, an aircraft carrier in particular.

    Zhang dong had designed it while having a certain mobile command center in mind. It didn''t have any sails to pick up wind but it had two giant engines on each side, enclosed in more metal. It looked like a giant flying drone with many cannons plastered on top of its flight deck.

    There were even some flying artifacts that could be operated by the crew inside that had the power of core formation masters. The whole giant mobile fortress was a heaven graded treasure and could even go against multiple nascent soul cultivators at once. It even possessed a hidden giant cannon that, if charged, could even harm a cultivator at the great circle level.

    Matt decided on bringing this oversized flying fortress with him into enemy territory. He mostly did it as a backup plan if something went wrong. When he was in the captain''s chair he could infuse his own spiritual energy into it and improve on its power. He could even dump his system points into it to repair some of the parts like the engines as they were made in his crafting abode and worked on the system''s rules.

    The only downside of bringing it with him was that the other sects would see some of his true strength. That could also be a good opportunity to show of though, he didn''t want to start any conflicts but he wasn''t afraid. If they came asking for trouble he would be sure to act accordingly. He hoped that masking the ship as a low heaven grade treasure would be enough for the other sects to only see it as a large toy instead of a risk.

    The day of departure finally arrived and Zhang Dong had to kiss his daughter and wife goodbye. Just as he had planned beside the trained ship crewmembers the rest of the delegation was composed of grandpas and grandmas that weren''t very pleasing to the eye.

    Zhang Dong nodded at Zhang Kuo who did a great job in picking these ugly cultivators, some of them were even overweight. There was also another reason he wanted them to be old. He wouldn''t feel as bad if one of them offended a powerful sect member and got smacked. If it was one of his disciples he would need to defend them but if it was some random old guy that he didn''t know, he could just let him bow a couple of times instead. The loss to face if he didn''t intervene would be much lower then.

    ''Didn''t think I''d be thinking about ''face'' this much¡­''

    His point of view had slightly shifted to fit the people in this world. Still, he mostly felt like his core values were there. He wouldn''t actually let any of these old fogies get hurt too much and he believed that they were all smart enough to not get into trouble. He sure hoped that a weirdo like that guy from the Dark Palm sect wouldn''t appear this time around. He really didn''t want to defend Feng Maling from soul hungry demonic cultivators again.

    "Greetings Patriarch, it''s an honor to make this journey with you."

    "Granny Ling, you can just call me by my name."

    Zhang Dong waved his hand as the old woman was still very formal around him. He had married her granddaughter and now treated her as his own grandmother. She on the other hand didn''t want to drop the act only doing it when his wife or his daughter was close.

    "I mustn''t sect leader, what will the other sect members think!"

    She looked at the other old men and women that were coming along. They were mostly here for their linguistic skills as all were crafty with politics. Their job was to try to weasel in some connections, maybe get a good deal on some crafting resources. The sect was in a spot with a lot of spiritual energy but they didn''t really have many resources. They had to mostly plant their own spirit herbs which took time and space. Opening trade routes with the middle-sized sects would be profitable for all people involved.

    "Well, the trip shouldn''t take that long but we will have to go slower once we are in their territory to keep up appearance."

    Feng Maling nodded as she knew what Zhang Dong meant. This ship was massive but it was also very fast, a lot faster than what a low grade heavenly artifact should be. To keep appearances they needed to slow down while in enemy territory.

    "Okay everyone, get to your stations and move out!"

    Zhang Dong gave the order for departure after everything was in place. The trip to the border wouldn''t take more than a day but after that, he wasn''t sure. They were supposed to meet someone there that would escort them to the meeting place. Even if they were ambushed with the firepower this ship had they should be able to make an escape. He could also summon his grand elders to aid him if the need arose.

    While the sect leader was leaving for the banquet the new trial disciples were getting ready to take their first lessons. They had switched to gray robes and were now all in the same color scheme. Their life would consist of attending theoretical lessons as well as practical lessons. Depending on their skills they could sign up for more classes like alchemy or crafting. Everything was slowly moving forward as the sect continued to grow but would things remain peaceful now one knew.

 219 Chapter 219

    The people that witnessed the hovering behemoths just stood there with mouths agape. They vaguely saw a huge shape pushing through the clouds. They could barely make out giant letters that read ''Argonaut 1'' on the side of it. The only thing snapping them back into reality was the booming noise of the sound barrier being broken.

    The marvel of engineering luckily didn''t produce many hurricane-like winds even though it was going this fast. The artifact possessed the function to absorb the wind energies before they got too far outside. This allowed the ship to fly without causing much residual destruction to the scenery outside. Without this safeguard, the ship when going at full speed would cause massive destruction to the environment around it. With this in place, it was just uncomfortably loud.

    The behemoth of a flying vessel split the sky apart as it pushed onwards. The destination was a gathering spot that was between the borders of two sects. The same two sects that worked to take over this land. It was in a city that he had visited before its name Jade Grass City.

    The city was luckily spared from most of the fighting as it was only a teleportation hub for that sect. It was still surrounded by green herbs like before and was used for trade. The United Element sect didn''t really have its eyes on something trifling like this anymore.

    When they were separate clans herbs like this would make their mouth water. Now on the other hand they had superior greenery in their own secret ground. They could even plant better ones outside and with the help of the spirit vein, they grew large and bountiful.

    "We will be arriving at the meeting place soon, lower the engine''s power. Activate the stabilizers and prepare for the arrival."

    One of the people in the command center of the ship announced. The inside of this area looked similar to something out of a sci-fi show. The captain was seated in the middle and there was a giant monitor in front through which he could see various indicators and shapes.

    There were six other people in there with him, some were responsible for directly flying the ship. Some were keeping watch over the engines and making sure that everything was in the green. Others were responsible for the defense and attack modules of this high tech ship. With a couple of button clicks, they could activate shields and even fire off the cannons.

    Some people might wonder why he was bringing over a giant flying fortress of a ship here. He would be sticking out as a sore thumb. This wasn''t true as the other sects would be arriving in a similar fashion. This was the time to show off and not hide. If he arrived with less firepower the other sects would see it as a weakness.

    He couldn''t overdo it though and arrived with ten of those and all of his grand elders. That would be seen as a blatant declaration of war. He also needed the ship as a backup plan if something went wrong. Mostly to defend his own people who would be able to use it to defend themselves. He wasn''t that worried about himself as he was confident in his skills.

    He had gone through years of training, he sparred against Huo Qiang and his father two on one quite often. He had improved on his old techniques and trained them to the pinnacle of power. His swordsmanship had also improved and he had crafted himself a nice high grade heaven sword to go with it. He had many contingencies and could even escape with the help of his teleportation treasures or his system that was impossible to block out.

    Zhang Dong gave out a small sigh while scanning the city for other nascent soul masters. He could feel three people that fit that realm, they weren''t all that strong but one of them seemed familiar. This person was in a different location than the other two and wasn''t part of the welcoming committee.

    It was two nascent soul masters hovering in the air. They weren''t just there alone, they had six flying ships around them. Core formation experts were also further back on their flying swords. He could also feel many other people looking at the small group of elites waiting for someone. The people were probably curious why so many powerful cultivators here and soon they would find out.

    The United Element flying ship started slowing down and descended from the clouds. The people that were welcoming this new sect were surprised at the way this flying vessel looked. The fluctuations this strange looking artifact was giving off made them rank it as a heaven grade at the lower end of the spectrum.

    The two nascent soul masters that were waiting here were from the two sects that bordered Zhang Dong''s faction. One was from the Demon Subduing Sect and the other one from the Limitless Sword Society. The United Element sect''s Patriarch memory was impeccable at this point so he remembered these two. They were part of the ones that he scared away all those years ago but the person from the third sect was missing.

    They were on the weaker spectrum of a nascent soul cultivator. This told Matt that he wasn''t taken that seriously as always. A member from the Dragon Gate sect was missing as that sect didn''t own any land here anymore. They had decided to let the other two fight over it while they took their share of treasures and spirit stones from the defeated Dark Palm sect.

    The ship finally came to a stop, its giant engines that were humming loudly while exuding energy started to quiet down. The hunk of metal floated in front of the city while dwarfing the six ships opposite it. The cultivators looked at it with interest as they had never seen one quite like it. The four engines that made it hover were quite novel and interesting to some of these masters.

    Before they could examine it further Zhang Dong decided to move out. The sooner he did it the faster this farce would be over with. He just wanted to go there, shake some hands and return home to his family. He didn''t really care about making a good impression that much he wanted to remain neutral for now.

    The other two nascent soul elders spotted him descending and flinched. They still remembered this young man from all those years before. He was already strong and overbearing then but he seemed to have become even stronger. The relationship between the sects here was shaky on all fronts.

    The Limitless Sword Society and the United Element Sect''s relationship was the worst from them all. After the disgraceful thing that one of the young masters did during Zhang Dong''s wedding, it sunk really low. Even though he himself didn''t care about it anymore this wasn''t the same for his people.

    Everyone took things like honor, pride, and face very seriously. This sect had directly disrespected their mighty Patriarch. They wouldn''t let it slide even less as they considered Zhang Dong to be their hero that they cherished and looked up to. The situation was slowly becoming a powder keg, fighting had been avoided for now but the two sects didn''t see eye to eye.

    The Demon Subduing Sect on the other hand was still neutral. There wasn''t really much to say about them. They didn''t interfere much but they didn''t show any sign of wanting to work together either. They were considered less of a threat than the overzealous sword nuts from the society.

    The last faction that was the Dragon Gate Sect was the most friendly one. Probably if they didn''t invite Zhang Dong directly he wouldn''t have come here. They vouched for him which meant that they wanted to be friendly. It was a nice gesture from their side but due to this, he had to come here to mingle.

    "The Demon Subduing Sect sends its greetings."

    The elder clasped his hands as a greeting and Zhang Dong returned the gesture.

    "Yes, welcome."

    The man from the Limitless Sword Society just nodded with a less than stellar greeting and Zhang Dong just emulated the response. The three looked at each other without saying anything for a moment. It was clear that they were feeling each other out while scanning with their spiritual senses. The two older men realized that the younger man in front of them was still above them. They couldn''t get a read on his true power at all, he was like a piece of unknown metal just floating there.

    "Shouldn''t we be going?"

    Zhang Dong asked after he noticed the two men looking slightly apprehensive about meeting him.

    "Ah, yes we should go, there is still a long way ahead of us¡­"

    The two nodded, they were only here to escort the United Element''s Patriarch to the banquet location. They weren''t there to debate or even invite him for tea. Soon everyone flew back to their ships before leaving yet again. The third nascent soul master didn''t appear as he remained in the city as he always did.

    The two sects moved their ships around the one from the United Element sect and they continued forward. They would be escorting them in name but in reality, they just wanted to make sure that Zhang Dong and his people don''t wander off on their own in their territory.

    Each sect had three flying ships of each own, they all had their unique designs. The ships were clearly manufactured by various shipwrights and had various sails and color schemes. The only thing that showed where they originated from was the flag on the mast.

    Matt didn''t care that much he just wanted to get this over with. The sooner they got there the sooner he could return home and pinch his daughter''s chubby cheeks. The six smaller ships looked like flies buzzing around the massive iron behemoth of an aircraft carrier. The people from the other sects looked at the huge artifact with envy as they continued with their journey.

    The city gathering place where all of these massive sects would be gathering was neutral ground. It was a place that Matt knew off and he even met one of its members a few years ago. One of those members was the person residing in Jade Grass City but it wasn''t the same person as before. This faction was called the Yinglong Pavilion.

    They were a small elite group of merchants that weren''t actually part of any sect. Though trading they had amassed a fortune and were even close in strength to the big three. They kept out of politics as making a profit was their religion.

    The banquet that was going to take place in a few days would be in their main city. It was called Rain Dragon City and was situated in a nice spot where lots of spiritual energy could be found. It was similar to New Spirit Spring City as it was a closed fortress, no one could get in or out without the Yinglong Pavilion''s approval.

    The speed that they were traveling towards this destination was a lot slower now as Zhang Dong and his people needed to keep up appearances. Even an act of going faster than the escort could be seen as a declaration of war and that they were up to no good. Soon the meeting with the powerhouses would commence, what it had in store for the new sect would have to be seen.

 220 Chapter 220

    The two looked at each other with quivering eyes. They had been unable to sleep during the night as it was finally happening. The time to begin their new life as United Element Sect''s trial disciples.

    The loud sound that sounded like a huge gong was there to help the youths wake up in the morning. They still had an hour to get ready so there was supposedly enough time. The two rolled out of their beds and landed on the floor and shook themselves awake.

    "Brother Rong¡­ it''s finally time!"

    "Yes brother Yun, we will finally become elite cultivators!"

    The two had sparkles in their eyes. They were already seeing themselves flying on large swords just like the one their senior brother Zhang Liu had. They quickly put on their gray robes and made sure that their emblems were in place. The robes had the name of the sect written down in a larger circle on their backs.

    To the side of it, there was a smaller circle with a drawing of a dragon which indicated the academy they were from. There were five of them and these two belonged to the Primal Dragon academy. Each one had about ten thousand disciples in it, which made things a bit hectic.

    After inspecting their clothes they charged out of their dorm room to go outside. They weren''t the only people going out as the moment they left their room they could see many people in the halls. Due to the sheer number of them, they even had to wait before they could squeeze out through one of the exit doors.

    "Next time we should go out of the window¡­"

    Cheng Yun commented after he saw some other disciples using that method instead. Everyone was rushing to the first assembly. This would be their first lesson as new disciples and no one wanted to be late. Even though it was only a couple minutes after 7 am the young people swarmed the meeting place.

    There were far too many people to teach in small classrooms here. Zhang Dong decided to go with the open-air option and place a large stage in one area of the academy ground. The teacher would do his lectures there with the aid of some large screens and a sound system. The disciples would have to either stand or sit while listening.

    This was a free lecture, everyone was able to participate here at no cost. If the youths wanted more help from a senior member they would have to use their merit points. This wasn''t limited to the teachers, even disciples could teach other disciples while trading merit points. There were just some basic lessons that everyone had to get through.

    "What is it, brother?"

    "There look, isn''t that the senior sister that was second?"

    Cheng Yun narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction that Yang Rong was pointing at. There she was, an icy beauty with jade-like skin and long black hair. The two didn''t see her that well as everyone was bowing as the sect leader was doing his speech.

    "Such beauty... "

    The two just continued to stare. The girls in their village weren''t ugly or anything but compared to this young woman they were like frogs. They were smitten by Zhang Xue''s hologram already but after seeing a real jade beauty from close up they were even more excited.

    "She has to be my Daoist partner, I have decided!"

    Yang Rong drooled slightly before mustering up some courage to walk forward. Cheng Yun was flabbergasted by his brother''s attitude. How could he just approach such a beauty, did this man know no fear?

    He saw him in a new light and just watched as he strutted over with big strides. There was a small problem though, before he could approach her someone moved to block his path. Cheng Yun noticed something, the beauty seemed to be standing alone but that wasn''t really the case. She was surrounded by many other people that were forming a shield and keeping everyone away.

    Cheng Yun continued watching and just saw his brother shouting at one of the youths that blocked his way. In no time two more appeared to block his approach, Yang Rong seemed resolute as he tried forcing his way through. To his surprise, the group of people were all above his realm and easily pushed him back.

    Fighting was forbidden by the sect and this was probably the only reason why the group of bodyguards didn''t give Yang Rong a good thrashing. After a few well-chosen words he returned to where Cheng Yun was standing. The youth just chuckled while Yang Rong''s whole face scrunched up.

    "Did you make her your Daoist partner, brother Rong?"

    Cheng Yun sniggered while some other people did the same. The young woman was an eye-pleaser so quite a bit of the other disciples saw the whole exchange.

    "What do you mean! This is just a small setback, this Yang Rong will never give up!"

    The young man smacked his chest with a lot of force before announcing his convictions. The other people who heard this didn''t know if they should cheer or laugh. The woman he was after looked like a lot of trouble. She was clearly some young missy from a stronger clan, the youth that was from a low tribe had no chance with someone like that.

    At least that was what the smirking onlookers were thinking, the young tribe member was pumped up. Love was never easy, he just needed to impress the lady enough to catch her attention and then her adoration!

    While the people were looking at the silly encounter another loud gong echoed through the whole area. Everyone looked to the stage and they soon saw a person walking out. The man was wearing a blue robe which indicated that he was an inner sect elder.

    The person was really big, at least two meters tall with arms thick as tree trunks. He was even wider than the youth that was third place and could give the Huo Patriarch a run for biggest macho. The trial disciples stopped chatting and looked with wide-open eyes as they waited for the first lesson to start.

    The large man moved to the front but he didn''t speak. Soon another person walked forward, it was a woman. In comparison to the large strong-looking man, this woman was quite curvaceous and alluring. Yang Rong was even reevaluating if he should go for this older sister instead of the other one he just swore his love towards.

    "My name is Zhang Peng and this is Sister Ai, you will refer to us as Elder Peng and Elder Ai from now on."

    After the two took the center stage they started talking. They welcomed the disciples and gave a little talk about how much of an honor it is to be in this sect. They didn''t take long to finally get to the point, which was body refinement.

    "I see that your bodies are unrefined and weak, we will be focusing on that for the first few months. All of you will be picking one of the basic body refining techniques from the library and practicing it. Only with a strong body, you may start cultivating Qi once more!"

    The man continued to talk while walking around the stage. Finally, the lovely lady had time to chime in. She walked forward causing the younger men in the area to gulp hard.

    "This is one of the rules of this sect, we are all practicing dual cultivation. Only people that can both cultivate their body and spirit will be allowed in as a true disciple."

    The youths gasped and started murmuring amongst each other. This was something unprecedented, most sects didn''t operate like this. You''d find them focusing on one or the other. Only elite individuals could hope to advance in both Qi cultivation and body refining. They were now worried that they wouldn''t make it as training in both was considered spreading yourself too thin. Their worries would be soon dispelled by this female teacher.

    "Are you doubting yourself or are you doubting the sect?"

    She asked while smirking.

    "Dual cultivation in normal circumstances is very difficult but only when the techniques you are practicing are of low quality. Don''t worry my juniors, the sect will provide the right resources for you, I assure you that if you practice diligently you will achieve progress!"

    The woman smiled while the trial disciples eyes shone. They didn''t think that these people were lying to them. They knew that if they got a really good technique and maybe some resources that anything was possible. They had all made it through the rigorous trials so they were in good spirits. This library that the seniors mentioned also piqued their interest.

    "You will be given your first body refining manual and Qi refining manual free of charge. You will need to spend merit points for improved tomes and new techniques ...."

    The large man and woman continued to talk. They gave the kids some advice on spending their merit points and which manuals were the best ones for newbies like them. They also explained that the school year was divided into two semesters and there would be a test each semester.

    There would be mandatory lessons and some basic techniques that everyone would need to learn. They would be then tested by teachers and they would be graded on their mastery and progress in the future.

    For now, they needed to go to the library to pick their body refining technique. There were some people that already had somebody refining techniques of their own. They were assured by the teachers that the sects manuals were superior to their own techniques.

    The lecture took some time and more teachers came over to introduce themselves. Most of them were wearing gray robes and not the blue ones that the first two had. The blue-robed elders were the heads of their own departments while the gray robes were the assistants. They also would give pointers if you spent merit points on the lessons. The gray-robed teachers were cheaper and some even gave lessons for free.

    The assembly ended and everyone was allowed to go to the library. The youths had already visited most of the places they were allowed in during the first few days. There were a couple like the large cafeteria that served them basic spirit rice for free. If they wanted something more nutritious they needed to use up merit points.

    There was a gym where the disciples could lift weights and train their muscles. It had other facilities that you also could spend merit points on. One of those was the gravity room, that increased the gravity and was good for full-body exercises. There were various other specialized chambers that aided in growth as well.

    The most popular one was the library though. It was closed before this announcement but now the trial disciples would be allowed to visit the first floor. In it, they would be able to pick out their first technique which would be used to refine their body. This along with a basic Qi refining manual would form the basis of their cultivation for the coming months and maybe even years.

    Thanks to the in-depth tests that every one of the disciples went through. The sect knew which techniques would fit each individual and would limit the choices accordingly. This would lower the chances of the youths picking an unfitting manual and in term ruin their future prospects. The time of learning had finally arrived and everyone was eager to start.

 221 Chapter 221

    The two largest sects along with the Long clan were surrounding that spot from all sides. It was rumored that the three powers built giant walls that reached up into the heavens. These walls were reinforced with some special materials and couldn''t be damaged by anyone. Not even the top experts. The sects split the most sought after resource between themselves and the walls were there so that fights wouldn''t break out between the factions.

    The spiritual energy that was rising did a lot for plant life. The trees were thicker and larger. Even the regular herbs had more Qi in them than the high quality ones in the lower regions. The whole ecosystem looked more lively and lush, Matt could only imagine how the scenery would look like in the middle of the empire.

    Zhang Dong wasn''t flying next to his ship anymore, he had moved down to his private cabin and was now looking at a large screen. The screen split into many smaller ones and he could see the scenery around the ship from its many cameras. He had successfully brought this technology to this world. He hoped that some talented people would soon pick up on it and make some interesting movies or TV shows that he could enjoy later in his free time.

    He tried introducing another marvel of technology which was the internet not too long ago. This didn''t go through that well as the cultivators didn''t see a purpose for something like that. They already had communication jades to send information, why would they need an archaic system like the internet for a similar task.

    They also didn''t really understand the whole graphical aspect of the whole thing. Maybe if the new TV system went through well, they would open up to the other one. At least that was what Matt was hoping for but he didn''t think he could get a carbon copy of the internet he had back on his homeworld.

    There were no computer games for one and he didn''t think that the cultivator nuts here would spend their precious time playing Tetris. This was unless there was some cultivation aspect that the games could provide. He didn''t know how to do such a thing, it would be nice if he could design a machine that increases your strength while playing games. Doing it might not be impossible but the cost would probably outweigh the gain.

    While looking through the live feeds on his screen he could see the other sect watching them. They had many soldiers looking at their ship constantly, he could even zoom in and see the greed in their eyes. He clearly knew that if they weren''t afraid they would try ransacking his flying fortress.

    Matt lamented in his thoughts. He wanted to change the mindset of these people but he really didn''t see how. The only way he could think of is world domination and having the biggest fist around. But if he forced everyone to see it his way, would he be any better than the rest? An empire like that would probably crumble the moment he died or someone stronger than him appeared.

    The only other possible way was slowly changing the thought process of the people living here. Generation by generation, maybe he could soften their views and get them to see the bigger picture. Even that approach required a massive amount of prestige and strength. This was something he was still somewhat lacking.

    He felt that it wasn''t out of the realm of possibilities though, with his immortal grade techniques he was convinced that he could take on the world. That is if the other sects weren''t hiding similar assets. He wasn''t foolish enough to believe that strong cultivation would always come out on the top. He almost was done in by a well placed trap formation even though he was strong.

    This was also why his sect was important, he needed help from others. Luckily he wasn''t alone, he already had some good friends and a loving family. This also gave him the motivation to move forward.

    He smiled a bit after thinking back to his little cinnamon roll of a daughter. While deeply in thoughts he got interrupted by a little red blinking light. This was an indicator that showed that the ship''s captain wanted to talk to him. He received the call while lazily sitting down on his overly soft couch.

    "Glory to the Patriarch!"

    Was the first thing that he heard, he rolled his eyes instantly. He knew that he would never get used to this, something deep inside his very soul was not allowing him to feel superior to others. He was just a random guy that was wished away here and got an overpowered body and a system. He felt closer to common people than young or old masters and this would probably stay with him till he died.

    "You may speak."

    He had to prompt the captain to have him speak as the last time he didn''t reply the man kept quiet for over a minute.

    "We will be arriving at our destination soon. The ship will dock outside of the city as the other sects have instructed and we will be waiting for your return. The banquet is scheduled to start after two days of our arrival."

    Matt sighed out, he needed to wait for even more before the whole thing started. This get together would last for more than one day and he would need to attend it all. His introverted personality had never gone away and he hated forced parties like this. Back in his own sect, he could leave at any time without explaining himself. Here on the other hand he needed to keep up appearances. He couldn''t just leave during a boring conversation, he needed to remain and keep nodding his head.

    "Inform the other elders, we will be leaving as soon as we arrive."

    He heard a clicking sound as the captain disconnected. Matt rose from his seat while looking at the monitors. The scenery was flying by fast and he couldn''t see the city they would be arriving just yet.

    He decided to move outside. The deck was under a protective formation so even if a regular person was standing on it they wouldn''t feel a breeze. He hovered upwards leaving this protective barrier while putting up his own that made him glow in a golden hue.

    He inserted some of his Qi into his own eyes. They flickered with golden electricity before he saw the effect. His vision was enhanced and he could see a massive city in the distance. Even from here, he could tell that it was highly populated.

    This city''s size was vastly larger than any other one that he had been in. Even his New Spirit Spring City wasn''t this big. There were probably tens or even hundreds of millions of people living in it. There were multiple checkpoints along the way that surrounded the land by massive walls.

    He could even see some flying ships floating in the air with the Yinglong company''s rain dragon flag. They were expected to arrive so they were let through without a problem. Though he noticed that people were quite interested in his large ship that was dwarfing everything that they had seen.

    The closer they got the more of the large city he could see. The architecture was similar to every other metropolitan he had seen before. Large pagodas and buildings with traditional slanted roofs were everywhere.

    The structures at the front were smaller but everything rose up the further you looked. Right in the middle was a giant pagoda tower which was probably the main palace. It reached up into the sky and you could see some magical beasts flying around it along with some sword cultivators.

    ''That banquet is going to take place there. I''m supposed to meet Xu Qing the Dragon Gate''s Patriarch tomorrow.''

    Xu Qing was the name of the man that brought him over here. Most people would see this as an honor or a privilege. He on the other hand felt like it was a hassle. Still, what needed to be done had to be done. He floated back into the warmer climate of his ship and went back inside after checking out the surroundings.

    He met up with Feng Maling with the rest of the old man group. When he entered the large meeting room everyone gave him the usual bow.

    He didn''t really know most of these people Zhang Kuo had gathered. Some of them were even his relatives from his side family. There was a small group of old women that looked like baked potatoes similar to Feng Mailing. He didn''t think that any of the old masters or the younger ones would be interested in starting a feud over them.

    The old men weren''t lookers either and he could already tell from the way they were repeatedly bowing that they knew how to kiss ass. He was glad that he picked an oldie squad like this, with them around they shouldn''t be offending other people.

    They might lose some face due to only bringing over old men and women. With him around, he hoped that they wouldn''t try to start fights. There was a certain threshold that he wouldn''t cross until he would act. He hoped that this gathering of the middle-sized sects would go smoothly.

    There were even sects that were in a weaker position than he was. He at least was considered to be equal or stronger to some of the sect leaders due to his fight against Yang Guanyu all those years ago. Zhang Dong was considered to be one of the rising stars in the senior generation and some eyes were on him. This was at least what this spy network had dug up. Still, his power was unproven in the eyes of most of these masters.

    "We will proceed as discussed, you will conduct yourself accordingly and keep a low profile during this assignment."

    Zhang Dong gave his group of elders the last talk before they left outside. They were to mostly keep to themselves, not offend anyone and call him over if it got out of hand.

    "That is all, they will probably assign us some kind of hotel or mansion to stay at, so you will probably spend some time there."

    Apparently moving in the city wasn''t such a good idea if you weren''t in good faith with the city lord. The man that owned this city was an old master that was in the great circle of the nascent soul. There were also various other monsters hiding in the background ready to pounce at anyone that didn''t follow their laws.

    The seniors nodded, they were still surprised that their young leader chose them to tag along. This was quite an honor to be allowed to witness this mythical city. This was something that they didn''t think they would be able to accomplish in their lifetime.

    The Yinglong Pavilion company was the most famous one in the whole empire. Being able to come to their main city was something to die for. They would be even allowed to look at the sights later on or go to the exclusive auction house. It was the biggest one in the whole country and even the Long Clan members went there to bid for treasures.

    "United Element Sect, move out!"

    Zhang Dong moved outside and the elders were right behind him. They were all core formation experts as being someone below that level would be too shameful for even them. Even though they were old with the help of the improved techniques, these old men and women would give a good fight to anyone in the same realm as they were. They would probably come out on top in most cases.

    The time to mingle with the crowds had arrived and the welcoming party was already waiting for them.

 222 Chapter 222

    "Who is that, senior? They have a really big ship, are they from one of the top sects?"

    "They are from the¡­United Element Sect?"

    Two people were talking with each other. They were looking at seven approaching ships. They could see six regular-sized ones barely keeping up with a really large one made from metal. Even from here, everyone could tell that the large one was something special, it was a heaven grade treasure.

    "Haven''t heard of them¡­ the other ships bare the flags of the Limitless Sword Society and the Demon Subduing Sect¡­"

    The junior asked while he kept looking, the senior member took out a scroll with the list of people that were invited. The sects that were coming today were supposed to be at the lower end of the strength spectrum. This meant that this United Element sect shouldn''t be anything special. For some reason, they were being escorted here by two other more powerful sects and their ship looked very powerful.

    "Ah yes it''s written here, United Element Sect, it''s a newly established sect¡­ the only note here is that their Patriarch could potentially be a threat..."

    "Ah¡­ I know, their Patriarch apparently took on the Dark Palm sect single-handedly and survived!"

    The Junior member said with passion while the senior next to him gave out a sigh.

    "You shouldn''t believe the rumors, that sect is new and they only survived thanks to Zhang Dong''s master."

    Most people didn''t want to believe that someone as young as Zhang Dong could go against the old monsters that easily. He apparently fought off five nascent soul cultivators at once, one of them was even a late stage cultivator. Their skepticism was confirmed as the United Element sect was still paying spirit stones to the other sects surrounding it. This implied that they felt inferior and didn''t want to cause trouble with them.

    "Is that so?"

    "Yes now straighten out, even though this sect isn''t anything special we must show our hospitality!"

    They were still guests of the Yinglong Pavilion. Every sect here was considered to be medium sized and with nascent soul elders at the top. Each of them was a potential source of income for this guild of merchants. They were only profit-driven and didn''t care who was feuding with who, if they were able to spend high grade spirit stones they were good to start a business with.

    "Yes senior!"

    The two men went on their way to prepare the welcome. They needed to guide many of the cultivators to their temporary living quarters and explain the rules. This was neutral ground so fighting was forbidden. Not all of it as sects that had grievances could fight with each other in sanctioned matches. This was also a source of income in this city, betting on the fights between high level experts brought in quite the number of spirit stones.

    They had orders to not allow anyone on board. Not even if they were powerful cultivators, they were to activate the defensive formations and even return fire. Of course, they would only retaliate if they were attacked and call him over to smooth things out. There was a teleportation gate inside the ship, so Zhang Dong could even teleport there to help them out.

    He had certain special treasures that linked him up to the ship''s teleportation gate. His system wasn''t something that was responsible for this feature. This was something that he managed to produce through the years of practicing his crafting profession. He was already a person that could craft heaven graded items with ease and the same was true for pills.

    It wasn''t actually forbidden to take your weapons and spatial rings into the city premises. The Yinglong Pavilion people were confident in their grand formation that encompassed the entire city. It boosted their sides might and the other cultivators had no way of resisting if they got serious.

    "Everyone gather up, we will be departing. Captain, I leave the Argonaut in your hands, if someone tries to cause trouble follow the agreed-upon procedures."

    Zhang Dong said while waving his hand around. A large golden veil surrounded everyone from the twenty man group. They started to gently float up and left the protective barrier of their large flying ship.

    The people from the other two sects would be also waiting outside with them. They were ordered to remain here to watch and report back to their side. Their own sect leaders would be arriving later as they were from the more prominent sects.

    The two nascent soul masters that were with them looked at the golden bubble that flickered with electrical energy. While looking at it they flinched out of fright. The lightning Qi surrounding that bubble was of the utmost purity, they didn''t know how this person could achieve such a mastery at such a young age. They made sure to report their findings and then retreated into their flying ships.

    Zhang Dong and his group floated towards the main gate where some people were waiting for them. There was a familiar-looking nascent soul elder there, already waiting for him. He was wearing a top hat and a tuxedo quite different from what the other people wore.

    "We meet again good fellow, let me be the first one to greet you here ol'' chap."

    The man he was looking at was sticking out like a sore thumb again. He had a western looking tuxedo on just like the last time he met him. At first Matt thought that this might have been the whole vibe of this merchant organization. It would make more sense if they all were wearing western clothing but no. Only this man was doing it.

    "Ah yes, greetings fellow Daoist, I''m Zhang Dong, I didn''t catch your name last time we met, it was a bit hectic back then¡­"

    Zhang Dong had lowered his spiritual veil from his sect members and they all moved behind him. They were now looking at the entrance gate of his large city. Normally people from so far away in the lower areas of the empire would be opening their eyes wide with mouths agape. This group of oldies wasn''t doing such a thing though. Their own city walls were at least of equal quality to these.

    "My humble name is Sebas Tian, you can just call me Brother Tian!"

    The man chuckled while moving closer, instead of a bow he offered Zhang Dong a handshake. This took him slightly back but he returned the gesture while gripping the other man''s hand firmly. He was acting similar to an old English gentleman which was quite out of place.

    This brought an idea to Matt. The man probably had similar roots to his lovely wife. She also had an ancestor that was probably from a different world. This man''s ancestor had to be of British descent. He might be able to get more information about those cubic treasures.

    He was still in the dark about the strange site where he started his adventure in this world. The person that shortly spoke to him told him to get more of those cubes. He wasn''t able to find any other ones at all. Feng Lena''s ancestor also came from another part of the empire or from a totally different country whatsoever.

    He scanned his own land with his map and there were no other spots there. If he got this man to speak, maybe he could find one there? This was an unexpected encounter but maybe this trip here wouldn''t be a total waste.

    "Brother Tian?"

    Zhang Dong raised an eyebrow after the full name got revealed. This only confirmed that he must have some kind of transmigrator or reincarnator ancestor that came from either his own earth or a similar one.

    "Brother Dong ol'' chap, you made a name for yourself since the last time I''ve seen you.."

    "Ah, a couple of things happened and I got lucky."

    Zhang Dong replied while slightly smiling.

    "Nonsense! There is no such thing as luck, only hard work, ol'' chap!"

    The man got even closer as the two chatted. The elders behind Zhang Dong didn''t say anything and neither did the people that were standing behind Elder Tian. None of them had a say in this and they needed to remain in place and wait.

    Their conversation continued for a couple of minutes before they finally decided to move into the city. The group of old cultivators that was behind Zhang Dong could finally move their old bones.

    With the help of the top hat-wearing nascent soul master, they were able to enter without a problem. The man here wasn''t there for only Zhang Dong but he took some time out of his day to guide them into the city.

    The two masters exchanged some pleasantries after which Sebas Tian had to return.

    "Brother Dong, I will see you at the banquet I''m sure we can discuss the dao there ol chap"

    "That we can brother Tian, you''ll have to tell me where you got that hat from...."

    Matt was mostly interested in where this man had come from but he seemed like a nice guy. His alignment was also fine at lawful neutral.

    After they split up a small group of servants came over. They were composed of good looking women and men only. This was probably a tactic to gain favor with the sects. They would keep them happy with small gifts and beauties.

    Something like this would have probably worked on Zhang Jin like a charm. Zhang Dong on the other hand was the faithful type. He was even missing his little potato even more now.

    The city was filled to the brim with people but the streets were empty. When he and his sect members were walking through the regular residents of the city had their heads down.

    Everyone knew that many powerful people would be coming over. This also meant that offending one of them was a high possibility. Even with the city being protected by the Yinglong Pavilion they wouldn''t help anyone of low status. This was the same in any city in this world.

    The group was guided to one of the larger hotels that went by the name of Azure Phoenix Hotel''. They weren''t the first group of cultivators to arrive though. Some other people were being guided by similar servants and already going inside.

    Matt didn''t know just how many other sects were coming. There were far less middle sized sects with nascent soul masters throughout the land.

    This also wasn''t the only hotel that the cultivators were guided to. Getting a worse place to stay at could also be a cause of fights breaking out. If one sect thought they should be the ones to stay at a more pricey hotel. It could be interpreted as a loss of face when they saw a similar sect as them getting preferential treatment.

    He could already see two sects glaring at each other at the entrance to this hotel. They were composed of people of younger ages. The juniors were to the side glaring at each other and the two young masters were already picking fights with each other.

    Matt was glad that he decided to bring the old fart group instead. Those just looked at the exchange with spite, those people were not conducting themselves with grace in their eyes.

    Now a problem arose. The path towards his accommodations was right between the two sides. From the conversation, he was hearing these sects were rivals. Something about one of their senior members killing the other in some kind of competition or trial recently.

    He had a decision to make, would he wait for them to stop fighting or would he just go through? Both decisions had their ups and downs, but the first one certainly would take more time as the shouting match was only getting louder and no one seemed to be interfering.

 223 Chapter 223

    "Who are you calling a snake!? It''s not our fault that one of your Golden Saber Sect members tried to backstab our senior brother from our Sect. It was karma!"

    The two sides were continuing their quarrel. During an expedition to some kind of secret ground that allowed junior disciples to participate one of the parties suffered a setback. One of their young masters fought another youth of similar status. One of them lost, how it happened was still unclear. He had a certain treasure that marked his killer though so now the two sects were at each other throats.

    One side said that he tried to steal the treasure from their junior master and he was just defending himself. These were the people of the Silver Spear sect. While the ones from the Golden Saber Sect claimed that he ambushed their young lord and took his life in an unfair way.

    The truth was muddled at this point and it was impossible to figure out who was right and who was wrong. Even if evidence was presented each side could just refuse to believe it. Both sects were of similar strength and status so none of them wanted to back off.

    They knew that fighting in this city was forbidden so they were only tossing insults at each other. Also, they weren''t quite ready to fight it out in the arena as their elders had forbidden such acts. They were holding the residence and workers hostage though as no one dared to step forward to stop the arguing cultivators. The laws of the powerful sects didn''t apply to them and they could be murdered in broad daylight. No one would care.

    Zhang Dong and his people stopped because their leader did. The group of old men and women behind him wouldn''t act out without him saying anything. The people in front were from the junior generation and at quite the low level.

    The United Element sect was probably one of the factions that brought the least number of cultivators. Others would even allow Qi condensation youths to tag along to show them off and maybe forge some relationships. The group in front of them was composed of such youths and the ones fighting were only in the core formation early stage.

    From the conversation, you could deduct that these two were young elites. Their ages were probably close to what Zhang Dong was now. Having a core formation level at the age of thirty was nothing to scoff at in this world. Only people with genius-level talent were able to do this, the other way was having a lot of crafting resources.

    Matt wondered why there weren''t any seniors with them to stop the fight. The group had probably arrived before his sect. They might have bumped into each other while wandering the city or going out of the hotel. The shouting match had been continuing for a few minutes now and nothing seemed to be being done about it.

    He spread his spiritual sense through the area and felt other people watching. Two in particular were close to his level. They were also looking at him, he couldn''t just stand there. This made him look as if he was afraid of some junior cultivators.

    At that moment an idea popped into his mind. He knew that if he just walked forward bad things could happen. But what if he could use that to his advantage? A quick plan formed in his mind that could go in two directions. Both of those weren''t anything bad for him so he stepped forward.

    He put on a stone-faced expression and the elders behind him followed while keeping a distance. He walked slowly with his hands behind his back, it made him look relaxed and uncaring of his surroundings. He hoped the junior members from those sects would realize who he really was and react accordingly which would resolve everything with less hassle.

    Yet reality was cruel and the bunch of kids reacted just like he expected they would. The moment they saw him walking forward between them they scoffed. Zhang Dong looked very young for his cultivation stage. Most people would at most put him as a core formation expert at the early stage.

    With two such experts arguing with each other they thought that this new intruder wasn''t anything special. He was clearly ignoring them which inclined a lack of respect from Zhang Dong''s side. Tension was already high so without thinking about the consequences both parties started shouting out towards him.

    "Who dares?"

    "What is the meaning of this, state your name!"

    The two core formation youths looked at Zhang Dong with anger. He looked like someone from their own generation so they weren''t afraid. The man didn''t react though as he just kept walking, it made it look like he was not taking these youths seriously at all. The problem was that he couldn''t really, he was a nascent soul master; it would be seen as dishonorable if he went against people from the junior generation. This matter had to be taken care of by someone from his lackeys, this would be his grandmother in law.

    "Do you know who I am, I''m the son of the third grand elder from the Golden Saber Sect!"

    "I''m the nephew of the fourth grand elder from the Silver Spear Sect, such insolence how dare you!"

    The two continued to shout while Zhang Dong continued to walk forward and just as he was between the two parties a loud voice sounded from the back.

    "How dare you two insignificant brats speak in such tone to the Patriarch!"

    Granny Maling shouted out from the back while suppressing the two groups with her great circle of core formation aura. The youths that were below the core formation realm dropped like flies instantly while the two that were stronger backed away while grasping their chest.

    "P-patriarch?"

    They looked at the man that didn''t stop and continued to walk. He didn''t look much older than they were, he might have even been younger. How could someone like this be a patriarch of a sect. He did have a stronger member of the elder generation behind him, maybe he was just from some weak clan instead?

    In their infinite wisdom, they shelved Zhang Dong into the young master category that was at most equal to them. He just was lucky enough to have a guardian that was strong. This meant that they could keep belittling him. If the elders from their side saw this, they would surely help them out.

    "You dare attack the fourth son of the third grand elder from the Golden Saber Sect! You are courting death, wait till the elders hear of this."

    Matt almost tripped over his own feet after hearing that the haughty young master was only the fourth son. The other youth shouted out something similar as they were resolute in their belief that he wasn''t anyone important. The problem now was that he couldn''t stop, the members from a junior generation were disrespecting him. They were even doing it in public and already some other cultivators were looking at them.

    He wanted to facepalm as the first option from his plan had gone astray. At least it was good that he didn''t take his disciples with him. If Zhang Liu was here, he would probably already be beating those two up or challenging them to a deathmatch.

    He''d at least thought they would realize that he was someone more important than that. Even though his appearance was youthful, the items he was wearing weren''t anything someone of his age would have. He had various heaven grade treasures on himself, even his robe was a heavenly grade armor that could even transform. If these juniors weren''t brought up with their noses up in the clouds they would have probably realized that something was off about him.

    It was too late for that and quite the scene was playing out. His trusted granny was looking really mad and pushed the two brats into the ground with the help of her aura. This caused more people to look and finally, people from their elder generation took notice.

    Matt was trying to act like a proper senior by walking forward. His first plan went into the gutter as the people didn''t see him as a nascent soul elder. Soon people were wrestling with his grandmother with their auras and the two youths and the ones behind them were able to stand up.

    "Elders, we didn''t do anything and they started bullying us!"

    "Yes, that person just pushed his way through us and didn''t even apologize!"

    The sides that were previously fighting with each other were now allies. There was a new enemy they could sink their teeth into and that was Zhang Dong. With the elders around the two were now reassured of their victory all of them were at least as strong as that overbearing granny.

    The senior members from the other two sect were a bit more cautious though. They understood that the youths haven''t been through many hardships and their view on life was muddled. They wouldn''t just attack someone from an unknown faction. They knew that this was a gathering of all the large sects, they didn''t want to start a war with someone stronger than them.

    Still, Zhang Dong was hiding his cultivation level and by the looks wasn''t anyone strong. The person with the highest cultivation here was Feng Maling. The group of oldies behind here wasn''t seen as a big threat either and their side had similar numbers of core formation experts.

    "Fellow Daoists, why would you attack our juniors? From where do you fare? I would like to hear an explanation otherwise..."

    "Otherwise?"

    Matt had to end this farce, it had taken long enough and it was time for plan B to take effect. He wanted to be courteous and nice but this wasn''t possible anymore. He knew that there was a certain dynamic between people in this world. Someone with a higher cultivation didn''t need to answer the questions of someone beneath him. Even if they had backing, until that person showed up they didn''t need to show that much respect.

    He was also a person of high prestige. Only other sect patriarchs that were at least at the late stage of nascent soul could speak to him leisurely. None of these people had that attribute. The moment the random elder from one of those sects asked the question Zhang Dong''s aura burst forward.

    "Otherwise, what will you do?"

    The area was filled with a domineering aura that suppressed everyone from the two sects that were previously fighting. They all were forced down to their knees and finally realized that the person in the white robe was a nascent soul master.

    "Will you challenge me to a bout in the arena? Heard that''s how you are supposed to clear up your grievances in this city."

    The elders that asked the question were now sweating bullets. They wanted to run up to their junior members and slap their faces a hundred times. How did they offend a nascent soul monster on the first day of their arrival. Even if their Patriarch came over it would be hard for them to keep face now.

    "S-show mercy honorable master, the juniors couldn''t see mount Tai, I''ll be sure to educate them in the future."

    The man talked quickly, other people were looking at them, some even laughing. They were from a prominent sect used to walking over people but now they were kneeling down before someone that looked like a young brat.

    Matt on the other hand was waiting for someone else to finally react. He didn''t enjoy bullying these kids or these old farts but he had to seem like a domineering master. If that person didn''t arrive then he would probably end it on this note. This would make his plan B fail though.

    "You better, otherwise there will be consequences."

    He said a threat before he tried to wrap it up. Luckily for him, one of the people that he hoped had enough and finally showed up.

    "Halt, you dare disregard the Silver Spear Sect while I am here!"

    ''Ah yes, just according to keikaku (plan)''

    He could clearly see the name and cultivation rank of the person floating towards him.

    [ Chang Yongzheng

    Nascent Soul Late Stage

    Affiliation: Silver Spear Sect - Sect Leader ]

 224 Chapter 224

    "Don''t they know that he is known to have quite the temper?"

    "That young man is done for!"

    "But isn''t that also a nascent soul master¡­ but he looks so young!"

    Random people started whispering while glancing at Zhang Dong who was standing in front of the hotel. A lot of the sects were gathering here now so this had turned into a big scene. Other sect masters and elders were arriving and recognized Chang Yongzheng who was floating above.

    The big unknown was the person he was glaring at. The man was wearing a strange form-fitting robe and was really handsome. The ladies from the side were smitten by his good looks the moment they saw him. From the way he was presenting himself he looked to be someone important.

    "Answer me, who are you to disregard my Silver Spear Sect and bully my sect disciples!"

    Zhang Dong remained quiet while the people from the Silver Spear Sect started cheering. With their Patriarch here they had nothing to fear. They still didn''t dare to speak out though. The person there was still an unknown nascent soul cultivator. It would also be rude to speak while their Patriarch was talking.

    Zhang Dong had his hands behind his back and eyed the nascent soul master with a side glance. He gave out a harrumph clearly indicating that he was dissatisfied with the man being there.

    "I don''t care who you are or to what sect you belong to. I don''t need to explain myself to someone like you!"

    The moment Zhang Dong replied the people in the peanut gallery showed shocked expressions. This was quite the jaw-dropper, they expected the young-looking cultivator to bow down and beg for forgiveness. He did the total opposite of it, he reacted in anger against someone that was in the late stage of a nascent soul.

    Chang Yongzheng was flabbergasted. Rage flowed through him like lava and his face went red as he stared daggers at the young-looking cultivator. He, like the others, expected this man to bow his head and apologize. He would then leave the whole thing at that and both sides would go on their way. Now, on the other hand, he wasn''t able to do that anymore. This man was clearly disrespecting him, he couldn''t just take it lying down, no he wouldn''t!

    "You dare! Do you have a death wish?"

    The air around the two became cold and the tension could be cut with a sharp sword. Both the juniors from the Silver Spear Sect and Golden Saber Sect began to back away. No one expected the unfamiliar man to react in this way.

    The Patriarch from the Silver Spear Sect was shorter than Zhang Dong. He was an older looking man with a gray beard. He didn''t look like anything special but he was radiating power. He waved his hand and a beautifully crafted silvery spear appeared in his hand. The weapon radiated the might of a heavenly treasure and was pointed at Zhang Dong.

    The United Element Sect Patriarch didn''t remain passive. He did a similar wave of the wrist and an intricate sword appeared in his hand.The blade was very straight and had an ethereal feel to it. It was a type of jian sword with a snow-white hilt. The blade crackled with lightning energy that switched between blue and gold.

    But before the two men could launch their attacks a booming voice was heard.

    "Halt, fighting in Rain Dragon City is forbidden!"

    A group of cultivators appeared wearing Yinglong Pavilion robes, one of them was a master in the middle nascent stage realm. He looked at the two men with scorn in his eyes and pointed some kind of golden medallion at them. The moment he did a bubble of energy appeared around each one of the patriarchs.

    Zhang Dong didn''t react as he expected something like this to happen. He knew that fighting in the city was frowned upon. There were other ways to go about things like this here. He placed his sword back into his spatial ring and looked at the new person that arrived. It was probably someone from the disciplinary hall of this city.

    The Silver Spear Patriarch was less amused than Zhang Dong. He looked at the new arrival with spite and was still brandishing his spear.

    "Don''t interfere, that young whelp insulted my sect!"

    "It doesn''t matter what your grievances are, fighting in the city is strictly forbidden. If you wish to continue you will have to move to the Rain Tiger Arena!"

    There it was, the arena. Things such as it existed in most of the developed cities here. It was a place where people could fight against each other. Killing and crippling were also allowed but fights between powerful nascent cultivators was something very rare. Most of them would avoid such an outcome unless there was a good reason for it.

    Zhang Dong was doing this on purpose. This was still part of his plan. The first option went out of the window the moment this nascent soul master appeared. He would have just let it be and walked into the hotel if he didn''t show up. As someone strong he didn''t need to give face to other sect''s junior members. The Silver Spear Sect could have let it slide but this leader of theirs apparently had a short fuse.

    The moment he saw his sect getting disrespected by a nascent soul cultivator he jumped out. Zhang Dong also felt that there was another master of similar power still hiding, he probably belonged to the Golden Saber Sect faction. That person was smart enough to not come out. This spared him from potential combat and loss of face.

    Zhang Dong was now using the angry Chang Yongzheng as a pawn. Though he didn''t know how far the man would take this. His plan involved moving it towards the arena, to begin with. But if the nascent soul master just apologized he would leave it at that. Something as that would probably not happen though.

    "Rain Tiger Arena?"

    Yongzheng looked at the man in the white robe. The moment he did Zhang Dong raised his chin to look up to him. The corner of his lip tightened and slightly rose on one side of his face. The moment the powerful cultivator noticed that condescending look he lost it. He could clearly tell that the man was only a middle stage nascent realm cultivator. You could not fake something like this, there was a certain quality to your spiritual energy that gave things like that away.

    "Fine, if he dares face me in that arena, I Chang Yongzheng will put my honor on the line and face this young whelp in combat! But does he dare to face me?"

    You couldn''t force anyone to fight you in the arena. That was one of the rules that was in place in this city. Both parties had to agree and even sign a contract that would be overseen by the city officials.

    Zhang Dong looked to the shouting man and then back to the disciplinary elders and gave a nod.

    "Why wouldn''t I dare face someone weaker than me? But are you sure about this? I don''t like to bully old men, you can still save some face and reconsider it¡­"

    He shrugged a bit while replying in a somewhat condescending tone. The people that were there were astonished. Was this young-looking man crazy or something? Why would he scrutinize a powerful sect leader like this? Was he really strong enough to beat him, or was he just putting on appearances to save face?

    "You! I will slaughter you!"

    The man almost popped a vein in his forehead after hearing what Zhang Dong had to say. He was a powerful nascent soul master from a formidable sect and he was getting disrespected like this.

    When he appeared to help his juniors he intended to only reprimand the middle stage cultivator slightly. If he just apologized he would let him be without getting in his way. The man on the other hand didn''t budge and showed hostility towards him.

    He had to give it to him, he was really strong for his age. He attributed his haughty attitude to gaining his power too fast and being inexperienced. He had no idea who this person was but he was probably just an elder from another middle sized sect. If he killed him in a sanctioned match no one could say anything against it. The middle sized sects were all very close to each other when strength was involved. Thus they didn''t fear arguing with each other or even doing battle.

    "Silence!"

    The bubbles radiated light while holding the two people in them, increasing their defensive capabilities as the Patriarch from the Silver Spear Sect was about to force it open with his rage.

    "I can''t stop you if you both agree to face each other. This is a serious matter where death is a possibility so think about this hard fellow Daoists. Your belongings will be delivered to your next of kin if this happens."

    The man started explaining the rules of the arena to two angry-looking masters. He was slowly sweating and was nervous. Mostly the people that fought in the arena were core formation and below, the nascent soul masters mostly kept a clear head in such matters. Very rarely they would fight, most of the time it happened when the sects were already at war with each other.

    Zhang Dong just nodded and his opponent did the same. He placed his spear back in his spatial ring. He had to show this upstart how the world really worked, depending on the situation he would deliver a crippling blow or kill him outright. He wasn''t that stupid and was already sending a transmission to his retainers. He needed to know who this man was, depending on the outcome he might need to leave him alive. If he was from a weaker sect, it would be fine to maim him and show that he was not to be trifled with.

    The disciplinary elder gave out a sigh, he would get everything ready within the next couple hours. He explained where the arena was and that he would prepare everything for the two. They could now get ready by meditating or getting other weapons. Using treasures and weapons was allowed as that was considered part of your personal strength.

    The word that two powerhouses were going to fight spread throughout the whole city. The names Zhang Dong and Chang Yongzheng were written on the board in all of the betting dens in the city. After a quick background check their identities were revealed.

    The first one was the Patriarch from a new middle sized sect. The number of their nascent soul cultivators wasn''t fully known but it was rumored to be between three to six. The other one was a more renowned sect, their strength would be ranked below the previous Dark Palm sect but not by much.

    The feats of Zhang Dong couldn''t be confirmed as other individuals interfered. Due to this, the stakes were against him 3 to 1. The Silver Spear sect''s Patriarch was an old monster that got to the top due to his famous spear arts. He was a renowned spear grandmaster, even seeing him in action would be worth the entrance fee to this event.

    Everyone started clamoring to get a ticket, this would be quite the fight. One was an unknown new master while the other one was an old seasoned monster. It was a fight of the old against the young, who would come out on top, no one knew.

 225 Chapter 225

    "Patriarch, aren''t you being too rash? Wasn''t there another way to handle that situation¡­"

    Feng Maling asked with visible concern showed on her face. She had watched the whole thing unfold but it was not her place to speak out in that situation. She was also worried that she might have been too rough when shouting at the youths.

    "To rash? Don''t think so, think that played out very well actually."

    Zhang Dong looked at the inside of the room he was in. It was very large and exquisite. There was a giant red king-sized bed, its legs were golden and four golden dragon heads were peeking out. There was a large window with a nice view of the city and he had this room all for himself. The other elders would get rooms on a lower level as this one was reserved for him as a sect leader.

    "Played out well? I don''t understand¡­"

    The granny wrinkled her nose and touched the base of her neck while asking her sect leader for clarification. Most people would evade combat in a situation like that. Was this young leader still too inexperienced and let his emotions guide his path?

    "Grandmother, how do you think a young beast goes about earning respect from its pack?"

    He answered her with a question, to which the old woman replied without thinking.

    "Defeat an older beast to prove itself?"

    Zhang Dong nodded at the question and Feng Maling didn''t really know what to say. This young leader wanted to prove himself to the other old monsters in a trial of combat. This would probably be the easiest and most direct way to gain respect. It was also the best way to lose face if he lost.

    "Are you confident?"

    She asked while moving closer to her nephew in law.

    "Very. You should stop worrying, I know what you are thinking. This move might offend that Silver Spear Sect and its leader but it will also deter others. Also, you should know that our sect isn''t that weak anymore, we don''t need to hide as much as we did before."

    Zhang Dong wasn''t planning on doing things this way at first but an opportunity arose. After showing his might the other sects would probably see him in a new light. With this, he could probably evade any further problems that this banquet would bring.

    The old nascent soul cultivators would see him as strong but brash. Thus they would fear to offend him. Offending him could mean being challenged just like Chang Yongzheng was. They would only lose face if they got defeated by a young upstart. Even if Zhang Dong lost or tied he would still be seen as someone strong. Getting beaten by an established master wasn''t that bad to someone that lacked renown. On the flipside, the reverse was devastating to your reputation.

    Granny Maling nodded to herself while Matt flinched. If news of this reached his wife she would probably worry or maybe fly into an unrivaled rage and try to beat up that Spear sect Patriarch.

    "That would be best, no use making her worry in the state she is."

    Zhang Dong got a bit sad at the mention of his wife. He didn''t want to be here so far away from them but he needed to get this done. While the city owners were getting the arena fight ready others were getting curious about it.

    The word about Zhang dongs and Chang Yongzheng fight even reached the city lord''s ear. This was a very powerful cultivator and he also had backing of a lot of other families. After hearing that the two fighters were from the lesser middle sized sects he wasn''t that interested. He just gave out an order to record the fight as it could be used later.

    Not everyone reacted in a bored way as the city lord though. All of the sects that had already arrived were sure to make their way towards the arena. They were mostly there to see the Silver Spear Sect leader''s spearmanship. There was also the idiot who was trying to fight that legendary spear master. They needed to know who was so brazen and brave to do this.

    Within a couple of hours, everything was ready for the big event. The arena was really large, a lot bigger than the one that the Zhang Clan juniors attended in Jade Grass City. It had three levels going upwards and in one spot there was a large platform with exclusive seats for the nascent soul masters and their sect members.

    There was not much to do for the middle sized sects as the banquet would only start in two days. The price of attendance was only a couple of middle grade spirit stones. This was something that most people in the upper section of the empire could afford.

    "Zhang Dong? Never heard of someone like that¡­"

    "United Element Sect, aren''t they just a branch sect from somewhere?"

    "Didn''t think we would see master Chang Yongzheng''s spearmanship, this trip was worthwhile. Hope that poor country bumpkin he is fighting doesn''t lose too fast."

    Cultivators chatted with each other before the battle started. Some people were still pouring into the large stadium-like arena and the fighters weren''t there. The two were busy with something else for now.

    Zhang Dong moved a quill on some parchment that after finishing glowed with a blue light. He hadn''t used something like this before but he knew what it was. It was a binding contract that would be sealed by their Qi signature.

    Contracts like this didn''t see much value in this world. Most of the time they were invalidated by someone with more power. They were used by weaker cultivators though and with someone of a higher standing as a witness.

    The Yinglong Pavilion was a strong faction that could act as someone like that. They had a storage area where they stored all of the contracts. In this city what they said was law so with proof of it the other sects could not complain.

    What Zhang Dong was signing here was just an agreement of both parties. This was not a deathmatch and if an accident occurred they would need to pay a hefty sum to the other sect.

    Zhang Dong wanted to laugh. The number of spirit stones he would need to pay wasn''t that high for any of the sides. For some reason, his side would need to pay more than the Silver Spear Sect if they lost their leader. There was little fear of killing if you just had enough spirit stones.

    They both signed it and walked out. Zhang Dong wasn''t planning on killing his opponent even though he could afford the exchange. The price of the man''s life was equal to about one or two heaven grade treasures. This quite frankly wasn''t something too hard for him as with his crafting abode and the right materials he could craft weapons in bunches.

    The two masters finally appeared on the stage. Chang Yongzheng was first, he floated to the large stage that was the size of several football fields. The people started cheering the moment they saw the old man with the white beard gently float down. He pulled out his famous silver spear which was an artifact that was handed down from generation to generation in his sect. It was also a high grade heavenly treasure that was always given to the acting sect leader.

    "It''s master Chang Yongzheng!"

    "He is looking ferocious as always!"

    "That''s The legendary Saint Spear of legends, his opponent is done for!"

    The people shouted out once more and the nascent soul master reacted by swishing his long robe sleeves at them. The moment he did the crown burst out in cheers even louder than before.

    Zhang Dong arrived not long after, there was an announcer as always and he only came out when his name was mentioned. The crowd wasn''t as loud as before as they were more curious than excited about this man''s roots. Why was he here, how strong was he and why would he offend such a famous spear master?

    The man was wearing a tight looking white robe with some strange metallic parts to it. His shoulders were covered and looked like they would be able to take some punishment. He pulled out his own weapon which was the sword that he previously used. It looked a lot less intricate than the glowing spear but the experts in the stands knew that it wasn''t behind it in terms of quality.

    "If you bow down and show respect I will forget about your transgration, don''t throw away your future, boy."

    Chang Yongzheng said while brandishing his spear. The whole arena ground started rising into the air and was surrounded by a transparent bubble. This was a strong formation that would protect the weaker cultivators from the energy these two powerful elders would exude.

    "I could say the same to you, if you bow down and show your respect, I will let you leave with your honor intact. I don''t enjoy bullying people weaker than myself, it would be wise for you to reconsider."

    Zhang Dong replied while his opponent''s forehead vein increased in size. These old masters were used to being put up on a pedestal. Everyone around them just nodded their heads and agreed with whatever they said. This wasn''t respect though, it was just plain fear. No one could go against a person like this, there would be no victory.

    Due to this people like Chang Yongzheng were even worse than some of the young masters as they had no one keeping them in check. They mostly grew arrogant with old age as there wasn''t anyone to call them out if they made a wrong decision. The man here would soon have a rude awakening from his life of pride.

    The man flourished his spear the moment the announcer gave them the signal to begin the battle. Zhang Dong raised his brow slightly as he noticed that the man was using a familiar skill. An electrical current gathered around him and the spear he was holding began crackling with lightning energy.

    ''Interesting¡­ a lesser dao of the storms?''

    He wanted to chuckle as he finally met a person who was using this dao. Most people confused his greater dao of lightning with the lesser version. This would make the fight even easier than he expected. As someone with the knowledge of a higher tier dao he could predict the man''s moves even better.

    "Take my attack if you dare! Lightning Tempest Spear First Form: Hundred Thousand Thunder Strikes!

    The man shouted out his attack before thrusting forward. It was quite a mouthful and the wording explained this technique. It looked like thousands upon thousands of spear thrusts were coming his way. All of them were engulfed in lightning and wind energies. Aiming wasn''t even important as the attack covered almost all of the arena and was going right at him.

    "Oh no, the elder is using that Lightning Tempest Spear art, his opponent will surely perish!"

    "Serves him right for offending the sect leader!"

    The youths from the Silver Spear sect were all there, their eyes sparkling as they had the honor of seeing their sect master''s spearmanship. They were sure to not blink in fear of not catching the master''s intricate moves.

    Zhang Dong on the other hand exuded a small amount of aura and surrounded his sword with it. A runic pattern appeared on the blade shaft and he received the strike with his own. The sword movement looked slow and sluggish to the naked eye and it was going against a wave of multiple strikes. From what the people could tell, the white-haired man was done for.

    But then something unexpected occurred. A resounding explosion of Qi followed by silence, the defensive formation buckled under the pressure but held out. What the audience saw was unfathomable, the weak looking blade that Zhang Dong thrust forward managed to intercept the spear right at its point.

    The older cultivator was baffled by this result, no one had ever defended himself against his attack in this way. He had thrust out thousands of times in a matter of a second but his spear was caught. It was done by a feeble looking sword and the man performing the task didn''t look phased at all.

    "Hundred thousand thrusts? Did you even get to five thousand with that?"

    Zhang Dong smirked a bit, he wouldn''t just be ending the fight with one move. No, defeating this man too fast would only make people say that it was some kind of fluke. He needed the people to actually witness his might in action.

 226 Chapter 226

    "What is this, the Master from the United Element sect has managed to block Chang Yongzheng''s glorious approach! How will the old master react!"

    The audience was brought back to attention by the announcer''s voice. They instantly cheered out loud and the whole arena started trembling once more. This was more than they bargained for, they expected Zhang Dong to at most doge while getting hit a couple of times. Not to block the whole strike entirely.

    The older cultivator looked at the tip of the sword that Zhang Dong was holding. His spear tip was directly pressing into it. He couldn''t make it budge at all and he was even holding his weapon with two hands while his opponent was using just one. Where was this monstrous strength coming from? Was this man also a body refiner?

    He didn''t want to believe it but it was hard to deny the fact that this man had caught his attack. He wasn''t just thrusting multiple times with his spear. He was actually creating many copies of his attack with his Qi which made it look like thousands of spear strikes were coming Zhang Dong''s way. Somehow the man he was going against managed to pinpoint the one true spear attack and block it without effort.

    After pushing his spear against the sword the older cultivator decided to retreat. His opponent didn''t seem to be bothered by his action and didn''t even follow up with an attack of his own. He just stood there with his sword in hand and one hand behind his back as if he was waiting for something.

    "You¡­"

    The old man''s face contorted and his teeth were seen as he clenched his jaw out. The silvery spear that he was holding started glowing once more. He moved it above his head and he began to spin it around.

    Chang Yongzheng knew what the younger cultivator was doing. This was something prideful and haughty individuals would do. The man before him was probably convinced of his superiority and that he wasn''t a threat. This was obvious as he didn''t follow up after defending. It was a great chance as the older man was caught off guard.

    "Zhang Dong was it¡­ You will regret not striking when you had the chance!"

    While speaking Yongzheng''s body started flickering with bright light and then crackling with blue lightning. The spear that he was spinning around produced a giant cyclone that surrounded the whole arena.

    "Lightning Tempest Spear third form: Execution of the Thunder Tempest!"

    The man shouted while Zhang Dong surrounded his body with a thin layer of golden energy. This was apparently enough to defend himself against the thin blades of wind energy.

    The people in the audience went wild. The first form of the spear art this master was already breathtaking but this was something else entirely. The amount of spiritual energy that was getting produced was making the whole defensive formation shake and tremble. A little bit more and it might begin to crack.

    "That Zhang Dong was just lucky, now when the sect leader is serious he has no chance!"

    "Yes, he should surrender and beg the elder for forgiveness!"

    The youths and other members from the Silver Spear sect quickly recovered. They started laughing and smiling once more while looking at the unfolding battle.

    Due to the tornado inside the ring the visibility of the whole fight suffered. Most people could only see an outline of a man glowing in gold on one side. Then on the other side, there was his opponent glowing in blue light.

    Sounds of thunder and lightning frightened some of the weaker cultivators. Some of the nascent soul aura was leaking from the stage which also caused some of them to pass out.

    On the inside, there was a giant cyclone. A mix of lightning and wind energies were slowly approaching their apex. Even then, the white-haired opponent didn''t seem to be doing anything besides surrounding himself with his aura.

    "Fool, I will show you what happens when you disregard your opponent, let this be a lesson for you, receive my divine attack!"

    The old man shouted out with resolve. This third form of his spear art took some time to charge but when it did there was no escape. The moment he lowered his spear the wind and lightning energies would fuse into one grand attack.

    The people outside the arena that were directly behind Zhang Dong gulped hard. They knew that if that formation couldn''t take the blow that they could be injured. Luckily right before the old cultivator swung his spear down the formation started glowing.

    Another protective bubble appeared over the one that the two elders were fighting in. Then ethereal shackles of some sort wrapped themselves around the glowing orb. This showed that the whole formation had been strengthened and would even be able to take a hit from a great circle realm cultivator.

    Chang Yongzheng finally swung his spear down and the whole place exploded. The people in the stands held their breaths as the lightning and wind energies shone in a blinding light.

    The protective formation shook under the strain and the first barrier that there broke. The green and blue elemental energies slammed into the second reinforced one while the spectators worried.

    What was happening inside that formation was hard to see, the green and blue lights were so bright that Zhang Dong''s faint golden aura couldn''t be seen anymore. Thus most people began thinking that the attack must have gone through and the man inside had been defeated, he might have even been dead.

    The old seniors from the United Element sect were sweating bullets. None of them beside Feng Maling knew how strong their Patriarch actually was. The use of soul beasts was also forbidden during this type of one on one arena battle so he couldn''t defend himself with its help. They were expecting the worst but they relaxed somewhat when they glanced over to the old lady. Zhang Dong''s grandmother seemed unimpressed by the whole display of might.

    She was one of the rare people that had the pleasure to witness Zhang Dong''s full might. He sometimes sparred out in the Dimensional Regalia space with other nascent soul cultivators. She knew how strong he was and how he compared to the person he was fighting against.

    Just as the attack that Chang Yongzheng threw at Zhang Dong had ended something strange occurred. Following a flash of light, the lightning and wind energies started getting sucked into one spot. It was as if a giant vacuum was just engulfing all of the spiritual energy that was trapped with the two nascent soul elders inside.

    "W-what is that?"

    "How can that¡­"

    The audience gasped as they saw a quite lively looking Zhang Dong just standing there. His opponent opposite him, the old man''s eyes bulging out wide.

    The white-haired man was holding his hand up and his index finger was pointing towards the heavens. Above his finger, there was a small sphere about the size of a basketball. It was slowly expanding in size while absorbing all of the energies within the ring.

    "You had your fun, now it''s my turn. This might not really be the real thing, but it packs a punch, hope you can survive it¡­"

    The orb of light radiated a strange power and the area around it looked to be distorting space. The mass of strange energy started expanding in a matter of seconds and it exuded a lot of heat magnetic and gravitational energies.

    Chang Yongzheng looked at the strange attack that his opponent was preparing and charged forward. He wouldn''t let Zhang Dong finish whatever he was doing, if he did he knew it would be the end for him.

    "Rude, I let you have your time¡­ buzz off!"

    The old spear user thrust his spear forward towards the man that was giving out a tremendously powerful aura. He expected to at least interrupt this ghastly attack and force Zhang Dong into a more traditional bout. To his shock, he wasn''t able as just the massive spike in spiritual energy forced him back.

    It was already too late, the attack was reaching completion and he had no place to run. He looked at the huge sphere of light that was up in the air and about ten meters in diameter. He activated his defensive treasures and gathered his energies. If his opponent managed to defend himself, so would he. This attack was very powerful but he doubted that the young opponent would have much spiritual energy left after performing it. In his eyes, if he managed to defend himself it would be his victory.

    The people in the audience looked at Zhang Dong moving his finger forward and the sphere slowly descended.

    "I don''t really have a grand name for this attack, but you can call it a pseudo-pulsar, now catch it!"

    The whole stage trembled and another set of shackles latched themselves onto the protective bubble. The amount of force that was being displayed here started reaching into the great circle level of power. The other nascent soul cultivators started gulping as they noticed this discovery.

    A giant explosion rocked the Rain Dragon Arena. The people in the stands were holding onto each other as the protective formation cracked under the strain. The people responsible continued to activate supportive outer shells that kept cracking. Soon the shackles burst from the strain and evaporated into tiny Qi particles.

    The protective array burst open and a couple of nascent soul and core formation elders jumped in. They strained their cultivation to block the pressure that was coming towards them. They somehow succeeded to stop the blast from reaching the people outside. Mostly thanks to it having used up most of its energy within the arena.

    Everyone was flabbergasted, they looked to the stage that was supposed to be there. The floating platform had been burned to cinders and blaster to rubble. The worried Silver Spear Sect cultivators searched for their elder with their eyes.

    "Oh now¡­ the Sect Leader, how could this be!"

    They spotted him down on the ground, naked and with his bare bottom raised into the air. His head was buried in the ground below and his body was slightly twitching. He was alive but out cold and his robes had evaporated.

    Zhang Dong was still floating up in the air. He gave out a sigh while looking at the destruction that he had caused. He even had to use some of his energies to block out the blast from causing too much damage outside.

    He had made this technique for fun. It wasn''t very good for a real fight as it took some time to charge and was very volatile. It did pack quite the punch though but only if the enemy didn''t run away. It was perfect for a small cage match like this where the opponent couldn''t escape.

    ''Did I overdo it a bit?''

    He glanced at the shiny ass of the elder that he defeated. His body hair had also been scorched, the man might have not survived if he didn''t have enough protective treasures. Zhang Dong also canceled out the attack at a critical juncture as he didn''t want to kill anyone. He only wanted to display some of his power. Now he felt like no one would try seeking trouble with him.

    "Senior...Chang Yongzheng, looks to have lost conscientiousness¡­ the winner is, Zhang Dong from the United Element Sect!"

    The announcer called out while the audience kept quiet from the shock of seeing their favorite lose so easily.

 227 Chapter 227

    The people in the arena were stunned, the attack that this senior had performed was just too overbearing. In normal circumstances without the powerful protective arrays, the whole arena would have probably been destroyed. The blast would probably take everyone in here out, even most of the nascent soul cultivators wouldn''t escape unharmed.

    ''That''s the expressions I''ve wanted to see. It seems like my plan has worked, hope no one will seek vengeance with me after this.''

    Matt thought to himself while he glanced at the opened mouths of the cultivators. Everyone was sure that he would lose. He had also told his people to place a big bet on him, he made quite a small fortune in betting a large sum on himself.

    He needed to keep up with his haughty exterior appearance for now. If the cultivators feared his might they would think twice before talking to him. No one should approach him without a good reason and the fight didn''t really show much of his true abilities. He wasn''t worried that it would be used to counter his attacks that much.

    "Let us depart to the hotel, then you are free to visit the city as you please."

    Zhang Dong waved his hand and plucked the old farts from his faction from the arena. They would pick up the spirit stones later after the dust had settled. While leaving the people kept glancing at his form and after he left the whole arena erupted.

    "D-did you see that? Where did such a powerful master come from?"

    "This is a big scoop! We must report this to our sect and tell everyone to watch out for the United Element''s Sect"

    "How could this be, our Sect Leader Lost¡­"

    Various people shouted out. The cultivators from the sect that Zhang Dong offended couldn''t believe what just happened. Their current sect leader was smashed to the ground like some kind of bug. They couldn''t even see how this happened, there were just giant explosions after one another and this was the result. They quickly descended to the stage and put a robe over their leader''s exposed posterior. He would probably have to disappear from this banquet, for now, the shame was far too big.

    A lot of influential people were watching Zhang Dong leave. Everyone made sure to report this to their leaders and elders, this man was clearly someone that you couldn''t offend. Normally even if the cultivator was strong the masters could hope to achieve victory if they worked together. In this city on the other hand they would need to face their opponents in a 1 on 1 match.

    The sect leaders were all experienced in the cultivator life. The only reason the Silver Spear Sect leader went through with the arena match was because he thought his opponent was only in the middle stage. No one in the middle stage could actually be so powerful, the only explanation was that he was somehow hiding his true strength.

    This was only a half-truth as Zhang Dong was indeed hiding his real power level. Yet, he really was only in the middle stage, not even that close to the late stage with his Qi cultivation. No one suspected him of having an immortal level cultivation manual though. Having something like that was too far fetched, in the minds of these old masters a cultivation manual like that was just a thing of legends.

    ''Hope they overthink everything as always and leave me alone now.''

    Zhang Dong thought while returning to the hotel. The people there moved their heads down and opened up a path. Everyone was already informed about what transpired in the arena. There was no televised announcement but the communication jades worked well to spread the information.

    No one dared look him in the eyes now. He saw everyone looking at the ground, be it, servant or cultivator. The elders and seniors from other sects didn''t dare to offend him anymore. This reinforced the notion that he made the right decision.

    If he ignored the commotion or let the juniors fight outside the hotel he might have evaded one issue. The problem was that such events could very well take place all over the city. He and his sect didn''t have much of a reputation.

    Factions like that were bullied a lot and had to prove their worth. With a clear show of might, he was now able to protect himself and his people from harm. They would think twice before asking for a duel or shouting out to them. The only people that might think of going against him would be the sect leaders from the more powerful middle sized sects. Those would be arriving tomorrow though and might not take the warnings of others to heart.

    Back in the hotel Zhang Dong sat down on a comfy armchair. The elders that he had come with were now allowed to leave into the city if they so desired. Feng Maling and the others decided otherwise. They felt like they were sticking out too much as it was.

    This was also why he brought them here. The youths might have gotten foolhardy after seeing their sect leader winning so easily. He didn''t know every person from his sect and the alignments that they had only showed a general idea of their core values. If they started fights with others over small things was unknown.

    "That will be all, we will all gather when it''s time for the banquet then, if you want to remain in your quarters then it''s up to you."

    Zhang Dong said while the group of old people walked out. They were far less adventurous than the youngsters so they would probably stay out of trouble.

    He was now left alone in his room with a clear look at the city. It had a similar cultural layout as the other cities but it was somehow busier. Many well lit up signs were all over the place that were mostly just ads. It really showed that this was a city of merchants as stores littered every corner.

    ''Should be fine for now, daddy will come home soon¡­''

    He placed a little round plate on the table. It had some strange inscriptions on it. It was slightly larger than a plate used for teacups. He pointed his finger at it and some spiritual energy shot out of it. The plates'' inscriptions started to light up and glow in blue color. They changed patterns until finally settling on one while shining even brighter.

    He started hearing a ringing sound, the noise was something similar to what people heard when listening to someone pick up the phone. He started tapping his finger on the table that the device was on and caused it to shake due to his increased strength.

    Finally, after about thirty seconds of beeping, he heard a familiar sound. The connection went through and a beam of blue light shot out of the plate looking artifact. It expanded outwardly and increased in size the further it went.

    Zhang Dong made sure to block out any other spiritual senses with his own aura before activating this device. He didn''t want anyone snooping around while he was doing this.

    The blue light started showing an image, it was the face of a beautiful woman with caramel-like skin. This was his wife, Feng Liena looking at him.

    What he was using was something akin to a hologram phone. It could also send the image from both places so the callers could see each other on the holographic displays. It was a bit funny but holograms were a lot easier to make in this world than regular flat screens.

    He had produced something like this so that he could talk with his lovely wife. This artifact was something the United Element Sect produced and was untraceable by the others.

    "Oh, there you are hubby. I was getting worried."

    The twenty-year-old looking woman pouted a bit while looking at Zhang Dong''s face on her side. Her husband just shifted his eyes to the side and scratched his neck. This prompted Feng Liena on the other side to raise a brow and stare. She knew her husband very well by this point, so she knew that he was hiding something.

    "Oh nothing, I just had to talk with a couple of elders on the way and it took more time than I expected."

    Due to this treasure, he invented his wife demanded that he call her regularly. Even though she believed in him she was worried that something might happen to him. He was supposed to call her after getting to the hotel but he failed to do so as he was busy thinking about the fight. He also feared that she would worry if he told her what he was planning to do before the match.

    "Is that so, my dear husband?"

    Zhang Dong gulped as he could hear the tone shift in her voice. He didn''t want to worry her but it would probably be better to just come clean. Otherwise, he would probably need to sleep outside his bed chambers when he got back home.

    He wasn''t sure when it happened but their power dynamic equaled itself out after a while. In the beginning stages of their marriage, his wife was very submissive and always listened to what he said. After some time passed she got a lot more comfortable around him and would now sometimes second guess him, mostly when he tried pulling a fast one on her.

    "Well¡­ you see when I first arrived here I met this one uncle with a monocle and a top hat, after that¡­"

    He slowly started explaining from the start. Feng Liena just nodded as he continued and he didn''t really see her change her expression much even after he mentioned the fight. She did seem made the moment he mentioned the Silver Spear Sect leader disrespecting him though.

    "Hm, Silver Spear Sect¡­ I think I''ve heard about them; they are quite far away from our sect grounds¡­"

    She murmured to herself.

    "You did well hubby, you were far too lenient, I would have at least cut off his hand or leg!"

    Zhang Dong''s face twitched a bit. His dear wife was a true cultivator, things like face and honor still mattered to her. She wouldn''t let her family be disrespected, she felt like her husband was still a bit too soft. This was also one of the reasons that she sometimes was hard on him. Zhang Dong didn''t really have the values that the usual people that lived in this world had.

    So a strange relationship came to be. On one side was Feng Liena that wanted him to be a bit more ruthless against his enemies. On the other was Zhang Dong who wanted his wife to be a bit less ruthless and maybe show some mercy once in a while.

    "I don''t know if that man has any backing, it would be unwise to cripple or kill him in the heat of the moment."

    He explained himself and his wife had to agree. While the two chatted another visitor appeared. He could see a child''s face being pressed against Feng Liena''s and it was his little cinnamon roll. He laughed and waved at his cute child, if this went well he would be returning to his family within a week.

 228 Chapter 228

    Now the eyes were on Zhang Dong. There were recording devices in this world that were able to catch this fight. They were only available for the more prominent masters as they required a lot of spiritual energy as fuel. They also had a few drawbacks in the way they recorded things.

    Most people that saw the recording were shocked at the display of might. Was this Zhang Dong so powerful or was his opponent just old and weak? No one actually was willing to confirm this with another duel as Zhang Dong''s plan seemed to have worked.

    The biggest downside to this plan was the exposure. Now the other sects would be wary of him and probably make some plans before engaging him in combat. This didn''t matter that much as his personal strength wasn''t everything. He still had his sect members to help him out in a bind.

    A group of five ships were flying towards the meeting place of all the sects. They were quite big and had an unusual shape. Instead of the regular boat shape, they looked like large white swords with masts on them.

    How most ships operated in this world was with magical treasures that made them float. They would then put large masts on them that would propel the ship forward. Other treasures would blow more wind at the sails or they would glide through the air without the help of such add-ons.

    This small ship armada that had a peculiar sword look was almost there. On the inside of the flagship that was the largest, a certain man was sitting. This was someone that Zhang Dong would recognize, a person that he didn''t get along too well. It was the Patriarch from the Limitless Sword Society.

    The man was sitting in his own cabin alone. His robe was pure white and it had the symbol for ''sword'' embroiled on the back. The man was grasping a communication jade in his hand and listening to a report.

    "He did?... Interesting¡­"

    He just heard the news about Zhang Dong''s victory and he was surprised. The man that he went against, Chang Yongzheng was someone that he actually sparred against. He considered the Silver Spear Sect''s Leader''s spear to be weaker than his sword but this master shouldn''t have been such an easy opponent.

    "Was he lucky or¡­"

    The man thought back to the time that he witnessed Zhang Dong''s might. He had seen him battle the Patriarch from the Dark Palm Sect. He had left an impression on him back then and with this Zhan Jie was itching for a fight. One reason was that he wanted to test the younger cultivator and the other was that he wanted to put him in his place.

    "Hm¡­ we shall see, I need to see the fight''s recording first."

    The man placed the communication jade back into his spatial ring. He was itching for a fight but wouldn''t start it without any information. He wanted to prove that his sect was strong and that he was the superior swordmaster. Zhang Dong was also a swordsman, this just made this Zhan Jie want to clash blades with him. He wouldn''t force a fight though if the man remained respectful he wouldn''t really seek trouble.

    In the other ships from other sects, similar scenes were playing out. Zhang Dong''s name and his sects became the hot topic of this banquet.

    Due to this a lot of people that weren''t there to witness the fight were clamoring for the recording device. This device looked like an apple-sized orb with some intricate symbols on it. A person needed to insert some of his spiritual sense into it and the artifact would show them a vision.

    The vision would show an illusion of the fight that had taken place. The artifact didn''t show a hologram as the ones that Zhang Dong had made. It injected the image directly into the user''s mind. They could move around this world of illusions and see the fight from all sides.

    The problem was the quality, high concentrations of spiritual energy would warp and change the image inside the device. This meant that the person using this would most likely only see a similar image that the people in the arena witnessed. If they tried going into the middle of the fight where the two experts fought they wouldn''t be able to see much.

    Also it was impossible for this artifact to accurately measure the power of the techniques that were used. This was something that only experts in the close vicinity of it would be able to tell. This would also leave everyone to speculate about Zhang Dong''s true strength. Which was something that the man in question was banking on. Leaving himself in a shroud of mystery would keep everyone on their toes.

    It took some time for the more pristine sects to arrive. The three that went against the Dark Palm sect all those years ago were all here. Besides them, there were seven more on a similar footing as them.

    Even though these people were on the very top of power if you compared them to the other large sects. They were nothing compared to the big three that occupied the middle part of the empire. Those were rumored to have multiple nascent soul masters at the great circle of the nascent soul.

    No one was really sure, fights between the big three didn''t really happen very often. They had been like this for thousands of years now. Some new masters came and some succumbed to their old age but no one was willing to go into an all out war.

    The sects below those three top powers were a different thing. At most, they had a great circle nascent soul master hidden away. Just like the Dark Palm sect each of these middle sized ones had hidden masters just cultivating and hoping for a breakthrough. They would never show themselves unless their life was in danger and the sect was about to fall.

    From time to time an upstart like the United Element Sect appeared. Sometimes they would last and other times they would fade away into obscurity. Some old established sects would also sometimes lose their old masters due to accidents, old age, or cultivation failure.

    There was one sect like this arriving. This faction was called the Divine Fist Sect and hard times had arrived for them. They were considered to be one of the very top of the sects below the big three. Very few people ever sought trouble with them and they were known to be a just sect with not many enemies.

    Three large flying ships with their flag of a bright golden fist were slowly arriving at the Rain Dragon City. An old-looking man with silver hair was sitting down in a secluded chamber. He wasn''t alone as there was a young-looking woman with golden hair right next to him.

    "Grandfather, are you sure we should attend? What if the other sects discover what had happened? What if they already know?"

    The girl was there behind the old man, her facial expression showing signs of fright and worry.

    "Little Meili, we have no choice. If we don''t attend the other sects will start asking questions. You know what will happen then¡­"

    "But¡­ What if they already know? Wouldn''t it be better to seek refuge behind our city''s grand formation? Even if the other sects unite they won''t get through! It might not yet be too late what if the¡­"

    "Child, this isn''t up for discussion!"

    The man waved his finger and the golden-haired woman''s lips stopped moving. The girl looked maddened by the elder''s deed but couldn''t do anything about it. She was then brought outside by some senior members that were called in. One of these people moved in and bowed before the old man that the girl called grandfather previously.

    "Acting Patriarch, we will be arriving shortly."

    "Ech, didn''t think I''d live long enough for someone like me to become the Patriarch, these are troubling times indeed."

    The other person in the room looked up, concerned on his face.

    "That blasted beat tide...if it wasn''t for that¡­"

    The two men remained silent, their sect was going through tough times but they had to attend this banquet. It would seem odd if they didn''t as they were always present as one of the more prestigious sects. Their strength wasn''t what it was though as they had suffered a large setback not so long ago. They were frantically trying to keep everything under wraps but it wasn''t looking good for them.

    "Meili¡­ she will remain in the city, I had made some arrangements. She will be safe here."

    The person the elder was talking to nodded as he knew what the old man was planning. In this neutral city, no harm would come to them but when they left and if their secret was out, they would be done for. What had happened to the Dark Palm Sect would befall them. The other sects would probably take this chance before they could recover and strike.

    "When we are inside, remember to call me by my name. We can''t let them know that an elder like me had become the Patriarch."

    "It shall be done!"

    The two separated and the old man used his spirit sense to scan out the area. His ship was docking now and they would be descending. After going to their hotel they would attend the banquet the next day.

    This event didn''t consist of only talking and mingling with the other sects, no. This was also a place to show off. The junior members could participate in various competitions. There would even be a tournament with a spirit stone price.

    This was also a place where old grudges could be cleared out. Deathmatches were allowed and would be sanctioned by the Yinglong Pavilion. Anyone refusing to participate would be looked down on but those that came out on top would be praised and rewarded.

    One of those people that was considered a winner was sitting in his room. He was looking at the round baby face of his daughter. She was still young and kept trying to grab her father''s holographic head.

    "Daddy will come back soon, I''ll bring a present for you, I heard they have a lot of toys here!"

    Zhang Dong chuckled as he looked at his daughter that was bumbling about. Soon it would be time to go meet and mingle with the other sects. He didn''t know anyone there but after what happened in the arena the other day he felt like it should be a breeze.

    "Say goodbye to daddy."

    "Bwa bwa dwady~"

    The child waved her hand at the image of her smiling father before it flickered out of existence. On the other side, Zhang Dong''s face changed to a frown. Soon it would be the time to act, he needed to put on his game face and look as unapproachable as possible.

    The oldies from his group would do all the heavy lifting as they were better with politics. What was in store for him he didn''t know but he would face it just like he always did. This time around, he had a whole sect and his family counting on him. Failure was not an option.

 229 Chapter 229

    Each of these sects here were owners of large tracts of lands with millions and maybe even billions of people living in them. But they were only pieces of a larger whole which consisted of the whole Empire that they were part of.

    Every leader from each of those sects was here. They gathered every ten years to discuss and measure their opponents. Some would remain silent while others would boast and seek trouble with factions that they were on bad terms with.

    Most sects here were part of the old elite. They had been in power for hundreds or thousands of years. They were mostly here to uphold the status quo, yet some of the crafty cultivators wanted more. Just like with the Dark Palm Sect that used demonic arts to get ahead and finally perish under three others that went against it. The others were looking for cracks in the armors of their opponents and waiting for the right chance to strike.

    Zhang Dong and his sect members were walking out of the hotel just like the other sects were. The moment he showed himself outside people started whispering. His face was well known after his small spar against the older Silver Spear Sect Patriarch. He and his sect disciples were nowhere to be seen as they were waiting for him and his group to leave first.

    The men moved their heads to the side in fright of meeting his gaze. The ladies looked intrigued and were giving Zhang Dong all sorts of sensual gazes. He was a man of principle though and just kept his poker face up. His elders rubbed their chins and nodded.

    They were glad that their Patriarch wasn''t the same man as his grandfather. If that man was here he would have already been choosing his next target from the beautiful fairy-like cultivator women here.

    "Senior Dong, we welcome you and your sect members."

    A servant greeted Zhang Dong while standing in front of a carriage. This was with what he and his people would be brought to the banquet. Zhang Dong nodded and entered along with granny Maling. The other old farts would travel in a larger carriage behind them and together.

    "Young Patriarch you did well, now no one should search for trouble with us."

    The granny reassured Zhang Dong as she knew the reason that he went through with that fight. Before it she also feared that the sect would be looked down on because of their lack of fame and prestige. Now thanks to Zhang Dong''s show of might she was reassured that nothing out of the ordinary would be happening.

    The two of them entered the carriage and Zhang Dong nodded at his grandmother in agreement.

    The seats inside were quite soft and the intricate patterns on them depicted the Yinglong Pavilion''s dragon and a couple of other creatures. The soon took off, the other sects were sure to wait till the ferocious United Element Sect''s Patriarch was gone before also walking out.

    "That was terrifying¡­"

    "It was hard for me to hold my breath so long, luckily he is gone¡­"

    The people commented while looking into the distance. They would be following right after Zhang Dong and his party of oldies but they would be sure to avoid him like the plague during the festivities. He seemed to have a short fuse and was even willing to battle with other sect leaders in the arena.

    They also knew that during the banquet the duels would be handled differently. They would be a lot more bloody and not in a safe place like the Rain Tiger Arena. Every nascent soul master that had witnessed the battle made sure to advise their sect members to not bother Zhang Dong''s faction. The ones that arrived a day later might not have gotten the memo though.

    The regular people were greeted by roars of flying wyverns that were pulling carriages behind them. This was something that the adults were used to seeing every ten years when the sects arrived. The children pointed towards the sky and waved with smiles on their faces. They weren''t allowed to the banquet grounds but they could see the fireworks later that would be happening at night.

    There were quite a bit of those flying contraptions in the air, some were being pulled by other creatures more akin to bats others to regular birds. Zhang Dong looked out through the small window at the scenery below, the buildings looked small from all the way up here. The people were the size of ants but if he chose so he could insert some spiritual energy into his eyes and take a closer peek.

    "The people in this city seem to be relaxed, the city lord must be a fair leader."

    Zhang Dong mentioned while granny Maling nodded. It was easy to determine how people were fairing in the city. None of them would be smiling this much if they didn''t feel a certain amount of freedom. Most people in this world would even fear looking up into the air. They might catch the eye of some powerful cultivator who might feel offended.

    Here the citizens didn''t seem to care. He wasn''t sure if it was a regular occurrence or if the people were feeling protected by the fighting ban that was placed on all the visiting sects.

    "Indeed but they pale in comparison to our own citizens, you have done a good job in constructing such a grand city. Some of the elders think that you are being too generous to them."

    The granny continued talking while Zhang Dong looked outside. He couldn''t say that he was keeping the happiness level of his citizens up so that he could earn more Spirit Points in his system. He did prefer to keep them happy, the system''s incentives only made him go further beyond what he would normally do.

    He had created many clinics and was using taxes to run them. Everyone had free healthcare which wasn''t that hard thanks to the advances in pill making and his healing techniques. He had scanned all the sect members and knew who to train as a doctor. This saved on time and on money as he was sure that the doctor would do a great job.

    Even with that, he had to give it to the man leading this city. The streets were clean and everything looked orderly. Even when he started the fight with the Silver Spear leader the nascent soul guards arrived within a minute''s time to stop them.

    For him, it was easy to cater to his citizens'' needs as he had the system. It told him what they were lacking and even divided the city into districts. It was like a game of SimCity. He could even see the area his clinics or police stations covered. Then he just needed to look at the map and direct his sect members to build the buildings like in a game. He could then even watch the percentages go up when it was being built.

    A person that managed to produce a similar city without help like he did was probably someone very smart. He had visited other cities before he was the king of the land and most of the clans ruining them didn''t care much for the common people in it.

    "Oh? They do? Maybe I should see if I''m not being too generous towards them?"

    Zhang Dong laughed while his grandma also gave out a chuckle. She actually was all for spending money on the people as it was showing clear results. Their sect was growing strong at a staggering rate; she could even see it contending with the other sects for power soon.

    "So that''s where the banquet will be taking place? I guess the city lord didn''t scrooge out."

    He rubbed his chin while looking at the giant castle-like structure that they were heading towards. The eastern styled castle was quite large, giant stone arches and even some smaller floating islands that were producing magical looking waterfalls were part of this structure.

    Behind the castle, there was more scenery that he couldn''t see yet. He could feel some powerful beasts roaming there and along with other cultivators. From what he knew these were a sort of hunting ground for the younger generation cultivators to show their might. A giant mountain peak was blocking the view a bit though.

    Every ten years there would be a competition and the youngsters would compete for resources and honor. His two disciples were saddened by the fact that they were banned from participating in it. He had made this decision as he was frightened that they could get in some kind of a mess. Their cultivation was also a bit high as the juniors were capped to the foundation establishment level.

    This was a classical setup. Young masters competing against each other in a friendly bout. Some of them would get offended during the initial party and then during the competition they would try to kill each other. It was also against the rules for the nascent soul masters to intervene and this was the biggest problem he had with this competition. If he couldn''t save them, he would rather have them train up back home. It was not yet time for them to reveal their might and cause trouble for him or the sect.

    It was against the rules to help out but there was one way to avoid your junior''s demise. That was something that he wanted to avoid as it would just bode more trouble.

    It seemed like they would be arriving shortly. The beast that was pulling them along gave out a large roar again and started flying down. He could see a nice patch of grass and some people standing below. He knew one of the people that was standing there as he had met him when he was entering the city.

    The man was Sebas-Tian that looked like a British butler out of a soap opera. He had it all down to the monocle. He was standing there with quite a large assortment of beautiful ladies. These ladies in particular were wearing french maid uniforms with skirts a bit shorter than would normally be allowed.

    The carriage finally landed and Zhang Dong made his way outside. The maids formed a sort of passage for the arriving guests and the person greeting them would apparently be this man. This was a bit surprising, having a nascent soul cultivator do a task like this meant that the people behind him were just so much stronger.

    "Good morning ol'' chap!"

    The man greeted Zhang Dong in the usual fashion. And even took down his tophat for the greeting. The two exchanged some pleasantries before entering the banquet grounds. There were more people arriving so the butler looking master wasn''t able to follow along.

    Before entering further he looked behind him. He could see many carriages big and small flying in after him. Most of the people here were unknown to him but he had gotten a report on each of the sects from Zhang Kuo.

    Most of the sects weren''t a problem. Everyone that arrived on the same day as he did was comparable to the Silver Spear Sect or slightly weaker. He didn''t have to worry about those. The ones that were arriving on the second day were the problem. Zhang Kuo even mentioned a couple that stood out from the crowd.

    ''Hm, strange¡­ thought they would at least bring over a Late Stage cultivator¡­''

    This was why he was surprised after scanning the exclusive looking carriage from one of those so-called powerful sects. For some reason, they only sent a middle stage elder that would probably be looked down on by the late stage cultivators that filled the sect leader ranks.

    ''Oh well, not really my problem.''

    Zhang Dong finally turned around and entered the banquet grounds, his people slowly following behind him.

 230 Chapter 230

    Zhang Dong walked through a large door while one of the servants announced his name. There were some people already on the inside and they started whispering around. He had really gained a lot of infamy for this party and he could see it in the other''s eyes.

    ''Just need to frown and look like the biggest asshole in the room, then they will leave me alone¡­''

    He moved forward while trying to emulate some of the haughty young masters that he had come across in his life. He was clearly giving the ''Do not approach'' signals and hoped that people would just ignore him.

    This so-called banquet would last for a couple of days as they had some events prepared. While the junior members would try to win some prizes they as the nascent soul elders would just watch.

    This was also why he didn''t bring his disciples here. With them not in the race they wouldn''t be able to beat up any young masters. Thus he wouldn''t need to interfere when their uncle or grandfather got involved.

    The inside of the palace was covered in gold and other precious metals that were high in spiritual energy.

    The inside of the banquet hall looked quite nice. It had tables spaced out covered in costly velvet-like materials that also radiated Qi energy from them. They were obviously made from some special silk. This table cloth was probably worth more than someone''s life down in the lower regions.

    There were several large crystal chandeliers up on the ceiling lighting up this large hall. Everything here looked like a mix of eastern and western noble decor. With your usual flying golden dragons and phoenix patterns everywhere.

    There was also a second level to this banquet area, on the upper level were probably the spots for the sects that arrived a day later. He would be designated to a spot on the bottom floor or at least that is what he had thought. While he was looking for the table he would be occupying with his group of elderly people another servant walked up to them.

    "Ah if it isn''t grandmaster Dong, your seats have been moved, please follow me!"

    Zhang Dong looked at the man then performed a side glance over to his group. They were also surprised just as much as him. Feng Maling moved forward and was the one to call out to the servant with a question.

    "Why have our seats been moved, could you explain yourself?"

    She raised her eyebrow and looked at the serving-man with doubt in her eyes. When last-minute changes were happening it mostly didn''t bode well for the recipient.

    "You don''t have to worry, honorable seniors, the city elders have decided to move you to a VIP spot after your magnificent performance in the arena!"

    The man was quick to respond as he knew what the old lady was getting at. Instead of bad news, it turned out to be good, they would even get to sit next to the more prominent sects.

    The granny smiled as she knew that this was an honor for a smaller sect like theirs. It showed that the people in this city were keeping an eye out for them and they were showing their respect.

    Zhang Dong on the other hand narrowed his eyes while looking at the servant. This caused the man to flinch and sweat in fear. He knew that this senior here had a short fuse and if he got slaughtered by him the city elders would probably not do much about that.

    ''God damn it¡­''

    Zhang Dong cursed in his mind, he wanted to be avoided and just sit in the corner while the old farts discussed some cultivation philosophies. He couldn''t refuse the better seats as it would be rude but this would just place him in the spot where the stronger sects were. A spot where more troubles could arise.

    "Yes, we should go¡­"

    Zhang Dong nodded while the person that came to get them turned around. He quickly showed them the way while some of the other sect masters looked on with envy. They didn''t say much but everyone could tell that they were quite salty. Going up to the higher level meant that you were being accepted into the more prestigious sects. At least from the standpoint of the people that were hosting this event.

    After walking some they were led to a larger booth. It looked like one of those that you would see in a theater and was sticking out slightly. There were various other ones like this all around the top floor and the sect members had ample space to sit in.

    The servant was quick to do his bow and walk away. Zhang Dong sat down in the front seat of honor and was now overlooking the rest of the banquet hall. His sect was the first one to get their second level seating so he could examine all of the other cultivators coming in.

    There was not much to do so he took his time to count the seating arrangement. On the floor he was on there were nine other booths. This probably meant that there were no more than nine other sects that were on a higher level. He knew that the three that surrounded his land should be in that category.

    ??I''m probably occupying Dark Palm''s old booth or something as they were considered quite strong, wonder what the six others will be¡­''

    He knew a couple of names but he was mostly focused on the three closest problems that were draining him from spirit stones. He still wanted to keep appearances up for the time being but now he was getting edged into the privileged section. If the other sects decided to test him again, he might have to make a move. He hoped that his little show of power would make them think twice.

    The level below them was really big while the one he and his people were sitting at was closer to the walls. He could see people walking in and getting seated. He had only twenty people with himself but some of the sects brought over a hundred.

    Luckily the people had a similar thought to him at the time when he was getting married. Only people of the senior generation would be attempting the main banquet hall. The youngsters and less privileged would remain outside in a different location.

    Some of the sects had more elder members than even he had brought along. Twenty wasn''t really a high body count in this world where cities that had ten million people living in it were considered small or medium sized.

    From the number of large tables and from how far they were separated from each other Zhang Dong knew how many factions would be here.

    ''Ten up here and about forty down there, which puts it all up to fifty sects?''

    Zhang Dong tried recalling the map of the empire he was in. It was divided by the large sects into something that looked like states. They were governed by each sect separately and had different laws depending on them.

    The lands that these powerful cultivators owned varied by size. How big the portion of the land was didn''t really matter, what mattered were the resources in them. These resources could be anything ranging from spirit stones to even spirit beasts that you could kill and use as crafting materials.

    The sects here were involved in a perpetual rat race. Everyone here was trying to one-up each other and somehow strengthen themselves. Their goal was a spot with the big three. Even if multiple of these smaller sects united and attacked one of the large powers they would probably lose out.

    It wasn''t a matter of cultivation or manpower. The two large sects and the large clan were just too entrenched in their positions. The number of defensive formations and structures was too staggering. What would await anyone that invades would be certain death from cannon fire or other various high level treasures.

    Maybe if all fifty of these sects united under one banner they would stand a chance. Still, the sheer amount of dead bodies that would be produced in a war like that would be staggering. The other problem would be that the other empires would see this as a chance to invade. Making such a solution very improbable even less considering that most of these cultivators didn''t like each other.

    Slowly the cultivators in various robes were making their way inside. They were of different skin colors and various physiques. There were even female only sects that made some of the men here crane their necks towards them.

    After a while he could finally see some of the top booths getting occupied by some people. He even noticed some familiar figures there, namely the people from the three sects that were surrounding his own.

    The people from the Demon Subduing Sect were first to arrive, followed by the Dragon Gate Sect and finally the Limitless Sword Society. The third one that was the most antagonistic towards his own faction was considered to be slightly stronger than the rest. Mostly due to their fanatic sword arts and overzealous ways of training.

    Most of the people there had that young lord mentality. They would go out of their way to duel other people and thus they earned a lot of battle experience along the way.

    Soon after all the other sects showed up one, in particular, was an eyebrow-raiser. It was an elder that he noticed before, the one that was only in the middle stage of the nascent soul. It was kind of strange for someone like that to occupy the main position as almost everyone was a late stage cultivator.

    That was the usual power level of an active sect leader. An old leader would only retire and move into the reserve elder side after someone at the late stage showed up to change them out. The only reason Zhang Dong could think of the man being here would be that the real sect leader was busy somewhere. There also could have been some accidents which made this situation suspicious.

    ''Well, not like it''s any of my business¡­''

    He thought to himself while looking at some people that were with him. All of the other people weren''t noteworthy, no other nascent cultivators were with him. Most of them seemed even weaker than the baked potato grandma that he brought along. There was also a peculiar-looking young girl with them, she had blue eyes and long blond hair. She looked more like a western girl than an eastern one and her complexion wasn''t as pale either.

    He didn''t have much to do at the moment so he continued glancing in their direction. He even took some time to look at their statuses with his system.

    ''Divine Fist Sect? Wasn''t that supposed to be one of the strongest ones around? Why is this guy their Patriarch?''

    After some snooping, the system''s window appeared over the old man. His system''s identification skill had somehow advanced further, so he could even see faction names or the positions the people had in factions if he wanted to. The system was showing that the old man there was the current Divine Fist Sect''s acting Patriarch and not just some side elder.

    He could think of a couple of reasons why this fact was true. The main one made him recall the old Zhang Clan. Before he came into this world it had lost its leaders as well in a botched expedition. Could this sect have suffered a similar fate?

    While he was contemplating some possibilities the light dimmed in the large hall and some music began to play. A certain dandy looking man that he was familiar with walked out.

    "Let me thank all of you gentlemen for arriving this day for the annual banquet."

    Apparently it was finally starting, he moved his head down while ignoring the issue with the unknown sect. He had other things to worry about now and they mostly consisted of not standing out.

 231 Chapter 231

    He was sitting in one of the booths with a group of twenty elders. Below them, a large group of people was seated around a stage area. The stage was well lit up, it kind of looked like a dancing stage with the floor shined to perfection.

    There were some gems embedded in it that were shining bright. If you looked closer from his angel he could even look under the skirts of those lovely ladies that were down on that stage. He was lucky that his wife wasn''t here with him.

    He had been sitting here for over an hour already. First Sebas Tian walked out and did a small boring speech. He talked generally to everyone in the room without mentioning anyone in particular.

    The Silver Spear Sect was here but their Patriarch was missing which did cause a little scene. The people that had come had their heads lowered and they would flinch whenever he looked at them. He wanted to just wave or throw a kissy face at them if he could, alas he needed to keep his senior attitude up.

    He wished that he could be more relaxed around others, the only one he could show his true colors were his closest family. His wife already knew that he wasn''t the super-serious cultivator that she once thought he was. Neither his grandfather or some of his retainers. The only ones that couldn''t see it were his disciples, they were too far gone and would probably never see him more than a master to worship.

    Zhang Dong took another sip from his glass and emptied it. He glanced at his own people that looked quite interested in the music. Their eyes were closed and they were taking in the slow tunes. He did notice that the tunes were strengthened by spiritual energy which meant that the women had some kind of Dao of sound. Probably a lesser one that was instrument specific.

    After about another fifteen minutes the dancing and singing fairies finally were finished. Some of the younger cultivators clapped, the younger men were clearly enthralled by the women''s beauty.

    He knew that this wasn''t just a relaxing concert. This was actually a scheme that the people from this city had cooked up. Having powerful cultivators interacting with their beauties could give various benefits to the rich merchants here.

    This whole banquet was a place to gain new connections, be it in business or in the family. Zhang Dong theorized that the young beauties were probably wife candidates. in all likelihood behind closed doors, the older members of their families were already debating on which young master to wed them too.

    Zhang Dong was lucky enough to marry Feng Liena who was on equal footing with him. If he chose some lowly Qi condensation commoner the elders from his sect would start complaining. At most, they would allow someone like that to be a concubine but not the main wife. Though he was in a high enough position in the sect to do what he wanted, this wasn''t the case with most of the people in this world.

    "Fellow Daoists, I hope you enjoyed the melody our young maidens have played for you this day."

    Senior Tian walked out after the musical number was done. He even urged the young lords to give some gifts to the fairy-like beauties that performed them. They would apparently be leaving this hall to go outside and mingle. While the concert was taking place a feast had been given to them so there wasn''t much left to do here.

    "Follow me fellow Daoists, our Yinglong Pavilion leader will also be joining soon for the festivities."

    The whole hall started rumbling a bit and a large gate rose up from the ground. The other sect members gasped at the display as this was a teleportation gate. Zhang Dong on the other hand rubbed his chin and squinted.

    ''Hm, looks inferior to the one that we have.''

    After examining the contraption he was glad that his sect was already ahead of the competition. Even this large Yinglong Pavilion wasn''t as advanced in some ways as his sect. The manuals he had received after that one expedition had turned out to be the most important treasure trove.

    The secret ground they were in was in another sect''s territory though. He wanted to visit it as it probably would answer some of his questions. He would probably need to put his younger sect members in danger though as it would certainly test them again. But maybe he could somehow enter the closed-door another way. He was able to enter the strange room with the cube without a problem and he felt like it was connected to that secret ground.

    The problem was that if he wanted to go there he would probably have to declare war against the sect residing there. He was on the fence about that. He could also try sneaking in but then he would also need to get rid of anyone defending it. There were too many factors that could lead to a war and if he got sucked into that gate his sect might have to face the wrath of the other three sects without him.

    The teleportation gate had a similar design to all the other ones he saw before. Some people were already going through it. Zhang Dong and the people that he came with moved from their balcony seats as well.

    Everyone slowly moved towards that gate, the people on the lower floor were first, and only after that Zhang Dong and his sect members followed suit.

    Everything here was preplanned and every sect was judged and ranked accordingly. His United Element Sect had suddenly joined the upper echelons. At least from the point of view of the Yinglong Pavilion that had placed them on the upper floor. This caused the ones that were left on the lower floors to not be amused.

    The only thing that was holding them back from complaining was the fact that Zhang Dong had trashed the sect leader from the Silver Spear Sect in a one on one battle. He had also done it very one-sidedly which caused everyone to be frightened of his might.

    The lower placed sects weren''t the only ones raising their brows at this. The other nine sects that were up there with them had kept looking at him and his oldies throughout the whole concert. They were mostly curious as to why the Yinglong Pavilion would place them there. Some of them weren''t amused, it were the sects that were taking spirit stones from him.

    Finally, he and his people went through the gate as the first group from the second floor. Only people that were of core formation and above were allowed to walk through it, which left the juniors outside to mingle or prepare for the coming competition.

    The teleportation gate brought them to a wholly new place. The moment they appeared there he could feel some wind against his face.

    They were quite high up as the air was thin but thanks to his high cultivation that wasn''t really a problem. The puffy white clouds were also hovering above them in the sky really closely.

    Apparently, they were on a high mountain peak somewhere in the Yinglong Pavilion''s territory. This was not a pocket dimension or any kind of treasure but the mountain they were on was quite hefty.

    As he walked forward he could see people there already talking. There were many tables with various foods and the smell of something cooking filled his nostrils.

    ''I guess that was just an appetizer that we were having?''

    He walked forward while glancing at the strange-looking fruits and dishes. They were different from what his clan members ate. The cuisine was quite varied and he could feel a high concentration of spiritual energy coming from them. If a person at the Qi condensation level tried eating some of these dishes they might even breakthrough. They also might explode if the Qi concentration was too high.

    "Good to see you ol'' chap."

    Sebas Tian was there to greet him, the man certainly liked him for some reason or another.

    "Yes, good to see you too."

    Zhang Dong replied while walking forward, some of the oldies from his clan appeared behind him a bit disoriented. They soon realized where they were and continued forward. They were quick to pick up on what this was and started mingling with the crowds. They were instructed beforehand to interact with others to gain information and favor.

    He was left with the monocle-wearing man that was apparently done with his job now. Someone else would be taking over and it was apparently the leader of this group of merchants.

    He finally appeared after everyone had gone through the teleportation gate. The man had a sharp glint in his eyes. He did look like someone in his 60s like most of the nascent soul cultivators. His hair wasn''t gray though, it was a deep crimson. His beard was in the same color and had an angular cut to it. He was quite short and robust looking which made Zhang Dong think about a certain fantasy race.

    "Welcome comrades, I hope we can do business as always!"

    The man was sitting in a large throne looking chair overlooking the other people that came. He was under something similar to a giant gazebo. It was made from gold and various precious metals were embedded into the beams.

    "Take your time and enjoy the banquet to your heart''s content, your juniors will be soon starting with their competition."

    The man said while the people glanced to the side. Zhang Dong followed with his gaze to where they were looking. This mountain was high up and the peak was flattened so that they could stay there. But behind it was something peculiar.

    There was a giant labyrinth with walls that were hundreds of meters tall. It was multiple kilometers in diameter and looked truly tremendous from up here.

    Zhang Dong spread his spiritual sense into that labyrinth and could feel that there were various living beings there. Not only humans, there were also various beasts and even automatons like the wooden dolls his sect used for some trials.

    This would be the proving ground for the junior members below the core formation level. They would compete against other sects and fight the beasts inside. There were various traps and other hard tests waiting for them there.

    While glancing at the giant labyrinth Zhang Dong gave out a sigh. He had already witnessed similar proving grounds. He already knew that the young kids in there would probably end up killing each other. The fights for prestige and resources were truly brutal in this world. Luckily his disciples were not here and wouldn''t even be able to participate due to their cultivation level.

    If he brought some of the better foundation establishment youths there would probably be a scandal. He''d expect them to just trash the competition at this point. He didn''t want to brag but some of his elite members were just too far ahead of most people in this world. Maybe the kids here were young masters from strong sects but he didn''t think they would match his own top juniors.

    He looked at the large labyrinth from all the way up here. A nascent soul cultivator would be able to see everything that was happening there without the need for a camera. This was all thanks to their enhanced spiritual sense.

    The junior members were already walking but there looked to be one golden-haired girl getting pushed in by force. It was a peculiar sight to see.

    "What is the meaning of this?"

    He looked to the side, there was a small group of nascent cultivators arguing and the one shouting was the man that was at the middle stage that he saw before.

    His face was contorted and he didn''t look pleased at all. Apparently, something was about to happen but luckily his sect wasn''t the one in trouble this time around.

 232 Chapter 232

    The labyrinth was the main competition that the junior members were able to participate in. The Yinglong Pavilion had hidden various treasures in this area and everything inside was up for the taking. Various high quality pills, weapons, and even cultivation manuals that could raise weak sects into behemoths.

    These were all treasures that you could gain in this competition. The winner would even get a large monetary reward that consisted of high tier spirit stones. This was a big opportunity and honor for the junior''s that were here. They were all foundation establishment cultivators and even one high tier spirit stone would allow them to live like kings.

    They were all motivated greatly and wanted to win this competition at all costs. The treasures wouldn''t just be handed over to them though. There were various traps and spirit beasts littered in the many tunnels. The contestants needed to watch their every step as one wrong turn could mean certain death.

    Even with all the dangers that the Yinglong Pavilion had prepared in the competitions, this wasn''t the thing that the participants were afraid of. The things that they would have to fear the most were each other. Most of the deaths and injuries in this type of competition were delivered by the contestants. Battles for the artifacts broke out constantly and there were no rules against it.

    Killing and crippling each other was allowed. The nascent soul cultivators above the labyrinth could look over their juniors but they weren''t supposed to interfere. They weren''t but they could, there was a certain rule that allowed the guardians to protect their junior members. They would need to either convince the other party''s senior to order their juniors to spare theirs. They could do it forcefully but that had some ramifications later. Sometimes even death battles between the nascent soul masters occurred due to this.

    Something like this was rare, one of the sides relented most of the time. No nascent soul Patriarch would give their life to defend a foundation establishment junior. So in general both sides ended up bluffing against each other until one side gave up. Only if both sides were bent on fighting each other a battle to the death would take place.

    Something like this was starting, on the large peak, the Patriarch of the Divine Fist Sect was staring daggers at another nascent soul elder. He had noticed that a certain golden-haired junior had been forcefully taken inside the labyrinth grounds. He could see her moving through the corridors with a sword in hand.

    "What is the meaning of this, I didn''t sanction something like this!?"

    "Fang Heng, what do you mean? Your niece wanted to participate in the competition to bring honor to your sect, my sect juniors just lent her a helping hand."

    Another man replied. This person had a peculiar look. His hair was green as jade grass and his large beard looked like thick roots. His skin color was dark and looked like fresh soil that you would use for planting or gardening.

    Zhang Dong was at the side and listened with one ear while glancing down at the labyrinth. He noticed who the man was looking at, it was a pretty young lass with blonde hair. It looked like she was being chased by people that had similar robes to this plant looking elder. From what he could tell this sect was called the Yggdrasil Sect.

    He was familiar with this name. This sect was also part of the top ten and as the name implied there were cultivators versed in plants. They were wealthy due to producing superior grade pills and spiritual herbs. There were one of the biggest providers of herbs and plants in the empire. It had something to do with how they cultivated, their bodies were similar to plants after they went through some kind of body refining technique.

    From his point of view, this tree hugger sect was clearly picking a fight with the other one. Why he didn''t know but it might have something to do with the man''s low cultivation. He could see the arguing elder backing off, the plant looking cultivator had activated some of his aura. He was at the late stage and was clearly more powerful.

    Zhang Dong started moving back, this had nothing to do with him and the woman below wasn''t in danger quite yet. He thought to himself that he couldn''t risk getting involved in something like this.

    While inching away from the commotion, some of the other cultivators moved closer. They seemed to be in cahoots with the Yggdrasil Sect as they started laughing at the old man from the Divine Fist Sect. This looked very suspicious to him; it was as if they had set this whole thing up. He even saw his old friend from the Limitless Sword Society joining in on the chuckling.

    ''Do they want to coax that Divine Fist elder to fight to save his junior or something? But judging by his level he would surely die.''

    He glanced over to the labyrinth, the woman was constantly getting chased by the other juniors. They had smiles on their faces as if this was a fun activity. He could even see some other sects joining in the chase, this was probably no coincidence. This looked more and more like something planned.

    "You might not know this ol'' chap¡­"

    While Zhang Dong was watching Sebas Tian from the Yinglong Pavilion joined him. For some reason he had come to give him the info about this, probably to gain favor.

    "The Divine Fist Sect had tried hiding it but the news had spread, they should have not come here¡­"

    The man was sure to use a special technique to whisper the info right into Zhang Dong''s ear. Apparently, this sect was one of the stronger ones, they were bordering with those tree huggers.

    There had been some kind of newly evolved beast that moved in on their land. It was a beast king that could control various demonic beasts. There was a large scale battle between the sect and a monster horde.

    There was no detailed info yet but it was clear that the Divine Fist Sect had suffered. The appearance of this man instead of the real sect leader was a giveaway. He was either dead or injured.

    "So, are they testing him?"

    Senior Tian nodded. The information wasn''t complete so the sect leader of the Yggdrasil Sect probably decided to prod his opposition. If the Divine Fist Sect was truly just an injured animal he would put it out of its misery.

    The beast tide was for now just a rumor. The strange appearance of a middle stage nascent soul elder instead of the old Patriarch was really suspicious. Even if he was alive this sect that was already on bad terms with them wouldn''t care. They wouldn''t lose much and they were just targeting a little junior member.

    Even if they were wrong and the others came to their doorstep asking for face they could just pay them off with some spirit stones. On the other hand, if they didn''t show up with their sect leader, this would mean that they couldn''t retaliate. It was a low-risk gamble, the junior in question was just a relative of this middle stage elder. No sects would start wars over something like that at most they would need to give up the juniors that did the deed.

    "Unfortunately, if the rumors are true then their sect might be done for¡­"

    Zhang Dong looked down at the labyrinth and to the young girl that was fleeing for her life. Then he looked back to the man from her sect. Fang Heng was his name, he was holding onto his own neck while two nascent soul elders were focusing their aura on him.

    They were clearly sending him a message. They probably weren''t afraid of facing him in a deathmatch either. There was no winning in this situation if the man tried to act.

    Maybe he wouldn''t have to, nothing was written in stone. If the girl managed to survive through the labyrinth then it would be fine. There was a time limit on this thing and it would at most take two days. Even though the area this was constructed was immense, the juniors were already superhuman. They could get through this in two days, it was a closed-off space so there weren''t that many places to go either.

    Time passed and the spectacle continued. The golden-haired girl was now running away from her pursuers and she was holding out quite well. She was in the late stage of foundation establishment and was clearly gifted. The problem was that there were far too many people going after her.

    Zhang Dong kept glancing between her and the elder from the Divine Fist Sect. He looked defeated and unable to act. He didn''t feel good about himself either, he had to watch this obvious bullying from afar.

    The other sect elders that were there averted their gazes. They clearly didn''t want to have anything to do with this. Rightfully so, at least from this world???s standpoint. There was nothing to gain from a rumored broken down sect.

    This didn''t sit too well with him. He remembered the old times, his clan was also forced along with him to go to that secret ground. They were brought there as cannon fodder on the whims of a powerful sect. If the rumors were true the fate of these two was sealed, the girl would probably die in the labyrinth and this elder might end in a similar fashion.

    He didn''t think the powerful sects would let a nascent soul master just waltz out of here in one piece. After he was away from the Rain Dragon City they would probably strike instantly. The only thing that could save them would be if their sect wasn''t that damaged or if they had some kind of backup from a different one.

    Zhang Dong shook his head as his mind drifted in a certain direction. He quickly tried to remove that thought from his mind. Being the person that he was, he was having trouble just sitting there and not helping. These people were just strangers to him, he didn''t really have a reason to lend them a hand.

    He was now a sect leader and had to think about his own people. He was also a father with a child and with another that was yet to be born. He couldn''t be alienating other sects in his position, not unless his or his family''s lives were at stake.

    Though the more this charade continued the worse it became. The girl tried her best but there were just too many people after her. With the added traps and beasts in there, she stood no chance. She was now cornered and battered, no way of getting out of it.

    Zhang Dong looked to the old man that was more or less out of commission. The other two sect leaders were keeping him quiet with their superior pressure and he was unable to even speak to challenge them. Even if he did, it would probably be a one-sided beat down.

    He looked back to the girl, his emotionless face twitching as he had a hard time taking this sight in. The other people here were doing nothing. His own daughter''s face started superimposing itself over the blond-haired girl''s face and he started getting angry.

    He did want to help but there was no good reason. How would he explain an outburst, he and the sect weren''t related. Could he just say that he was hired by their leader as a guard? That could make some sense but why would he risk his life for a measly foundation establishment junior.

    His system identified her name Fang Meili, she was clearly related to the old man here. He could even see the old man''s eyes watering as he had to witness one of his family members getting attacked.

    While watching the girl fighting for her life against six people he brought up his system window. Sometimes this thing worked in mysterious ways, maybe he could help her remotely by boosting her cultivation level or something. The problem was that he needed her to be part of his sect to do that, or maybe a disciple.

    While going through the windows he noticed something strange. He did a double-take and his eyes went wide.

    ''No¡­ how could this be possible¡­ how far does his influence reach?''

    He was now looking at something peculiar, this would probably give him a good excuse to act. The logistics of this circumstance were mind-boggling though but maybe it would all work out in the end.

 233 Chapter 233

    She couldn''t refuse her grandfather though, she was the youngest female family member that had survived the beast onslaught. She was also the favorite granddaughter of Fang Heng, one of the more prominent nascent soul elders of the sect. She knew what her grandfather was planning to do but it felt wrong to just run away and live quietly here.

    She as a junior member wasn''t allowed to follow her grandfather into the teleportation gate. She was left with some of her sect members outside and they were to wait till the competition was over.

    Then it happened, a group of cultivators from the Limitless Sword Society and the Yggdrasil Sect appeared. They made quick work of the senior members from her faction and then forced her to enter the competition.

    She was subdued by one of the powerful elders and couldn''t move a muscle. The other people didn''t seem to notice or just didn''t care. She was thrown into the labyrinth and then her nightmare began.

    She started running for her life, the people from those two sects had put a bounty on her head. She could clearly hear them mention it, the ones that either killed or crippled her would be given a reward. The junior members from those sects were a greedy bunch. They wouldn''t mind slaying a child to gain some favor with their elders.

    She fled and fought, she even managed to take out a couple of her pursuers that were stupid enough to get close while being weaker than her. There were just too many of them though and after many hours of running and hiding, she was now against a wall.

    She was now grasping her belly, a blade had pierced through it and she was losing blood. Her body was more resistant than a regular humans was but the continued blood loss was getting to her.

    She was now looking at a group of people. They varied by age and looks, some were male some were female but each one of them was grinning. They were clearly enjoying this process of chasing her down, they were just treating this as a game.

    "I think senior brother should do the honors~"

    A girl that looked to be in her early twenties called out from the side. She was hugging another cultivator''s arm closely while smiling.

    This was the strongest young master from the group, his cultivation level was in the great circle of foundation establishment. His skin was slightly green and he was clearly someone from the Yggdrasil side. There were some other youngsters here but they knew that this sect was the strongest, they couldn''t complain.

    "Yes, I think this hunt belongs to the senior brother."

    Other people just nodded while cursing inwardly. They all wanted the promised rewards but could not go against this senior.

    "You''ll never get away with this, you scum!"

    She cursed at them while they laughed at her, the senior brother from the tree hugger sect took out a spear. He pointed it at her, it shone brightly and she could feel spiritual energy gathering on the tip.

    Fang Meili was far too tired to do anything about it. She had long since burned through her spiritual reserves and was just running on fumes. She would not be able to take an attack even from someone at the early stage.

    She knew that this was the end, her grandfather would have probably done something if he could by now. There was no help coming.

    She removed her hand from her wound and grasped her weapon. It was a Ji, more popularly known as a type of halberd. It was a large weapon and she could barely hold it now, even with both her hands now.

    "Let me end this farce!"

    The young man said while scoffing. He could see that the woman here was unwilling to give up, he would need to deliver the finishing blow himself. He bolted forward with his spear, it would only take a little poke with it and the young girl would probably be dead. He could clearly see that the girl was holding herself up by leaning against the wall behind her. She had no strength to swing that weapon.

    "Repent your sins in your next life!"

    He delivered a thrusting attack forward, his spear started shining and the tip looked like it was spinning around. His hands extended in length and the green glowing spear tip headed for Fang Meili''s head.

    The young girl kept her eyes open. This was the most she could do, she really couldn''t move a muscle. Her wound opened itself back up, her past experiences filled her head. It was over, she would die but at least she would look in the eyes of her murderer. Maybe if she was lucky enough to get reborn she could get her revenge.

    However, before the spear could reach her head something astonishing happened. She could hear a strong voice fill the whole labyrinth. It sounded gallant and resolute, the moment the people around it heard it they felt weak in their knees.

    "That''s enough!"

    The young master couldn''t stop his attack anymore, it was flying right towards the girl''s head but this wouldn''t be the end of her. Following the booming voice, something collided with the labyrinth''s array wall.

    Just like any good trial ground this one also had a protective barrier around it. It was in place to block out people from interfering and also to block the contestants from fleeing outside. Once you were inside you were trapped and on your own.

    The array was attacked from the outside and everyone looked to the sky. They could see some kind of golden light pushing up against the transparent shield. The shield didn''t hold up at all and a golden ray of light invaded the labyrinth. Everyone could feel that the power of this attack was something immense.

    This golden light made its way inside of the labyrinth in a certain direction. It traveled at a tremendous speed that these juniors couldn''t follow and finally landed. It connected with the golden-haired girl, the spear was just a second away from blowing her head apart.

    The golden light surrounded her body and when the spear hit it, the weapon shattered into a million tiny pieces. The youth that was holding on to the weapon was repelled and flew backward. His body embedded itself into the opposite wall nicely while his sect member went slack-jawed.

    Fang Meili found herself floating now, the golden light felt warm and calming. It infused her body with new power and she felt that her wounds were getting closed. In a matter of seconds, the holy healing energies managed to heal her battered body.

    This wasn''t the end quite yet. The light didn''t leave, it made her float upwards and into the air as if she was getting sucked into the sky. The other people that were in the trial saw a girl with gold hair flying upwards while flailing her hands around. It looked as if gravity was turned off for her and she was tossed into space.

    She flew towards the rift in the protective array that was broken and squeezed right through it before it could mend itself. Soon she was nothing more than a glowing spec in the sky while heading towards the mountain peak where the elders were.

    The juniors from the sects that were after this girl were stupefied. Who would be so brazen to go against their elders? Was the Yinglong Pavilion themselves making a move or was there another strong sect that didn''t fear the consequences of a move like this?

    Everyone knew that such an act would bring the wrath of both the Yggdrasil Sect and the Limitless Sword Society. The only thing that was remotely plausible was if the Divine Fist Sect had somehow falsified the beast tide incident. The two sects that were going after the Divine Fist Sect had spies that informed them about this. If it came out that they were somehow wrong they could be in for a war that they couldn''t afford.

    Fang Meili floated up into the sky, she was moments away from getting pierced by a ferocious spear technique a second ago. Now she was gently flying, the golden aura keeping her warm and protected from the cold weather and winds.

    Soon she was able to see the person that helped her. When she reached the top she saw him, a handsome white haired man was standing there. His long hair was fluttering around and he was glowing in the same golden aura that she was. His eyes were crackling with energy and once in a while, she could hear the clap of thunder.

    She was brought down right in front of this tall man. The moment he removed the golden shield that surrounded her she dropped down to her knees. She was far too flabbergasted by this whole turn of events that she couldn''t utter a word.

    The man that saved her was someone that she didn''t know. Meili recognized him as a Patriarch from another sect, she had briefly seen him sitting in a booth during the pre-banquet pleasantries. Why he was helping she didn''t know, the only reason she could think of was her grandfather.

    Her grandfather on the other hand was confused just as the girl was. He had been held back by two other nascent soul masters and couldn''t move a muscle. But then Zhang Dong shouted out and saved his granddaughter. Before he could ask about it the Patriarch from the Yggdrasil Sect spoke up, his tone unamused.

    "What is the meaning of this? Who are you to interfere? You better have a good reason for this, otherwise¡­"

    "Otherwise¡­ what?"

    Before the man that looked like a sentient tree could threaten Zhang Dong further the man''s aura exploded. The people there were standing closest to him had to even back away. His golden aura began glowing stronger and small lightning bolts in the same color started to appear and crackle.

    "A good reason? I have one! Why wouldn''t I aid someone from my own family?"

    Fang Meili and her grandfather had floating question marks above their heads. Why was this man claiming that she was someone from his family, was he just lying to save her?

    "You jest, you clearly just interfered for no reason!"

    The Patriarch from the Yggdrasil Sect wasn''t having none of this, his aura exploded and clashed against Zhang Dong''s but to his surprise, he couldn''t overpower the golden sheen. Zhan Jie from the Limitless Sword Society saw this and aided his ally in the clash, it was now two against one.

    The Yinglong Pavilion leader remained sitting there without moving a muscle. He was just waiting for this to play out. The other people in the area started backing away as this looked to be heading in the wrong direction.

    "Hoh? You don''t trust my words? Would you believe me if we did a simple bloodline assessment, don''t think you would complain then! I bet the fellow Daoists from the Yinglong Pavilion can perform such a trifling task!"

    Zhang Dong proclaimed while inserting more power into his own aura attack. The two men that were going against him were quite shocked that he was able to last against their combined assault.

    There was a plan behind this whole scene. Zhang Dong had checked Fang Meili''s status quite thoroughly and he had discovered something interesting. She was indeed related to him, he was her uncle. This of course was only possible thanks to one man, the one man harem Zhang Jin. His grandfather had apparently sired someone from her line and it was someone from his earlier conquests.

    He wasn''t sure about the logistics of it all. He could have left her with a baby in her belly and then run, the woman then had the child back at her sect and this child was Fang Meili''s grandparent. Now the only thing left was to prove this and maybe he could evade a fight, if not this might be a lot more troublesome.

 234 Chapter 234

    He eyed the golden-haired girl with a side glance. She looked rather young and was looking at him as if he was some kind of alien. It would have been good if she followed his lead and acted like his family member in this situation. She didn''t look like the scheming type though and probably didn''t realize that he was trying to help her. That or she didn''t trust him enough to go along with it.

    Her grandfather on the other hand had been freed from the massive pressure as Zhang Dong had aided him with his own aura. He was also now looking in his direction with brows furrowed. He looked confused but luckily he had more sense than his granddaughter and went for it.

    "Y-yes¡­, you should pay respect to your senior uncle!"

    Fang Heng was now grasping at straws. He had no idea what this man called Zhang Dong was thinking. He had heard about his fight but knew nothing more than that. By the way, he was holding back the Yggdrasil Sect''s Patriarch and his ally at bay it looked like he was a strong master.

    He was claiming to be a family member of theirs from his granddaughter''s side. If this was true or some kind of ploy he had no idea. At this juncture, he was willing to gamble his life. His favorite grandchild had almost died and he couldn''t even lift a finger. It was this man that had saved her, maybe he was just interested in her for a different reason but he had to risk it. Otherwise, she would be dead for sure, he had to somehow help him.

    Fang Meili looked at the handsome white-haired man that was looking to the side. He was currently in a spiritual battle with the two other Patriarchs. He still managed to look to the side and smile slightly.

    Before the girl could act though she felt some of that nascent soul energy leaking out. Her whole body trembled from fright and she fell down to her knees while panting. She felt as if someone was holding her throat tightly and squeezing with all might.

    "This is absurd! Why should we even let you go on with this farce, you''ve broken the rules!"

    "That man never showed any respect for others, he needs to be taught a lesson!"

    Zhan Jie from the Limitless Sword Society stepped forward. While his ally backed him up, it didn''t look like this would be ending without a fight.

    That is if he didn''t use one of his techniques. His Embodiment of the Thunder God technique had been upgraded and he could now use it even better. He took one step forward and a golden hue surrounded his body.

    The other cultivators in the area could feel powerful fluctuations of Qi in the surroundings. Zhang Dong''s lightning elemental Qi was of the utmost purity and everyone here could sense that.

    The two people that were going against him felt their auras getting shoved back as their opponent walked forward. His energy had the telltale signs of someone at the middle stage but his power was even above theirs.

    "Respect has to be earned! You forced my niece to take part in the competition, do you really think I didn''t see that? She was never included in the roster, do you think I wouldn''t notice?"

    He had seen some people pushing the blond girl around and forcing her into the labyrinth. During that time he had luckily eavesdropped on them with one of his techniques. He noticed them talk it out with the judges standing guard, they were clearly bribed.

    There was a rule in place to register the contestants a day before the competition. The sects that came first could even do it two days sooner. Zhang Dong knew that the people from the Divine Fist Sect did no such thing. They were clearly forced to participate and everyone here knew it. They all kept quiet as it wasn''t their business and they had nothing to gain from alienating the Yggdrasil Sect''s Patriarch.

    The two sides began glaring at each other. Fang Heng even made his way over behind Zhang Dong and grabbed his granddaughter. The girl was clearly not powerful enough to take part in this and was barely conscious at this time. She was lucky enough that Zhang Dong had protected her from most of the aura that was seeping out.

    "Stop lying, how could that girl be related to you. You are clearly just trying to slander our good names, what gall! Who do you think even allowed your sect to exist for so long? Did you finally lose it? Are you rebelling against the Limitless Sword Society!?"

    Zhan Jie retorted while sweating. He could feel that this white-haired man was a lot stronger than he previously had thought. He had the other Patriarch next to him so he had some help, otherwise, he would feel as confident. He wasn''t yet out of his reach, in the sword master''s mind he felt like he could win a one on one fight even though it would be a hard-fought battle.

    "Rebelling?"

    Zhang Dong started feeling apprehensive about this. He didn''t quite want to start a fight with this sect or the other two. It was slowly becoming apparent that he might not have another choice.

    "I and my sect have never and never will belong to you, how can we rebel? Do you think that little sum that we pay you gives you the right to our lands? Fine, from this day forth the United Element sect will cut ties with the Limitless Sword Society!"

    Some of the people gasped, they didn''t know what this was going but they all felt threatened. Even though this was the Yinglong Pavilion if a fight between two top fighters broke out there could be some casualties.

    "Y-you¡­"

    Zhan Jie''s face contorted and he looked like a demon. The man was clearly angered to the fullest extent. Before he could act though another powerful aura filled the area. This aura came crashing down and just evaporated the spiritual energy that these three nascent soul masters were giving out.

    "That''s more than enough of you three. There will be no fighting here¡­"

    The man that spoke out was the leader of the merchant faction. He had remained silent and watched on from the sidelines. He had no stakes in either side but he couldn''t let these people just do anything they wanted. This was his city and there were rules that he made.

    "If you two wish to continue then you can clash in the arena, not here."

    Zhang Dong and the two other elders started backing off and quieted down. Both parties were actually glad that the leader from the Yinglong Pavilion intervened as none of them were actually willing to fight.

    "If what the Patriarch from the United Element sect says is true then I''ll be lenient, first we must check if his claims are true."

    It was time to clear things out here. There were some accusations thrown out there but no proof anywhere. First, they needed to see if this white-haired man was related to the golden-haired girl or not. If he wasn''t then he was clearly just doing this to agitate the other side, for what reason that would be up to debate.

    "Bring it out."

    The man clapped his hands and a person brought out a certain treasure. It looked like a chalice that was made from precious metals. The people here knew well what this was as it was a popular item that could test someone''s family roots.

    The chalice was placed on a table. A person needed to put a drop of their blood into the item and let it mix with the other person''s blood. If the chalice showed a reaction by glowing then it meant that the people were related to each other.

    There were other more intricate artifacts like this. Some sects used them to test how pure their bloodlines were. This was mostly done with a reference to an ancestral senior. They would use their genetic marker as the base and compare the disciples to it. The closer it was the higher the position in the sect or clan for the junior.

    Fang Meili looked at her grandfather, the old man just nodded.

    "It''s okay Meili''er."

    Not like the two had any other choice. If Zhang Dong was a liar and he was just trying to start a fight they would go down with him.

    Fang Heng was already grasping at straws, his original plan had gone down the drain. It was clear that the other sects knew something as they weren''t worried that much when they took his granddaughter away. He was now sure that they were testing him. Probably the information about the state of his sect was already out there. How much was unclear.

    The golden-haired girl nodded and moved forward. She was handed a dagger with which she poked her finger with. A droplet of blood landed inside the chalice and the artifact began to faintly glow.

    Zhan Jie and the others were curious, was this girl really related to that man. It was really strange that he reacted as he did. A normal person wouldn''t defend someone in this kind of situation from their standpoint.

    They could only think of a few reasons that would make him do something like that. Either the girl was really related to him, or he was planning something. He seemed eager to go against them, was he really so brazen and sure about himself?

    Zhan Jie''s natural superiority complex was clouding his judgment. He was already maddened by the fact that Zhang Dong dared to break off ties and would not be paying his sect its dues. He wanted to show him how wrong he was to go against him and his sect. He didn''t even add the other two sects into the equations as he was confident. His own sect was superior and so was he.

    Zhang Dong was now up. He was handed a dagger that was a heavenly treasure, he looked at it for a moment and frowned. It looked like he was apprehensive about using it for some reason. This made the other cultivators question his motives, it made it seem like he didn''t want to go through with this test.

    "See, he was lying, he doesn''t even want to proceed with the bloodline test!"

    The Yggdrasil Sect''s Patriarch proclaimed while pointing with his finger accusingly. The others nodded with approval as it did look like so.

    "No, it''s just¡­ fine¡­"

    Zhang Dong gave out a sigh and poked his finger with the dagger. The others looked with anticipation and waited for the chalice to be activated. There was a slight problem though.

    "I thought so¡­"

    They looked at Zhang Dong who poked his finger with that dagger but no blood was coming out. The item was a heaven grade treasure but it looked to not be able to pierce his skin. The pointy dagger tip even got bent out of shape when Zhang Dong added more strength to it.

    "Sorry about that¡­"

    Zhang Dong handed the dagger back to the person that brought it over. It was now really out of shape and looked unusable. It was clear from this display that this man''s body was something that could resist heavenly grade treasures.

    "I''ll just use my own¡­"

    The man then brought out his sword that he once used in the fight against the Silver Spear Sect Patriarch and poked his finger on the tip. Even this item had some trouble to pierce his skin but a small droplet was formed that dropped into the chalice.

    The bloodline measuring device started working and it went through a couple of colors. Depending on the shine it gave out it could show how close they were related. It went from red to orange and then to yellow and continued to change. It finally stopped at a slightly darker green which meant that the two were indeed related.

    "Green color, this means that they are within three generations!"

    Zhang Dong already knew this as his system had shown him this. The person that Zhang Jin had shagged with was Fang Meili''s great grandmother. She was indeed his niece and in the same generation as his two disciples.

    The two sect leaders looked surprised, what was the meaning of this? This man was related to this girl, how was this possible?

    The two looked at each other and their faces went pale. This was probably a rouse started by the Divine First Sect, they probably lied about the monster attack too!

 235 Chapter 235

    Zhang Dong was to the side, his brows quivered a bit but he managed to keep his facial expression mostly hidden away. He knew those looks that the people were giving him, it were the looks of cultivators that were overthinking. What genius conspiracy theories they were coming up with was something that he would like to know.

    He knew that people in this world didn''t think much of luck or coincidences. They thought that everyone that was at the very top of the cultivation ladder was some type of schemer. It was more believable for them that the Divine Fist Sect and the United Element Sect were planning something together.

    Luckily for Zhang Dong he had developed a little technique with the help of his system. He could now eavesdrop on the conversations of other cultivators that used special sound moving techniques for it. He could hear what the Yggdrasil Sect leader and his sword-wielding partner in crime were saying. This made his bottom lip quiver as he tried not to smile.

    "It was probably a scheme, those two must be in cahoots! That monster tide incident either never happened or it was exaggerated to make us drop our guard. Now they know that we are working together!"

    The two continued to talk. The gist of it was that they were convinced that the beast attack was a hoax. Zhang Dong''s true identity was now that of someone from the Divine Fist sect. In their eyes, he was probably an agent from this strong sect and the United Element Sect was just a front.

    The two now feared that Zhang Dong and his people were placed close to the Limitless Sword Society. They were probably there for a pincer attack, while Zhan Jie''s forces were away their main sect ground would be attacked. They theorized that they had constructed teleportation gates at strategic locations and were now waiting to strike.

    "Wait, this might have been a blunder on their part, now their secret is out!"

    The two continued further, Zhang Dong''s overreaction was questioned. Probably the golden-haired junior was someone he deeply cared about so it even made him drop his act. He defended her but with this, he brought attention to his true identity. Which was a powerful nascent soul master from the Divine Fist Sect.

    This all made sense to them. This was probably why his aura felt like it was in the middle stage but he was so strong. It explained why he was able to defeat the Silver Spear Patriarch so easily. In their eyes, he was some hidden monster either in the late stage or in the great circle. His young appearance was probably just to make others let their guard down around him.

    He didn''t even need to do anything about this, the imagination these people had was truly immense. They just weren''t able to wrap their heads around it just being an act of kindness from his side.

    While the two people there were blowing things out of proportion and while the Yinglong Pavilion Patriarch was rubbing his chin, Zhang Dong shifted his gaze towards the two people from the Divine Fist Sect.

    He used the same technique to talk with the old man and sent his voice right next to his ear.

    "Greetings, I think I might have caused a slight commotion here and for that, I''ll apologize."

    The old man''s eyes quivered slightly but he tried keeping his facial expressions neutral.

    "Apologize? You saved my granddaughter, for this, I will eternally be grateful honorable Senior!"

    The man replied while using the same hidden technique.

    "But¡­ May I ask why Senior decided to help us and how are you related to my granddaughter? I didn''t know that we had such honorable family members as you."

    The man was quite formal and respectful. It was clear from his tone and choice of words that he didn''t want to offend Zhang Dong.

    "Ah, I have a strong bloodline technique, it allows me to feel people that I''m close with, It was more or less a coincidence. Who wouldn''t help their cute niece if she was in trouble?"

    Zhang Dong replied while just coming up with a plausible excuse. He was actually related to the girl, or at least this body that he occupied was.

    "Senior can track a lineage through a technique? Truly fascinating but even with that your actions..."

    Zhang Dong knew where the old man was going with this. Even if he was related to this girl, he shouldn''t know her well enough to risk his life. However this was indeed the truth, he did only save her because it was the right thing to do in his opinion. He was the type of person that even in this sort of world didn''t like to see others getting killed. Though he was in the vast minority when it came to this reasoning.

    "Well, I know it''s hard to imagine my reasons. How about you could just repay this favor in the future? Forming positive karmic bonds is something that I''m known for."

    It was far easier for Zhang Dong to just ask for a favor in return. Some people did live their life through karma here. If you helped someone they were expected to return the favor, otherwise, they would be sewing bad karma. Which in term would bring bad luck upon them, either in this or the next generation.

    The greater Dao of Karma did exist in this world but Zhang Dong''s knowledge of it was shallow. It also tied into the Dao of fate but to affect people''s future was something out of his reach, at least for now.

    "Good karma? Ah yes, that does make sense¡­"

    The old man replied while digesting the information. At this moment Zhang Dong decided to shift the conversation in a different direction. The two sect leaders that he had gone against him were still speculating with each other. He had to inform this man that he was now partially responsible for their plans.

    "Elder Heng, It would seem that your enemies might have gotten the wrong idea about our relationship¡­"

    Zhang Dong gave him a small rundown of the situation. About how the two thought that he was a hidden member of their sect. He explained how the two thought that he was some kind of backup plan. He was there to apparently perform a sneak attack with the main sect if the two other sects ever attacked them.

    "This¡­"

    Fang Heng didn''t know what to say. He certainly didn''t know anything about something like this, it did make a lot of sense as Zhang Dong was related to his granddaughter in some way.

    "Yes, regrettably that''s not true. It was just a coincidence that one of my family members was related to your granddaughter. You''d know if you saw the rest of my family¡­"

    He didn''t really feel like explaining how his grandfather operated, it wouldn''t bring anything substantial into the conversation so he decided to leave it out. It would also be kind of embarrassing to admit that he was related to someone promiscuous like that.

    "This misunderstanding could be a godsend for you but you would have to trust me and explain your situation in detail. I''ve heard that a beast tide ran through your sect and many masters died, even your sect leader."

    Zhang Dong needed more information. If he went along with the misunderstanding he could actually give the Divine Fist Sect some time to recuperate their losses. The Limitless Sword Society would probably also leave his people alone if they thought that Fang Heng''s side was still powerful.

    "If those two think that their misunderstanding is true, your side will probably acquire much needed time. You could even recover if their spies get caught."

    He knew that if the other sects weren''t at least 80 or 90 percent sure of their victory they would probably wait it out. The same thing happened to him, the three sects left him alone out of fear of his Wei Hung persona. He was also lucky enough to have a system in place that protected him from spies. Without any new information reaching his enemies, they could do nothing but wait, attacking his sect was far too much of a risk.

    Fang Heng had to think for a moment. He looked at this granddaughter that was there. She was now standing behind him along with some of the sect elders from his sect. He was a bit apprehensive about this situation.

    The man before him did indeed save his family member but his motives were unknown. He could as well be working for those two sects and just trying to get information out of him in a more roundabout way.

    This elder had a hard time believing that the other sects would go to such lengths. They already had basic information about the monster attack. They just didn''t have clear numbers of how many people perished. The first incident with his granddaughter was probably what his enemies had planned. This man probably belonged to a whole different faction but if he was telling the whole truth would remain to be seen.

    "I¡­"

    The man stuttered, he thought about his situation and if it could get any worse. Was there something he could do without getting outsiders involved? His plan was to quietly leave Fang Meili here and then return to his sect. There wasn''t really a thought about his own survival there, he even feared that he wouldn''t reach his sect grounds after he left this city.

    There wasn''t really much he could lose anymore. If the other two sects decided to attack they would probably only be able to bunker up in their main city for a few months. The information this man could spread wouldn''t really add that much.

    "Senior asks for much but if what you''re saying is true then maybe my sect can still be saved. I only wish for one thing in return, please protect my granddaughter, if you swear this I will trust you."

    Zhang Dong eyed the blond girl, she had been staring at him for quite some time now. He had probably left quite an impression on her at this point. If he agreed to the man''s terms he would need to take her to his sect. He would also probably need to look after her or dump her onto one of his elders as a pupil or something.

    ''Maybe Liena could accept her as a disciple or something¡­''

    He didn''t really need to do this though. He could just walk out of here and worry about Zhan Jie and his cronies later. Getting them to think that he was part of a stronger sect could get him out of a fight later on though. He still had them fearing his master persona too but if he came off too threatening they might try to attack him out of fear.

    "You have my word, I can take her to my sect where she will be well protected."

    In the end, his good-hearted nature had come out on top. Now he needed to listen to what this old man had to say and then decide on how to spin this. Zhang Dong hoped that the Divine Sect''s situation wasn??t completely unsalvageable. They still were in a good spot and probably had a lot of cultivation resources. He could probably even add them to his own as future payment.

    "That feels reassuring, senior. I will put my trust into you¡­"

    The man finally decided to talk in detail. In a matter of moments, the full truth was revealed and Zhang Dong was already strategizing about how to salvage the situation.

 236 Chapter 236

    "About a month ago we came across a strange set of ruins, this was the beginning of our troubles¡­"

    It all started normally with a new interesting discovery. Some people had dug up a passageway that led them into some underground ruins. There was a labyrinth worth of corridors down there and a team of cultivators was dispatched to map the place out.

    There wasn''t much at the beginning but after a week all signs of the first team of cultivators were lost. They couldn''t get any information on their progress and their communication jades weren''t responding. It was as if they just vanished.

    This prompted the sect to send out a second party of slightly stronger cultivators to go check. The team arrived at an empty camp with no one in sight. There weren''t any signs of struggle but after some digging, they could see that their sect members had entered the underground ruins.

    Most of the team then entered into the underground passages while a few members remained outside. They reported regularly every hour to the people back at the sect. Then at night, there was a worrying report of some strange sounds coming from the discovered entrance.

    Soon the second team met the same end as the first one and finally, the nascent soul elders moved into action.

    "Yes¡­ if maybe they arrived sooner we could have done something but it was too late, the creature that slumbered there had already absorbed too much blood¡­"

    Zhang Dong raised his eyebrow but didn''t stop the man from speaking. Fang Heng after stopping for a moment continued with the story.

    The area was closed off and one of the powerful elders moved in with a weapon in hand. He was greeted by his sect members or at least by what was left of them. They all had turned to horrendous monstrosities, not resembling any kind of demonic beast that they had ever seen.

    Some looked like masses of tentacles with eyes, others looked like leeches with giant shark-like teeth. Others were just fused together bodies that gave out dreadful screams of pain that even caused dementia to lesser cultivators.

    The monsters then started pouring out of those ruins, attacking everything that they saw. Every defeated enemy was assimilated in one way or the other which made their army grow.

    This wasn''t even the worst part, that was the leader of the monsters.

    "Wait¡­"

    Zhang Dong had to pause after the man had described the big bad monster that was behind all of this.

    "Webbed wings¡­ humanoid in shape¡­ big arms with claws at the end and a face that looks like an octopus¡­ also of giant proportions¡­"

    ???Something wrong senior?"

    "Ah no, please continue¡­"

    The massive monster took flight and caused widespread panic in their lands. Nothing could stop it and the cities it went through turned into its minions. Even their nascent soul masters couldn''t stop it as it continued to even turn them into their minions.

    In the end, the hidden elders from the Divine Fist Sect used some kind of forbidden art to critically injure the monster. The monster vanished afterward but they weren''t sure if it was dead or if it was just waiting to strike again.

    The reserve elders had used up most of their life force in that attack and half of them died while the other was in a self-induced coma. They were using some healing arts but they wouldn''t be waking up any time soon.

    Their sect leader wasn''t quite dead either, he had been infected by the monster''s poison. He was apparently being kept alive by some of the sect''s healing treasures. This was also why he wasn''t able to attend this meeting.

    Fang Heng was the only nascent soul elder that hadn''t been hurt during the onslaught. There were still some lesser monsters roaming around. Their sect was slowly clearing out the infected cities.

    ''This sounds like some kind of horror movie, I bet that thing isn''t dead¡­''

    Zhang Dong felt a bit responsible as he had fought those occult beings before. He still was speculating that the first one had been here because of him. He wasn''t sure if it was the same creature, it might have been evolving each time.

    He might have to kill it again but this time around he would need to erase every atom down to the soul. He was now a nascent soul master so he could do it this time around.

    "I see...I think I need to see those ruins¡­"

    "You want to examine the ruins senior?"

    The man was quite surprised. After hearing that story any normal cultivator would evade the trouble. The monster was strong enough to go against multiple nascent soul elders at the late stage.

    "Yes, if that monster is what I think it is¡­ then it probably isn''t dead, it will be best to strike while it is injured."

    Zhang Dong frowned, another big problem had fallen down on his shoulders. The monster was very good at regenerating and was probably not dead. The old man was from a sect that used divine energies which made him believe that it was weak to those. This was in all likelihood the reason why it fled.

    This also made him more confident as he was someone that was versed in the Dao of the holy element. It was a Dao that was above the divine dao that Fang Heng''s sect practiced.

    "It looks like the fellow Daoist from the United Element Sect did not lie, he is indeed related to that junior."

    Before he could think about what to do next the leader from the Yinglong Pavilion finally spoke up. He glanced from the green glowing chalice to him while leaning on one of his hands. Everyone in the room also stopped with their whispering, it was time for the verdict.

    "Still, you have interfered in the sacred competition, you have to be fined."

    The man rubbed his chin while looking at Zhang Dong, Fang Meili didn''t even dare to look at the monstrous elder that could smite her with a quiver of his brow.

    "A low grade heaven artifact should be enough, none of the other contestants were hurt by him and the competition continues."

    Zhang Dong nodded and pulled out an intricate-looking spear. It radiated the might of a heaven grade artifact and was indeed a low grade one. This was one of his earlier products and was more or less a failure in his eyes. He didn''t want to give weapons that he created to other factions but in this case, it was fine.

    He gently guided the weapon towards the Yinglong Pavilion leader so that he could inspect it. The man grabbed the spear by the shaft and started looking over it, after a moment he gave a resounding nod.

    "A fine spear. With this your involvement in the competition will be forgiven, if you wish to engage with the other sects in battle then please step forward."

    Zhang Dong looked to the other two. If they challenged him to battle he would accept. Fighting one on one against each one of those two would be better done here. He could at least deliver a long lasting wound and he wouldn''t need to worry about other nascent soul masters getting involved.

    He didn''t think that he would be confronted here though, the other two were now suspicious of his motives. For them, this was some kind of scheme by the Divine Fist Sect. In their eyes, Zhang Dong was their agent and might have even been placed here to fight them.

    Just as Zhang Dong had reasoned the tree looking elder didn''t make a move. Zhan Jie looked quite maddened and was staring daggers at him but he also didn''t come forward. Zhang Dong could even hear the two bickering a bit as the sword fanatic wanted to do battle with him.

    After a bit of glancing from both parties, it was clear that no one was willing to step forward from either side. Zhang Dong didn''t want to be the instigator even though a one on one fight might have been more favorable for him. There was also a chance that something could go wrong, you never knew what could happen. These two elders were also much stronger than the Silver Spear Sect leader.

    "I see that no one wishes to step forward. Let us continue with the banquet then and forget about this little incident."

    The commotion was finally over and the competition continued. The atmosphere was quite tense and people kept looking at Zhang Dong. After the drama was settled he remained seated with the elder from the Divine Fist Sect and his granddaughter. She was allowed to stay here under their supervision.

    They continued to silently discuss with each other while the young girl was kept out of the loop. She had enough maturity to know that she didn''t have any say in this conversation. She would wait for her grandfather to speak up.

    "Here take this."

    Zhang Dong took out a small box and handed it to Fang Heng. The man looked at the item and could feel that it was a complex artifact.

    "This is?"

    "It''s a beacon, take it to your sect when you return and activate it in a safe location. I will be able to travel directly to you then."

    The item that he was giving the old man was a portable teleporter. He didn''t want to go with them immediately. They didn''t need to give out their plans to their competition, it would be better if they thought he was back at his own sect.

    "Hoh¡­ thank you senior."

    The man looked at the artifact and placed it in his spatial ring. The other people could see them but what the item was no one knew. It looked like a square box with some runic designs on it.

    "You just need to add some spiritual energy into it with the correct code and it will activate."

    Zhang Dong explained how the device worked and also gave Fang Heng the correct code to activate it. There was more than one of them, they were in place to alert him if the one activating the beacon was in trouble.

    "Anyway, Fang Meili was it?"

    Zhang Dong had finally finished up his conversation with the older man. They had decided on a plan of action and now they just needed to get through this banquet. The competition wasn''t quite over and it would probably take another day for the juniors to finish up with this one.

    "Y-yes honorable senior!"

    The young girl flinched when her name was called and dropped her head instantly.

    "Ah, you can relax. Think your injuries should be healed, does it hurt somewhere?"

    Zhang Dong asked while scanning the younger girl with his spiritual sense. The girl just blushed a bit after feeling what the man was doing, his eyes were very deep and mysterious.

    "I''m fine senior, you don''t need to worry about me."

    The girl started bowing repeatedly while panicking. It seemed that she wasn''t used to interacting with people like him that much or she was just the shy type.

    "That''s fine then, your grandfather and I have discussed a couple of things and one of them concerns you."

    Zhang Dong turned to face Fang Heng. The old man just nodded as he knew that it would be better if it came out of his mouth. She would be returning with Zhang Dong and his people while her grandfather would be going back to his own sect.

    With the other factions blowing things out of proportions with their imagination they should be able to return home safely as well. Returning back home was the first thing Zhang Dong was planning to do. His wife was close to giving birth and then he had a squid monster to face off against, this time around he hoped it would be the last time¡­

 237 Chapter 237

    This was something only natural, he got stabbed in the back during the whole commotion and no one even knew who was the perpetrator. He wasn''t dead but heavily injured and his battle prowess sunk low. If he wasn''t from one of the better off sects he would have probably ended up dead.

    There of course was a fighting tournament that luckily ended within the day. With the help of pills, the junior members were able to recover their wounds and stamina. This was quite the opportunity for the young warriors but for Zhang Dong it was just boring.

    On the third day, it was finally over. The other sects sometimes gave him strange looks but no one took him up on the offer for a fight. If it wasn''t for the people from the Divine Fist Sect then he probably would have coasted through this banquet with no incidents at all.

    They did give him some valuable information about an old enemy though. He knew that the monster that he would fight wouldn''t just pose a threat to him but all the other people in this land. He didn''t think that the other sects would help out though. They would only get involved if their factions were directly involved and in danger.

    He, on the other hand, saw the bigger picture, if the monster kept creating more abominations from the cultivators it slew then soon the whole empire would be overrun. He saw first hand how the monster could evolve by sucking energies from other living beings when he fought it the first time. He needed to go back to his sect and prepare, maybe even get some of his sect elders involved in the fight.

    The senior members from his sect that he brought along didn''t get into any trouble. Some of them even managed to make some lesser connections. He left it to them to make some trade deals as they did have many materials they could trade for.

    In his dimensional regalia, there were various high level spiritual herbs and even minerals now. The more spiritual energy they inserted into that immortal treasure the larger it became. Somehow all of that energy didn''t just dissipate but it combined into the land and created more. Even some pockets of precious metals started popping up for the sect members to mine and use for crafting.

    "Well then, I will be off. You should be careful of the Yggdrasil sect, they might try something during your return, activate the beacon if something occurs and I''ll come aid you."

    Zhang Dong was in the hotel now and talking to Fang Heng. It was time to say their goodbyes.

    "Senior Dong, you have already done so much it would be rude for me to demand even more help¡­"

    He was afraid that the old man would be ambushed during his return. The other factions were probably planning such a thing before he got involved. Their speculations didn''t mean that they would drop their old plan. However, it was likely that they would make some changes.

    He needed them to get that teleportation beacon there. Without it, he would need to make the journey there himself. This would take him through enemy territory and if he was spotted could cause more trouble for him.

    He couldn''t just transfer himself to places that he had never been to before. All of the teleportation gates he used had their own coordinates. These couldn''t be changed, if they were then a person going through one could end up dead.

    People weren''t sure what exactly happened but they would sometimes get teleported to some random location. This could be inside of a wall or a volcano. If they were less lucky they would never return, lost within the gate, or just being disintegrated into particles.

    Zhang Dong deliberated on lending his new ally his flying ship. It would probably be strong enough to protect them from any enemies. He didn''t want to endanger his own people too much though or lose a very important asset in enemy territory.

    He also couldn''t make the journey himself with the old man. He was too worried about his wife and child. It was around that time and it could happen at any moment. He knew that the birth could be very dangerous for both of them, only if he was there to aid Feng Liena would he feel at ease.

    "Fine then, take care on your journey and I hope you will make it safely back to your sect."

    "You too, Senior. I hope our paths will cross again!"

    Fang Heng clasped his hands and turned to his granddaughter. She was next to the two while they were talking so she heard it all. The old man placed his hand on the girl''s shoulder and gave her a contemplative look before speaking out.

    "Take care of yourself and listen to your senior uncle."

    The girl had tears in her eyes while looking at the old man that was slightly smiling. She didn''t want to leave and going with this man was a big risk. There wasn''t much that she could do though, she was just a lowly junior at the foundation establishment level.

    "I¡­ will I ever see you again grandfather?"

    Fang Heng looked at his granddaughter and placed his hand on her head.

    "Silly child, your grandfather isn''t so easy to kill and I''ve also made a promise with your senior uncle that I will reach our sect!"

    He smacked his own chest with some force and then finally parted with Fang Meili. The girl watched as her grandfather flew away towards the ships from the Divine Fist Sect. The other members from her sect followed right after her.

    "Young miss, we need to go¡­"

    A female voice called out to Fang Meili. She turned to face this person and saw a girl close to her age. This was one of her maids, she and another one would be coming with her to tend to her needs.

    Fang Meili just stood there and looked at the man that had saved her. She still had trouble processing everything that had happened.

    The man called Zhang Dong looked at her back. She couldn''t tell what he was thinking from his facial features. He was quite the handsome man and if it was any other occasion she would have probably been head over heels for him.

    This wasn''t the case, she was feeling pathetic for not being able to do anything. Soon her sect where she spent her entire life might not even exist. The only person that could aid them was standing before her. How far he would go to aid them was unknown, her grandfather was putting his trust in Zhang Dong. She couldn''t do the same; she was still skeptical of his true motives.

    "Fang Meili was it? You''re going to glare a hole in my forehead if you continue like that¡­"

    The chuckled slightly while the blond girl opened her eyes widely. She didn''t know when but she started rudely staring at him. The moment this fact was revealed one of her maids stepped forward.

    "Please have mercy, my lord, the young lady didn''t know her place."

    She dropped down to her knees and started begging. Fang Heng that was of similar status as this man was now gone. Without him around the maids worried that their young miss could get into trouble by offending Zhang Dong.

    The young lady in question started trembling slightly, would she get punished already. Staring at someone as established as this person would be considered a huge offense. Some people took things like etiquette very seriously. In some sects like that she could even be sentenced to death along with her maids.

    "Please my lord anything but the young lady, punish me instead!"

    "Yes great lord, punish us instead."

    She saw her two maids going down to her hands and knees with their heads lowered. These two were servants assigned to her when she was but a child. They were in their 30s and started out as teenage girls. The two girls were very loyal and were even trying to give their own lives away for her.

    She couldn''t allow this, this was her mistake. Even though she didn''t trust this man, he was someone from the older generation. He was someone that her grandfather called a senior. He was clearly lowering himself before this man but she dared to stare at his face for so long.

    "No please, punish me instead, my maids didn''t do anything wrong, it was my inexperienced senior uncle!"

    She followed suit and was now kneeling down. Her head was down and she wasn''t even looking up.

    Zhang Dong looked down at the girl that he was supposed to take care of. He was trying to ease up the tension with a small joke but the other''s took it the wrong way. He as always forgot how these people worked.

    For them, it was impossible for someone from the elder generation to be joking around with a junior. Not unless they were related or had some kind master-disciple relationship.

    He just stood there shocked at the display, soon the three girls were kneeling. The elders that were behind him didn''t help either as in their eyes this was an obvious offense. Some of them even looked like they were unwilling to let this pass.

    "Such rudeness, is this how you should act around someone that saved your life?"

    The one walking was Zhang Dong''s great grandmother and also his wife''s. She looked quite maddened by the fact that this girl had the audacity to stare at the sect leader with such irritation. The other oldies that were very much people that followed old traditions just nodded. From their point of view, the young woman would have to be punished in some way.

    Before that could happen and this whole situation got out of hand Zhang Dong raised his hand up. A golden aura surrounded the three kneeling females and moved them all back to their feet.

    "That''s enough. You lot should knock it off, we don''t have time for this and those are our guests. I promised her grandfather that I will take care of them, she is also my niece, so show some respect. Now let us depart!"

    He surrounded everyone with his aura and started flying towards the Argonaut. He knew that if he let that continue for much longer that something bad could happen. One of the maids would probably try to end her life to appease the big bad elders from the United Element Sect. She would even think that her life would be well spent by offering it to the senior members.

    "Relax, I have promised to your grandfather that I would protect you. You don''t need to kneel and I would like you to refrain from doing such things in the future."

    Zhang dong said while they quickly flew towards that giant battleship that was waiting for them. The three women could only stare at each other without being able to react.

    The Argonaut was still hovering outside the city grounds. It stuck out like a sore thumb due to its massive size and strange design. For the time being there was a shield around it as some people did try to enter it. They were promptly blasted away into the stratosphere.

    "Also don''t worry about your grandfather, he won''t die so easily."

    It was time to return, if it would be smooth sailing on the way back it was hard to tell. For one thing, there was still the problem of the two sect armadas that had escorted him here. After the fiasco that happened back at the banquet, he wasn''t sure if they would just let him go back home that easily.

 238 Chapter 238

    This wasn''t the big surprising part though. They all were from the Divine Fist Sect and all of them practiced some form of divine arts. These arts harnessed holy energies from the world to power their techniques.

    The golden shield that Zhang Dong surrounded them with was of very pure holy energy. The group of girls was at quite low level compared to this senior member. But even they could feel how pure and how powerful this energy was.

    All of them knew that if you wished to have such a pure aura around yourself you had to be a good person. Fang Meili had witnessed the divine aura of her grandfather and some other elders before. This one was far more pure and gentle than that, it showed her that this man was probably someone trustworthy. Someone that was evil or malicious could not produce something like this.

    If someone killed a lot of people their killing aura would seep out one way or the other. A life of slaughter would also impede a person''s progress in the divine arts. You had to keep your soul clear of unnecessary negative emotions if you wanted to progress in them.

    This was also why this purity of holy energies was mind-boggling. Normally even the grand elders from her sect would have at least one or two negative thoughts. These would delude their divine aura and lessen its power. Zhang Dong on the other hand didn''t seem to have such an impurity in his aura. Either he was a saint or there was some other secret to why he was so pure.

    Fang Meili was far too stressed the first time she met this man. Her grandfather also instantly blocked out other people from infecting her with their spiritual energy. She didn''t have the time to process the information.

    Now, she was slightly more reassured in going with this uncle of hers. She did even recall one of her grandmother''s having some kind of love affair hundred of years ago. Maybe this man was related to that love affair.

    "Get ready, we will be living immediately towards our sect grounds and we won''t be waiting for the other sects to escort us back!"

    The girl was brought back to reality by her new uncle''s deep voice. The other sect members that consisted of old men and women nodded with agreement. One of them that had really dark skin then spoke up.

    "I agree, the Patriarch from the Limitless Sword Society didn''t look pleased, they might try to force our hand."

    The girl frowned when she recalled the man in question. Zhan Jie was the leader of that sect, they were also part of the group that was chasing after her in the labyrinth. One of their members even landed a strike on her leg that caused an injury. She swore that in the future she would have her revenge, she just needed to get stronger.

    It was a lot larger than the ship that they came in and looked to be made from metal. Some strange buzzing sounds were coming out of it and even the girls could see a large number of cannons poking out from everywhere.

    The barrier that the ship had opened up a small circular hole through that all of them flew through. Zhang Dong''s barrier kept things like G-force outside so anyone inside wouldn''t feel sick.

    All of them finally landed on the deck and were greeted by the ship''s captain. The man gave some kind of strange salute. He was also wearing unusual clothes and a strange looking hat. The young lady and her maids kept looking around, everything looked new and mysterious to them.

    "Report!"

    Zhang Dong called out while the man that was the captain nodded.

    "Yes sir! We have remained on high alert, some of the sects tried testing our defenses but as instructed we retaliated accordingly!"

    "Good, anything else?"

    The girls just remained staring there, no one moved from their spots while the man in charge was speaking.

    "The Limitless Sword Society ships have surrounded us from all sides and have been watching our movements since two days ago. The Demon Subduing sect and the Dragon Gate Sect have remained neutral and they have even begun pulling their ships away after your arrival."

    The Dragon Gate Sect and the Demon Subduing Sect didn''t seem like they were willing to tussle with Zhang Dong''s faction after his power move during the banquet. There were too many unanswered questions for those two to interfere.

    "Dragon Gate¡­ even though they were the ones inviting us here, we didn''t get much time to talk¡­"

    Zhang Dong said while tapping his finger against his thigh.

    "Don''t worry Patriarch, me and the elders have managed to talk business while you were busy. We will bring the paperwork to you later as the Dragon Gate sect is willing to do business with us!"

    One of the old men jumped in while clasping his hands together. The girl just listened while trying to figure this United Element Sect out.

    From her point of view, their leader was really strong but his people didn''t look that imposing. They were just a bunch of old men and women in the core formation stage. It didn''t look like they would be making the jump towards the nascent soul stage either.

    The flying ship on the other hand looked like a technological marvel. She could feel that it was a heavenly treasure but how strong it really was compared to the other flying vessels was still to be seen.

    "Hm, we should talk about this inside¡­"

    Zhang Dong said while looking to Fang Meili. The girl lowered her head slightly while still being a bit scared.

    "Take these three to the guest cabin, treat them well, and don''t let anything happen to them. The rest of you return to your stations, we will be returning home at full speed..."

    The man said before turning around. His long white hair slightly bounced around as he made his getaway.

    Fang Meili and her servants were guided through the metal monstrosity. On their way to their cabin, they could see United Element Sect members rushing around. They were wearing strange militaristic type uniforms and seemed somewhat organized. She didn''t recognize anything that they were carrying but she somehow knew that it was related to weapons.

    One of the crew members let them inside a certain cabin. It was quite large and looked like a hotel suite. Inside the spiritual energy was high and they could even see food placed on one of the tables. There were several beds in this room along with windows through which they could see the scenery outside. Only after the person that took them here left did the girls speak out.

    "Young lady, we need to be careful, that senior looks benevolent but it might be a trick!"

    One of the maids said while the other nodded with approval.

    Fang Meili moved toward one of the tables. There was a juicy looking apple just there, she took it into her hand and then took a large bite out of the fruit.

    "You two are worrying too much, not like we can do anything about it. I''ve promised grandfather that I would follow ¡­ my Uncle to his sect¡­"

    She paused before referring to Zhang Dong as an uncle. Everything was still surreal and she was still digesting this whole situation.

    "Not like we could do anything about it¡­ you''ve seen it... "

    Fang Meili dropped down onto the largest bed and looked up at the ceiling. Her maids moved closer but knew what their young missy meant. Not like they could run away, even if they got outside this ship there was no place for them to go.

    The other sects had already figured out that their Divine Fist Sect was weakened. If it wasn''t for Zhang Dong, Fang Meili would already be dead.

    "I owe that man¡­ uncle Dong my life¡­ I will wait and see¡­ he said that I shouldn''t worry and that I will meet my grandfather again¡­someone with such a pure divine aura shouldn''t be a bad person..."

    The two maids also nodded at that point. That senior did have an unusual divine source to himself. It was above anything that these three women had ever seen, far above any elder from their own sect that they knew.

    Before the three could get comfortable a red light started flashing in their room and they could feel that the ship started to move.

    "Code red, Code red¡­ Everyone is to proceed to the battle stations.''

    The announcement was loud and the whole flying ship started shaking violently. The girls looked at each other in surprise. They didn''t have time to even fully sit down and now there was some kind of problem.

    All of them moved towards one of the windows that let them see the outside. They could see three large more traditional looking ships flying their way.

    "Is that the Limitless Sword Society emblem?"

    "Those bastards want to attack us!"

    The two maids cried out in fright. They were very much scared of that bloodthirsty sect. From what they knew it was one of the more ruthless ones. The people from that faction were known for their love for battle. They always liked to make their swords do the talking instead of bargaining or going for a compromise. They along with the Yggdrasil Sect were their biggest enemies.

    "Calm down you two, look at that¡­"

    Fang Meili pointed towards the three ships coming their way. They weren''t getting closer instead it looked like they were slowly getting left behind. This ship that they were flying in was slowly picking up the pace and leaving those smaller ones behind.

    "How fast are we going?"

    "Was it always that easy to run away?"

    From what the girls knew flying ships of that size weren''t the fastest. Even as a heaven graded item the sheer size made the whole vessel slower.

    But there they were, leaving the other flying ships in the dust. The trio continued to look outside the window and they could see more ships appearing. They continued their chase but it didn''t look like they would be catching up anytime soon. It really looked like their group would be making a clean getaway. That was before they felt a rumble and then saw the protective barrier flickering.

    The girl''s cabin was in the back of the ship so they couldn''t see what was happening in the front. They could see the shield flickering multiple times which probably meant that they were getting attacked by something. The ships that were left in the dust also started catching up.

    The alarm kept ringing and it looked like the members from the United Element Sect would be getting involved in the fight.

    Fang Meili couldn''t just sit around in this room without any information. She decided to peek outside and luckily the door to her cabin remained open. There were also no guards around to push her back in.

    "Young lady you mustn''t! We were told to stay here, it might be dangerous outside!"

    The maids ran after their young miss that decided to go outside. She remembered from where they arrived and it didn''t take her long to reach the area outside. The ship crew was far too busy with their own assignments so there was no one to stop this trio from snooping around.

    The moment she was outside she could see it. There were multiple burning flying ships around them along with cultivators on swords. There was a full-blown aerial battle taking place and explosions were happening everywhere.

    "Face me, Zhang Dong!"

    A booming voice was heard by her and brought her attention to the sky.

    "You are even dumber than I had anticipated!"

    She saw the man that brought her here. He was floating directly above the flying ship with a sword in hand. His opponent was the sect leader from the Limitless Sword Society. With him there were two more nascent soul elders, it looked like her savior was outnumbered.

 239 Chapter 239

    Zhang Dong had hoped that with his ship''s enhanced speed he could just safely return home with haste. This wouldn''t be that easy though as a certain person was already waiting for his arrival.

    It was a classical ambush with multiple flying ships waiting for them. The people that were here were from the Limitless Sword Society without the aid of any other faction. The ships from the Demon Subduing Sect didn''t seem to be there anymore. Probably their leaders decided to evade this battle after the strange happenings during the banquet. It seemed that Zhan Jie had other plans for the United Element Sect.

    Even though there was only one faction here, Zhan Jie wasn''t the only nascent soul master that arrived. There were two other people floating slightly behind him and both of them radiated nascent soul might.

    Zhang Dong was standing around in the ship''s bridge. The whole crew from the ship was looking at the screens and they could see the ships that they left in the dust closing in.

    "Those two behind him are only early stage masters, can I leave them to you, Captain?"

    He asked while looking at the rough-looking cultivator. The man looked like an old fisherman, his skin was tanned and his face looked scratched up. He also had an eyepatch over his eye and Zhang Dong totally didn''t only choose him for his looks to be the ship''s captain. He had some skills to back up that look of his.

    "Leave it to us, Patriarch! The Argonaut is more than enough for the likes of them!"

    Zhang Dong nodded while moving outside, before leaving he just gave one last order.

    "You are free to remove the limiter, use the main cannon if you have to."

    The man just saluted, the whole flying ship started buzzing. It was time for everyone to head to the battle stations.

    Outside Zhang Dong could see canons rising up and appearing on the main deck. These were all manned by train cultivators and all could fire condensed spirit bullets.

    Those cannons were already large in scope but they all paled compared to the monster that was hiding inside. The ship''s main cannon would only be activated when it was required, the power drain was quite staggering.

    While the whole ship was transforming the enemy cultivators weren''t passive. The leader from the other sect started shouting out the moment he noticed that Zhang Dong was leaving the confines of his ship.

    "There you are, face me Zhang Dong!"

    "You are even dumber than I had anticipated. Are those two behind you your backup plan? I guess you are at least smart enough to get some help."

    Zhan Jie went red in the face while the two elders behind him moved closer.

    "I don''t need their help to take care of someone like you! Elders destroy that ship and bring me that woman, I need to hear the truth from her!"

    Zhang Dong realized this man''s genius plan. He probably thought that he was indeed part of the Divine Fist Sect.

    The only worry that Matt had now was if the person from the Yggdrasil Sect was as daring as this guy here. He was one thing, but that old man wouldn''t be able to go against a late stage cultivator. Though without him activating the teleportation beacon he wouldn''t be able to help him.

    For now, he had to worry about himself first. He was still up against three nascent soul cultivators. This reminded him of the fight against the Dark Palm Sect. That time he was lured into a trap and almost killed due to ignoring the weaker cultivators. This time around he would be more careful, he also wasn''t alone, he had some backup.

    Even before the fight could start the massive Argonaut gave out a strange sound. It started radiating energy and the cultivators around the area could feel it rising. The seemingly low graded heavenly treasure started giving out telltale signs of a middle graded one. It also didn''t seem to be stopping just there as the power levels continued to rise.

    "Well then, I hope those two can take care of themselves¡­"

    Zhang Dong smirked while his sword appeared in his hand. Lightning covered his body and he just shot forward, his sword strike was met by Zhan Jie that was forced back while his fellow sect elders looked on with horror. They couldn''t follow Zhang Dong''s speedy movements at all.

    As they turned around to aid their leader they were met with another problem. A barrage of Qi bullets flew right towards them as the massive flying ship started attacking. The Argonaut 1 wasn''t just aiming for the two nascent soul targets, it was aiming for every ship in the area.

    The two fast-moving human targets managed to dodge in time but that wasn''t true for the slow-moving ships. Their shields weren''t strong enough to resist the concentrated fire and they started exploding. The cultivators inside started to quickly abandon their ships as they escaped outside.

    "How could this be¡­"

    The two nascent soul masters found themselves dodging a barrage of fast-moving projectiles. They could feel that if they got hit by one of them they would be in serious trouble.

    This meant that other people below their realm stood absolutely no chance. All of their ships returned fire, the core formation experts that were flying around did the same but the massive metal behemoth remained in place. Its shields lasted through the combined retaliation attack and the ship remained undamaged.

    The massive fortress of the ship started to move, its guns firing in all directions. The smaller enemy vessels stood no chance. Their firepower and even their maneuverability was lower than this mass of metal that kicked up a storm like winds whenever it moved.

    It wasn''t quite a one-sided slaughter though, the enemy cultivators still had two nascent soul masters on their side. These two old men stood together and started shielding some of the ships from the cannon fire. The Argonaut was good at hitting large slow-moving targets but when it came to small human-sized ones it wasn''t as accurate.

    It soon turned into a battle of attrition where the massive ship continuously fired at the core formation and nascent soul cultivators that were dodging everything they could. The people from the Limitless Sword Society were quite good at flying on their swords. Which was the cause for prolonging this battle.

    While the whole area turned into a bright light show, further up in the clouds two men were facing off against each other.

    Zhang Jie and Zhang Dong started colliding in mid-air. Their sword attacks rained down against each other like a torrent of water. Each time they clashed they produced a booming sound that broke the sound barrier apart.

    The shockwaves created from these clashes were periodically pushing the clouds they were fighting to the side. After a couple of exchanges, both of them flew back, both of them didn''t suffer even a little nick

    "Is this all?"

    Zhan Jie snorted as this was more of just a prelude to what was to come. It was normal for two fighters to measure their skill level by exchanging some blows. These weren''t meant to kill but just to get a grasp of your opponent.

    "I should be saying the same thing, if that was it¡­ it would be better if you just turned around. I''m really not someone that likes to bully weaker people, you can turn around and our sects can still coexist with one another."

    Zhang Dong spoke out while looking at his opponent. He knew that people like this Zhan Jie didn''t react well to taunts like this. In this situation, though it wasn''t a taunt, he didn''t feel like he was weaker in any shape or form. He would let this transgression be and even let them keep their lives if they just left.

    "Coexist? Turn around? Are you mad! You should be the one groveling and asking for forgiveness, that fool from the Yggdrasil Sect might be wary of your motives but this Zhan Jie never flees from a good fight! You will fall to my sword like everyone that came before you!"

    Zhang Dong just started spacing out after his opponent started giving him a long speech. At least he got some information out of it. Apparently, the leader of that other sect had told this guy to not engage.

    This meant that they were probably unwilling to act just yet. Fang Heng''s chances of survival had increased as they would probably not chase them after he left. The Limitless Sword Society leader was here so the old man should have a clear path home. That is unless there isn''t another battle happy sect leader after them.

    "Fine, have it your way. I might have been lenient with your types in the past but too many lives are at stake. Let us get this over with."

    Zhang Dong gave out a sigh while Zhan Jie started fuming with anger. He waved his hand and his spatial ring was activated. In a matter of seconds, thousands upon thousands of white swords were hovering around the sword cultivator.

    "I will show you why they call us the Limitless Sword Society!"

    There were swords everywhere, they circled around the whole area and slowly started taking the shape of something. Zhang Dong wasn''t passive though, he also activated his spatial ring and a couple of swords shot out, eleven to be exact.

    He let go of the sword he was holding on to and the dozen blades placed themselves around his body. They paled in comparison to the huge mass of metal that finally took on the shape of a lotus flower with Zhan Jie in the middle.

    The opponent in the white robe was surrounded by what looked to be a mass of metal. There were so many of those swords that they made the lotus flower have solid mass. It wasn''t an illusion it was a giant flower made from swords.

    With a wave of his finger, one of the huge silver flower petals parted from the sword formation. It gently floated as if it was getting carried by the wind but in a matter of seconds, it shot forward. Thousands upon thousands of blades rained down on Zhang Dong, each one of them infused with the man''s nascent soul aura.

    A dozen blades that were surrounding the sect leader from the United Element Sect sprung into action instantly. They started spinning and circling around his entire body while deflecting the rain of swords. The sound of metal clashing against metal at supersonic speeds couldn''t even be heard.

    Zhan Jie''s had a smirk on his face after sending his first petal down. Soon it started contorting in the opposite direction as he saw that all of his swords were getting deflected. The twelve weapons that the man produced were somehow able to deflect or slice them apart. Not even a single strand of his hair was being damaged.

    "How could this be¡­"

    "What? Do you think even one of those earth grade blades can scratch one of my heaven grade blades? You think I didn''t notice that you only have a few heaven grade ones hidden in there¡­"

    Zhan Jie''s forehead started showing quite a thick vein before he waved his finger again. Another two petals parted from the lotus flower and shot forward. Their aim to kill the man that wasn''t even moving from his place.

 240 Chapter 240

    The look of confusion and anger was directed at his opponent Zhang Dong. The man that he was facing didn''t move from that one spot for the entire time he unleashed his technique. The thousands of swords that he was utilizing were being repelled by just twelve blades. These blades danced around at speeds that even he had trouble following.

    "This can''t be possible... "

    He shook with indignation while moving both his hands forward. Like a conductor directing a symphony, he started moving them around at a fast pace. The shiny silver lotus flower petals that were made from his swords started flying forward.

    This technique was supposed to slowly wear down the opponent''s defenses while drowning them in sword intent. But whatever he threw at Zhang Dong the man didn''t seem to be moving from the spot he was standing in. It was as if the technique that he had spent countless years on honing was useless.

    This was something that he couldn''t just let be, his pride didn''t allow it. All of the silver petals were utilized at the same time. The sheer concentration required to control this many flying swords was something noteworthy.

    Zhang Dong managed to bounce or shatter every incoming sword with ease. His opponent wasn''t willing to give him room for breathing as he saw a mass of swords getting in position around him.

    The sky was blocked out by the shiny silver metallic blades. It looked like a million weapons were pointed straight at his head while he only had twelve to defend himself with. Even while looking at all of those he didn''t falter and just kept his gaze at the person controlling them.

    Zhan Jie without missing a beat swung his hand forward as if pointing his army of swords to go get this enemy. The blades reacted by simultaneously charging forward at sound breaking speed. They were thousands of small jet planes on a collision course.

    Zhang Dong''s aura exploded as he activated his defensive formation that only consisted of a dozen blades. These sharp treasures were clearly superior to the ones that were coming this way.

    But they were like a large tree against a tsunami, would they still be standing after the massive wave of blades hit?

    "Your sword intent is strong but it won''t be enough! Now die!"

    Zhan Jie shouted out while confident in his victory. Each blade that he sent had his sword intent included in it. This was the crystallization of all his knowledge and life as a swordmaster. How could a pseudo swordmaster like the one he was fighting against here be his match?

    "What?... no how could this be¡­"

    Zhan Jie''s eyes went wide and he almost got a heart attack. What he saw was something that he didn''t think was possible.

    Sword intent was a fabled state of mastery over the sword. A swordsman that had mastered it could even produce sword energies that could slice apart opponents.

    This wasn''t the pinnacle of swordsmanship, there was another fabled stage that surpassed this. There was close to no one that had reached that stage in many thousands of years. The ones that did were just a few and mostly hidden away as the sect reserves as they were hidden grandmasters.

    The Limitless Sword Society leader could hear something akin to a heartbeat coming out of his opponent''s twelve blades. This sound resonated outside and affected his large flying sword formation quite drastically.

    The twelve swords charged forward releasing massive surges of blade energies outwards. The moment this wave of dao connected with the large mass of metallic blades a giant explosion occurred.

    Zhan Jie flinched while flying back, all of his swords started trembling and slowly cracks were appearing on all of them. The ones that were closest to Zhang Dong just shattered instantly as they met their match.

    "S-sword Heart!"

    Six of the swords that were hovering around Zhang Dong''s body broke out from the formation. The haven grade treasures were bathed in golden light that included sword intent and sword heart. The radiation of these energies could be felt by every cultivator in the area which caused them to stop.

    The core formation experts from the sect that was attacking the Argonaut were shocked. Their flying swords started trembling as if they wanted to flee from this place. The blades of these practitioners had something like an instinct.

    Weapons above the earth grade started getting something akin to a spirit. It would only fully awaken when they reached the heaven grade. But even now the tiny not fully formed primal souls in these blades were crying out in despair. They wanted to flee or swear allegiance to the person that was able to use sword heart.

    The people on the Argonaut 1 were also surprised. It wasn''t often that their sect leader showed off his skills. They had no idea that his mastery of the sword had reached this high. They felt proud, their grand leader was a sword grandmaster, a fabled existence in the whole empire.

    The person that was up against him started retreating. The lotus flowers that were shining brightly while reflecting the sunlight started shattering into tiny fragments. The six swords continued to bulldoze through them, chopping them apart into tiny fragments.

    Zhan Jie received a big hit to his stamina. This formation was very taxing on his cultivation, with the destruction of his blades he was getting weaker and weaker with every passing moment.

    He wasn''t even able to retrieve his massive collection of blades that took him hundreds of years to procure. The swords just trembled in the air as his enemy''s sword heart overwhelmed the sword intent that he had mastered to its pinnacle.

    He was still unwilling to surrender or run. This sword formation was only one of his techniques and he didn''t feel like this was over yet.

    The man clasped his hands together and his whole body started glowing white. A roar of a dragon was soon heard after as it flew up into the sky, Zhan Jie on its head with his main sword in hand.

    Zhang Dong didn''t remain passive either. His body turned to gold as a similar massive beast shout could be heard in the surrounding area. His massive golden dragon soul-beast was summoned instantly to clash against the other one.

    Zhan Jie was also in the possession of a dragon type soul-beast. His was a classical eastern dragon that looked more like a serpent with deer antlers and silver scales.

    The two beasts clashed in the sky against each other. The clouds were pushed apart and the earth trembled below as the two masters collided with each other.

    The people from the two opposing sects halted their advance while backing away. The two nascent soul elders that were going against the ship looked up while evading cannon fire.

    They could feel that their leader was losing. His sword formation was already broken and shattered weapon pieces were raining down from the sky above.

    The two looked at each other and nodded. While backing away they also brought out their own soul-beasts. Instead of attacking the ship with them they turned around and flew upwards. They decided to help their sect master with the fight while their beasts kept the massive ship busy.

    They were underestimating the flying behemoth too much. This was just what the captain of the Argonaut was waiting for. The moment they were summoning their soul-beasts was the moment that he gave the order.

    "Activate the Gungnir! Aim for the soul-beasts!"

    The massive ship''s deck started spreading apart. On its bow, a large compartment was opening up. something that looked like a cannon was pushing itself outside while the machinery made space. The cannon didn''t have a traditional circular barrel, it had a pentagon shape instead.

    The cannon appeared outside and was already gathering power for the shot. The spiritual energy was making the air outside warp. Many tiny blue lights converged onto the canon''s opening as it charged up for its attack.

    "W-what is that¡­ watch out brother!"

    The two nascent soul elders finally noticed that something was off. They were concentrating on creating their soul-beasts and allowed the ship to power up its main cannon.

    Just as the two large creatures were formed the cannon was also ready.

    "Charge at 76% captain."

    "Doesn''t matter, take aim and fire!"

    The person in charge of the new weapon grabbed what looked to be a joystick in hand. He was looking at a screen, this screen was showing him the scenery outside. There were a couple of circular indicators lining up and when they locked on one of the beasts the man pressed the button.

    A strange sound escaped from the cannon right before it was activated. A giant spear of blue light shot forward, in a fraction of a second it was already at where the target was. The nascent soul masters that were there gathered up their energies in the hopes of producing a shield.

    Everything was bathed in blue light and the people that were standing outside of the blast point were blinded. A massive ear shattering explosion occurred, the spot where the two soul-beasts were in looked as if it was on fire. It looked like a small blue sun appeared and was destroying everything in its path.

    From inside that blue sun, strange screams and shrieks were heard. The two soul beasts didn''t have enough time to escape and took the brunt of this massive attack.

    The Gungnir Cannon''s muzzle let out some smoke after it was fired, tiny electrical discharges bathed the bow of the ship. People could clearly follow the path of this cannon''s attack, right to the explosion.

    After the dust had settled, the two massive soul beasts remained missing. They were turned to fine particles and their masters suffered a large backlash. If a person''s soul-beast died the cultivator would take direct damage to their own soul. Sometimes this was even fatal if the connection between master and beast was strong.

    The two old men''s fighting potential fell by more than fifty percent. They cough up massive amounts of blood while escaping. They weren''t even thinking about helping their sect leader anymore, now their own lives were on the line.

    This was a giant hit to the morale of this sword sect. Two of their masters were fleeing while being severely injured. What was left was a group of core formation cultivators that couldn''t hope in defending themselves against this massive flying ship. The only thing that could turn the tide was their sect leader.

    All of them quickly looked up, their leader was still up there fighting Zhang Dong. What they witnessed was another brow raiser.

    An even brighter flash of light followed by the parting of the clouds. It was as if the heavens were being cut apart.

    This wasn''t their master performing this terrible swordmaster technique. This was the man from the United Element''s sect instead. On the receiving end was Zhan Jie.

    He didn''t know how this could have happened but it did. His eyes were moving apart from one another at this very moment. It was as if he was becoming wider but in reality, he was sliced right in the middle.

    His body was severed from head to groin and his body was parting to the sides. Even at this moment of death, he couldn''t process what exactly he witnessed. His vision was blurring and the last thing he saw was a man bathed in golden energy. The man didn''t look glad over his victory at all. The only emotion that could describe it, was pity.

 241 Chapter 241

    This was a slash that was the crystallization of his past efforts. He put his entire being into it and had vanquished his foe almost instantly.

    He floated there without saying anything as he knew that Zhan Jie was no more. The sword strike reached deep and could even sever someone''s soul. There was no escape for this man, his soul had been cut and was slowly dissipating.

    Zhang Dong looked at the man whose life was slowly fading away. He had a complicated look on his face while stretching his hand forward.

    He made a grasping motion and the spatial ring of the man that he had slain flew towards his hand. This wasn''t all as the leftover swords, broken or intact started to fly towards him. They all quickly vanished into the ring that they came from after its new owner ordered it.

    The blades might not have been the best quality but there were a lot of them. He could use them to bolster his sects army or use the metals for resources.

    He looked at the people below. The fight was over and his faction was victorious. He could see widespread destruction. The flying ships that battled with the Argonaut 1 were all destroyed. Turn to timber they were smoking down on the ground below or in the process of falling.

    Compared to the ships the rest of the cultivators looked better. The large cannons of his Gungnir class ship weren''t that great against small fast-moving targets.

    The Argonaut was the first of its kind but more were in the works. He chose to go with the Norse mythology and named the type after one of the god''s fabled weapons, a spear. For all intensive purposes it was now tested and tried, the opposing sect had no way of piercing this large treasure''s force field.

    The scared people from the Limitless Sword Society trembled. Their sect master was slain in a one on one battle, something that he prided himself in. From the three sects that surrounded Zhang Dong''s lands, he was seen as the strongest combatant. Now his two identical parts were slowly falling down to the ground below.

    "Listen to me people of the Limitless Sword Society! Your leader is dead, will you surrender peacefully or will you resist?"

    The only people left here were at most at core formation level. The two elders that lost their soul-beasts to the particle beam were long gone. Matt didn''t have the time or resources to go chase after the duo.

    He needed to get back to New Spirit Spring City to his wife and kids. Then there was the problem with his favorite squid faced monster he needed to take care of.

    "You have two choices!"

    His booming voice filled the area while the cultivators on swords shivered in fright. They were unable to move as the nascent soul aura from both Zhang Dong and the Argonaut was radiating in all directions.

    "Submit and accept a soul binding contract. You will swear to never harm my sect ever again and you will also abandon your current one. You may keep your lives this way and live them out¡­"

    Zhang Dong''s aura rose up, even more, the cultivators below were pushed down, unable to raise their heads.

    "Or you will die here¡­ never to go back to your loved ones¡­ I will grant you a swift death, this is the only thing I can promise you!"

    He still wasn''t comfortable with needless slaughter. There was no incentive from the system to get points either, the spatial rings would be taken anyway. If they were adamant in their beliefs and sect ties, then he would have to go along with his second option.

    He was hoping to not stain his hands with more blood. If he wanted to change this world into something less dangerous then he would have to lead the change. He would need to show that mercy was also an option.

    However, he still couldn''t trust these people so the soul binding contracts would be needed. Luckily as a nascent soul expert, he could bind these people quickly if they just lowered their defenses.

    "W-we can live?"

    "You aren''t going to kill us?"

    The people from the Limitless Sword Society were baffled by the option they were getting. Normally the losing side would be eradicated without any questions being asked. It was normal to get rid of every single enemy cultivator from an opposing sect.

    People in this world liked to be sure that nothing would come back to bite them. There were times when survivors from a defeated sect survived and after many years came back for revenge. Even one person that raised himself to the nascent soul level could cause a massive blow to any sect.

    So it was seen as wise to snip the problem at the root and not let anyone develop. Even turning enemies into slaves was a strange offer. They still had their cultivation and could coax their offspring to take revenge later in their life. This was also why everyone here was surprised by the offer that looked too good to be true.

    "How do we know that you aren''t a lying senior?"

    One of the people asked while Zhang Dong slowly descended towards the Argonaut.

    "Do I have a reason to lie? You are at my mercy, you can try fleeing but you all know that there is no escape! Your elders left you as disposable pawns, now decide, will it be death or life!"

    Zhang Dong pointed up to the sky and storm clouds started to form. They covered the whole sky in a dark blanket while churning with power. This was a wide-area attack that would discharge lightning bolts at everyone in the vicinity.

    He wasn''t joking around, they needed to decide as he couldn''t force them to sign soul binding contracts. This had to be done with the approval of the person agreeing to it. If they declined he would have to eradicate them. This lightning storm would be strong enough to turn core formation cultivators and below into ash.

    The cultivators from the Limitless Sword Society looked at the mass of clouds above them. They could feel the power radiating from them and were clearly scared. Finally one of the people stepped forward, his voice shaky.

    "I¡­ I want to live¡­ I have a daughter and family¡­ even if I can''t return to the sect I can still aid them¡­"

    It was a forty-something looking person and he looked ashamed. This was normal as surrendering to another sect was seen as something akin to treason. The other cultivators looked to the man and finally, they started speaking out.

    In the end, more than half of them agreed to the soul binding contract but the rest refused. This sect wasn''t perfect but it did have some people that were loyal.

    "Traitors! We should fight to the end!"

    "Why should we fight if the elders abandoned us? Don''t be stupid, agree to the senior''s preposition and live!"

    Some of them started arguing with each other and some even switched over. Still, there were many that didn''t falter and believed in their sects might. Even if they fell today their brothers and sisters would avenge them.

    Zhang Dong on the other hand knew that it probably wouldn''t be the case. The people on the top had a certain way of operating. After he defeated the leader the other nascent soul elders would back away out of fear.

    Zhan Jie was chosen for that spot for a reason. The reserve elders were mostly below him in strength with maybe a few matching him and maybe one or two above him. They would certainly not risk their lives and fight the person that easily defeated one of their strongest fighters. Unless it was a battle for their lives they would now seek a diplomatic solution.

    There was also the rumor of Zhang Dong''s sect being a proxy sect of the Divine Fist Sect. Which just added to the problems of going against them.

    "You have made your choice, I will uphold my part of the bargain."

    Zhang Dong gave out a sigh while spreading his aura everywhere. The people that agreed lowered their guard and accepted this aura inside of their own being. He shackled their souls and bound them to his will.

    These people that had made the contracts would be at his mercy. Even if they reached a higher realm than he did, their souls would shatter if he wished it to be. Zhang Dong could also place various restrictions that would activate automatically if he so desired.

    The people that were soul-bound moved to the side. The others were still shaking in their boots and awaiting their demise. The nascent soul auras kept them in place while the storm churned.

    While bathing in the lightning bolts the cultivators still hoped for their elders to return. Maybe if they lasted a bit longer their council would come to the rescue. Their bodies turned to dust and floated back to the earth below as it was over. The storm soon dispersed, a clear blue sky upon them as it signaled the end of this tragedy.

    The leftovers cultivators were ordered to deliver a message to their sect before abandoning it. Zhang Dong would let them say their farewells to their families but that would be all. He wasn''t sure what he should do with these people quite yet but he didn''t need slaves for the time being.

    He returned to the Argonaut and was welcomed by the old potato of a granny. She looked at him with an odd expression on her face but didn''t comment on what had happened. He knew that she was probably against letting this group go as in the future it could cause an unforeseen problem.

    "Return to your posts, we will be returning home at full speed, I will supply the ship with more power."

    Zhang Dong noticed that the blond girl and her maids were looking at him with gaping mouths from the side. He gave them a little nod before departing towards the ship''s engine room.

    He went through the narrow corridors that could barely contain his larger frame and he finally arrived in the engine room.

    This was a large room that had the power source for this ship. In the middle was a small item that looked like a decahedron just floating around. It was encased in thick crystal and connected to many tubes.

    These tubes were slowly pulsating with light while connecting to the walls of this room. Through them, the power was guided into various devices of this ship.

    This was a special kind of mineral that could store massive amounts of spiritual energy. It could also recharge itself to some capacity but was mostly infused before each flight.

    Zhang Dong moved into a lotus position and started concentrating. This device had been drained by the Gungnir cannon by a large amount and needed some charging. He would infuse it with his lightning while the ship flew home.

    "I need to hurry¡­"

 242 Chapter 242

    These beams of energy started pelting the floating device in the middle of the room with their might. The decahedron item that was the main battery started spinning around and the tubes connected to it began absorbing the newfound power.

    The captain of the ship sat down in his seat while one of his crew members spoke out.

    "Captain, the ship''s power is quickly rising, it''s going to go over 100% soon!"

    "The Patriarch is aiding us, activate all the engines. We will be heading straight towards New Spirit Spring City at full throttle!"

    The people on the bridge nodded, the person responsible for activating the ship''s bonus thrusters moved a large handle forward. The whole ship shook violently as it jolted forward.

    On the outside, the massive Argonaut 1 was surrounded by a blue shield. It started flickering with some lightning and even turned gold due to the new power source. The whole giant ship then shot forward like an arrow.

    Zhang Dong wasn''t willing to wait here as the word of him slaying Zhan Jie had probably reached everywhere. There were other people watching over this battle which would spread the news faster.

    This was a good turn of events as it would give other sects something to think about. The Limitless Sword Society Patriarch was a famed swordsman. This same swordmaster was bested in battle by a relatively unknown master. This validated Zhang Dong''s strength even more than the battle he had during the banquet.

    The person in question wasn''t bothered by the rumors that would be spreading. He just wanted to get his people back to his sect grounds. He couldn''t leave this ship unprotected in enemy territory and they did need to go through the lands of other sects. The same three sects that had destroyed the old Dark Palm Sect.

    Even with this power up the ship would need some time to return to the borders. Zhang Dong could teleport back home, but unless it was really necessary he needed to power the ship for it to go faster.

    ...¡­..

    While the giant behemoth was causing widespread panic the life of the new recruits back at the sect continued.

    Cheng Yun and Yang Rong were done with getting their basic body refining technique. To their surprise, there wasn''t just one technique for everyone. There were multiple ones and supposedly they were picked out by the sect to fit their bodies.

    Yang Rong was now sitting in his dorm room with his brother. He thought back to the time that he first entered the brand new library. He still could remember the goosebumps that he got after seeing it.

    Yang Rong was slightly scared that he would be unable to pick a good manual for himself. He also didn''t know how to spend his merit points, there were just too many options to choose from and he had no one to point him in the right direction. His old brother from the tribe was in a similar situation.

    Luckily for the two, the United Element Sect elders had thought about the confusion that the new disciples would have. There was also a limited number of techniques a person should learn. There wasn''t time to master it all, it was better to specialize in something than be average at everything.

    But how would they know what they should specialize in?

    Normal disciples needed an experienced teacher to figure such things out. Unless they were born with a specific obvious talent they would need to go through years of training to just figure something like this out.

    In this sect, things were a bit different. At the new library building, the juniors were greeted by another hologram. This one explained to them how they would be able to procure the correct cultivation books.

    There were multiple screens spread out at the library''s entrance. These screens were the newest addition to the sect''s resources and worked akin to computers. They had a limited usage as they were only for picking out books from the database.

    The person needed to have their merit emblem scanned by this machine and it would first show them their statics. After they activated this machine they could pick out books for themselves. Some as the free ones they received just needed to be chosen. If there wasn''t enough stock the books would be printed out by a printing device.

    There was also an option of direct knowledge insertion into the disciples'' minds. This type of knowledge transfer required the use of points but could aid people in understanding difficult techniques.

    This wasn''t the interesting part of this machine. The thing the disciples found astonishing was how it proposed manuals to them based on who they were.

    This was all possible thanks to the extensive scanning that was done in the beginning. The sect had a whole database on the disciples. The library software could see what the people were good at and could propose techniques that fit their disposition.

    With this, they didn''t need to pick out skills at random or ask the teachers to point them in the right direction.

    This also saved them from spending their hard-earned merit points on expensive techniques. They could end up getting something that they had no talent for and wasting their time and merits.

    Cheng Yun ended up with a Qi condensation manual for people good in the earth element. The library system pointed out that he had 87% proficiency in that element and his second-best one was fire at 67%.

    Yang Rong on the other hand was the exact reverse of this tribe member. He had 89% fire element capacity while only having 57% in earth and all the other ones were below 50%. He was now focusing on techniques that mostly belonged to the old Huo Clan.

    This had saved the two youths a big headache down the line as the two wanted to follow in the Patriarch''s footsteps. They were both going to go with lightning element techniques. To their dismay, they both had bad compatibility with it. After long consideration, they decided to go with the things they would be good at.

    They could now see that it was the good choice. After acquiring their Qi condensation manuals they were already making progress. After the first day, they were coughing up black blood and sweating dark green liquid from their pores.

    The new line of techniques was already removing the impurities from their bodies and making them stronger. They felt like they could mercilessly beat up their old selves from a week ago if they tried now.

    "So regrettable¡­ the Patriarch''s lightning techniques look so overpowering and stylish¡­"

    "I agree¡­ but Grand Elder Qiang''s are also fine, he is supposedly the second strongest member from our sect! You at least have Elder Qiang¡­ I don''t think there is anyone proficient with the earth element at the grand elder level in the sect..."

    Cheng Yun grumbled while hovering a small rock above his index finger.

    "That''s true¡­ maybe you can be the first one to make it there junior brother."

    The two laughed while moving down from their beds. It was time to head out towards the sect, there was much for them to do besides cultivating in their dorm rooms.

    They could visit free lectures where teachers would help them understand their Dao paths. They could also go to the training areas like the gym. These two quite liked to perform muscle training and due to the Patriarch''s more muscular form, they wanted to achieve a similar physique.

    There were a lot more people with the same idea than others might expect. At the gym, there were many people pumping iron.

    This was also quite a novel experience for everyone here. Mostly at other sects, the disciples were left lifting heavy uneven stones. Maybe just holding them above their head at uncomfortable positions.

    There weren''t many factions that studied the art of muscle training. Most of the students performed stamina raising tasks without getting a full-body workout every day.

    In this sect, a strong body was the basis of your cultivation path. With the help of specialized pills the juniors could replenish themselves each day and continue working on the other. There was no need to wait for recovery and they could push their bodies to the limit.

    This was another day like that. Cheng Yun and Yang Rong were doing this together as they were advised. Everyone was supposed to get something as a spotter. This person would aid the person that was lifting heavy weights if it became too much.

    Yang Rong was laying back with a metal bar in his hands. On the sides were circular weights of the exact same size. He was doing some bench presses while Cheng Yun hovered his hands away from the bar slightly. When Yang Rong''s arms began to tremble it was the time to push on and cheer.

    "One more senior brother, you can do it!"

    Yang Rong''s face started getting red as he pushed and pushed. His hands began shaking furiously as he gave his all. Cheng Yun was focused on the bar ready to grasp it if something went wrong.

    If his brother wasn''t able to lock out his joints he would need to aid him. If he dropped this heavy bar with the weights down he could injure himself. Luckily he managed to push through and rack the heavy bar back onto the bench press rack.

    The two then exchanged places and Yang Rong started spotting Cheng Yun instead. The cling of metal against metal was heard in the whole area. The gym was filled to the brim and some people were even forced to wait.

    Most of this building was filled with sweaty men. The women mostly came here to use the squatting racks. The body refining techniques that they possessed used a lot of kicking movements and less punching techniques.

    The sect had to separate the males and females in this building. The men couldn''t help to stare at the junior and senior sisters. They were wearing form-fitting leggings while performing the heavy lifts. A lot of men had discovered a new found love for those work out clothes after seeing them in action. They tended to promote the rear end of the female form quite a bit.

    "Did you know, our Patriarch had gone to the other sects on some kind of official business¡­"

    "Oh, do you know what it was about?"

    While working out some of the junior members that were resting started talking. Words of Zhang Dong''s expedition was already reaching the ears of this sect. The news was spreading at a rapid pace through the entire empire.

    "Think there was some trouble? But our Sect leader easily bested someone in an arena battle¡­ Think it was someone wielding a spear? I''m not really familiar with the other nascent soul masters..."

    The youths had sparkles in their eyes while mentioning their sect leader. In their minds, it would be a great honor for them to get noticed by him. Still, the news of him fighting other sect leaders was a bit scary. The youths weren''t feeling confident in their own abilities quite yet. It was too soon for them to go into war with other sects.

    Soon the aforementioned leader would return and more news would be spreading. Not of a war or a tragedy but the arrival of a new life instead...

 243 Chapter 243

    They all were kind of bored and not really keeping much attention to what was happening around them. It was nothing new, they did this multiple times for years. There was no reason to push themselves, doing the bare minimum was enough.

    Due to this, they were all a bit slow on the uptake when it happened. They heard a strange rumble and then the whole place began to shake. The thick bricks on the walls started cracking from some kind of pressure.

    This was indeed strange as these walls were reinforced and had lasted without taking any damage for multiple years. The soldiers looked around while moving their spears and bows forward. Soon they saw something in the distance.

    "W-what is that? Quick, we need to alert the elder!"

    Before they could react they felt a massive oppressive force wash over them. This was clearly a nascent soul aura and it was coming off from the approaching object.

    The soldiers on the walls were mostly cultivators in the foundation establishment realm. They were even on the weaker side of that. People that were forced to perform tasks like this were mostly ones that failed to advance further.

    This was a border region between two sects and they were the first defense as well. They were mostly here to man cannons that had a power similar to core formation elders.

    But now they were a bit preoccupied with trying to resist this massive pressure. They were even unable to fire at the fast-moving object that was speeding towards them.

    Suddenly an elder appeared that could actually move. He looked out into the distance and narrowed his eyes. The moment he realized what was coming his way he started to sweat.

    "M-make way!"

    He called out while flying to the side. He realized who the faction coming was and had decided to let them through.

    A massive iron fortress that was covered in golden energy pushed on without stopping. There were no words exchanged between the people at the border wall and the passing forces.

    The moment they flew over the wall it started crumbling apart and even more, cracks appeared. No attacks were needed, just by being there this object was causing massive destruction in its wake.

    "E-elder¡­ we need to report back to the sect, our Demon Subduing Sect is being attacked!"

    A man on a sword appeared and flew over to the only nascent soul cultivator that was there. The elder looked at the core formation master and narrowed his eyes. He moved his hand up and promptly smacked the other man''s head.

    "S-senior?"

    The man held his hurting noggin while being flabbergasted.

    "You fool! Do you know who that was? Do you want to get me killed like that idiot Zhan Jie?"

    He received the notice that Zhan Jie had intercepted Zhang Dong from the United Element''s Sect. Both of them had thought but who won was now clear.

    This left the Demon Subduing Sect in a bind. Should they aid the Limitless Sword Society and go against the new rising power? Or should they wait this out and take a more passive approach?

    This was also what the Dragon Gate Sect Patriarch was thinking about. While the decisions were being made in the background Zhang Dong was still seated in the engine room.

    They had just arrived at this Sect''s territory. If they flew through it they would arrive faster at their home turf. He was slightly worried that they might have gotten attacked, he felt the nascent soul cultivator on the outside. He backed off quite quickly and didn''t even shout at them, this kind of showed him this sect''s stance.

    While giving it all to power this power-hungry beast of an engine he was looking at his system screen. His wife was part of his sect so he could see her status. It showed him various things along the lines of potential and devotion.

    This wasn''t what he was interested in though. She had a certain trait in that large table which was the indication for her pregnancy. The worrisome thing was that it had ''Imminent'' written next to it.

    He wanted to teleport there right this instant but was afraid to leave the people of this ship alone. He was in the territory of a sect he had shaky relations with. If he just left the Argonaut could be captured. The ship had a lot of firepower but that was against other large targets.

    Hitting even an early stage nascent soul cultivator was hard. Even worse when there were multiple cultivators firing back. This sect had at least ten of those nascent soul elders flying around in these lands. If they let them be like the one at the border region was debatable.

    Zhang Dong needed to force it through with all his might. He took out a handful of pills from his spatial ring and munched them down.

    He felt invigorated after swallowing these high grade pills that he himself had made. With the boost of spiritual energy, the ship flew even faster.

    The people on board weren''t having such a grand time. The ship wasn''t constructed to take this much power. The gravitational forces that the huge ship had to go against also exceeded the advised limits.

    Most of them were glued to the floor and unable to move. The Captain was still sitting in his large chair but his whole body was sinking into it. His cheeks looked squished and his eyes were closed as he tried not to pass out.

    The people weren''t in danger but some of them were passing out while unable to handle the increased speed.

    The ship turned into a blur in the sky, stopping it now was practically impossible.

    ...¡­..

    "Uhhh¡­ that was a strong one¡­"

    Feng Liena was laying back in a large bed while grasping her tummy. There were other sect members in the room with her.

    There was a large intricate formation drawn on the ground with the bed she was on in the middle of it. There were several cultivators sitting in strategic locations giving out a similar holy aura to that of Zhang Dong''s.

    This was a previously prepared birthing chamber prepared by the greatest medical minds and formation experts that the sect could muster.

    The previous birth of the young lady was already a miracle and the Matriarch was bedridden for weeks afterward. Zhang Dong had chosen to prepare for the second time, his wife was adamant about getting another child even when he was against it. He was fine with one miracle but was afraid of the consequences. Feng Liena on the other hand wanted to have another go at it.

    This had been prepared beforehand to make the second attempt much smoother. There was a little problem as the formation required Zhang Dong to be there. Otherwise, it wouldn''t work at full capacity.

    He was the only one with pure enough holy energies to make this process halfway safe. The others hadn''t progressed in their Dao enough and were only core formation cultivators. Feng Liena on the other hand was a nascent soul master, someone greatly above their power level.

    "Mwomy¡­"

    A small child was in the room, holding her was Zhang Jin. Other members from both the Zhang and Feng Clan were still in the room but most were outside.

    "Don''t worry, mummy will be alright, daddy will come back soon¡­"

    Feng Liena replied while looking at her daughter that was in her grandfather''s hands. She was sweating profusely, she had gone through this ordeal once before but this time it was even worse.

    The whole room was glowing with faint golden energy. The runic symbols pulsated with faint light as the whole structure was still missing it''s main battery.

    "Yes, we need to leave your mom, for now, you''ll have to play with grandpa for now."

    Zhang Jin smiled while looking at Feng Liena. She was close to giving birth and he couldn''t let the small child witness something like that. The child sniffled a bit as she was carried away.

    "What of my husband?"

    Feng Liena asked while gritting her teeth, she could feel that something was wrong. The previous experience wasn''t this bad, she had a tough time staying awake. She also denied the usage of any painkillers afraid that they would affect the child inside her belly.

    "The Patriarch was stalled during his return by the Limitless Sword Society leader¡­"

    One of the maids explained what transpired and how Zhang Dong needed to slain Zhan Jie during his return. The news was troubling as her husband reassured her that he wouldn''t be seeking any trouble.

    "At least he is safe, he will have some explaining to do when he returns."

    Feng Liena chuckled while another jolt of pain ran through her body. She couldn''t help but scream out in pain. The people around her were quick to react, they inserted all of their spiritual energy into the holy formation. With the influx of the healing energies the pain slightly subsided and the Matriarch was brought back before she could pass out.

    Soon another jolt of pain ran through the woman''s whole body. This time around her whole body convulsed while giving out a menacing aura. The energies inside her body were going berserk due to the birth.

    The oppressive aura caused everyone in the room to shiver. Some of the lesser cultivators even passed out instantly.

    Suddenly a portal of bluish light sprung open right beside the bed that Feng Liena was shuddering in.

    A panting Zhang Dong walked out, it looked like he was in the middle of swallowing something. He was sweating all over quite uncharacteristic for a master of his level. He had somehow managed to push the ship towards his own territory and appeared here to aid his wife.

    The moment he entered the entire formation churned with power. The whole room turned into a golden spectacle. The people could finally let out a sigh of relief as the Patriarch arrived.

    "What took you so long."

    Feng Liena replied in a weak voice while Zhang Dong grasped her hand. A pleasant feeling washed over her instantly as her husband shared the burden with her. His face contorted slightly as he transferred most of the pain that his wife was feeling towards himself.

    He wanted to give his wife a hug but he needed to move into a specific location in the room. Some of the maids moved in place and took care of Feng Liena''s needs while he squatted down.

    He placed himself in the center of the formation and began inserting his holy energies into it. The room lit up once more, many tiny golden fireflies appeared and started dancing around. They all gently flew around Feng Liena''s belly and started slowly falling onto it. The moment they did they were absorbed, their healing energies aiding in the birth.

    Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours, soon the whole process had taken over a day. The people outside were pacing back and forth.

    Everyone that was closely related to the sect Patriarch and Matriarch was here. Their disciples and close family members, even close friends like Huo Qiang. All of them were worried as this birth was a special one.

    They all waited patiently without saying anything. They could feel the powerful energies coming from the room within which gave them a reason to rejoice. They knew that Zhang Dong was working diligently, soon they would be adding a new member to the Zhang family.

 244 Chapter 244

    "About the banquet?"

    "Yes, the ship the Patriarch left on arrived the other day, he apparently killed one of the sect leaders that we were subservient to¡­"

    "Do you think we will be going to war?"

    Two sect members were talking to each other. Rumors had reached everywhere now, the death of Zhan Jie was no small matter. It could be the prelude to another extinction event like a war.

    "What are you two mumbling about!"

    Another female member from the sect walked out to interrupt the conversation.

    "Stop talking about nonsense while the Matriarch is¡­"

    The woman didn''t get to finish her sentence as the whole area around them rumbled. The people here were tasked with watching over security around the Patriarch''s mansion. In it, the Matriarch was apparently giving birth to her next child. The whole process had already lasted through a few days.

    Suddenly the clouds parted, the ground rumbled and the beasts around the whole sect started howling loudly.

    Everyone in the sect could feel that something strange was happening. They all looked to where the clouds were opening. A bright ray of light descended onto the residence of their Patriarch.

    Zhang Dong''s home was right up in the sky overlooking the whole sect. Due to this everyone in the whole sect and even the city could see this strange phenomenon. It was as if God himself was descending down and illuminating the path.

    "What is happening? Are we being attacked?"

    Someone asked while looking around. The ground was shaking, the tremors were concentrated on where the large castle in the sky was.

    Suddenly a large golden beam of light shot out from this flying building. It bathed the surrounding area in its light causing the rumbling to cease. Soon a large rainbow appeared illuminating the floating castle and pointing right at the Patriarch''s villa.

    "This isn''t an attack¡­ that''s¡­"

    "By the immortals, That''s the elusive phantasm rainbow¡­"

    Right after the sect member could finish the rainbow started shifting in scope. It became larger and larger, finally turning into a huge rainbow dragon that gave out a ferocious roar. The image of the beast soon faded and the clouds closed themselves up as if nothing had transpired. The people that witnessed this strange occurrence had their mouths agape.

    "Was that the Empyrean Rainbow Dragon?"

    Everyone shook violently while looking up into the sky.

    "This is truly a good sign, a dragon has been born, it must be the Patriarch''s child!"

    The people started rejoicing in the streets. A strange phenomenon like this meant a couple of things. First that the child that was born this day was blessed by the heavens. It also signified that the youth would be quite the character and should be primed to become a powerful master. That is if he managed to reach his true potential.

    His current appearance wasn''t that great. He looked as if he had lost some weight during this process. His long hair was disheveled along with his robe that was drenched in sweat.

    Even though he was tired he used the rest of his strength to stand up. He moved forward towards the bed that his wife gave birth in. He moved his hair to the side and straightened himself out.

    He could see a tiny person rolled up in a towel being held by his wife. She looked even more tired than he was but she was still conscious. She was looking at the tiny person that just escaped her belly.

    "Congratulations Patriarch, it''s a healthy boy."

    One of the nurses told him as he moved closer. He could hear his son crying his little eyes out. He was given a smack to the bottom by the nurse as he took his first breath.

    Zhang Dong moved closer and looked at his newborn child. He did a quick examination to check if the boy was healthy, to his surprise he was more than that.

    ''Heavenly Body constitution?''

    He could see his son''s statics and they were quite pristine. His potential was a whooping A++, the highest that he had ever seen in this world. He also possessed a special constitution, from what he knew such a boon would hasten his progress.

    He would be primed for the heavenly Dao, which was something he himself was good at. He did practice the Heavenly Lightning arts, this meant that his child took after him more than his mother. This was the reverse of what happened with his daughter that was more inclined towards her mother''s Dao.

    "He has your eyes."

    Zhang Liena called out weakly while looking at Zhang Dong. He had momentarily stopped moving but after hearing his wife he moved closer and grasped her hand.

    "You think so?"

    He looked at the little munchkin that came out of his lovely wife. His skin color was a bit more inclined to her''s. He did have his eyes though and also the white hair color that Zhang Dong was known for. This might have been the effect of having that rare constitution though.

    "Do you want to hold him?"

    Liena asked in a tired tone, even though she was a nascent soul practitioner she was quite tired. This birth was a lot harder than the previous one and it was probably due to his son''s special trait. Nothing good came easy in this world.

    Zhang Dong gently grasped the wrapped up baby that was still crying and was sure to hold his head up. This wasn''t the first time he was holding a newborn so he wouldn''t be making the same mistakes again.

    He looked at his son and the little one looked back. The moment the two eyes met the child quieted down. The little baby looked very interested in the man in front of it. Soon the child started closing his eyes, probably tired after bawling for so long.

    The Father just smiled at the tired little potato. He then waved his hand around and his gentle aura spread throughout the room. The bed that Feng Liena was resting in was lifted up from the ground. Zhang Dong took off to another room to get some privacy, some of the maids following after him as they needed to tend to the new baby.

    After some alone time with his new family member, the child was left with his mother to rest. Zhang Dong on the other hand headed out of the room. He needed to tend to his other child, Little Xiu was still waiting outside with her grandfather and the others.

    He made sure that his wife and child were tended to and then he left. When he opened the door outside he was greeted by his close friends and family. Zhang Jin, Xue, Jie, and Liu were there as well as Huo Qiang and even Zhang Zhi had come to pay his respects.

    He could tell that the latter had recently broken through but it didn''t seem that he had yet reinforced his cultivation. This was an unwise move but the man wanted to show his respect to his Patriarch.

    "We have heard the good news, congratulations Dong''er."

    Zhang Jin was the first one to speak up. Zhang Dong nodded and could see his grandfather''s two main wives next to him. For this occasion, they weren''t even fighting, which was truly something uncommon.

    "Dada!"

    He plucked Zhang Xiu from the ground and placed her in his arms. His daughter giggled as he gave her cheek a big smooch. After some head patting, he turned to face the others.

    "Congratulations Master."

    He nodded a couple of times as people started to congratulate him on the success.

    "How is the child?"

    "He is fine, he is sleeping with his mother, both of them went through a lot¡­ don''t think it would be wise to try this a third time¡­"

    Zhang Dong laughed weakly to himself. After this birth, he came to the conclusion that it would be dangerous to have a third child. From what he knew it was already a miracle that Zhang Liena was able to bear two kids.

    Nascent Soul masters were built differently than lower-ranked cultivators. They were walking spiritual energy generators, akin to nuclear reactors. Their bodies had to be in tune with the world around them.

    A pregnancy brought chaos to their bodies, the spiritual energy was thrown into disarray. This caused danger to the unborn children, even during the months of pregnancy Zhang Liena needed to stop cultivating. She focused all of her attention on the child inside her belly, keeping it healthy while trying to keep the energies in her body in check.

    It would be possible for both of them to perish if she suffered some kind of injury or shock. This is also why Zhang Dong had told her that he didn''t want any more children. The pregnancies seemed to be getting worse and the next time he might not be able to do anything about it.

    "He also has quite the special constitution¡­ I noticed some kind of omen outside¡­"

    He was focusing on keeping the array formation working so he couldn''t see the rainbow dragon too well. The people outside were quick to inform him of the joyous sign.

    "Empyrean Rainbow Dragon?"

    Zhang Dong nodded as he also knew what that meant. He also knew that a favorable sign like that could also spell disaster.

    It showed that his son was special and if nurtured well would be one of the strongest cultivators in the world. This was a good thing for the sect, who wouldn''t want to have someone like that on their side?

    The problem wasn''t his sect but the others. If they got wind of something like that they could react poorly. Something like assassination attempts might happen. Some of them might try nipping the bud before it can bloom.

    "We will have to increase the security around here¡­"

    "Don''t worry Master, I will protect him with my life!"

    "Me too!"

    Both Zhang Xue and Liu moved forward, their eyes were sparkling as they already fell in love with his daughter. He always could use good seniors to help his children out in the future and these two were very reliable and trustworthy.

    "Well that''s reassuring, I bet little Jun will love his senior sister and brother when he grows up a bit."

    Zhang Dong patted Liu''s shoulder and then Xue''s while walking around with his daughter in one arm. This was a joyous occasion and he was quite tired. There wasn''t much time to rest though, he still had some problems to contend with.

    He had promised Fang Meili and her grandfather that he would help them. He knew that the location of the Divine Fist Sect''s main city was further away. Fang Heng would take longer to arrive there than he did while flying the Argonaut. That time should be very soon though, he needed to check if he activated the beacon.

    It would be great if he could get some sleep before that and also if he could eat. He was popping spirit replenishing pills for the past few days while controlling the healing array.

    "Jun? Have you decided on the name already?"

    He got brought back to reality by Zhang Jin''s question.

    "Yes, Liena decided beforehand."

    He smiled while walking, he wasn''t good with the names of this world so he left it to his wife. He also didn''t want his child to end up with a name like he did.

    For the time being, he headed out to get some rest, after eating some and showing the baby to his daughter he would need to check up on the Divine Fist Sect situation.

 245 Chapter 245

    They sponsored drinks and food to the masses so that everyone could enjoy this happy moment. The people rejoiced and as proper citizens drank themselves silly till they all passed out. Probably a lot more lives were conceived that night but that was a story for a different time.

    It was the middle of the night, the sounds of laughter and music could be faintly heard outside. A white-haired man was walking through a long hall. He was wearing a loose robe and some casual slippers. They were the kind that a person would wear at home, unseen by praying eyes.

    This was Zhang Dong walking towards a certain room. He was holding a tray with some food on it, a bowl with rice porridge that consisted of spirit rice. This was food specifically prepared for Zhang Liena. He preferred meat dishes to the rice ones but his wife liked something more traditional.

    The large door parted as Zhang Dong opened it up with his nascent soul aura. He walked inside while the entrance gently closed behind him without making much of a sound.

    "Dwady~"

    On the inside of this room, there was his whole family. His small daughter Xiu was to the side and looking at her baby brother with a finger in her own mouth. She turned to her father when she noticed Zhang Dong entering.

    "Yes, it''s me, your daddy!"

    He just smiled back while slowly walking towards his wife. Zhang Liena was actually looking quite healthy, thanks to the healing formation the whole procedure went rather well. Her body''s energies were still slightly in disarray after giving birth but she was recovering her strength at a steady pace.

    "Here have some porridge, it has some regenerative properties and is made with seven-star spirit rice."

    The tray that the bowl was on made a clicking sound and four legs appeared out of it. It then floated over to Zhang Liena''s spot and placed itself right in front of her. She had a nice large white spoon on it and some napkins as well.

    Zhang Xiu looked at the floating tray with sparkles in her eyes. She was at that age where every day there was something new to behold.

    Zhang Jun, her little brother was right next to the larger bed in which Zhang Liena was in. He was fast asleep in his crib. He had just finished eating his own meal and now it was his mother''s turn.

    "Dwady, dwady!"

    "Ah, yes yes."

    Zhang Dong chuckled after looking down at his little munchkin. He used some of his spiritual energy to lift up his small daughter along with some stuffed animals in the room. He made them slowly float around the room, his daughter was quite fond of flying around. She might have gotten it from him as he also enjoyed this ability the most.

    "Thank you."

    After taking one bite and gulping it down her hand started trembling. He could see Liena straining herself a bit while trying not to show her discomfort.

    "Here, let me help you¡­"

    This bed was quite large, there was enough space on it for him to comfortably sit down next to his wife. He took the white ceramic spoon and took some porage onto it. He then guided it towards Liena''s mouth while smiling.

    "Say Aaaaaaa~"

    Liena blushed a bit but didn''t resist. She felt a bit reserved about being babied so much but let Zhang Dong feed her. She opened her mouth and took the food in, as she chewed she could hear the voice of her daughter from above.

    "Ahhhh¡­!"

    Zhang Dong looked up and could see his toddler flailing her arms around in all directions while staring at them. He realized what she was trying to say and made her float towards the bed.

    "Want some too?"

    "Yesh!"

    Zhang Dong looked to Liena for a moment and their eyes met. Both of them chuckled while he scooped up some porridge. He guided it towards the child''s mouth while making airplane noises. Zhang Xiu opened her mouth wide and chomped down on the tasty porridge that was quite nutritious.

    Some of the liquids ran down Xiu''s cheek as the spoon that they were using wasn''t made for kids. There was a bit too much in it for that small toddler to enjoy without it getting a bit messy. The mess was promptly cleaned out with a handkerchief that floated from the side.

    ''Having something akin to telekinesis does make your life easier¡­''

    He chuckled to himself while giving the rest of the food to his wife. One bite was enough to fill up Xiu''s small tummy. This porridge was specially made for Liena so too much of it could prove bad for his daughter as it had too much spiritual energy in it.

    The body of a young child would have trouble handling such a thing if she ate too much. Luckily her father was a nascent soul master who had some ways of dispersing the excess into the surrounding.

    "You''re doing well my dear husband. But it feels like I''m also getting treated like a child."

    Zhang Liena giggled some more while watching the empty bowl of food and tray float into the distance.

    "It''s good to be spoiled from time to time, you should enjoy it my cute wife!"

    He replied while disrobing. He set the velvety fabric to the side while revealing a set of boxers underneath. He had recovered after draining his body of a lot of his vital energies and was back to his prime physique.

    He then scooted right beside his lovely wife, his hand going right under her head as he assumed the big spoon position. Liena just waited and snuggled up next to him, the two hadn''t had the pleasure of sharing the same bed in some time as he was busy at the banquet.

    Little Xiu wasn''t left floating in the air either. The small toddler was also brought over to sleep with her parents and right between the two. Both of them gave their child a smooch on the forehead before relaxing. So ended the day with the whole family spending the night together.

    There were some rough patches here and there as the newborn did wake up during the night. After a quick diaper change and some hugs he was all fine though.

    In the morning Zhang Dong slipped out from the room while his wife and children still slept. He slowly closed the door so that they wouldn''t notice and gave some instructions to the maids.

    He finally headed out to take care of some business, the issue with the Divine Fist Sect was still out there.

    He looked at a circular-shaped object, this was a second teleportation beacon. This device would create the portal instantly if the one that he gave to Fang Heng was activated. The problem was that it wasn''t and it had been close to a week since the day he saw them off.

    He needed to make a decision, to either wait for it to activate or go there directly. He also was apprehensive about leaving while his wife wasn''t fully recovered. She was surprisingly healthy but she would probably be out of commission for at least a week.

    A lot of things could happen in a week. The Cthulhu monster variant that was probably there could come out of hiding any moment. He wasn''t sure how strong it was, the more he waited the stronger it would become and the more potential deaths could occur.

    For now, he decided to wait and meet up with the other person involved. He had left Fang Meili in the Argonaut with her maids without saying much and he needed to get her settled in here. He was now heading her way, she was brought over to the west wing of his mansion.

    His house was more of a castle than a mansion though. It had to even be divided into four wings and one central square in which there was a large garden with a pond and even a hedge maze.

    ''That girl has to be worried about her grandfather. She had to see her people be murdered and then be smuggled away here. She also almost died in that competition???''

    He recounted what he knew about the girl''s predicament in his mind. If he was in her situation he would probably be terrified. Unknown place, unknown people everywhere, and no strength to getaway.

    ''At least she came with those two maids, hope she doesn''t feel too alone¡­''

    He walked through the long halls of his mansion while some of his maids greeted him. This place required a small platoon of servants to maintain. He was against getting a huge house like this, it was a waste of resources in his opinion. The sect could use this space for something more useful.

    He had to relent in his opinions as the sect leader had to have the most exquisite looking abode. He also earned quite a bit of money himself so he could afford it. He still didn''t like to stand out like this but he had gotten used to it.

    He continued walking until he saw a certain person waiting for him.

    "Greeting Master."

    What he saw was a beautiful young woman with pure white hair just like his. She was one of those fabled beauties that could shake kingdoms and cause wards. Some people labeled her as the most beautiful woman from the sect but in his opinion, that spot was reserved for his caramel skinned wife.

    This legendary beauty that had a giant fan club in the sect was his disciple and went by the name Zhang Xue. He had called her over as he had a small task for her.

    "Greetings, let us walk."

    The girl nodded and remained a step behind her master. She was more of the silent type compared to her brother that was more energetic. That one had mellowed down after the years as he had to now take on the role of the elite senior brother.

    He was proud that these two had become respectable adults but they still had their weaknesses here and there.

    "You''re probably wondering why I called you over Xue. I have a small task for you."

    Previously he would ask people for favors but nowadays he changed his conduct to fit more this world''s standards. Asking your disciples for favors wasn''t something a respectable master would do. They only needed to give them tasks and they would be carried out.

    "There is a certain person that I want you to take under your wing, she is slightly younger than you but I think you should get along. She is also your cousin¡­ we have to thank your grandfather for that¡­"

    Zhang Xue listened to the words of her master almost tripping over her own feet at the last part.

    "Y-yes? Of course Master."

    He needed someone to take care of the girl while he was out. He worried that she might be bullied while he was gone. He was free of the family and sect politics as he was the strongest cultivator here.

    This wasn''t the same for others though. He knew that everyone was in a rat race trying to get ahead in any way they could. They were schemers left and right, everyone wanted to rise up as high as they could.

    He worried that his new relative could be shunned by some jealous sect members that would feel threatened by her arrival. She was Zhang Jin''s descendant and the situation in his household was quite chaotic.

    While talking the two finally arrived at the guest room. After taking care of his new niece he needed to decide on his next move. Would he stay and wait, or set out on a journey towards the Divine Fist Sect?

 246 Chapter 246

    She had no idea where her supposed uncle had gone but the people from his sect had told her that he was busy. She was stuck here throughout the whole birthing process and couldn''t leave even during the festivities.

    She only had the status of a guest and was confined to this room by the person that brought her here. Besides the sect leader, the other people in this sect didn''t look very welcoming. During her arrival, she saw some of them looking in strange ways at her. The workers were whispering and everyone was giving her the cold shoulder.

    "How much longer will we be stuck here? What about grandfather?"

    She called out while glancing through one of the large windows. This room had all the facilities needed for them to live in but it was getting boring. Cultivation to fill in the time was not on her mind as she was too nervous.

    "Don''t worry young miss, I''m sure your uncle will return in due time. Would you like to eat something? This treasure is filled to the brim, we don''t need to worry about food!"

    One of the maids replied while opening a large white box. Inside the air was chilled and it looked like a closet with shelves. There were various spirit enriched food items all sorted in there. It would probably last them for at least a month without any refills.

    "Yes, and we have this magical device to give us some information!"

    The second maid called out while pointing at a flat square object mounted on the wall. From time to time it would activate and a fashionable lady would give out information. Not so long ago she announced the birth of Zhang Jun, the newborn son of Zhang Dong.

    "If what the person said was true, then your honorable uncle is probably busy with his child. We must be patient and wait!"

    "Why don''t we play this game in the meantime? There is surprisingly more to it."

    One of the maids pointed to a table. On that table, there was a sort of checkered patterned box. There were sixteen small figurines on each side. For someone that came from the modern world, this object would be easily identified as it was a chessboard.

    Fang Meili looked at the table where the game of chess was placed. She had tried it previously and already figured out that this wasn''t a simple game. A person actually had to think about their moves ahead of time.

    The chess pieces even had different kinds of movement akin to lower and higher realmed cultivators. In her opinion, the king represented the hidden masters that couldn''t move nonchalantly.

    The limited movement showed her how the ones in power had to limit themselves. The Queen piece was akin to a nascent soul elder or maybe a sect leader that had more freedom than the old council members.

    Fang Meili gave out a sigh, even though this game of chess was interesting the maids she was with weren''t worthy opponents. They weren''t good at thinking ahead and just randomly placed their pieces on the board. Always reactive and never proactive.

    While she was thinking about giving the game another try she heard a knock on the door. This was more or less only a courtesy knock as before any of the girls on the inside could reply the door started to open.

    Meili was stunned at the appearance of the person that walked through that intricate white door. It was a beautiful jade-like beauty that overshadowed any she had previously seen. Her fair complexion was exquisite and went together with the long snow-white hair.

    Her eyes looked like two blue gems, while looking at them she could swear that she could see tiny electrical arcs jumping around. Her figure was very well proportioned, her hip to waist ratio was right on point and her chest was neither too small nor too big.

    She was that one in a million beauty that could make empires crumble and even old monsters would have their hearts torn asunder. For some reason, this beautiful person was walking towards her.

    "I apologize for the delay."

    Fang Meili was brought back to reality by a familiar voice. It was her white-haired uncle that was also quite the looker. The beauty that walked in front moved to the side after opening the door. It looked like she was opening it for her uncle to let him in.

    "No need to apologize Senior Uncle!"

    The girl clasped her hands and did a small bow, the two maids behind her did the same while scooting closer.

    "Congratulations on the birth of your son."

    She added while looking back up. She still wasn''t sure about this man''s motives. He brought her here after saving her from that dreadful competition. The only thing that she wanted to know is how her grandfather and her sect was doing. She didn''t want to be rude and ask too many questions in unfamiliar territory.

    "Thank you. You don''t need to be so uptight, you are part of the Zhang family line. You''d be a branch member if we were in the old clan but so am I."

    Zhang Dong smiled slightly while shrugging. She noticed a slight twitch on his face when he was talking about the family situation. Apparently, he wasn''t someone of a remarkable bloodline but he did somehow end up as the sect leader. His new line of descendants would probably form the new royal-like bloodline.

    "I actually came here to introduce you to someone."

    Zhang Dong said while looking over to the woman that had walked into the room before him.

    "This is my niece Zhang Xue, she is your cousin from your great grandfather''s side."

    Fang Meili was astonished that she shared the same genes as this otherworldly beauty. She didn''t consider herself that beautiful even though the people around her would tell her otherwise. Her proportions were plainer and she didn''t have that jade-like skin as most of those beauties had. Her hair was also blond while most people preferred pure black or pure white hair.

    "Your grandfather from my side of the family is also here¡­ but you''re probably better off not visiting him¡­"

    Zhang Dong turned his head to the side and coughed into his hand while the woman next to him held her head down. Fang Meili could have sworn that the beauty was blushing as if she was embarrassed about something. Meili on the other hand was a bit interested in this new grandfather, he was more or less responsible for this encounter.

    "This isn''t the reason I came here though, it''s about your other grandfather, Fang Heng."

    Meili tensed up the moment she heard her grandfather being mentioned. She couldn''t really read too much into Zhang Dong''s facial expression but from his tone, she could feel that something was off.

    "I have to regretfully inform you that he hasn''t contacted me since we parted at the banquet¡­"

    Zhang Dong informed her about the situation as he didn''t want to keep things hidden from the girl.

    "I will have my sect members try to contact him and get more information. For the time being, you will have to remain here, I did promise to take care of you in your grandfather''s stead and I''m going to stay true to that promise."

    Meili was glad that the man was sharing any type of information with her. It wasn''t anything good though. She had no proof if what he was telling was the truth but there wasn''t really a reason for him to lie. There wasn''t much she could offer him in return and he was already wasting valuable resources on her.

    "Xue here will help you around the mansion and sect. You will receive an inner disciple emblem, for now, it will help you to get around the city."

    He explained a few things to her: this so-called emblem was something akin to a master key. She would be able to apparently also buy food and items with it in the city. She would also receive some other things like a communication device and even a personal bodyguard.

    "Xue will explain everything to you in detail, I have to tend to some sect business so I will have to excuse myself. If word of your grandfather or sect reaches me I will be sure to send someone over to give you word."

    Meili remained quiet while the United Element Sect Leader continued to talk. It was very rude and unwise to interrupt someone like him. She wouldn''t have an option to ask any questions either as he left this Zhang Xue. He made a quick exit after the short explanation.

    The door closed behind him and the two girls and two maids were left in the room. She was now left with the unknown beauty, not really sure what to do. She could tell that the other woman outranked her also in cultivation so she had to be respectful.

    "Junior greets senior sister¡­"

    She clasped her hands together and did a formal bow once more. The maids mimicked their young missy.

    "You don''t need to be so formal dear cousin, just as Master said you are part of our family, first you should take this."

    Zhang Xue handed Fang Meili the shield looking emblem that was similar to the one the new disciples had gotten. It was one meant for inner disciples though and was a lot more intricate.

    Meili noticed that this cousin of hers also possessed one of those. It was attached as an accessory to her robe. She also remembered seeing ones similar to it mostly worn on the shoulders of the other cultivators.

    She also was surprised at how this Zhang Xue was referring to her senior uncle.

    "Master?"

    Zhang Xue chuckled while covering her face with her long sleeve.

    "Yes it''s unconventional but my uncle is my Master. He is the most honorable person in this sect!"

    The girl looked outside the window as if she was trying to proclaim to the world that Zhang Dong was the greatest master in the whole wide world.

    "Master has urged me to give you a tour of this villa, we also need to visit the sect facilities and the city. There so much to see but so little time, we must depart dear cousin!"

    Zhang Xue stopped reminiscing about her glorious master and turned to face Fang Meili. The city was huge and so was the entire sect. Giving this girl a tour of all that it could offer would probably take more than a day.

    "Ah of course, I will abide by senior uncles and senior cousin''s wishes."

    Fang Meili was still feeling a bit stiff, this lady here was acting very welcoming but it wasn''t so for everyone else. There could be various reasons for it but the most important thing was for her to watch out.

    Even though she had the sect leader''s protection she didn''t know how far this shield would go. Even this woman here could easily dispatch her for whatever reason. She needed to be careful and respectful.

    Soon the two girls left the confines of the large guest room. The two girls set out to tour the sect compound. Their senior uncle on the other hand had a big choice to make.

 247 Chapter 247

    He hoped that Zhang Xue would open up to her new cousin. He picked her as she was his disciple and he trusted her to follow his orders. He also couldn''t let Zhang Liu take the job, that disciple of his had a problem in the form of Liena''s sister to contend with.

    Feng Nuana barricaded herself as his fiance and wasn''t allowing him to even interact with other women. He wasn''t sure why the younger sister was so different from the older one, but he was glad that he ended up with Liena that went by Zhang Liena nowadays.

    In the old days, the women from the Feng Clan rarely changed their clan name and took in female children only. With the sect taking over now they were just regular disciples so their outlook on things had changed. Also after Liena married him she decided to change her family name to be more traditional. This caused some friction between the Feng Clan members that were afraid of losing power and prestige.

    That''s why he was worried about his new niece a bit. He didn''t think anyone would do anything drastic knowing he was involved. There still were other family members in the sect that would probably see the new person as a threat.

    The inner sect politics were a convoluted thing that he tried to avoid. Some people liked to make their own little factions and help them rise up to power. They wouldn''t be able to threaten his position as he was the strongest but in the lower sections of the sect, some infighting occurred.

    Zhang Dong gave out a sight while flying away, he had other things to worry about than sect politics now. Time was of the essence and he would need to clear his schedule to resolve the new problems.

    The first one was the problem that arose from him offending the Limitless Sword Society along with the Yggdrasil Sect. He slew Zhan Jie their Patriarch in one on one combat and this news was already known in all of the lands.

    Normally if you killed a king from another country it would result in a war. In this sect-run empire, things were a bit different. The sect leader''s position was a high one but they could still be replaced. In most sects like the Limitless Sword Society, the decision-making process was more democratic than people might think.

    Most of them had something like a council of elders in the background. They would be the ones to actually make the decisions. The sect leader was just a figurehead that decided on regular sect decrees. When it came to outside politics and diplomacy, such councils started getting involved.

    Like five years ago, it took three of the other sects banding together to take out the Dark Palm Sect. They also only attacked when Zhang Dong was keeping them busy. They only attacked after he killed a large number of their nascent soul elders.

    He believed that if the other two sects refused to co-operate the Limitless Sword Society would have to take this hit to their face.

    Zhang Dong already showed his hand by defeating two sect leaders in single combat. Both of them were late stage cultivators and masters at their own craft. He was also one of these masters that had learned the sword heart. This would also be something that the old nascent soul fogies would be afraid to go against.

    There was also the Divine Fist Sect that was rumored to be backing him. He knew that it was impossible to place spies in his domain. Information about this not being true would probably never leak outside.

    How this would play out depended on the Dragon Gate Sect and the Demon Subduing Sect. He had better relations with the sect leaders of those two sects. The one from the Dragon Gate one was actually interested in doing business with his sect.

    He was even the one that held out an olive branch towards him by inviting his side to the banquet. Though Zhang Dong didn''t get to speak to Xu Qing, their leader at all. He was preoccupied with the Divine Fist Sect debacle and now it continued on.

    "I gave Kuo the orders, maybe the spies had figured out something from the rumors¡­"

    Zhang Dong took off into the distance while leaving Zhang Xue and Fang Meili to figure things out themselves.

    After a moment or two, he arrived at a new location. He flew down into a large pagoda-like tower that stood in a walled-off section of the sect. No one besides core disciples was allowed here and it was also manned by them.

    This was a building set up for his information network. This was the place to receive new intel on other factions and even individuals.

    Every strong power required an agency like this. The other sects and factions still kept sending various spies into his domain. He just decided to return the favor and create a spy network of his own.

    He left Zhang Kuo as its leader, the man was one of his most trusted advisors. He had long forgiven him about the Jade Grass City incident and the man continued working to prove his devotion towards him and the sect.

    Thanks to him they had a mature information network throughout their whole domain. They even had sleeper agents placed inside the three surrounding sects.

    Thanks to Zhang Dong''s improved disguising technique they were able to replace almost anyone they wanted. They were spies trying to infiltrate his sect all the time. It was easy to capture them and then to replace them with someone of his own people.

    The great part about this technique was that it was easy to switch out their spies and even jump to a new persona if they ever got caught. The agents could even switch themselves out so that they wouldn''t need to live for years in a foreign land. Never to see their own sect members or families ever again.

    Most of them were quite devoted though. There were many specialized techniques they were taught free of charge. A lot of people just took this job for the guaranteed rise in cultivation. Spending over ten years at an enemy camp was nothing for people that could live for five hundred years.

    This place looked more like an office building on the inside. Many TV screens littered the inside along with cubicles. The sects technological advancement was pushed in the direction that he wanted.

    Being an avid gamer and procrastinator in the old days he decided to bring over graphical interfaces that he was familiar with. For Matt, it was an easier way of sharing information than communication jades.

    Those were still being used but it was easier to use a monitor screen with a presentation when more people were involved. Fast learning modules were possible as well but there could be some drawbacks as headaches.

    "Greetings Patriarch."

    He nodded slightly at the guards greeting him. Without answering he moved over to Zhang Kuo''s private office. He mostly showed up without prior notice but normally if someone wanted to see Zhang Kuo who was the chief intelligence executive they needed to make an appointment. Depending on their rank it could take days or even weeks for it to come through.

    "Any word from our friends from the Divine Fist Sect?"

    Zhang Dong asked after entering Kuo''s office. It was spacious and the view from the windows was quite breathtaking.

    The Intelligence executive was buried in paperwork that needed signing and approval. He had to read through a lot of reports that the spies sent periodically.

    Zhang Dong could see Kuo standing up instantly from his large black leather chair. He looked like a CEO from a large company now and had a large luxurious office to show for it.

    "We have received no news from the Divine Fist Sect. After you arrived we had our agents ask around in the other sects. Our information chain doesn''t yet reach that far, I must apologize Patriarch but we have no information regarding the elder you met at the banquet."

    Zhang Kuo continued with his explanation. The other sects are keeping the information concerning the Divine Fist Sect hidden. Kuo''s Spies only resided in the three major sects around them as well. They didn''t yet spread out into the other ones in the empire as this department of intelligence was still in its infancy.

    The only thing they could go off was rumors and general knowledge. The Yggdrasil Sect had apparently moved their forces towards their borders but they were on standby.

    "Are they feeling out the situation after the banquet incident?"

    "That is probably so Patriarch, the death of Zhan Jie had also caused a couple of other incidents. Our spy reported that the diplomatic talks at the Limitless Sword Society are underway but for the time being it looks like they won''t be able to strike. The other two sects are taking a passive approach."

    This was good news for him. It was improbable that they would attack them if the other two big sects didn''t form a pact like last time.

    "After Zhan Jie''s death the Limitless Sword Society''s prestige is being questioned, some of the other factions are making moves in the background. Assassination attempts are probable, It''s unlikely that their council of grand elders will be willing to make a move against us without the help of the other sects."

    Zhang Kuo listed all the important things that the spy network could get but one question remained. What happened to Fang Heng, was he attacked while returning to his sect? Or was it possible that he managed to get back to his territory but still was unable to activate the teleportation beacon? It was also possible that this device was somehow damaged during his return as well.

    "That is all Patriarch, I will send you the detailed report to your communication jade."

    "Good job, notify me if you get any information regarding the Divine Fist Sect, even second-hand information or rumors."

    Zhang Dong saw himself out after getting the quick report. His plan of teleporting to his destination would probably fall through. This left him with two options, either to wait for the beacon to be activated or go there himself.

    He would need to travel there somehow while being unnoticed. The trip there wasn''t that long if he flew there at top speed but it wasn''t that easy. He would need to go through enemy territory. The other sects wouldn''t just let a powerful nascent soul cultivator into their lands that was also the sect leader of another faction.

    He would probably need to go incognito as one of his personas. Lei Yinglo might have to make another appearance. This name was already known throughout the lands. He was viewed as a powerful rouge cultivator that liked to battle demonic beasts and cultivators.

    Getting past the other sect borders could be possible as a hunter. If asked he could just tell that he was going after a ferocious demonic beast that was seen in Divine Fist Sect territory. He could also try sneaking there.

    The biggest dilemma for him was leaving his newborn and wife behind. She hadn''t yet recovered but there wasn''t much time. If that monster continued to be left unchecked it could pose a threat to the entire empire or even the entire world.

    "I''ll have to explain it to her¡­"

    He flew back towards his mansion yet again. He needed to stock up on a few things and then convince his lovely wife that he wasn''t going into a death trap. He didn''t feel like lying to her would be a proper thing to do. He would rather disclose everything to her, breaking her trust was something that he wasn''t willing to do.

 248 Chapter 248

    "Cthulhu"

    "Cthululu?"

    "Cthulhu¡­"

    "Cut-a-who?"

    "Close but...you know what? it doesn''t even matter¡­"

    Zhang Dong was in the room with his wife and his son. The boy was getting nursed by Zhang Liena right at this moment while his father was trying to explain to her about his favorite monster nemesis.

    He had already explained the situation at the Divine Fist Sect and now just wanted to describe the monster that he needed to face.

    "Does this really require your attention? Can''t we send Qiang instead, he loves things like that, he will be thrilled to face off against something that gave you trouble."

    He was worried about this, she wasn''t so keen on letting her husband go into unfamiliar lands to fight against some kind of occult monster. From her perspective, they could dispatch one or two nascent soul elders that they now had.

    "We can even lend him Zhang Zhi, those two should be enough to handle a demonic beast."

    "Buaaahh¡­"

    Their talk was interrupted by the sound of a baby. His son Zhang Jun was placed over his mother''s shoulder and performed a magnificent burp. After getting his mouth wiped he was carried over to the crib by one of the maids. She was part of the sect and a trusted member so the two could talk freely around her.

    "I understand your point, but those two are a bit¡­"

    "Foolish? Simple-minded? Dense?"

    "You don''t hold back much my wife... I was thinking more in line with overzealous. Don''t think they were made for tasks requiring stealth. If we send them together we might as well just declare war on the other sects."

    Zhang Dong was afraid that those two would cause trouble. He could already see them picking fights with almost anyone they met along the way. Then if anyone even dared to speak ill about the United Element''s Sect Zhang Zhi would be the first one to pull out a sword and bisect them.

    He was the poster boy for a fanatical sect member. Huo Qiang on the other hand just liked to fight. He would probably go out of his way to pick fights with other nascent soul masters if he just got the opportunity.

    The sect leader here wanted to avoid things like this. His plan was to disguise himself as a wandering cultivator and travel through the territory of the other sects. He could pretend to be a core formation expert as traveling as a nascent soul master was dangerous. If someone wasn''t affiliated with a strong faction they could be seen as a large threat.

    "Certainly that could happen¡­"

    Liena frowned a bit while looking at her husband. He returned the gaze while furrowing his brows. He knew that look she was giving him, it was a look of anger with some concern.

    "I wouldn''t be going if it wasn''t necessary, that monster can''t grow any further. I can always summon the elders if I get in trouble."

    This function required spirit points, how many depended on the devotion rating and then the realm they were in. Summoning core formation cultivators cost less than doing it with nascent soul ones even if they had lower devotion.

    "Can you summon me then?"

    "You? Why would I ever do that? You should rest!"

    Zhang Dong raised his voice slightly at the proposition. How could he call his recently pregnant wife over to battle a dangerous monster?

    "Rest? I will be back on my feet within the week, don''t look down on Zhang Liena!"

    He flinched a bit as he felt her aura spike. Her angered voice was raised and caused the windows in the room to vibrate. It also caused the baby to wake up and cry in the process, luckily the maid was quick to calm the little guy down.

    "B-but think of the children..."

    He scratched his head not really knowing what to say. He could see that his wife made up her mind, she also was wearing a teleportation ring and could transfer herself to his whereabouts. He could of course block this function but then he wouldn''t be able to get to her if anything happened either.

    "I am thinking about them. I can''t have their father put himself in danger while I sit here doing nothing! The servants can tend to them!"

    Zhang Liena looked at him with narrowed eyes. He didn''t know that she would react in this way but deep down he was glad that she cared. He knew that she should be recovered in about a week''s time and this would also be the time he would need to reach the Divine Fist Sect area.

    "I can just summon Qiang and Zhi, they will be more than eager to help¡­"

    "Hah, I bet they will but you know well that I am the third strongest elder in this sect! With that little toy, you made me, I could even defeat that Idiot Qiang myself."

    Zhang Dong thought back to this toy that she was talking about. He did put in a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in making it. He had created that artifact to boost his wife''s fighting prowess as she had to halt her cultivation process while taking care of his daughter.

    Liena was making some sense but he still didn''t want his lovely wife to get involved in a brutal fight. He would probably need some help though, the last time he faced off against the monster it also had minions. This version had more time to prepare, it could have an actual army lurking in those ruins it was hiding in.

    "But¡­"

    "No buts, if you don''t make a promise now, I will just follow after you myself."

    Zhang Liena said while pouting slightly. She turned her head to the side as if being offended. He knew that she wanted the best for him and was just afraid that he could easily perish outside the sect.

    ''Sigh''

    He placed his hand on the woman''s head while shaking his own around.

    "You know my wifey, you were a lot easier to convince in the old days."

    He thought back to the times that he could just bullshit his way around most of the arguments. After living with him for so many years his lovely wife had picked up on some of his lies or exaggerations. She knew that her husband wasn''t the monolithic giant sect leader that everyone thought he was. He made mistakes like anyone else, she was just worried.

    "I promise to seek your aid when I get into trouble, but you must also promise me that you won''t overwork yourself."

    He went down to his knees as his wife was sitting on an exquisite white couch. She was in the middle of pouting and looking to the side. He grabbed her soft hand with his own and delivered a small peck to it. Liena gave out a small blush and looked down. Even though she had gotten more daring with the years she was still quite weak when he showed her some affection.

    "Hmph!"

    She gave out a cute sound unfit for a lady her age. Zhang Dong just smiled and moved his hands around his wife. He carried her over to the bed that had a better healing formation around it.

    "I''ll be taking my leave now. Take care of the little ones and try to save your strength. I''ll keep you informed in the usual way."

    The two finally parted with each other and he walked out of Liena''s room. He checked on the beacon one last time before placing it back into his spatial ring.

    Zhang Dong then promptly disappeared from within the sect grounds a couple of minutes later an older looking man in a dark robe could be seen flying through the air. He looked grizzled and had many scars on his face. He decided to go with his old demon hunter persona for this mission, he used it from time to time to fight off demon beasts when he got bored.

    He used a blade to fly on but his speed was several times faster than of a regular core formation expert''s. While in his own sect region he could just use his full cultivation to propel himself forward. When he reached enemy territory he would need to slow down.

    If other nascent soul experts felt an unfamiliar aura of similar strength they would surely fly towards it. He needed to take his time in passing through unknown lands. The other sects didn''t see core formation cultivators as big threats so if he paid the toll he should be able to pass through their cities and borders.

    ''Haven''t done this in a while¡­ feels refreshing to spread my wings from time to time.''

    He looked at the passing scenery that was quite beautiful. This world was a lot more fascinating than the previous one he lived in. People tended to flock to larger cities as many violent beasts roamed the lands. Thanks to this, nature was mostly undamaged, things like air pollution and waste products were rarely seen.

    As a sect leader, he couldn''t leave the premises of his main sect city. His adventuring days had been halted and he concentrated on his people. He had helped them design the city and also used his personal funds to raise the living conditions of his citizens.

    His policies were seen as very magnanimous and the people living in these lands were very thankful. He had placed police units across all the major cities in the area, even where other large clans resided. Thanks to this, the order was being kept and fewer people died due to things like greed and face.

    There was still much to do but it was impossible for his hands to reach everywhere. Even as he was flying through some of his lands he could see impoverished people. This mostly happened in poor villages or tribes, his sect just didn''t have the capital to take care of everyone.

    The only thing he could give them was the possibility of improving their lives. It was up to them to take control of their life and rise up. He was also of the mind that he couldn''t make everyone over-reliant on the sect. They needed to be able to take care of themselves otherwise it would spell disaster if a calamity arrived.

    He sped through the forests, it was the same one that he had arrived into this world. It spread through much of the lands and was unused due to the low amount of spiritual energy.

    Thanks to this the large sects didn''t bother to expand their borders here. If he used this path he would be able to keep his maximum speed up for a bit longer. Without any distractions, he passed through most of his lands. He arrived close to the border, this one was with the Limitless Sword Society.

    This was the fastest way towards his new destination but would also be dangerous. He would certainly be attacked if they discovered his true identity.

    "Time to sneak in¡­"

    He covered himself in spiritual energy and dived down. The moment he approached the ground it parted. He tunneled himself down while spreading the ground with earth elemental techniques, his aim was to burrow himself out on the other side of the border. He purposely picked a spot that was far away from any nascent soul cultivators.

    "I must hurry, that monster might be slaughtering that sect even at this moment. Can''t let that thing''s corruption spread outside¡­"

 249 Chapter 249

    A bald man shouted while holding a large saber in one of his hands. There was an arrow sticking out of his shoulder yet he was standing tall.

    "No, father!"

    He was standing in front of two women, one looked to be his wife while the other one was much younger, probably his daughter. He was staring at a group of people in shabby clothes. They had weapons in their hands and were slowly surrounding this family of three from all sides.

    "Not so fast old man, those two are precious goods, we can''t have them running off! Get them, boys!"

    "Yes, senior brother!"

    It looked like a group of small-time ruffians, there were five of them with the largest man being the leader. Due to the woman''s hesitation, their escape route was cut off and it looked like it would be over for this small family of three.

    "Don''t blame us, blame yourself for coming to this place, fool!"

    One of the men laughed while swinging his sword at the father. The man managed to receive the strike and even push the attack back. To his dismay, he wasn''t able to react to the second bandit who managed to stab his unkempt blade into the father''s side, blood was seen instantly.

    "No! Father!"

    "Honey!"

    The two females screamed out as they saw the father fall to one of his knees. He used the saber as a crutch to support himself but his vision started getting blurry.

    "Leave my wife and daughter alone, you bastards!"

    Two of the bandits quickly grabbed the unprepared girls and held them by their hands. They had to watch their family member getting his weapon taken away with a well-placed kick. It looked like it was over and that the criminals were on top.

    "Hah, serves you right. Only an idiot takes their family through these lands, what were you trying to achieve, idiot?"

    The bandit leader chucked menacingly while his men started pulling the two women away. The father tried to get up but another bandit instantly kicked him in the stomach.

    "Let me go you bastard!"

    The daughter cried out while biting the man on the hand that was holding her. This caused him to lose his grip, the girl tried using this chance to pull away but got held back by her hair.

    "Damn slut!"

    The angered man yanked her back and delivered a hard slap to her face. This caused her to groan out in pain while falling down to the ground.

    "Hey be careful, don''t damage her face, we won''t be able to sell her like this."

    The leader barked out at the other man that shrunk back.

    "You can have some fun with that old hag, this one belongs to me."

    The boss smirked while looking at the younger girl. He could see shock and indignation in her eyes. He was the type of man that loved to see the fear in his victim''s eyes. He licked his lips while moving closer.

    "Don''t worry, this senior brother is really gentle. I''ll teach you how a real man does things!"

    He laughed while doing an obscene hip thrust, the young girl could only look with shock as the ugly bandit got closer. Her mother flailed around but she was far too weak to do anything, the father was already close to dying.

    In her heart, she prayed for a miracle. This wasn''t how it was supposed to be, her whole family wanted to leave this godforsaken land. They were so close, only a few more days and they would have been on the border at the promised land.

    This land was supposed to be ruled by a just leader. Someone that actually cared about his subjects. There was enough food for everyone, the streets were clean and his forces patrolled the areas which kept bandits like these away.

    In the time of her despair, something happened, there was a rumble. The earth started shaking as if a large earthquake was upon them. The bandit leader almost fell over as even he was affected by the earth''s movement.

    ???What is that? an earthquake?... no¡­ something is coming¡­"

    The man looked to the side and could see the ground rising up about fifty meters from where he was standing. It burst open quite fast and he could see a man rising out from it. The man flew up into the air but there was not a speck of dirt on his dark robe.

    The bandit leader dropped whatever he was doing as he knew that someone like this was far above him. The way that he was staying in the sky without a worry in the world showed that he was a master at the core formation level. This was someone that he could not offend.

    ...............¡­.

    This man was Zhang Dong, he had just reached the border that his sect and the Limitless Sword Society shared with one another. He had submerged himself underground and used his system map to evade detection. He didn''t really have to do this but he wanted to be sure that no stray sentries detected his presence.

    After traveling several kilometers from the initial entry point he finally decided to go outside. Traveling underground was a lot slower than flying through the air even though it was safer.

    When he got outside he saw quite the scene, a standard robbery with attempted murder and ****.

    "Is this some kind of new world record?"

    He thought back to his old days when he used to fly around without any worry. He always came across people getting mugged and robbed whenever he went. He attributed it to the world just being really bloody where only the strongest survived. This was also the reason why he created his version of the police force so that he could let them handle it.

    So here he was, just starting his week-long adventure and already witnessing a crime in progress. He looked down with narrowed eyes at the bandits that had clearly noticed him. He saw them on his system map, but they were at the lower end of Qi condensation so he deemed them harmless.

    They were clearly too weak to be members of the Limitless Sword Society. Thus he decided to come out here as he was losing too much time tunneling as it was.

    He couldn''t let this go on for any longer. He could tell that one of the people that got attacked was critically injured. He started to descend towards the group of Qi Condensation cultivators, it was a rare occurrence for him to interact with weak people like them. He could already see the bandits shaking from feeling his suppressed aura.

    "G-good day H-honorable Elder, can this lowly junior be of assistance?"

    Zhang Dong saw the person with the highest cultivation level going straight down to his knees. He wanted to commend his quick wits, he instantly assumed the subservient position. He was only at the 5th level of Qi condensation but outranked everyone here besides him.

    "Just be quiet."

    Zhang Dong didn''t really feel like he needed to talk to this man. He already came across many idiots like this. They used the small amount of power to walk all over weaker people but when someone slightly stronger appeared they fled or prostrated themselves instantly.

    It was debatable why they ended up like this. Was it bad parenting, maybe lack of them? Did they see someone else living their life like this and just copied their ways?

    Zhang Dong didn''t feel like people were born evil or that they weren''t redeemable. Correcting their behavior would be exceedingly difficult and there was a point of no return. He would never be merciful to people that killed without rhyme or reason.

    He reached out his hand and pointed out with his finger. This digit started glowing with a golden hue. A tiny ray of light shot out from it and flew towards the collapsed man. The golden energy seeped into his body while making it glow radiantly.

    Everyone here was staying quiet, they weren''t sure what this master was doing to this man. They knew one thing, that if he wanted he could slay them with a tiny fart. To their surprise, the man that was on death''s door started looking better. In a matter of moments, all of his wounds closed up and he opened up his eyes.

    He was now healed. The man looked around confused as he had lost consciousness after getting severely beaten by the bandits. The last thing he remembered was trying to save his daughter and wife before the stomping began.

    "W-what?"

    "F-father!"

    The daughter was the first one to react. She was still young and emotional, while the others were scared of moving while a core formation expert was around, she didn''t. She hugged her father while sobbing as he had almost passed away.

    "Well then, I don''t have much time. Now Choose, a life of servitude or death? Ten seconds should be enough to make a decision."

    The moment Zhang Dong spoke out a massive amount of killing intent washed over all of the bandits. They were pushed into the ground and could only shake with fear. They knew that this man was serious, the reason he was doing this was unimportant as he was someone far above them.

    In their minds, they could only blame themselves for being too weak to retaliate. There was not much remorse in their thinking as it didn''t even dawn on them that he was punishing them for the attempted murder and ****.

    "I¡­ I will swear allegiance to the venerable senior!

    "M-me too."

    "Yes, we all swear to serve you!"

    Not having much choice they all crumbled under pressure. The moment they agreed to the proposal they could feel something invading their very being. It was some kind of soul shackle being placed upon them and they had heard rumors about such things. If the man wished he could easily destroy their souls.

    "Now you three on the other hand¡­"

    Zhang Dong in his demon hunter persona looked at the family of three. It was strange that they were here, how did they end up in the middle of nowhere with bandits? The closest settlement was a few days away on foot for normal people and it seemed that is what they did.

    "Honorable senior, please spare my family, I will also swear my life to you!"

    "F-father!"

    The man also went down to his knees and started begging him for his life. The wife was closely second as she also begged for their daughter''s life. It made it seem like he was some kind of evil cultivator trying to use them as some kind of test subjects or resources for pill making.

    "Relax¡­"

    He pointed his finger at the group of three. They could feel something being inserted into their dantian, it was some kind of strange energy but it didn''t feel malicious.

    "I''m not going to harm you. I have given you control of these idiots here, you can do whatever you wish with them. If they try to hurt you, their very souls will rapture and break."

    He quickly explained that these five bandits would be bound to them. He on the other hand started floating up into the sky. He didn''t have time to escort these people, with these five bandits they should be fine in this low-level area.

    "You there, give them an order."

    He pointed to the daughter that flinched a bit. She complied with the request telling the bandits to stand up on one leg.

    "Uh?"

    The men found themselves compelled to do it. If they tried resisting a sharp pain would wash over their bodies rendering them immobile.

    "Well then, take care and try not to get in trouble¡­"

    He finally took off while looking at his map. He had already placed waypoints on it after looking through the map of the empire. He would go through less populated spots evading large cities and heavily guarded locations. If he was lucky, he would arrive in the Divine Fist Sect territory within a week.

    The family of three was left baffled by the occurrence. Even after the man left the bandits found themselves under their spell. It was now on them to decide if these criminals deserved to live or die.

 250 Chapter 250

    He didn''t have time to stick around and help out anymore. The reason for them being in this desolate spot was unknown to him and he would keep it that way.

    Zhang Dong whizzed on his flying sword through the lands while keeping a low profile. He looked like your generic rugged cultivator with no home. The sword he was using looked shabby from the outside.

    This was done on purpose to evade conflict with any other core formation cultivators. If he wore multiple high-level trinkets he could as well just write ''Rob me'' on his back and wait.

    ''I seem to have forgotten how the world really looks outside my own sect¡­''

    While flying as fast as a jet plane he had some time to look around these lands. He was now in Limitless Sword Society territory. He could see the usual low-level beasts roaming the lands which weren''t anything out of the ordinary. But when he approached human settlements he noticed the disparity.

    His plan was to evade them but with his nascent soul senses, he could peek at these smaller cities from afar. He did all of this without the worry of getting detected. What he saw there painted a picture of how the other sects saw their people or rather how they didn''t see anyone besides their own worth investing in.

    There was widespread famine and lawlessness. He could see ruffians and robbers roaming everywhere, maybe this was why that family was there. They might have been trying to escape from all of this.

    The cities here were more akin to his territory before his sect took over. Even in the first large city, he visited all those years ago things weren''t great. He almost saw people getting run over by a carriage. He was able to save them then, but this was only possible because of his high cultivation realm.

    He was saddened by how people had to live here but he couldn''t help them. He needed to finish his mission first. If he wasn''t successful, bandits and robbers would be the least of their problems.

    So Zhang Dong looked into the distance and flew off, this time around he used various aura hiding treasures along with ones that would make him hard to detect or even see.

    It was thanks to having these with him that he was certain of continuing his journey forward without being detected.

    This world was truly vast, even though he was limiting his speed he would be able to make a round trip around his old planet in less than a day. Even with that kind of speed, he would need a whole week to get to his destination.

    In reality, he was traveling through a vast expanse. Along with the spiritual energy changes that could alter the surroundings it all made sense. Many times did he want to stop and take in the scenery while relaxing. The forests and untouched lakes were truly breathtaking. Places like this just made him want to take his family and relax while taking a dip in one of the many giant lakes.

    Regretfully most of such beautiful places remained untouched for a reason. Even now as he was passing through a clear lake he could see a massive shadow lurking below. If he lowered his altitude he would probably get attacked by the monster living in the deep below.

    Human cultivators might have been strong but they were far from the strongest beings in these lands. Magical beasts were born stronger yet humans had more ingenuity to go further in their life. They were also much better at working in a group while beasts kept to themselves or at most stayed in small groups with an alpha ruling over them.

    Zhang Dong made sure to activate his system map while going through these lands. He didn''t have any luck in finding any of those strange dead zones. He wanted to get another of those cubes which could get him some information about the person who sent him here.

    He still had many unanswered questions that needed to be asked. For some reason though, he had a bad premonition about the person behind it all. Everything was shrouded in mystery, there was also that secret ground. It was located in the Limitless Sword Society area which they poached from the Dark Palm Sect.

    He was contemplating about taking this part of the land back into his territory, now after defeating their leader there was no reason not to be a bit brazen.

    ''I should probably look into it after I take care of Squidward, one thing at a time¡­''

    He gave out a sigh while continuing with his journey. He passed the Limitless Sword Society area without many incidents. Along the way, he helped out a few people that were down on their luck. He did it with minimal effort, time was still of the essence.

    One day passed and then another one. Soon he was deep into the empire and far away from home. He periodically sent some long-ranged messages to his wife thanks to his faction system. Communication jades and other devices didn''t have enough range for things like this.

    Even with it, there was a slight time delay between his direct messages. When using the system for communication it would look like a conversation through the internet. Both parties would see text popping up in front of them. He was limited to people that had their devotion above 90% for this which was only a handful. His wife was luckily one of them.

    ''I''m approaching the Divine Fist Sect territory, for now, I haven''t encountered anything out of the ordinary.''

    He pressed send and could see an indication that his wife had received the information. Regretfully there was a downside to this way of talking. The person receiving the DM couldn''t respond normally. They had a limited array of emojis that they could click. They had thirty seconds to reply to his text.

    ''Thumbs up followed by a kissy face emoji, then a lot of heart emojis¡­''

    Liena wasn''t very good with picking out those and he very rarely used this system to contact anyone. Thus he sometimes had trouble understanding what his lovely wife wanted to say to him. This time there were a lot of hearts so everything must have been going well back home.

    ''There is still no reaction from the beacon even when I am this close¡­''

    He grumbled while flying forward. He was lucky enough in evading any other nascent soul cultivators and was now only a few hours away from his destination. He hoped that he would figure out what happened to his new niece''s grandfather after he got there.

    Zhang Dong looked at his map and compared it to the map of the Azure Dragon Empire that he had in his possession. He was sure that he was in the right place, after getting through the mountain range that was in front of him he should be able to see the border walls.

    ''What is that?''

    On the other side, he was forced to slow down. What he saw was peculiar. He could clearly see the fifty-meter large walls that continued for kilometers. This was a standard for keeping territories separate and wasn''t the surprising thing that he saw.

    ''That''s a lot of fog¡­''

    Mist, white and thick. It was everywhere it was spilling over the walls even now and inching forward into this land bit by bit. Even with his enhanced senses, he couldn''t see inside of this strange fog. He could feel small amounts of demonic qi coming off from it, he had a sinking suspicion that it was related to his favorite monster.

    He examined everything from a safe distance, he wasn''t alone here. He had discovered other cultivators keeping watch and they were not from the Divine Fist Sect. They were surprisingly from the Silver Spear Sect that he had beat up the leader off. This sect was one of the ones that bordered with the faction he was going towards.

    They were mostly core formation and foundation establishment cultivators. These walls stretched for many kilometers in two directions, the nascent soul elder responsible for them would probably be somewhere in the middle of the border. He purposely moved to a spot where he could evade such an elder.

    ''If it''s just them¡­''

    He waved his hand around while his body rippled. His form faded out of existence as he blended with the surroundings. This was one of the new techniques that he had learned. It was a good technique for espionage as it rendered you invisible to people below your cultivation realm.

    Zhang Dong floated gently towards the walls, using too much spiritual energy could give his position away. He remained standing in the air right before this strange white mist. All of his senses were telling him to not go in there. It was as if something in there was going to devour him whole.

    It was too late to turn back though but before entering he turned to the side. There were some other cultivators floating on their swords. Before going in he decided to eavesdrop on their conversation. Maybe they would shed some light on it all, he was quite lucky as one of the junior members was just making a report to the commanding elder.

    "Senior Elder, the evil fog is slowly progressing into our sect. No information is going through inside and the Divine Fist Sect isn''t responding either¡­ our scouts haven''t returned either¡­"

    He got the gist of it while listening to the report. It didn''t answer any questions but he had a suspicion about how this strange fog worked. Luckily he was the right person for this job, maybe the only right person for it.

    ''I''m glad that I went with gold and not violet that time¡­''

    He smirked while finally deciding to get in there. His body blurred for a moment and the white mist parted for a second as he dived in. The elder from the Silver Spear sect turned around to the spot that Zhang Dong dived in.

    "Was it my imagination?"

    "Elder?"

    The man turned his head back to the junior member while nodding.

    "Right, keep monitoring and await for our scouts to return. Keep your distance from this evil mist, I fear that it''s the work of demonic cultivators. I will bring this information to the sect, we must have one of the grand elder''s act!."

    "Understood elder!"

    No one here would go out of their way to investigate further. Most of the people were convinced that this fog was poisonous or might affect someone''s mind. It was time to inform the higher-ups and have them act while they observed from outside.

    It was progressing slowly and was keeping away from their side of the border so they didn''t have a reason to act just yet. They still hoped that the Divine Fist Sect would take care of this problem as it was coming from their lands.

    Unbeknownst to them, a certain person was already inside. His appearance started to shift into a handsome man with white hair and a robe of the same color. His eyes glowed with golden light and his body was covered with the same type of holy energy.

    ''I hope that I''m not too late¡­''

 251 Chapter 251

    "It''s really quiet¡­ too quiet¡­ where are all the animals?"

    He wasn''t far away from the border wall now. He was expecting to get to the bottom of this but he couldn''t see any bodies to tell him their tale. He did see some claw marks on the border wall and they weren''t that old.

    "Maybe I''ll find something further in¡­"

    This was still far away from the main Divine Fist Sect location. He used his system map to place a waypoint marker. He placed it on the location where Fang Heng was supposed to be. He was still surprised that there was no word from him whatsoever, it was odd but there could be one reason for it.

    Before continuing further he decided to stop and land. He stretched out his hand while opening up his palm. He used some spiritual energy to slowly suck the mist towards his palm. He started condensing it together while gathering the fog up in a more solid form. He only stopped after getting about a marble-sized item, what he was left with was a cloudy dark gem that radiated strange energy.

    He looked over it and could feel a peculiar demonic like aura coming off it. He gave it a little poke with his finger but nothing seemed to happen. The second test was similar but this time around he dispersed the holy energies from his aura that were protecting his finger.

    There was a response. The moment his skin made contact with the concentrated mist he could feel his energies being drained. He quickly defended himself against them by reapplying his holy aura.

    "It''s draining my vital energies¡­ but that''s not all¡­"

    He took out a teleportation beacon from his spatial ring. This one wasn''t the same that he gave Fang Heng, it connected back to the United Element Sect''s teleportation gate. He tried activating it but for some reason, it wasn''t working. Something was blocking out the signal from going through entirely.

    "So it''s because of this mist¡­"

    Zhang Dong had his answer to why he couldn''t get in touch with the Divine Fist Sect elder. This fog was blocking out the signal.

    He grasped the condensed fog with his hand and crushed it. The moment it made contact with his holy elemental energy it just crumbled into nothing.

    He followed it up with another burst of his golden aura, this time he backed it by a lot more of his cultivation base. The bright energies spread through the area reaching about 100 meters in diameter. The mist was forced back or more likely the energies were destroyed due to the holy elementals.

    It was too early to summon help for now but he used this chance to send his wife a quick message that he was inside.

    Getting more people in here would be troublesome now. This mist was robbing people of their vital energies, he was only fine due to his unique cultivation method. No one from the nascent soul elders had a holy element to their cultivation method. They might be susceptible to this mist if they stayed too long in it. There were ways to help them out with it, but they would need to prepare some contingencies.

    ''I should probably wait.''

    Zhang Dong decided to wait for now. He didn''t need backup just yet and if he summoned help now the nascent soul elders in question could run out of spiritual energy. If that happened before they actually fought the monster and its minions it would be disastrous.

    He floated back up and inspected the mist free area. The residual divine energy seemed to be keeping the fog back for now but he could feel it slowly closing in.

    ''This sect practices divine arts, they should have some kind of defensive formation utilizing it¡­''

    He believed that these cultivators were still alive. The reason that the teleportation beacon wasn''t working was because of this mist. Even with a protective formation in place, the signal wasn''t still reaching him. This meant that the fog was probably still covering it from the top. If it was a dome-shaped barrier it all made sense.

    The ground shook as he jumped upwards and headed inside of the Divine Sect Territory. He spread out his senses in all directions while examining the situation. There could have been survivors out here that could answer some questions.

    He traveled further in, the mist continued to get thicker but he was unaffected by it. It looked more like it was trying to evade him instead.

    After some time he finally came across a living being. It wasn''t a human though but a beast, after further examining it he noticed something.

    Frenzied Axe Beak [ Qi Condensation 5th stage ]

    It was a bird-like beast. It looked similar to an ostrich with sharp taloned feet and a wedge-shaped beak. The most interesting part of the name was the prefix, the monster was in a frenzied state. This brought him back to the past when he first came across monsters like this.

    ''It''s the same as that time¡­''

    He spread out his senses into the surroundings and also glanced at his map while flying forward. There were more animals in the area and they were just wandering around without a purpose.

    All of them had similar statuses after examination, it was clear that his favorite squid faced monster was involved. Just like in the past the monster was gathering other living beings and gaining strength. This mist that was all around the land was probably another step in its evolution.

    ''The more of these it absorbs the stronger it will become, I must hurry¡­''

    He needed to get to that city as fast as he could. He had no idea where those ruins were exactly and even with his speed it would probably take him days or even weeks to pinpoint the location on his own.

    Zhang Dong took off into the air, flying high above the clouds and even getting above the mist. Everywhere he looked it was covered in white, it was as if a giant thick cloud was placed on the ground like a large white fuzzy blanket.

    His plan was to continue right towards his destination, getting the Divine Fist Sect''s input and someone to guide him towards the ruins where the monster slumbered. Before that could happen though he finally came across his first human survivors.

    They looked like regular people, they weren''t wearing any sect robes which probably meant that they were just commoners. Normally a person in Zhang Dong''s situation would see the bigger picture and leave them to their own fate. He would be wasting time and spiritual energy in helping here.

    He wasn''t your usual senior though. He knew well that his emotions always got the better of him which caused a lot of trouble to him and the people he wanted to protect. But this was just how he was, if he saw someone in need and he was able to do something about it, he would.

    The people he was looking at were a group of five. It looked like a family with two kids and a grandparent. The father was in front of them getting attacked by those frenzied birds he saw earlier. They all were weak cultivators at the Qi condensation level and the beast outnumbered them three to one. If he didn''t aid them, death or corruption was awaiting them.

    He could see that they were wearing masks over their faces probably in hopes of not getting affected by this mist. They were still on their feet so these masks had to be working to some extent. He could also detect faint divine energy coming off from those, there was more to them that met the eye.

    Zhang Dong finally sprung to action, doing it just in time. The man that was protecting the women and children was about to get clawed and pecked to death by those fearsome birds.

    He was much stronger than those beasts, with a wave of his hand he just made them stop in their tracks entirely. It was as if time had stopped for everyone here. His golden energies dispersed the white mist from the area letting the folks here breathe in relief.

    The people could barely speak as they saw their family member that was almost killed float up into the air. His wounds were healing themselves on their own in real-time. He was then dropped to his feet right in front of his wife by Zhang Dong.

    He turned around to the immobile monsters and with a tiny motion of his finger made them explode into nothingness. They were all safe but he could see the fear in their eyes. The monster birds were replaced with an unknown cultivator that was many times stronger than anything here.

    "Don''t worry I''m not going to hurt you, I just wanted to ask you, good people, a few questions."

    He spoke up first without waiting for them to reply. There were a few things he wanted to ask about before going any further.

    ??Y-yes senior! Whatever you wish! If there is anything this junior could do to repay this favor he will!"

    The father started bowing instantly and his family members followed suit. He already felt stiffened by the tone they were addressing him with but this was just how people treated scary nascent soul elders like him, with unshaken respect.

    "Relax, I''m here to help. Can you tell me when this mist started to appear and how are you resisting its effects with those masks¡­"

    "The mist¡­"

    The man gave out a sigh and stood up straight while looking out into the distance. He could notice that this elder in front of him was something special. He was even keeping this fog at bay with his cultivation.

    "Great senior it happened about a week ago, it appeared out of nowhere in our cities and started to slowly sap our energies away¡­."

    The man gave Zhang Dong the recap. The fog appeared unannounced and invaded their lands, at first they didn''t make much of it. They thought that it was only the weather playing tricks on them. Soon they discovered that it wasn''t the truth and they were slowly getting their spiritual energy sucked away.

    The more energy they lost the thicker this mist became. Somehow this mist was growing while draining these people of their energies. After a few days, frenzied beast attacks started happening and the village these five lived in was overrun.

    "And the masks? I can feel faint divine energies coming from it¡­"

    Zhang Dong asked while the man looked back at his family. His wife gave him a nod and he finally removed his mask. On the mask, Zhang Dong could spot a flower petal, not really large but it was giving off a holy light.

    "It''s a special flower that grows in these lands, it is able to slightly filter the air. With it we can move through the mist but not for too long¡­"

    Zhang Dong identified the petal the moment he saw it. It was a type of spiritual sunflower growing in this world, this did explain how they were able to move through it without passing out.

    He rubbed his chin in thought but before he could ask another question one of the children dropped down to her knees and started shouting out.

    "Please save us senior!"

    The young girl started sobbing while her family members tried to make her stop. From their perspective this elder here had done enough already, asking for more would be shameful. It could also get them all in trouble.

    ''I was afraid that this would happen¡­''

    He looked at the girl that was about the age of twelve, her face covered in snot and tiers.

 252 Chapter 252

    He might lose a lot of time if he started helping everyone along the way. The problem was that it could cost people''s lives. Even now if he didn''t intervene here five lives would have been extinguished. If he let something like this happen when being in close range of helping here, he would hate himself later on.

    This was something that he had started and now he needed to see it through to the end. In his head, he now was responsible for these five people. He would need to see it through to the end, he would also be able to gain some more information after checking out their village.

    "Is it here?"

    "Y-yes great senior, just a bit further."

    The family head said while looking down. The five of the people that Zhang Dong saved were surrounded by a bubble of golden energy. They were flying through the air at astonishing speeds. They were quite baffled by this display of might as they had never seen a cultivator of his caliber before.

    Zhang Dong had asked about their circumstances. The five had escaped from the village together after some frenzied beasts attacked it. The people in it took out quite a bit but they were overrun by the constant beast tide.

    They believed that there still were people there as their village grew out of those special sunflowers. The fog wasn''t able to penetrate past those fields and some people supposedly fled towards them.

    "You were speaking the truth, I can sense some people in that direction¡­"

    He arrived at the spot where the village was and could see widespread destruction. The buildings were mostly made from wood which didn''t pose much of a problem for the enraged beasts. With the cultivation boosts, they were getting from the frenzied state it was even easier.

    He could feel a large gathering of people in one particular building. The house wasn''t big but there were at least 30 people in it. Outside of it, there was a field with those sunflowers. These spiritual plants were giving off a faint divine aura, even this was apparently enough to force the mist away.

    ''The mist isn''t penetrating further¡­ no wait¡­ it is moving slightly¡­''

    With the help of his enhanced senses, he could tell that fog was inching further in. It was in millimeters but it was advancing. Probably in a couple of days, it would seep all the way into the field. He could also tell that the plants were slowly dying, they were not enough to combat this demonic miasma.

    He pointed his finger down from the air while concentrating. The people from the side looked with interest as an electrical discharge was visible at his digit''s tip.

    The lightning didn''t just stop there, no it traveled on to the next creature closest to it. In a matter of moments the lightning starter arcing from monster to monster taking out each one in the vicinity of the village.

    "Incredible¡­"

    "Such might¡­"

    The family of Qi Condensation cultivators couldn''t believe what they were seeing. The mass of monsters that had caused them so much trouble was dead in a couple of seconds. This master had taken them out with just one attack. It seemed as easy as breathing to him, truly unfathomable might.

    "That''s all of them."

    He nodded while the people behind him had their jaws down. While they were coming to terms with his show of strength, he decided to land on that field of sunflowers. The people in the farmhouse peeked out and could tell that a master had come. One of them moved outside while the rest remained inside.

    "Honorable Senior have you arrived to aid us?"

    He clasped his hands while looking past Zhang Dong and clearly saw the family of five that he knew.

    "Something like that, I don''t have much time. I will get to the bottom of this but for now, you will have to stay here and wait."

    Zhang Dong spoke out while the old man moved his head down, he looked a bit saddened after hearing what he had to say. He probably hoped that this mysterious elder would somehow aid them in this time of need.

    "Don''t worry, you will be safe here...just wait a moment¡­"

    He flew up into the sky and pointed both of his hands down while having his index fingers extended. His hands started moving at an astonishing speed, the people below could only see them blurring around. No one was sure what he was doing but not like they were brave enough to speak up.

    He was drawing lines into the earth below, strange symbols were being placed around the farm. He was drawing a formation while using the divine sunflower plants as a power source. After a moment it was all finished the formation sprung into action and pushed the mist away even further.

    The village that was covered by the thick miasma was being slowly washed clean from it. Zhang Dong flew down, he took out a pill from his spatial ring and threw it at the sunflower field. He made a crushing motion with his fist which made the pill explode into many small particles. These seeped into the ground and nourished it, in a matter of seconds the plants grew twice in size while radiating, even more, divine power.

    "T-this is¡­"

    "I have placed a defensive formation around your village, it will use this field as the core. The demonic miasma won''t seep into it for the time being and the weaker demons will stay away."

    The village people would be safe against the mist and probably most of the monsters lurking outside. With the nourishing pill that he inserted into the soil, the sunflowers should last for a couple of weeks. He thought that he would have things resolved by that time.

    "Well, then I must be on my way."

    He was about to go. He felt like he had done enough and the people here would be safe enough with this defensive formation. Before he could leave though, one of the villagers called out with tears in their eyes.

    "Please wait senior!"

    It was a young man in his twenties, his cultivation was a bit higher than the rest of the people here. The others looked at him with surprise, probably still afraid of Zhang Dong''s motives but at this point, they were willing to put their trust in him. With that they let the man speak without being frightened that Zhang Dong would take it as being rude.

    "M-my wife¡­ she has been affected by the strange fog there are also others¡­"

    "Affected by the fog?"

    He looked to the farmhouse with narrowed eyes. He had felt for life signatures but didn''t really go into it further. He inspected the insides once more but this time doing a more thorough search.

    "This is¡­"

    They were humans in there but he could feel something else, something was hiding inside of them. It was giving off a strange aura very similar to the frenzied monsters outside.

    "Bring them all outside!"

    He gave out the order while the villagers nodded and scrambled inside the house to bring out the affected people. The people started being brought outside, he could tell by one look that something was wrong. For one thing, they were all tied up and their mouths were even gagged.

    There were four people affected, after peeking at their status with his system he could clearly see that they all had the ''frenzied'' status. Without wasting much time he waved his hand to bring one of the bound people over.

    It was the wife of the man that brought his attention to them. He didn''t remove the bindings for now while he started the examination. The people saw him walking around the floating woman while sometimes poking her body with his index finger.

    "Hm¡­ interesting¡­"

    Zhang Dong had done extensive research in healing. It had been five years since the war was over so he had ample time. It wouldn''t be a stretch to consider him one of the best healers in the whole empire. Along with his extensive book knowledge, he had a high cultivation realm. Having a doctor or a healer reach his stage was truly rare.

    "I see what the problem is¡­ Okay everyone please stand back."

    Everyone backed away as he ordered, the only one that wasn''t going back that far was the woman''s husband. He could understand the sentiment so he didn''t say anything about it.

    With a flick of a wrist, multiple silver needles shot out from his spatial ring. With another flic, the bindings were removed along with the gag. The moment that came off the woman''s maddened incoherent screams could be heard.

    The people gasped slightly worried that the woman would attack someone. She wasn''t able to move though, even though the ropes were gone her whole body couldn''t move. Zhang Dong was keeping her in check with his immense spiritual energy.

    The silver needles flew forward guided by him towards specific points in the woman''s body. In a matter of seconds, she looked like a pincushion. His golden energies seeped into her body soon afterward which made her shine brightly.

    There was almost an immediate reaction to this treatment. The woman''s eyes bulged out and she opened her mouth wide. A thick dark mist cloud shot out from it, followed by something wicked.

    Zhang Dong knew what it was as he had spotted this thing in the woman''s body. He used his holy energies to force this thing outside.

    "No, you don''t!''

    A specially prepared needle that was larger than the rest shot upwards. A strange high pitched sound was heard by the people. They all looked up, their eyes bulged in surprise at what they saw.

    It was some kind of strange worm similar to a leech. It had no eyes but many long thin tendrils that were flailing around in all directions. The creature''s body soon crumbled into dust after getting pierced by Zhang Dong''s needle.

    The woman''s body was then gently guided to the ground, her pale complexion becoming rosier after the treatment.

    During the examination, he noticed some kind of bug inside the woman. The small long noodle-like appendages connected directly to her brain. The creature had taken over her body in this way. The treatment forced the strange creature to escape while the holy energies nursed her body back to health without causing brain damage.

    This wasn''t an easy thing to do, one misstep and the patient could be put in a vegetable state. Luckily Zhang Dong was a proficient doctor who had treated many patients through all these years already.

    "She should be fine, the creature has left her body but it might take some time before she wakes up. Now I''ll take care of the rest. There could be some side effects like short term memory loss. "

    There were three more patients and he couldn''t do this too fast as there was a probability of harming them. The more entrenched in the nervous system the creatures were the harder it became to pry them away.

    ''If I had the time I could make pills to simulate this healing process. I should probably capture one of these things as a sample.''

    He gave out a sigh and made the other affected by the parasitic monster float over towards him. There was no time to wait, he needed to get to the source before it was too late.

 Chapter 253

    When he was about to remove himself from this village one of the elders spoke up. It was an old man that used to be the village head before this all happened.

    "P-please honorable senior, grace us with your name, we will be sure to repay this favor in the future!"

    The man''s eyes were sparkling with devotion and Zhang Dong could already tell that he was in full worshiping mode. This happened from time to time when he pulled off stunts like this so he was used to playing the part.

    "There is no need to know my name¡­ but if you ever come across someone from the United Element Sect or one of their allies, please give them aid. Now I bid you farewell."

    He left on that note. Maybe in the future, these people could repay him by helping one of his sect members. The world was vast and even these people could end up entangled with his sect. One of the young ones could grow up to be a powerful master that aids them in the time of need.

    ''Think I''ve read too many novels¡­''

    He chuckled to himself while flying away as the scenario that he just thought about sounded like your generic fantasy setting. A mysterious master saves a village, someone from it then sets out on a grand adventure to find this benefactor and then they meet up many years later.

    ''Karma is a thing here, so getting a lot of it might be a good idea. As long as it isn''t bad karma¡­''

    He continued with his journey, the village was like a tiny dot without any mist around it now. He could only hope that the people living there would be fine from now on.

    There were many other villages along the way towards the main city the Divine Fist Sect was stationed. He couldn''t make a stop at each one of them, he would spend days clearing this mist himself like this.

    ''I need help... ''

    Zhang Dong realized that doing this alone would only cause more casualties to happen. He could very well see himself going from village to village, city to city, and helping people out by placing formations against the mist.

    This would be like putting a bandaid on a severed leg. The true source of this miasma was elsewhere and even if he visited every single city in this region nothing would be solved. The fog would probably increase in its intensity and cause the lesser formations to crumble.

    He activated his secret technique, the Embodiment of the Thunder God saw the light of day again. His entire body was covered with lightning bolts and his muscles expanded.

    It pained him but he decided to turn a blind eye to the people in the immediate area he was in. He saw the bigger picture but this would probably cause some of the people here to be lost. He would need to live with this decision but in the long run, it would save more lives, at least that is what he was telling himself while gritting his teeth.

    He shut off his senses from the surroundings, knowing well that if he felt someone in need calling out that he would stop in his tracks and intervene. The fastest way of solving this problem was by taking it out at the root.

    While flying forward he activated his system window. He needed to send a message to his wife and sect. Their help would be needed soon. He previously thought that he would be fighting the monster at the location it was recuperating. A mistake was made, the mist was an unexpected variable with which he would be needing aid from his people.

    "Liena I need you to do something¡­"

    After sending it he pushed his cultivation to its limit and propelled himself towards his destination. Everything blurred and lightning crackled as he booked it. With this speed, he was finally able to arrive at his destination, the Divine Fist Sect''s main location.

    He stopped while looking at the waypoint on his system map. His glowing lightning form subsided and he let out a sigh. He had gone through quite a bit of his spiritual energy to arrive here this fast. Even though his body was already past the old human limitations he was still sweating.

    ''This doesn''t look good either¡­''

    He was floating a couple of kilometers away from the main sect site. Below him was a peculiar sight though. Many monsters and beasts were slowly walking towards where the sect was located. There were all types of beasts and monstrosities down there, even ones that were previously humans.

    All of them were heading in one direction and that was a sect covered in a defensive formation. It was just like he had presumed, the sect was still there but it wasn''t quite untouched.

    The city he was seeing here was built into some kind of giant rocky formation. It was as if the whole place was placed in a hole after a meteorite hit. The middle spot was slightly elevated and that was also where the main castle-like structure was. There was a large tower standing tall, he could even feel powerful divine energies coming off from it.

    The rest of the city was below ground level and it was surrounded from all sides by natural rocky walls. He could see that the people living here had inserted their own structures into those natural walls. There were two giant towers constructed with a main gate in the middle. It looked like this city only had one main entrance.

    The structures had the usual eastern fantasy vibe to them. There were giant pagodas and buildings with slanted roofs everywhere and there was a staggering amount of them. The whole area where these structures were was surrounded by a faint golden barrier that exuded divine energies.

    These energies were similar to his own holy elemental but they were of lesser quality. They were from a lesser dao of the divine which took its might from the greater dao that he was still learning.

    ''That divine aura is faint¡­ it''s not going to last more than a day unless they recharge it somehow¡­''

    He wasn''t sure how things looked on the inside but from his standpoint, it was looking grim. There were millions of monsters going towards this defensive formation and at the front, he could even see them slamming their bodies into it.

    The mist was everywhere, its concentration was higher than the one back in the village he saved. This meant that he was probably a lot closer to the source.

    Zhang Dong had arrived here in a flashy way so the monsters and the people in the city were very much aware of his presence. It didn''t take long for some of the beasts that had flying capabilities to say hello.

    "Not so fast ugly face¡­"

    A monster that looked like a pterodactyl approached him. The most characteristic part besides the long beak and the webbed wings were the mass of tentacles sticking out of its head. They had clearly pierced this creature''s brain and were now in charge of its motor functions.

    It was quite large, the size of a truck. It opened its large beak to reveal razor-sharp teeth and even more tentacles. It had chosen its opponent poorly though as before it could reach Zhang Dong it found itself cut into a thousand tiny pieces by his blade.

    The monster wasn''t alone, there were many similar ones right behind it with more odd-looking companions. Some he recognized as altered flying beasts, there was even one that looked like a phoenix just instead of the fire it was made from more black tentacles.

    There were many opponents but none of them was above the core formation level. They weren''t his match and after a couple of swings of his blade, they were turned into sashimi. Their body parts landed down below to only be devoured by the mass of monsters on the ground.

    Some of the beasts even fused with the body parts that he had sliced apart. They created new fused monstrosities that looked like they were straight out of a horror flick.

    Zhang Dong was like a light bulb in the dark, the monsters that had previously focused on the Divine Fist Sect''s defenses quickly turned around. They focused on the person in the sky and tried to devour him. Luckily for him, they had only numbers on their side.

    He flew towards the city at a moderate pace while taking out anything that got in range of his blade. With his sword heart, nothing could stand in his way. The beasts and creatures on the ground clamored, the tentacles from their bodies extending upwards but when they got close to his radiant aura they crumbled into dust.

    The people inside the city could clearly see him approaching slowly. He also made sure that he was flashy in his movement that they would take notice.

    Zhang Dong had a bit of a flashback to the old times. To the time he aided his clan members during the fight against the other clans. This had a very similar feeling to it, but this time around he didn''t need to be careful he could just force his way in without any reservation.

    ..........

    "W-who is that person? The beasts stand no chance and he can move in that demonic mist without a problem!"

    A Divine Sect elder that was standing on one of the watchtowers said while looking at Zhang Dong flying over. A disciple had already been dispatched to alert the grand elder who was the only nascent soul elder capable of fighting.

    Fang Heng was this person, he was Fang Meili''s grandfather that Zhang Dong had rescued not so long ago. He appeared at the watchtower next to the core formation elder that was responsible here. Even before getting a report, he shouted out so that everyone here could hear him.

    "Lower the power to the formation and open a path for Senior Dong!"

    The man looked tired and had bags under his eyes. He was also a lot thinner than the last time Zhang Dong had seen him. He thought that all hope was lost and that no help would be coming but now there was some light at the end of the tunnel.

    "Well? What are you waiting for!"

    He barked out the order once more as the sect elders weren''t sure about going through with this. They knew that opening up the barrier would weaken it exponentially. There would be no next time after that and the monsters would invade the city. Their elder knew this man though and he was exuding a tremendous amount of divine spiritual energy, he looked like an ally.

    A small human size hole opened up for Zhang Dong who promptly sliced up the remaining flying enemies and dove inside. The people that greeted him started bowing but before they could finish and before Fang Heng could greet him, Zhang Dong waved his hand for them to stop.

    "Yeah, yeah¡­ honorable senior this¡­ esteemed elder that. Stop wasting time and show me the way to your grand defensive formation, we have some work to do!"

    He said in a commanding voice while descending down. It was time to bring his sect members over and take the fight to these monsters.

 Chapter 254

    Fang Heng looked at the white-haired man that was walking in front of him. This was the person that had aided his granddaughter in the banquet. He didn''t expect to see him here of all places.

    He had received a device to set up a teleportation gate with him but it wasn''t working. When he and some of his sect members examined it further they found out the problem. It was this blasted mist. It was somehow blocking out the signal from traveling further.

    There was a proposition of carrying it above clouds but that would put many lives at risk. There were many monsters outside the protective formation that would instantly swarm them. He was the only nascent cultivator there that would be able to contend with these beasts.

    His allies were mostly at lower realms and these creatures outnumbered them one to a hundred. They had no way of knowing if that plan would even work. Even if they got this beacon high enough for the signal to go through. There was no guarantee that the man that gave him it would appear instantly.

    They had abandoned this idea, taking a more passive approach while waiting. They were hopeful that this mist would clear up with time but instead it was only getting thicker.

    "So, the mist appeared even before you returned?"

    Fang Heng''s thoughts were interrupted as Zhang Dong spoke up to ask him a question.

    "Yes senior, it began going through the lands about the same time we arrived at the banquet. It wasn''t as bad as this when I arrived here... but it has been getting worse with time passing¡­"

    Zhang Dong nodded while rubbing his chin.

    "So it started after you forced that monster back into its lair¡­ it might have changed strategies. How long has this attack been going on for?"

    Fang Heng nodded as Zhang Dong pointed this out. This was also what he and the people from his sect deducted. With the mist, the beasts outside, and even the humans were all corrupted by something. If the monster was intelligent it would try to take care of their enemies with the help of its minions, it was a basic strategy.

    "It started with my return, with each day the monsters get stronger and our defensive formation weakens. These beings are susceptible to our divine arts but there are just too many. If this continues the array won''t last for more than a few days..."

    Fang Heng replied while moving his head down in distraught. He hasn''t been able to sleep for days and was slowly reaching the end of his rope. But after seeing Zhang Dong in action he was feeling invigorated. The power that he showed outside was immense, he took out a quarter of the monsters outside just by himself while slowly approaching. With him around Heng was feeling hopeful once more.

    "First let me look at your grand formation, I must strengthen it. This miasma is blocking out my teleportation treasures, I need to seek aid from my sect members. This is not something I can take care of myself."

    Zhang Dong proclaimed, the people next to him were surprised that someone of his status was so humble. He actually was willing to say that he wasn''t able to take care of this situation even with the immense amount of power that he wielded.

    He was led towards the large castle structure in the middle of the meteor impact. It had a giant tower right in the middle that looked like a lighthouse. There was a bright yellow light shining from within it. The light slowly moved clockwise in a circular pattern while illuminating the whole sect.

    This was one of the treasures that the Divine Fist Sect was proud of. It was a holy stone that radiated divine Qi, it was placed in the middle of a massive formation and it was powering it. The only problem was that the light was slowly dimming, with each spin the brightness dwindled by a small fraction.

    The two nascent soul elders headed up towards this lighthouse. Fang Heng was skeptical about what Zhang Dong could do but he did possess one of the purest divine auras that he had ever seen. It was even above their sect leader and also above any of the hidden council members.

    Those were also down to only three, they were all resting in the middle of this lighthouse. Sleeping in a self-induced coma as they had almost given up their lives to fight against that monstrosity.

    "Interesting¡­"

    Zhang Dong looked at the tennis ball-sized gem inside of this ''lighthouse''. It looked like a yellow diamond and was giving off a strong divine aura. It was similar to his own but wasn''t quite there when it came to purity. It was also running low on spiritual energy, luckily for the Divine Fist Sect, he had looked into spiritual battery technology.

    With a slight wave of the wrist, his spatial ring was activated and three small cubes appeared. Fang Heng looked with interest at the items Zhang Dong produced. These items were the size of a regular rubix cube, they were silver and shiny. Their surface was covered with strange runic patterns that the older elder had no way of discerning.

    Zhang Dong didn''t want to waste time. He moved his hand forward and with the help of his cultivation base the cubes floated towards the shiny gem. The cubes formed a triangle around its target while gently floating around it.

    With a snap of his finger, the treasures that were used for storing vast amounts of spiritual energy were activated. Thanks to the large spirit vein running under his sect Zhang Dong was able to produce these items. They were lesser versions of the cubes that he discovered previously in his travels.

    Fang Heng''s eyes opened wide as he saw Zhang Dong performing some kind of strange hand movements. As he did small arcs of electricity started shooting out of those small cubes. First, they connected to each other via those electrical passages.

    The three cubes started floating faster and faster while the arcs of electricity connected them together. With a bit of time those bolts of energy connected with the gem in the middle. It started out slowly but soon enough the lighthouse treasure started radiating bright light.

    There was something off, Fang Heng felt that the energy that this treasure was giving off was vastly greater than what it was previously capable of. The faint yellow light was also changing into a deeper color, it looked more akin to Zhang Dong''s aura that was pure gold.

    A strange buzzing sound filled the entire lighthouse as the cubes started spinning faster than a plane''s propeller. This was followed by an explosion of energy that caused the light to burst in all directions.

    The people from the sect that were waiting outside the tower were hearing all of this while standing outside. This caused them to look up high at the strange phenomenon.

    "W-what is that?"

    They were baffled by what was happening, they were all old men and women that had spent all of their life here. This beacon of light had stood there illuminating their lives since they were children.

    After that cultivator from the United Element Sect had entered it changed. Instead of the faint yellow light that they were used to, they were greeted with a deeper golden color that illuminated their sect brighter than before.

    The protective shield that was close to flickering out of existence was invigorated almost instantly. The shield expanded in scope while pushing the outside monsters back. The ones that were the closest started burning up. It was as if the holy light was burning these demons to cinders, angry at their unholy existence.

    "I''ll have to apologize for what I''m about to do, but this is necessary for now¡­"

    "Huh?"

    Fang Heng wasn''t sure what to expect but he saw Zhang Dong cracking his fist together. Then he pulled it back while gathering his spiritual energy into it. It was clear to him that he was winding up for a punch. Before he could stop him or ask about what he was aiming at the fist was thrown toward the ceiling.

    A large boom reverberated throughout the whole sect area and the people below were stupefied even more. Their holy beacon of light, the divine lighthouse of legends that was their sect''s symbol had its top blown right off. They dodged to the side while the white marble rocks crumbled down below.

    The moment the tower''s ceiling was opened the light shot up through it. This was Zhang Dong''s aim. He needed this holy light that he empowered with a support array and his battery cubes to go higher. To reach the skies and to part the clouds along with this miasma that was blocking out the signal to his teleportation beacon.

    So it did, the burst of light caused the protective formation to expand even further than before. The monsters that were circling above them in the hopes to attack were quickly turned to grilled tentacle meat.

    Zhang Dong shouted out while moving his hand forward. He wasn''t done yet, there wasn''t quite enough power flowing into this divine treasure. There was also a little problem with the whole procedure, the gem started to crack, it was unable to handle so much spiritual energy at one go.

    Fang Heng also saw this, sweat appearing on his forehead as he didn''t know what he should do. He wasn''t someone that was versed in holy treasures, nor was he a craftsman. Besides cultivation, he had no other passions so this was above him. He looked to the white-haired man that was exuding an even brighter glow than this whole lighthouse. It was up to him to take care of this, if he failed a battle against a horde of monsters was waiting for them.

    Zhang Dong utilized all of his knowledge that he had gained in the last five years to mend this fissure. The gem was nothing more than a source of power that converted spiritual energy into divine might. But due to the abrupt rise in this spiritual energy, it was being overloaded, he just needed to streamline the process for it to stabilize.

    It was simple in theory but he was rushing which caused him to actually blunder. If he had done it slower the gem would have probably not cracked at all. He now needed to aid it with his own cultivation base. Luckily the healing energies that he possessed would work on this item as well, after a couple of moments the cracks that were previously there started mending themselves back.

    The whole formation churned with astonishing power as it finally stabilized itself. The whole Divine Fist Sect was bathed in golden light. The disciples, elders, and even the animals here quickly noticed the change in the divine aura that was now many times purer. Some of the people could even feel their wounds being mended by just being closer to the tower of light.

    "T-this is¡­ so pure¡­ such a refined saintly glow¡­ how is this possible?"

    Fang Heng had to cover his eyes for a moment as the glow was even too bright for him. He could feel invigorated by just being in the presence of this enhanced holy formation. He could even tell that some of his old bottlenecks were getting cleared up. Old doors that remained shut for ages were getting forced to open and he knew that if he stayed here to cultivate he might even reach the late stage. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="/book/unfathomable-patriarch_15646772505511005/chapter-254_51067672888135495">/book/unfathomable-patriarch_15646772505511005/chapter-254_51067672888135495</a> for visiting.

    "Phew...I mean... It went just as planned, now I should be able to call my sect members!"

    Zhang Dong quickly corrected himself while trying to appear as the unfathomable senior that everyone saw him as. The formation was in full swing now, what remained was to get his people over here and go kick some monster ass.

 Chapter 255

    Zhang Liena was walking through one of the corridors in her mansion. It had been about a week since her son was born. Normally it would take at least a month to get back to full health. With the technology that her husband supplied the sect with the time required went down dramatically.

    She was just returning from one of the better sect doctors. The man didn''t hold a candle to her husband but he was the next best thing. She was given the seal of approval, now was the time to get ready to move out. Her husband had sent her a message that he had arrived at the Divine Fist Sect headquarters and that he would be setting up a teleportation gate.

    He also sent another message that worried her. Previously the plan was for only the nascent soul elders to move out. Now on the other hand she was supposed to bring over more people. He gave her instructions to take the formation masters as well as the healers that were proficient with holy energies.

    Zhang Dong had set up various branches of his own original dao. There were special sections that trained people in his advanced heavenly lightning skills. The other one was for his healing dao with the holy spiritual energy. Even with those two created there was no one who was proficient in both as him. Even his two current disciples had a hard time in adding a second dao to their repertoire.

    Both of them tried with limited success, Liena even let her younger sister try one of them out but she failed miserably with both. Nuana her sister was handed the wind cultivation method that she herself was cultivating instead. She already knew that Zhang Dong was the person that made him and not his so-called master, Wei Hung.

    While she continued to walk she thought back to the time the two got married. She had been quite eager to be accepted as Zhang Dong''s bride. Who wouldn''t be? He was a young nascent soul master, any woman in her position would have given herself to someone like him. He was handsome, strong, and still young with a bright future ahead. There wasn''t really anyone that could match him in his age bracket.

    She might have gone through with the wedding with superficial reasoning. At that time she thought that she was in love, there was a sense of longing to be together with that man. In time she realized that it wasn''t that easy.

    It was more due to her upbringing that this sense of wanting originated. He was just the perfect partner for any young lady at her age. He was just the right business choice with the best future prospect out of them all.

    She came to a stop and glanced to the side. There she could see her young daughter running around along with some of the maids, her grandfather was also there. Liena started smiling as her little boy was also out there. He was sleeping in a special protective crib that would keep him warm even in cold weather.

    ''That might have been then¡­ but now I see that the choice was the only right one.''

    After some time passed she noticed that her stone-faced husband wasn''t quite the man that she thought he was. The word that she would describe him the most would be ''quirky''. He would put up a facade to keep people out but after it melted, his true character surfaced.

    Zhang Dong the Patriarch that everyone loved was just a face that he used. In reality, he was very awkward and even shy. He had trouble in expressing his emotions at first but the two had crossed that bridge with time.

    Even now Liena remembered one of the times that he prepared a surprise for her. It was exactly a year after they got married. He called it an ''anniversary'', it was quite the novel experience. There was a surprise dinner party with only the two of them at a faraway location. A nice moonlight dinner with just the two of them. The way that he blushed that time was something that she would remember fondly to this day.

    ''Think it was since then¡­''

    "Matriarch Liena, we are ready for your inspection. Lord Qiang has been informed and he will be arriving shortly."

    Her train of thought got interrupted after she arrived at her destination. This was a hidden gathering room with enough space for over a thousand people to fit in. This would be also close to the number of sect brothers and sisters that would be attending in this expedition. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="/book/unfathomable-patriarch_15646772505511005/chapter-255_51114937644269677">/book/unfathomable-patriarch_15646772505511005/chapter-255_51114937644269677</a> for visiting.

    "Ah yes, tell him to hurry up, we can''t have the Patriarch wait after he activates the teleportation gate."

    She covered her face with one of her battle fans while speaking. These weapons were brand new and of the heaven grading, specially made by her husband. It was also one of the anniversary gifts that he had offered her.

    Actually, after the two had started doing these anniversary events the sect people picked up on the trend. It started to be popular for couples to do things such as this. Both of them would give each other some kind of gift each year.

    This left Liena in a bit of a bind. She wasn''t that good at making items and could only spend spirit stones on buying them from other people. She tried making up that gap in other fields that her husband greatly appreciated.

    She blushed a bit after thinking about that last part. The person that called out to her was still there but couldn''t see her face that was behind that large jade green fan. She decided to move forward to inspect her troops.

    She could see many people in various robes. There were about a hundred sect elders here that were above the core formation level. After five years of cultivating most of the elders that were stuck at the foundation establishment realm made a breakthrough. With the spirit vein in place and Zhang Dong''s improved cultivation manuals, everyone soared.

    The United Element Sect was slowly making up for the time. They now had a similar number of core formation seniors to similar-sized sects. With the better cultivation methods, they were also of higher quality.

    "Yes, like that. Please make sure to form a line towards the teleportation gate, the moment the Patriarch activates the beacon we will move through. We aren''t sure what will be on the other side so be ready for battle!"

    There was a large teleportation gate in the middle of this room. It was connected to the beacons that Zhang Dong had with him. The sect members clasped their hands and nodded.

    The people that were gathered here were composed mostly of core and inner disciples and also elders. They were the backbone of the new generation that was still developing, within time some of them were primed to reach the nascent soul level.

    "Did someone say battle?"

    Liena looked to the side and spotted a large red-haired man flying over. She covered half of her face with her fan while looking him over.

    This was Huo Qiang, the other founding member besides her and Zhang Dong. He was wearing a tight-fitting black shirt that showed off his pecks. His thick arms were covered by intricate looking ruby gauntlets, their thickness only made the man''s arms look larger.

    She still didn''t like Qiang all that much. The man was self-centered and haughty, he was of the mindset that fighting was the end all be all. Liena also disliked the fact that he had a large harem of ladies stashed away in his estate. Her husband was different, he was monogamous, something rarely seen in this world of cultivation.

    "You finally graced us with your presence, Qiang?"

    Qiang smirked while looking at Liena. Both of them started staring at each other while the disciples and other elders sweated at the sidelines. Everyone here knew that these two didn''t see eye to eye. The only person who could actually control them wasn''t here so they were afraid that a fight might break out.

    "Are those wrinkles that I see?"

    "What did you say? Did your brain shrink even more?"

    Qiang laughed out while throwing a small jab at Liena. She on the other hand quickly retailed with a few chosen words. The people around them started backing away even more, sweat covered their foreheads instantly. Luckily for them, there were two people present that could diffuse the situation.

    "Please Aunt and Uncle calm down, you are scaring the other disciples."

    A person moved between the two. He had a similar look to the fabled Patriarch. His hair was pure white and he was very dashing. His name was Zhang Liu and he was Zhang Dong''s disciple.

    "Yes, why don''t we drink some tea before Master opens up the teleportation gate?"

    The second one was a white-haired maiden. She was the most beautiful woman in the sect from the junior generation. Her name was Zhang Xue and she was also Zhang Dong''s disciple. A bit further away was another young woman, this one had golden hair, her name was Fang Meili.

    Liena turned her head to the side while giving out a sound of discomfort with her mouth. Qiang on the other hand shrugged as if this was something that he was already used to and didn''t care about.

    She looked at the blond girl at the side and then back to Zhang Xue that was with her. She knew that her husband brought over a lady from the city that he had come from. The girl looked to be close to twenty years of age and was quite the beauty. Liena was out of commission for a week so she didn''t have the time to meet her.

    Some people even started spreading rumors that she was a concubine that Zhang Dong brought over. This was something that her husband wouldn''t do. She was quite confident about this, even more after she examined the girl in front of her. Fang Meili''s lacked a set of assets that would make her husband interested in her. It would be highly unlikely for her husband to be attracted to this girl that was a bit too skinny for his tastes.

    "This is cousin Meili, Master invited her into the sect, she is a relative from grandfather''s side¡­"

    Zhang Xue moved her head a bit to the side while blushing. By just mentioning Zhang Jin everyone in here knew how this Meili was related to everyone.

    "Is that so,... You have my condolences."

    Liena nodded while rolling her eyes. She had no idea how her husband was related to ''that thing''. How one person''s desires could take over reasoning like that baffled this Matriarch greatly. She was really glad that her husband didn''t do these sorts of things when he went away. If he was like Qiang or Jin there would be quite a bit of babies running around the premises already.

    Meili looked at Liena with a strange look on her face. The girl wasn''t sure why but whenever this Zhang Jin was mentioned people tended to look away. She herself had evaded meeting her ancestor from the other side of the family. Somehow Zhang Xue had always evaded questions about him whenever she prodded for answers.

    Everyone was ready for departure and just in time as Liena received a message from her husband. Following it the gate received the coordinates for its activation. It was time to depart and show off the skills of the United Element Sect.

 Chapter 256

    Zhang Dong had gotten the lighthouse running up again. The holy light filled the entire city and bathed its citizens with healing energies. These were much purer than the divine ones that they were used to. The people that were stuck in lower cultivation realms could feel themselves advancing by just being in the presence of this energy.

    He had destroyed the roof of this tower but the people here didn''t care. They were looking at Zhang Dong with worship in their eyes and he knew it. This was the usual way people in this world reacted when someone above them helped them on their cultivation journey. They were probably already considering him half a teacher by this point.

    This wasn''t why he was here though, the miasma was cleared up. It was time to call over his people to this place.

    "Edler Heng, I need a wide plot of land to set up the teleportation array¡­"

    "Elder Heng?"

    Zhang Dong called out twice while Fang Heng spaced out. The old man was still looking at the dazzling golden gem in the middle of the lighthouse. He was also staring at the big hole in the ceiling.

    "Ah? Yes, excuse me for my rudeness Senior."

    The old man shook his head around while he gathered his thoughts. Zhang Dong gave him some time to relax as he knew that what he did here was unprecedented.

    "Please follow me, We have already prepared an area."

    The two nascent soul masters finally descended from the tower. Both of them flew down and into an open field. The ground was pure white marble and he could see a large fountain right in the middle. There were various statues here and there but most of it was just open space. It was in front of the large lighthouse and probably just a spot for people to gather or look at it.

    "Yes, this will do. After I set up the teleportation gate please guide me to your sect elders, I might be able to heal them. It would be best if we had more people helping our cause."

    Zhang Dong wanted to examine the people that went against the upgraded version of his old enemy. Supposedly the sect leader was one of the survivors. All of them practiced some form of divine arts so they would come in handy in the coming battle.

    Elder Heng nodded and quickly passed on the information to some of his sect members. They would prepare everything as well as clear up the rubble from the partially destroyed divine lighthouse.

    "That would be reassuring, the sect leader and the other elders are beneath this lighthouse. With the new divine energies filling it they might recover much faster, Senior Dong. If you wish to see them, I will guide you myself."

    "Good, let us begin then. This won''t take long."

    Zhang Dong pulled out the teleportation beacon that he had brought over from home. If it was him he could use the system to teleport to such a device but it wouldn''t be that easy for his sect members to do the same. He needed to create a teleportation array here along with a teleportation gate. It would need to be connected to the one at his sect ground and only then would his troops be able to come here.

    He waved his hand, his spatial ring was activated once more and a large metallic box dropped down to the ground. It looked like a wide platform, it seemed quite heavy as the floor buckled under the pressure creating some cracks.

    Other people from the Divine Fist Sect gathered around. Everyone was curious about what this man was capable of. After what he did to their tower they were taking notes, it was like looking at a hidden master giving them pointers.

    After the strange piece of metal was placed Zhang Dong reached out with his hand. He pushed out a faint amount of spiritual energy while pointing at it. As it seeped into the piece of metal the people around here could hear faint crackling noises.

    The large piece of metal started moving into action. First, more runes appeared on it before it started changing shape. The metal started unfolding itself and in a short time, a round object that looked like a giant halo appeared before them. At the base, it still had a metallic platform on which it was balancing its weight.

    Zhang Dong took out the cube-shaped teleportation beacon and threw it towards this halo. The cube floated towards it and embedded itself into the base where there was a small square spot for it. The moment the bacon was attached to this gate a humming sound was heard.

    The inside of it started to slowly fill up with blue spiritual energy. It looked like water was coming together out of the outermost parts of this empty halo. Slowly but surely the energies connected with each other, it looked like an ocean that was rippling with waves.

    The teleportation gate was now in place. The shiny parts that made out the edges continued to glow with strange runes. These magical symbols continuously changed shapes until settling into a static pattern. When they did the gate churned with power and the unruly waves started calming down till they looked like a surface of a lake.

    Before signaling his people to come through the game Zhang dong turned to look at Fang Heng before speaking up.

    "I will signal my sect members to go through the gate, is that fine with you?"

    Fang Heng just nodded at the question. Zhang Dong posed it as a courtesy, he was bringing over his people here and more or less taking things over. This would normally be a hit to the face of any sect. No one liked when other forces got involved and they now had to listen to them. This was an emergency situation, Fang Heng was just grateful that his sect had a fighting chance now.

    "If you wish to send other members of your family away from here they can go through the gate. They will arrive in my lands and be safe even if the monster isn''t contained."

    Fang Heng rubbed his chin while hearing Zhang Dong talk. Having an option to evacuate the non-combatants was something that they could use. The problem was that if he announced it now, some of the sect members might panic and try to force themselves into the teleportation portal.

    "You have my thanks senior, I will bring it up with the other elders and we will decide on it with haste."

    Within a moment''s notice, people started walking through the teleportation gate that he created. The first person that appeared through it was a large muscular man with red hair. Zhang Dong expected his wife to be the first one through but he also knew that it would be Qiang''s style to muscle his way through as a prank.

    "Greetings brother, I heard there would be many monsters to fight?"

    He walked through with a big grin on his face while exuding plasma energy. Zhang Dong could feel that his sect brother was close to pushing through the early stage and the people here also took note. The moment he stepped through they backed away in fright, Qiang was not hiding any of that energy away which put some strain on the cultivators here.

    "Hey stop that, we are guests."

    Zhang Dong''s lower lip moved downwards slightly as he waved his hand around to disperse the oppressive nascent soul aura from seeping through. This made the others relax somewhat.

    "Is that idiot causing trouble already?"

    The next person to walk through the gate was a beautiful woman. She couldn''t be considered a jade beauty by this world''s standards, her looks were quite more unorthodox. It was his lovely wife all dressed up in a light green robe that went well with her wind elemental esthetic.

    Zhang Dong''s eyes moved from his flaming friend over to his wife. He hadn''t seen her for a week and even back home she was bedridden. Seeing her this lively brought a smile to his face, this smile quickly faded though as he needed to keep up his stone-faced senior persona. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="/book/unfathomable-patriarch_15646772505511005/chapter-256_51161017023003516">/book/unfathomable-patriarch_15646772505511005/chapter-256_51161017023003516</a> for visiting.

    This didn''t go unnoticed by the tanned beauty. She moved one of her green fans closer to her face to cover a smile of her own. She wanted to move towards her husband and give him a hug but she knew that this wasn''t the time or place to show affection. She knew that this was serious as her husband did explain the whole situation back home.

    "It''s nice to see you, are you feeling well?"

    Zhang Dong asked while walking towards his wife with an outstretched hand. He did it to help her go down from the platform. It was kind of a strange thing to see, someone helping a nascent soul master walk down a platform. He still wanted to be courteous towards her, slightly worried that she didn''t fully recover after giving birth.

    "You don''t need to worry my husband, I have eaten all the spirit medicine that you left me. You should stop worrying about small things. Think we had some lowly beasts to slay?"

    "Yeah, where are they? I''m itching for a fight."

    Qiang proclaimed from the side while cracking his large fist. It was already covered in red energy as he was ready to let loose some of that pent up rage.

    "They are outside this protective formation, take some of the elders with you. There are a lot of them you might need some help. Also, try not to harm the possessed humans, we might be able to cure them, use our sect members for this task."

    Zhang Dong replied while snapping out of it, looking at his wife brought his mind back home. He remembered that this was no time for such things. They needed to take care of those monsters outside and then go to those ruins, the main enemy was waiting there.

    While the three original elders from the United Element Sect talked more people started walking through the portal. Zhang Liu was next, followed by Zhang Xue and Fang Meili. Everyone moved by rank and after the nascent soul masters, Xue and Liu had the most prestige. They were young core formation disciples of the sect leader. There were also other people from the clans walking with them, they looked similar to Qiang by their looks.

    The moment Fang Meili walked out her grandfather Fang Heng''s eyes bulged out. He was not expecting to see her here.

    "Meili''er what are you doing here?"

    "Grandfather!?"

    The blond girl jumped up with join and quickly ran towards her grandfather. She gave him a big hug while the old man placed his hand on her head with a mixed expression. The young girl started sobbing, the rest of the United Element Sect members just moved to the side as they started coming in.

    There were a lot of them using that teleportation gate. They were wearing similar robes to the ones Zhang Dong had created all those years for the secret ground expedition. The biggest difference was that they were color-coded by rank, which meant that most of them were dark violet.

    After everyone was inside the gate was turned off to not waste the spiritual energy. Gates like this were very power-hungry and the further a person had to travel the more Qi they drained. With everyone here the plan could finally continue, there were about one thousand sect members here with a hundred of them being core formation experts.

    "Everyone listen up. We have all gathered here to aid our friends from the Divine Fist Sect in their time of need. We need to cleanse these lands from these despicable demonic beings! There is one problem, the monsters that are outside are only a diversion, the true evil demon lies further away¡­"

    Zhang Dong started speaking to his people. It was time to organize his troops. Huo Qiang would be responsible for clearing out the immediate threat of the monsters outside. He on the other hand with the sect members that were versed in healing arts would try to help out the remaining nascent soul elders from the Divine Fist Sect.

    It was time to bring the fight to the demonic beings.

 Chapter 257

    Huo Qiang smashed both of his large fists together. After these five years, he had grown a nice red beard to go with his crimson hair that was now longer as well. He was getting ready to jump out of the protective formation along with some of his sect brothers. There was also a particular group of youngsters among them, each one with similar crimson hair as Qiang.

    "Father, the barrier will be opening soon."

    "Great, are you and the boys ready?"

    Huo Qiang was grinding wide while looking behind him. There were about ten youths that looked similar to each other in one way or another. At the front stood Huo Kong that was looking like a younger version of his father already. The others behind him were his brothers that Huo Qiang had sired.

    They were all at the core formation level all of them were at the early stage. Kong was the furthest one in and the closest to reaching the middle stage. With the United Element Sect''s new techniques and ample spiritual resources, people that were core members could rise up their rank rather quickly.

    "I''ll be taking care of most of them, try not to get in my way when we are out there!"

    He grinned while his body started shining in crimson. He started flying upwards toward the protective barrier. Now when it was empowered there was no fear of it closing. Qiang just needed to wait a moment for the Divine Fist Sect elders to open a path for him. When they did the United Element Sect would show these monsters their might.

    The youths looked at their father flying into the distance. They knew that it was wise to not be too close to their pops. He liked to go wild, he had a hard time containing his power and when someone sparred with him they ended up injured in one way or the other. The only person that they knew that could contend with him was Zhang Dong.

    Even though he was the number two of the sect, they were still very proud to be his kids. But due to the fact that there were a lot of them here, some family infighting was inevitable. Huo Qiang had a similar outlook about relationsh.i.p.s as Zhang Jin. He didn''t have as many wives or kids as the old man, still there were over a hundred of them.

    Every child wanted to be on top then they could inherit the family head title. There were also kids from side families and now new sect members that could affect the power dynamics of their clan. The group here wanted to prove themselves to their father, if they were useful they were hoping for rewards such as status.

    "Don''t think you will be on top forever, brother¡­"

    One of the red-haired youths stuck his chin up while looking at Huo Kong.

    "You can try little brother, but we both know who the superior one is!"

    Huo Kong replied while smirking at the other youth. He could see that the moment he did the younger brother''s forehead started showing quite the bulging vein. The redness in his face wasn''t something that he wouldn''t notice either.

    "You just wait! I''ll be sure to kill more monsters than you do. Do you dare to make a wager with me if you are that confident!"

    Huo Kong raised his eyebrow at the callout. This younger brother of his had quite a mouth to him but he also had some skills to back it up. He wasn''t far behind Kong in cultivation but he always managed to be a step ahead so he wouldn''t fear making a wager.

    "What do you want to wager? Spirit herbs? Spirit stones?"

    "No, those are plentiful and easy to come by¡­ We will wager Fairy Xue!"

    Huo Kong almost tripped over as the large smirk covering his face turned upside down. He was clearly having trouble processing what this younger brother was talking about.

    "F-fairy Xue?... w-what do you mean Kueng?"

    The younger brother was called Huo Kueng smirked while looking to the side. There she was in the distance, Zhang Xue. She was in the process of walking together with her master Zhang Dong. She and a group of sect members were following the Patriarch into the lighthouse to check up on the comatosed Divine Fist Sect elders.

    Huo Kong noticed this and he also looked, their conversation continued but in whispers as the red-haired youth started getting bashful.

    "How dare you propose a wager over Sister Xue!"

    He also started getting angry, his face showing a similar bulging vein on his forehead as his brothers did earlier. Huo Kueng was the one smirking now as he knew his older brother''s weak point.

    "What are you afraid that you would lose? I thought you were confident in your skills, brother Kong?"

    The other brothers looked at these two fighting. They were interested in where this would lead to and if Zhang Xue was on the line even they were considering taking part in the wager.

    "Afraid? Me?... never! What is the wager about exactly? Tell me now!"

    Huo Kong was easily irritated just like his father, he also didn''t think that he would lose to his younger brother. Kueng on the other hand straightened himself out and started listing the rules of this wager.

    "It''s simple brother, whoever wins will be the one to go ask for Fairy Xue''s company in the coming yearly sect festival. The one that loses will not interfere and promise not to bother Fairy Xue for a year! How is that, do you dare take this wager or are you too scared to accept it!"

    Huo Kueng pointed with his finger at Huo Kong that was starting to fume. His short temper was clearly getting to him.

    "If I accept this bet¡­ how will we determine the winner? Will we count how many monsters we kill?"

    Huo Kong was skeptical, how would they even go about this? Would someone be following after them and doing the counting, he couldn''t really trust his younger brother to not cheat if he didn''t have someone trustworthy performing the task.

    "No, remember what the Patriarch said about the people. We are to carry them over here to our healers. The one that carries over the most will win. Our doctors were tasked to write down the number of infected, they will do the counting for us."

    The younger brother smirked as if he was the smartest person around. To Huo Kong this would fix the issue of cheating, the doctors would be marking down who carried who over for future reference so that no people get lost.

    There was one small problem with this, Kong didn''t feel like it was very ethical to make a wager where people''s lives are involved. Someone might die if any of the youths were too overzealous in their rescuing.

    It didn''t sit too well with him to use these people''s lives during a bet. Before he could decline this offer he heard a high-pitched voice from the side. He recognized who it belonged to almost instantly due to how childlike it sounded.

    "What are you idiots doing? If the Senior Sister hears about this you will be punished!"

    The group of brothers turned to the side. The voice sounded cute and sweet yet annoyed, it clearly belonged to someone of the female gender. What they saw was quite the small looking girl with an overdeveloped chest and light pink hair. The skin tone and all-around style was similar to their sect''s Matriarch but her demeanor was quite different.

    "Nuana?"

    Huo Kong called out while the rage inside of him started to subside. This girl was Zhang Liena''s younger sister and where she was Zhang Liu was probably not far away. It didn''t take him long to notice the white-haired man standing a bit behind her, looking at him with an awkward expression.

    "Stay out of this sister Nuana, this is between us brothers!"

    Kueng was quick to stop the girl from talking. All of these youths here were from the same generation so they didn''t consider the Matriarch''s young sister above them. They were the sons of the number 2 person in the whole sect. In their eyes they might be even above them, they would be close in prestige to Zhang Dong''s own children.

    Even though Zhang Dong wanted to be done with the bloodline system. The people of this world weren''t willing to abandon it just yet. Even Zhang Xue and Liu, who were Zhang Dong''s disciples, weren''t that closely related by blood. He was only a distant uncle while these youths were direct descendants of a grand elder.

    But in the end, it also depended on how close the given person was to the elder in power. Zhang Dong wasn''t that great in asserting the pecking order. He evaded the struggles of the inner members of the sect along with the politics involved. He mostly kept to himself and let others take care of things like inner disputes. Even now he was long gone and not here, the junior members would have to clear things out amongst themselves.

    "Between you? This isn''t a picnic you fools, I''m going to tell my elder brother about this! You all will be sorry!"

    Nuana was part of the family now, she referred to Zhang Dong as ''elder brother''. This was quite different from calling him ''senior brother''. It was more intimate and showed a closer relationship between the two involved parties.

    The group for red-haired youths instantly shrunk back in fear when they heard that. The small girl was angrily pointing her finger at them while shouting. If she brought this up with the sect leader it could bring them trouble. There also was a chance that he wouldn''t care but would they be willing to anger that man?

    "Hah."

    Zhang Liu that was to the side finally decided to come over after hearing the commotion. He gave out a sigh while pushing Nuana to the side with his hand.

    "Stop with your nonsense all of you, can''t you see that Elder Qiang is already leaving the barrier? The other elders are also working, we from the junior generation can''t fall behind!"

    Huo Qiang and his younger brother turned to the side and could see their father powering up. His aura spiked while his soul beast was summoned, the path forward was now open and he was starting to attack.

    The older members from the sect that was also at the core formation level sprung to action as well. Almost all of them formed battle formations that took on the forms of various serpents and dragons. They looked similar to the old Zhang Clan formations but their quality and strength was far greater.

    "Now stop playing around all of you!"

    Zhang Liu''s expression shifted into one of contempt as his aura exploded forward. He was the top fighter of his generation and everyone knew that. He didn''t intend to fight these people, instead, he quickly jumped onto his flying sword and propelled himself towards the opening.

    Huo Qiang''s sons looked slightly dejected. Getting shouted at by Zhang Dong''s disciple was quite the hit to their face. He was also the brother of Zhang Xue that they all were aiming for which could cause some problems in the future if they tried courting her.

    "W-wait Senior Brother Liu, I''ll aid you!"

    "M-me too!"

    The brothers pulled out their own flying swords and gave chase. Huo Kong and his brother glared at each other before also taking off. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="/book/unfathomable-patriarch_15646772505511005/chapter-257_51207053418486653">/book/unfathomable-patriarch_15646772505511005/chapter-257_51207053418486653</a> for visiting.

    "We will resolve this later."

    "Yes, we will¡­"

    Everyone from the United Element Sect that was strong enough to face these monsters was now outside the barrier. Everyone here was greeted by millions of strange creatures, they all looked horrifying. They were also burning up due to the high amounts of plasma Huo Qiang''s Ifrit soul beast was now discharging towards them.

    "Leave the big ones to me, you all just save the people!"

    Huo Qiang gave his order while punching forward, his fiery fists causing widespread destruction and turning the monsters to ashes in just fractions of a second.

 Chapter 258

    Zhang Dong looked at Huo Qiang fly away towards the monsters. The little conversation that his sons and his disciples had evaded him as he was busy going towards the bottom of the light-tower. His wife wasn''t here with him as she remained outside to aid Qiang if anything out of the ordinary appeared outside.

    There were no nascent soul monsters out there yet but that didn''t mean that ones wouldn''t come to be. He knew how these tentacle beings operated. He only hoped that some of the affected humans that were out there could be saved.

    "Here''s a sample of one of those demon spawns, analyse it."

    He gave the monster worm that he extracted from one of the villagers to his best healer. The man''s name was Huo Fu, an oddball from the Huo clan.

    This man looked quite different from all the other muscle men that were born in that clan. He was quite short and lanky, his hair was messy and he didn''t look like the other warriors from that clan.

    Zhang Dong had discovered his high intelligence and talent for making remedies after having everyone scanned by his scanner. This happened years before the sect examination and was done to bring the people with talent to the forefront.

    This man had no knack for the teachings of his own clan, the element that he was best suited for was also the exact opposite which was water. After this discovery, he was given the correct teachings and he proved himself as one of the best pill and potion makers from the new sect. Now, Zhang Dong relied on him to perform certain tasks, examining a monster like this would fit Huo Fu''s expertise quite well.

    "This is¡­"

    The man looked at the bottle with the monster inside. The worm was wiggling around and its thin tendrils lashed out at anyone that it could detect.

    "Such a magnificent sample¡­ as expected of the Patriarch!"

    The man''s eyes bulged out wide, he was looking at this horrifying monster as if it was a Christmas gift that Zhang Dong handed down to him. He looked to the side where some other sect members in similar robes to him were.

    "Quickly, set up the portable lab, we must analyze this specimen with haste!"

    He bowed to Zhang Dong while going outside. About twenty of the foundation establishment elders went along with him as they were part of his research team. He himself didn''t have time to work on the cure so he would leave it to this man. He was hoping that they could develop a remedy for the people and save them.

    "This way Senior Dong."

    Fang Heng called out to Zhang Dong as the two descended down below the lighthouse. There were no stairs here, probably so that anyone below the core formation level wouldn''t be able to come here.

    The descent was quite dramatic but he could feel that the holy energies from above were being pushed towards this area.

    ''Are those plants?... they are similar to the ones that were back in that village¡­''

    He expected to see something different. Instead of some kind of extensive healing array formation, he saw a green meadow with many large sunflowers. These sunflowers were the size of trees and they were giving out divine energies. These energies were far greater than what the smaller sunflowers were able to output.

    The next interesting discovery was where these three surviving nascent soul elders were. They were directly in the center of those giant plants, their bodies were bandaged up almost fully with only their heads being outside. They were just lying there in the center of the large sunflower while the bandages somehow aided them in absorbing the divine energy.

    He could discern this with his eyes. The gentle holy like energy was slowly flowing inside of their bodies and nourishing them. He could also sense something else, an evil demonic energy signature below.

    "Evil Qi?"

    He called out, which prompted Fang Heng to look at him with astonishment.

    "So you can tell Senior Dong? Yes, the elders were affected by that creature''s corrupt evil energy. We were able to halt the corruption with the help of the specially crafted wrappings made from special divine silk. It was made from the cocoon of the holy moonlight moth."

    Zhang Dong tried to ignore the long-winded explanation. In short, these were special bandages that were good at holding back demonic energies. He examined the three bodies with his system, what he saw was two old men and one old woman at their death bed.

    The strongest person was at the late stage of the nascent soul. Zhang Dong could feel that there was something wrong. This elders realm was declining, it was closer to the middle stage now and still decreasing. Even with the healing energies in place these people were slowly deteriorating, with time they would probably perish. The increase in the holy energies of the lighthouse was probably slowing down the process even further but it still wasn''t enough.

    "Yes, let me examine them first."

    Zhang Dong got to work, he focused on the sect leader as it seemed that he took the brunt of the attack. The demonic energies on his body were even seeping through those wrappings and giving them a darker coloring.

    His needle healing technique was utilized first. Fang Heng and the other people in the room stayed quiet while he got to work. They all watched as the pointy silver needles pushed themselves into the Divine Fist Sect leader''s body. He was sure to aim for all the correct pressure points to nourish his body back to health.

    The technique produced a lot of golden light as it went to work. After a few moments, he could see the man''s eyes quivering but they didn''t open. Even after adding more energy, he remained in the comma and the demonic energies only slightly subsided.

    "The corrupt energies have been in his body for too long, it won''t be that easy to get them out of his system¡­"

    "S-senior is there nothing that you can do?"

    Fang Heng called out from the side while his forehead perspired with sweat. He was clearly distraught after seeing Zhang Dong''s healing technique fail.

    "There is a way, it''s just going to take some time to prepare and¡­"

    Zhang Dong paused at the end while rubbing his chin as he didn''t finish the sentence, this prompted Heng to ask about it.

    "And?"

    "Ah nothing, we need to prepare a pill, please get everything ready."

    Zhang Dong shook it off while glancing at his sect members that were also there. They were ready to do his biddings and started pulling out various pill making items along with a big cauldron that they placed in the middle.

    "Set up the formation!"

    Fang Heng stopped asking after the whole United Element Sect personnel started working. Some of them were putting various herbs into the large cauldron while others were drawing strange symbols on the ground below.

    Fang Heng moved to the side while trying not to bother anyone. He could feel that his Patriarch''s spirit was slightly invigorated after Zhang Dong treated him with his healing technique. If he said that it was possible then he would put his trust in him, not like he had much to lose at this point.

    "Okay everyone, get in your positions we will be going with variation Zeta 6C this time around."

    Everyone from the United Element Sect nodded while Zhang Dong moved into the middle. He started floating directly above the large cauldron that was already at the boiling point. There were thirty other members of the healer unit with him. They would aid him in making this special medicine.

    They wouldn''t add much to the finished product but would allow him to push it past a certain threshold. Even improving the medicine by 1% would be enough to decide life or death.

    The formation churned with power and everything in this area started glowing in gold. The large sunflowers started reacting and the faint yellow light that they were exuding change into a deeper color.

    Zhang Dong started tossing various herbs into the cauldron without using his hands. Those were clasped together and making various hand seals. He was also performing some chants in a language that some of the people here wouldn''t understand.

    While the restorative pill was being produced noises from the outside reached here. Everyone could hear explosions and strange wails, this was probably Huo Qiang at work as the monster eradication outside started taking place.

    The rumbling outside was a bit distracting but the experienced team of alchemists and healers was able to stay calm. In time a pill started to take form, it radiated massive amounts of holy energy. When it was completed it caused an illusory image of a golden dragon to appear and roar. This was a sign of this remedy''s qualities reaching close to the maximum of the heaven grade.

    "It''s finished¡­"

    Zhang Dong gave out a sigh of relief. Even for him making such a pill wasn''t easy. Without the help of his team of healers, the pill would have probably dropped a small realm in quality.

    He looked at it, the pill was golden and a bit longer in an oval shape. It was about the size of his thumb but was more uniform without any blemishes. It looked as if it was made from pure shiny gold instead of various herbs.

    "S-senior this is?"

    Fang Heng moved closer after the process was done. His eyes were bulging wide after seeing the item before him. His cultivation instincts were telling him to grab this pill and flee, if he could swallow it he would probably reach the late stage instantly. He held his desires back as he knew that other things were at stake. He also didn''t think he could wrestle it off Zhang Dong''s hands even if he wanted to.

    "Good¡­ now we need to give it to your sect leader¡­ could you do the honors, Elder Heng?"

    The old man was surprised by the request that was given. But he wasn''t one to refuse, even holding this pill in his hand could be very beneficial.

    The pill floated into his hand, Zhang Dong then moved over to the sunflower where the Divine Sect Patriarch was. He used his telekinetic like technique to move the old man''s body up. He was gently turned around and then placed in a strange position.

    "Senior?"

    Fang Heng asked while looking down at his sect leader. His body was leaning forward and the thing he could see was his posterior protruding his way.

    "Uh¡­ you see, the demonic energies are far too great so swallowing the pill normally wouldn''t be advised. We must apply it to your Patriarch''s¡­ uh¡­ rear¡­opening"

    Zhang Dong rubbed his neck while slowly moving the bandages out of the way. Fang Heng looked at the pill in his hand and then at the wrinkly bare man butt that was presented to him.

    "Y-you mean?"

    "Yes, this is a suppository. Please apply it gently ah, give Elder Heng some lubricant."

    Zhang Dong replied while calling to his sect members that brought over a jar with a transparent gel-like substance. The pill was then dipped in it to allow for a more gentle experience.

    "Ready when you are Elder Heng, please hurry your sect leader''s life depends on it!"

    Zhang Dong gave the man a thumbs up while flying to the side. The old man with the pill covered in lubricant started sweating. He was now looking at a respected pillar of his sect his bare bottom exposed before him. After a moment he steeled his resolve as he realized that this was a matter of life and death.

    "Forgive me Patriarch but it has to be done!"

    "GAHHHHHhhhh¡­."

    A strange sound of a screaming man was soon heard by the people that were keeping guard outside the lighthouse. Some of them recognized those shouts as the voice of their beloved leader. What really happened down below would be kept secret; the true way of how the Patriarch was healed would remain a mystery for centuries to come.

 Chapter 259

    Zhang Dong turned his head to the side as he didn''t really want to see the ''booty play'' between two old men. The moment the ''task'' was done the sect leader from the Divine Fist Sect was cured almost instantly. His loud shout of ''gratitude'' could be heard by everyone here. The truth about this day would be kept hidden due to the old man''s embarrassment.

    "Let me help him contain the energies inside of his body!"

    Zhang Dong shouted out, he placed his hand on the old sect leader''s head and brought his screams to a stop. He would have done this sooner but he was a bit surprised at the instantaneous scream. The suppository was more effective than he expected, if he knew that the medicine was this potent then he might have just given it to him the normal way. Now it was best not to mention this fact to this person.

    With his aid, the bandaged up old man started lighting up like a Christmas tree. The wrappings that were around him burst as they weren''t able to contain this degree of Qi. This left the sect leader nice and n.a.k.e.d, the doctors from the United Element Sect didn''t care much but the sect members from the Divine Fist Sect that were there started looking away. They were having a hard time seeing their leader getting treated like that. First was the suppository and now he was all bare before them.

    "Almost there!"

    He shouted while controlling the golden energies in the patient''s body. After his n.a.k.e.d form came to light the patches of black demonic energy were seen. They were shrinking away as the golden energy touched them. The holy Qi was successfully killing off the evil qi that was inside this man''s body, soon enough none of it was left behind. The man was fully healed and even looked a bit younger than he did before. His skin wasn''t as wrinkly and color returned to his face.

    "It''s done!"

    Zhang Dong waved his hand and brought over some white cloth to cover this n.a.k.e.d grandpa. He then floated him down to the ground where his own sect members could take care of him. The two other patients weren''t as affected by the evil Qi as the sect leader. He could probably heal them by making one more pill and split it between the two.

    He got to work on it along with his sect members. While he and they were concentrating Fang Heng moved over to his sect leader and started calling out to him.

    "Sect leader are you awake? Sect leader Wuying?"

    He could see him looking much better than before. His complexion had improved, the healing pill had worked wonders. In time the sect leader that was named Mao Wuying started waking up. His eyes quivered a bit but soon enough he could see Heng''s wrinkled up face looking down at him.

    "Elder Heng?"

    "Oh thank the heavens, you are alive sect leader!"

    The old man smiled, with the sect leader alive and then the other two elders he wasn''t the only nascent soul elder left. With them around, this situation could be salvaged somewhat. They still had a strong base of operations with a powerful defensive barrier that was now reinforced. Now after defeating that monster they would be able to wait and slowly recover. With four nascent soul masters on their side, that would be a possibility.

    "What happened¡­ I feel strange¡­"

    The old man looked close to sixty, he had a full beard and gray hair to match it. His face was round and he looked like a friendly fellow. He looked confused and disoriented, he was also grasping his rear while rubbing it. Something back there wasn''t right, the pill had melted during the healing process but the feeling it leftover still lingered.

    "I-I feel like I have lost something¡­ something precious¡­ uh¡­"

    The man rubbed his head while trying to grasp the situation. He recalled the last things he remembered. He and his sect members activated the grand formation and used up their trump card to drive a menacing monster back. He then succ.u.mbed to the wounds along with the backlash of activating that old relic. Then he woke up with a headache and an even larger ache in his backside.

    "Elder Heng please give me an explanation¡­, why am I n.a.k.e.d and who are those people?"

    Mao Wuying gathered himself to his feet while holding the white cloth around his body. He could see Zhang Dong not that far away producing another pill for healing. He could feel that the white-haired man wasn''t anyone simple.

    "Let me explain, sect leader. That man is the Patriarch of the United Element Sect, I met him at the annual banquet after you and the other elders went into a coma I¡­"

    While the pill creation and healing process continued Fang Heng started explaining what happened. He gave his sect leader a short version of the events that happened as there wasn''t enough time to go into much detail. He painted Zhang Dong and his sect in a good light. They were their saviors and would probably need to get rewarded in some way.

    Heng filled Wuying in on the information while the two watched Zhang Dong heal the other two elders. This time around the pill was inserted into their mouths which was enough to cure them both. These elders were at the middle stage of the nascent soul level. The sect leader was at the lower end of the late stage but now with this healing pill in their bodies, they could push their cultivation to the next level. That is if they survived the coming days to do so.

    "Elder Yun!, Elder Xinyi!"

    Heng called out while being ecstatic. He wasn''t alone anymore, he had his sect leader back with him along with two other elders that were at the same middle stage as he was. With them around they would be able to somehow survive through this. While those two were waking up, the sect leader Wuying took this chance to converse with Zhang Dong. The two Patriarchs looked at each other, the older one was a bit reserved while the younger one felt more awkward than anything.

    "If what elder Heng says is true, then you have my gratitude Patriarch of the United Element Sect."

    The man clasped his hands and did a little bow. After feeling out Zhang Dong he noticed that the man''s divine aura was far greater than his. This was enough for him, holy energies were a good gauge for character. Someone that was evil and conniving would never be able to cultivate a Dao like that.

    "No need to thank me, we just find ourselves against a common enemy. The creature that attacked your sect is an old foe that I had battled before. From what I''ve heard it is much stronger than when I last faced it. Could you disclose any information about your battle to me?"

    Wuying was a bit surprised at this but it would make sense for someone with such a divine Dao to hunt demonic beings.

    "Anyone that is an enemy of that demonic creature is an ally to this sect, I will tell you what I know but first let us go out!"

    The man had been given a replacement robe and the other two elders were already conversing with Fang Heng. He would bring them up to speed while everyone else floated up to see what was happening around the sect grounds.

    Wuying was surprised instantly after getting out of the lighthouse underground. The first thing was the increase in the divine might of their tower, it was many times stronger than what he could remember. Then the divine protective barrier was also fully charged and exuding even more power than before.

    ''BLAM''

    His attention was then pulled to a faraway explosion. In the distance, he could see some kind of strange red demon with horns. It was giving out the fluctuations of a nascent soul beast at the early stage. It was burning up the flying monsters around the city barrier in droves. After further inspection, he realized that it was a soul best and its owner wasn''t far behind.

    This man was a bit further away throwing giant plasma covered fist. Each time his punch descended thousands of corrupt beings fell. The only thing that remained was their ashes along with the man''s boisterous laugh.

    "Are you done?"

    Zhang Liena moved out from the side, she glided towards her husband that was next to Mao Wuying.

    "Yes, this is Elder Mao Wuying. He is the Divine Fist Sects Patriarch. There are also two other elders that I managed to heal."

    Liena nodded at the old man that was standing next to her husband while also giving him a formal hand-clasp and bowing combo. After they got acquainted it was time to move out. With so many nascent soul masters out here there was no reason to leave these monsters all up to Qiang.

    "Elder Wuying I propose we clear up these demonic beings. We must then attack the creature at its lair before it''s too late. This monster uses the beings it corrupts to further its cultivation realm. If we leave it to its own devices it will swallow up these lands and no one will be able to stop it."

    This was Zhang Dong''s biggest fear. The monster leveled up by absorbing others, it was similar to how his old system worked. If he still had that then the beast wouldn''t pose a problem. He could probably farm all these monsters that it made and strengthen himself further.

    This was impossible now, he would need to do it the old fashioned way by cultivating diligently. There was also the option of absorbing vast quantities of spiritual energy and adding that to his cultivation but that process was quite wasteful.

    "Yes, I agree."

    Wuying wasn''t fully recovered just yet but he was more than enough to battle these monsters. Three nascent soul masters were added to their little army. All of them soon took off towards the protective barrier to get outside.

    Zhang Dong looked around after getting out. The numbers had dwindled slightly but there were still a lot of those monsters around. The mist was getting pushed back by the radiations of the protective array which allowed even the core formation cultivators to move around freely. He could actually see Zhang Liu and Xue apprehending some people that were affected by the strange tentacle slugs.

    Various colorful nascent soul ranked attacks descended down on the battlefield. Liena called forth her storm phoenix, Zhang Dong utilized his golden dragon to aid in the fight as well. His soul beast was able to discharge holy lightning passively which caused the mist to vanish wherever it went.

    The three nascent soul elders from the Divine Fist Sect were a bit weakened. They couldn''t quite aid by summoning their soul beasts to battle but they could act as backline support. They pelted the monsters with ranged attacks from a safe distance, the beast started to fall like flies.

    The monsters had no way of resisting the combined might of six nascent soul experts. Within a day''s time, they had managed to clean up the evil beings. The efforts to heal the affected humans would continue for a while. The most important thing on their agenda was going towards the ruins where the monster slumbered, it was finally time to bring the fight to it.

 Chapter 260

    The fog around the Divine Fist Sect was slowly clearing up. It didn''t fully go away but instead cleared up in a one-kilometer wide radius. When the cultivators standing on the walls tried to look beyond that they would only see the thick mist. If they listened closely they would also hear the strange shrieks of the monsters that lurked within it.

    Down on the ground, the rescue initiative was in full swing. With the combined powers of all the nascent powerhouses, the beasts had been slain in a short amount of time. Some of the affected humans that weren''t too far gone were apprehended. They were now being kept in quarantine while the divine healers from both sects tried their utmost best in getting them under control.

    The people from the Divine Fist Sect had a lot of their own members succ.u.mbing to the infection so they were motivated in getting their sect brothers and sisters a cure. With the live specimens that Zhang Dong caught and with Huo Fu''s medical expertise, a cure was being developed. A cure that didn''t require a nascent soul master versed in holy healing.

    "I must thank you on behalf of this sect."

    Mao Wuying along with the other three nascent soul elders clasped their hands while standing opposite to the three grand elders from the United Element Sect. Huo Qiang just smirked while Zhang Dong nodded weakly.

    "I''m glad that we could save some people but this isn''t quite over. The problem still remains, this mist is proof."

    He looked into the distance where the miasma was still lingering. The protective formation that was enhanced by him was keeping the fog away for now. With it pushed back the monsters wouldn''t be able to approach the sect ground.

    Zhang Dong found it strange that this version of his old foe needed this mist. When he first came to this world there wasn''t such a requirement. The frenzied monsters could freely move through the lands but they weren''t as strong as the ones here. He could only attribute this to the monster being weakened or the starting area being some kind of special case.

    "Elder Heng informed me that you have faced off against this monster before?"

    Wuying asked while looking to Zhang Dong who nodded at the question.

    "Yes, but back then it was much weaker. Only at the core formation level. It wasn''t that strong and it could only boast high regenerative capabilities. By the way, Elder Heng described it, it is probably the same demonic beast but it had probably advanced further. I fear that I underestimated its regenerative capabilities and it somehow survived our last encounter¡­"

    Zhang Dong replied while wondering if this was actually the same version of the Cthulhu that he fought twice already. It could have been another one that laid dormant for one reason or another. If it was the one he previously met he hoped that with the current holy Dao that he possessed he would be able to deliver a finishing blow. By the looks of things, this version was susceptible to divine and holy energies. The mist that wasn''t able to penetrate here and the monsters that started burning up when they got closer to these divine energies were proof.

    "Aye, the way this monster draws energy from other beings would explain how it could have gotten stronger in such a short period of time... First let me explain what happened on that day."

    Mao Wuying added his two cents, the story was close to what Fang Heng had reported. The sect leader only shone some light on how exactly the relic worked that they used. That item wouldn''t help them much though as it had crumbled to dust after activation.

    From what the elder explained the item was a holy sword that was at the highest grade that a heavenly item could reach. It was also just a hilt with most of the blade broken.

    "Some of the divine blade''s shards might still be in the monster''s body. This might be just my guess but the creature should have trouble healing itself with our divine item inside of its body."

    This made a lot of sense, the Cthulhu that he knew was a creature that could heal itself from any wound. He had to disintegrate it into small particles to get rid of it both times. Even then it might have been the same one and survived.

    It should have been able to mend itself from a wound like that. It looked like the divine energies that were inside that damaged blade proved more deadly to the beast. It had to even flee and send its underlings instead of attacking by itself.

    "That does make a lot of sense. We will move towards the ruins where you found the monster, I must ask you to lend me a guide."

    "Of course United Sect Patriarch, we will aid you however we can¡­. but¡­"

    Mao Wuying looked behind himself with a troubled look, Zhang Dong kind of knew why this old man was hesitating. His sect was now in shambles and they were down to four nascent soul masters. Even the lesser sects that were at the banquet had more manpower than they had now.

    The man probably wanted to prioritize his own people and fighting that demonic creature might not be on his agenda. He was probably thinking about abandoning this city and seeking refuge elsewhere. If Zhang Dong told him to jump into the portal into his lands he would probably take him up on the offer instantly.

    "I''ll guide them, sect leader!"

    The one to step forward was Fang Heng, the man that he was most familiar with. He was a powerful nascent soul powerhouse so it would be nice to have him along for the ride. The other nascent soul elders didn''t trust him just yet. This was understandable as he just barged into this city not that long ago.

    The fact that he was saving them without asking for anything in return was already raising some eyebrows. This wasn''t something a cultivator in Zhang Dong''s position would do for free. They could understand it if this creature had something like an immortal treasure but it looked like he was just killing it to save lives.

    Was he a saint or was there some other reason that he was doing this? The people from the Divine Fist Sect were skeptical but they couldn''t really do much about it. They weren''t in the position to complain nor could they ask the other sect about their true motives.

    "Are you sure Elder Heng? We could let another elder from the information pavilion do it instead? "

    Wuying wasn''t really keen on having one of his remaining nascent soul elders being the guide. He would rather use one of the core formation sect members instead. They were a bit more disposable. He wasn''t sure how this undertaking would work out and he had to look at the bigger picture here. Losing someone like Elder Heng would be a big blow to the sect''s future.

    "I understand sect leader but our sect has a debt to repay to this man. I would like to aid him in this crisis, it is the least I can do."

    The old sect leader looked into Heng''s eyes and could see that the man had made a decision. It would be impossible to change it now as he knew that look well.

    "I see that you have made up your mind Elder Heng¡­"

    Zhang Dong stayed to the side and waited for the two old men to make up their minds. He didn''t care that much about who would guide him there but it would be better if it was Heng doing it. The man owed him one and was also a strong nascent soul cultivator that practiced divine arts. He would probably be a nice addition to his fighting force against the demonic beings.

    "Are you finished?"

    "Yes Senior Dong, I will guide you towards the ruins. I just have one more favor to ask of you¡­"

    "Is it about Meili?"

    Fang Heng nodded at the question. Zhang Dong knew more or less what the man wanted to ask about so he just spoke up first so that they wouldn''t beat around the bush for too long.

    "If you are worried about her well being, don''t worry. We will open the gate and if you wish she and more of your family members can leave towards my sect. They will be safe there."

    Fang Heng just clasped his hands as a sign of gratitude. Zhang Dong and he discussed some things before the old man went away to inform his family. He and Meili would have some catching up to do.

    The girl was hanging out with Zhang Xue in the background and the two were in the middle of contending with some red-haired youths. He recognized one of them at least, they all looked similar to his sect brother Qiang.

    While the evacuation and healing were underway Zhang Liena moved over to Zhang Dong.

    "Little Xue has it tough, the spawns of that idiot are always swarming around her."

    It looked like Liena wanted to go over there and deliver a few smacks with her fans to those boys. Zhang Dong just smiled before moving over to his wife to calm her down.

    "Xue can take care of herself, they wouldn''t dare to do anything drastic, probably wouldn''t even be able to. Our little Xue is quite strong."

    Liena moved a bit closer, bumping her shoulder into Zhang Dong''s chest while the two looked at the youths messing around. They could see Liena''s younger sister moving into action and shouting at the young males. Liu was hanging in the background, Zhang Dong knew that the youth had given up on the notion that he would ever get rid of Nuana by this point.

    Probably the fact that she was the little sister of the woman his master was married to only made it more difficult for him to deny her advances. He wasn''t one to interfere in their relationship as it wasn''t really his problem. He also got a chuckle out of how the little girl was overzealous and always seemed to cause chaos around her.

    After a moment he looked to his own wife but before he could move his hand around her waist a sect member walked over to make a report.

    "Sir, the gate is ready for activation. We are just waiting for your order. The preparations for departure are also underway, we should be ready within the hour. "

    He had to move away from his wife that turned away to the side, one emerald fan covering her face so that the interrupting sect member wouldn''t see the frown on her face. Zhang Dong was a bit worried about this sect member''s future by how his wife was looking at him. He knew that she wouldn''t do anything drastic but he might find himself cleaning the beast stables, for a prolonged period of time.

    "Begin the evacuation but keep it organized, we can''t have people panicking."

    He knew that some people would want to escape as quickly as they possibly could. Getting surrounded by strange mist and flesh-eating tentacle monsters would do that to you. Order had to be kept though and children came first, the a.d.u.l.ts would be last.

    After wrapping things up here they would depart. More backup would be coming after the gate was opened in the form of his favorite battleship. It wouldn''t be able to fit through the gate on its own but with the spatial technology that this world had it wouldn''t have to. With it around, he could safely take more of his sect members to those ruins.

 Chapter 261

    The people from the Divine Fist Sect were all looking up into the sky. There they saw a massive flying ship made from iron. It dwarfed their own two flying vessels that were stationed next to it.

    This ship had appeared out of nowhere after the United Element''s Sect had activated the teleportation gate again. A large group of cultivators arrived in a unique looking getup. One older man stuck out like a sore thumb with the strange cap and militaristic coat that he was wearing.

    The ship was summoned up into the sky soon after and most of the people that arrived were stationed on it. The rest were just people that were bringing over some resources from the main sect like healing herbs and materials that had the holy or divine element to them.

    Some of the cultivators from the Divine Fist Sect had decided to evacuate while most of them made the decision to remain here. They would wait for the word to arrive from their elder Heng. He and some other cultivators were going to investigate the ruins that started it all. It was believed that the monster that attacked them was probably lurking there and biding its time to recover.

    It was agreed that Zhang Dong, Huo Qiang, and Zhang Liena would all travel towards that monster-infested location. They would take the ship and some of the core formation elders. With the two sh.i.p.s from the Divine Fist Sect would trek along. They would all remain close together and offer some covering fire if needed.

    "Is everything ready?"

    Zhang Dong asked while standing on the main deck with his hands crossed over one another. With him were Huo Qiang and his wife, the person he was calling out was the ship''s captain.

    "Yes Sir, the Argonaut 1 is ready to depart."

    "Good, let us go, time is of the essence."

    The captain saluted his Patriarch and headed towards the ship''s inner part. The three nascent soul elders watched the man depart together.

    "What do you think?"

    Zhang Dong posed the question to Qiang while the captain vanished behind a door.

    "About the beasts? They weren''t anything special, the youngsters could probably clear them out themselves."

    The muscular red-headed man just shrugged as he didn''t seem very alert. It looked like he wasn''t taking any of this seriously. The monsters that he faced were all below the nascent soul level so he based their strength on that fact alone.

    "Could you use that tiny brain of yours once in a while? Do you think my husband would arrange all of this if this mission wasn''t of the utmost importance?"

    Zhang Liena scoffed while looking at Huo Qiang, Zhang Dong just stood to the side while trying not to break his poker face.

    In reality, he wasn''t sure how strong the monster was now. It could very well have regressed in cultivation after getting hit by the Divine Fist Sect''s artifact. It would be a bit embarrassing if that was the case. It was better to be prepared though, it would be fine if they came over-prepared than the other way around.

    "I sure hope not! I didn''t come all the way here to fight a weak demonic beast!"

    Qiang lamented the thought of not getting to fight a strong monster. He was at a stage of his life that fighting weak core formation beasts wasn''t all that fun. The only joy left in his life was fighting with nascent soul level opponents but with their sect not being in conflict with anyone for a long time proved to be boring.

    "I worry about your children, is only fighting in that rice-sized brain of yours?"

    "At least all of my brain didn''t go to my chest!"

    Huo Qiang was quick to fire back while pointing at Liena''s overdeveloped chest. It had gotten even larger than before due to the recent birth.

    The pink-haired woman moved her emerald battle fans to cover that area while glaring at Qiang. Zhang Dong just wanted to facepalm as he just couldn''t get these two into one room for more than a minute.

    They just constantly fought with each other, he feared leaving the sect for more than a few days. When Liena was pregnant she didn''t bump into Qiang that much so it was fine. But from now on he expected her to be more active, things might get dicey from now on.

    He just feared that people from the Qiang faction and Liena''s side would start getting pulled into this mess. Yes, those existed even in his sect, each grand elder had their own people. They all had heightened status and would react to their grand elder''s mood swings in one way or the other.

    "How impudent! You dare?"

    Liena moved into a fighting position while Qiang smirked at the challenge. He was already itching for a fight. The problem was the bad timing and the place. Zhang Dong couldn''t have the two duke it out on his brand new ship. Luckily he knew how to get his wife to back away and forget all about it.

    "W-what are you?"

    It was a simple maneuver, he just moved in closer and lifted the woman up into his hands. The tactical princess carry was implemented and it was successful. Liena started squirming around in his arms for a moment or two but soon enough she had calmed herself down. The rage from her face had subsided and it was replaced with a blush.

    "There, have you calmed yourself down, my wife?"

    Liena just nodded while grumbling a bit, he could hear Qiang giving out a ''Tch'' sound from the side. He had lost a sparring match which he was probably saddened by.

    "And you Qiang, stop angering Liena, or the next time we spar I''ll be sure to give your pride and joy a good smack."

    Zhang Dong made a fist with his hand and glanced down. Qiang followed this gaze, he noticed that Zhang Dong was staring at his family jewels. This made him shrink back in a quick response while covering the thing between his legs with both his hands.

    "You wouldn''t, senior brother¡­ I still need that."

    "You sure? Think you had used it more than enough, maybe you should try living like a monk."

    After throwing a few jabs of his own he started walking away. Liena looked over her husband''s shoulder while being carried away and stuck her tongue out while lowering one of her lower eyelids down. This was the very same gesture she performed when Zhang Dong saw her all these years ago.

    "It''s not fair, brother Dong always takes Liena''s side¡­"

    Qiang pouted a bit but Zhang Dong wasn''t there to see it as he was already walking away. He moved towards his personal cabin with Liena in his arms. This caused the woman to fidget even more as a lot of sect members could see this show of affection. This only showed that the sect leader and his wife had a good relationship. The sect members didn''t have much to gossip about as this fact was already known by many.

    "You know that he is annoying you on purpose, you are like a little sister to him."

    Zhang Dong placed Liena down on a couch after walking into his personal cabin. It looked quite cozy in here and the two would be able to relax here for the time being. The door would actually open only for him and no one else. Even if Qiang came or his disciples the doors would be closed until he allowed entrance.

    "I know.... but I just can''t stand his face¡­ that condescending face¡­ Can''t we banish him from the main sect? It was so peaceful when he was ordered to patrol the borders."

    Liena asked with sparkles in her eyes. She was giving Zhang Dong the puppy eye treatment but he didn''t really want to abuse his sect leader position for squabbles between his wife and best friend.

    "You know I can''t do that. Don''t want our children to copy things like that in the future¡­"

    Zhang Dong was afraid to bring up a ''Young Master type'' in the future. He was now a father; he didn''t want his children to have a stick up their butt. If they saw him abuse his power left and right they would think themselves above other people. Liena still had the old mindset of might made right, she wouldn''t be opposed to using her husband''s position to her favor. He was slowly trying to change that side of her but it was a slow process.

    "You are too lenient with him, his father also isn''t showing enough respect¡­"

    Before Liena could go on a tangent about honor and prestige she found Zhang Dong''s finger up against her lip.

    "Let''s not argue, we have other things to worry about for now."

    He sat down next to her on that couch but soon moved into one of his favorite positions. It was one that he preferred when he was alone with his wife. That was by placing his head onto her thighs, with this he had a nice view along with a soft spot to rest his head-on.

    "Sometimes I forget how much of a child this husband of mine is¡­"

    Liena gave out a sigh while petting Zhang Dong on the head with her hand. She could only smile down at the man that was rubbing his cheek against her thighs. When Zhang Dong did this she always wondered where the powerful sect leader she married had gone to.

    "You''re the only one I can show this side, so be grateful to this great leader of yours!"

    "Yes, I am very much grateful, my great leader."

    She petted his head one more time before feeling Zhang Dong''s hands wandering to certain places that they shouldn''t. The ship ride would take a day so the two had some time to kill. Zhang Dong was feeling stressed out by the whole demonic being debacle so his wife would have to help him out with that...

    While the United Element Sect Matriarch and Patriarch were having a steamy encounter the rest of the cultivators were preparing to take off. The ship was now slowly moving through the protective barrier. The two smaller sh.i.p.s that the Divine Fist Sect had were moving behind it with Fang Heng on one of them.

    Soon the argonaut moved to the back as it had to follow these sh.i.p.s towards the ruins. The people left behind in the city would have to wait with anticipation for their return. The gate with the path back to the United Element''s Sect would remain there for the time being. If the monsters from the mist were to breach the improved array everyone would have a way to evacuate.

    Some people that were convinced that this sect was already done for had taken Zhang Dong''s sect up on the offer already. Most of the cultivators remained in place though, they believed that staying with their own till the bitter end was the correct thing to do.

    "What do you think about this, sect leader?

    Mao Wuying was hovering above the sect grounds with the other two nascent soul survivors. They looked at the sh.i.p.s vanishing into the mist, the grayish fog engulfed the large flying vessels till there was nothing left to see.

    "We all faced that monster together¡­ Prepare everything, when the time arrives we must be ready to leave¡­"

 Chapter 262

    Zhang Dong opened up his eyes and could see a uniform ceiling made from steel. There were various small gem light orbs embedded in it that shone in a dim yellow light. He rolled over to the side, what he witnessed was the sleeping face of his lovely wife right next to him.

    He just remained there, not moving while staring at the wife of his children. She still placed importance on her face, the makeup that she wore only got more intricate with the years. He had tried to tell her that it was fine to go with a more ''natural'' look. Whenever he mentioned that he could feel the daggers stabbing into him from her menacing stare.

    He moved his hand over to her cheek, with the back of his hand he caressed it. He could feel Liena''s breath on his skin and she started to wiggle around. Before he could wake her up, he heard someone call out from the side.

    "Patriarch, we will be arriving at our destination within an hour''s time."

    The voice was a bit choppy, it was coming from a console from the side that was connected to the Argonauts control room. He recognized the voice, it was the ship''s captain doing his report. This abrupt call out also caused his wife to finally wake up.

    "Is that so, I''ll be with you in a moment."

    Zhang Dong called out to the disembodied voice of the ship''s captain while sitting up. He was still in bed, the only thing covering his n.a.k.e.d body the silky bed sheets.

    "We should get ready and prepare for battle."

    Liena rubbed her sleepy eyes for a moment, she could see Zhang Dong standing up and grabbing his robe that was on the side. The two started to redress themselves while looking at the mirror at the side.

    Zhang Dong checked if he had all of his spatial rings present along with the weapons that he usually used. While doing this Zhang Liena moved over and straightened up his robe along with his disheveled hair.

    "Give me a moment, I need to freshen up."

    "You look fine...Uh¡­ nevermind."

    She gave him that face again so he decided to just let her redo her makeup. Something like that could take from a couple of minutes to even an hour. After leaving the room he headed to the ship''s operating room where all the important people should be gathered.

    "Greetings Patriarch!"

    "Welcome Master."

    His two disciples were here as well but they were missing a certain Huo Qiang.

    ''He never liked this type of gathering, he is probably on the bridge getting prepared for the coming battle.''

    He nodded at the people that were greeting him while moving further inside. He remembered everyone in this room all thanks to his almost perfect memory. Being a cultivator at his level brought some perks with them. Knowing their faces was the only thing that he did, what their private lives looked like was something he wasn''t interested in. There was a certain barrier that wouldn''t be crossed.

    He was the Patriarch and they were under him, having a personal relationship with them would be quite hard. The people here treated him like some kind of king, some even close to a divine being. They would perform any task he would give them. What they wanted in return was prestige and a chance for improving their cultivation. Everyone was aiming for the very top here, they all wished to ascend to immortality in one way or another.

    "How does it look, Captain? Are there any dangers ahead of us?"

    Zhang Dong asked while sitting down, he had a special seat prepared for just his use. All the other people were standing up straight not daring to do anything out of place in front of the sect leader.

    "Reporting to the Patriarch! The trip has been smooth, the monsters that lurk in the fog are unable to pierce through our barrier. There were fewer of them left than we expected. We believe that most of the monsters from these lands were slain during the defense of the Divine Fist Sect."

    Zhang Dong rubbed his chin while listening. Apparently, the monster''s numbers weren''t unlimited. There were swarms of them back there, it was possible that the army was now thinned out.

    "Mmm, prepare for battle either way. Even though the monsters aren''t appearing now, they could be lurking at the ruins to defend their master."

    It would be a good idea for the beast to pull back its armies to its lair. He wasn''t sure if the monster had a direct connection with its minions. After most of them were killed by him and his elders it would be smart for the demonic being to bunker up. They would probably experience heavy resistance at these ruins when they arrived.

    "Is the radar picking them up?"

    "This mist is blocking our devices, we can''t pierce through them beyond a kilometer. I''m afraid we will only know if the beasts are waiting for us after we arrive at our destination, my lord."

    He nodded while looking at the screen. There were a few red dots here and there which represented some flying monsters. There weren''t that many around, whenever they flew by the monsters would try to attack them. But they would disintegrate into particles whenever they slammed themselves into the Argonauts shield.

    There were two large green dots in front of his ship which represented the two sh.i.p.s from the Divine Fist Sect. They had guided them towards this area, even in the mist, their navigators were able to traverse their land without a hitch. They weren''t going that fast but within a day they were not close to the previously found ruins.

    Zhang Dong found it a bit strange that these ruins were only found recently. They weren''t that far away from the main sect city. They also weren''t in a particularly dangerous area from what he had heard.

    "We will approach slowly, it would be unwise to rush in without any information. Make sure that everyone is ready for combat!"

    He gave his orders while observing the indication on the big screen. He spread his senses outside and kept a close eye on everything. There were approaching the supposed lair of the monster, the first thing he noticed was the noise. The closer they got the fewer sounds he could hear.

    During their approach just a few minutes ago he could hear the wails of strange monstrosities in the distance. There were even sounds of them slamming into their protective barrier but now, there was nothing. It was as if there was nothing here, the wind had even stopped howling.

    ''Something isn''t right....''

    "The wind¡­ something is affecting it."

    He looked to the side, Zhang Liena was standing there back in her attire. She was the person most versed in the Dao of the wind so she noticed that something wasn''t right. Their eyes met for a moment and he nodded, it was time to go outside.

    "Captain, remain vigilant. I and grand elder Liena will depart for the ship deck to examine the situation."

    It was time to leave and go outside. The two removed themselves from the room, Liu and Xue moved behind them while Nuana also approached from the side. The kids had joined them on this expedition but they were here more as observers. With the nascent soul masters around the core formation cultivators would only get in the way.

    These youths at the core formation level could still aid the Argonaut with their cultivation. They could and would be stationed by the ship''s side cannons. There were many of those and they were constructed in a way that a cultivator could boost the cannon''s power with their own cultivation base.

    "Finally you are out, the fun is about to start!"

    Huo Qiang was sitting right at the tip of the ship''s deck. He was looking out into the cloudy void that was this mist. The two smaller sh.i.p.s in front of them were giving out light of their own. They were still hard to spot with the n.a.k.e.d eye as the sh.i.p.s kept a large distance from each other.

    "Fun huh? I hope that fun won''t be very deadly."

    Zhang Dong replied with a shrug while moving towards Huo Qiang and the tip of the ship. He tried to spread out his senses beyond this fog but it was quite good at blocking his internal sonar. He decided to use his system''s map function afterward but as before it was getting jammed.

    He didn''t like where this was going, whenever his system was affected by anything it didn''t bode anything good. He was going to face off against a monster that he believed was brought with him to this world along with his system. By who and why was still unknown to him.

    Zhang Dong hopped that he could shed some light on this mystery by taking the beast out. He had yet to encounter any more of those strange cube treasures that he had absorbed on two occasions. The person that appeared that one time was also suspicious. Was that person an ally or an enemy? It could just be a ploy of the being that brought him here.

    He was scared that he was now some kind of plaything of a god-like existence. It could be a person at the immortal level of strength or even far beyond that. From what he knew there were no immortals left in this world at least none that were active. One could be hiding somewhere but not like anyone at the nascent soul level would be able to sense a cultivator of that prestige.

    The silence continued for a few moments, the only thing that could be heard was the humming sound of the Argonaut''s engines. The silence was brought to an abrupt stop as one of the Divine Fist Sect''s sh.i.p.s went up in flames.

    It was the one that was the furthest away from them. Zhang Dong could faintly see something large and slimy piercing this flying vessel from below. It looked like a giant trunk of a tree with many branches that were strangely moving around.

    "Enemy Attack!"

    The alarm sounded on the ship, the thumping steps of many cultivators were heard in the surroundings as everyone took off running. The side cannons sprung into action as everyone that was in one tried to focus on the enemy.

    The two grand elders including the Patriarch from the United Element Sect reacted as well. They all focused their energies on the exploding ship, they weren''t attacking the strange ''tree'' but trying to pluck the Divine Fist Sect cultivators that were falling down after the explosion.

    Elder Heng who was responsible for their safety was also there. With the four powerful cultivators working together most of the ship''s crew was safely evacuated to the other two sh.i.p.s.

    "Finally I was tired of waiting, it''s our turn now!"

    Huo Qiang shouted out while pointing out with his finger towards the strange tree that was hard to see due to the mist.

    The tip of Qiang''s finger started glowing in a deep crimson. Particles of red light converged onto the tip before a red beam of plasma shot forward. In a fraction of a second, it connected with the thing that pierced the ship.

    "GUOHHH."

    A monstrous wail of pain was heard by everyone present after the attack connected. The mist was forcefully parted by Qiang''s attack to reveal the enemy''s true form. Instead of a large tree what they saw was a mass of flesh. The branches were just smaller squiggly tentacle appendages, on each of them a toothy mouth which was now screeching in pain after a large hole was blown open in the thick tentacle trunk.

    "Everyone, Attack!"

    The order was given, the large ship composed of spirit metal lit up brightly as its cannons started firing, the battle had finally started.

 Chapter 263

    A mist covered sky lit up in bright red after a large explosion. The source of this eruption was a large flying ship with sails. It was pierced by a monstrous appendage that was able to take it out in one attack.

    This thing looked quite bizarre, dark in coloring, and made out of flesh. From it, a myriad of squiggly tentacles was wiggling around. Each one of them covered in mouths, these mouths weren''t uniform in design. They were a mix of beasts and humanoid creatures alike, the teeth on them looked to belong to carnivores as well as to herbivores.

    The shrieks of a thousand creatures were heard from those flailing tentacles. Their cries were soon erased by a red beam of molten plasma. It connected with the thick dark tower of flesh and caused it to burn up. The tentacles attached to it went up in flames along with it while screaming in a high pitched wail.

    "How''s that?"

    "Qiang watch out, below you!"

    Huo Qiang who was up in the air and also the first one to attack looked down. He was quick to react by dodging to the side as another large spire of flesh tried devouring him from below. This one actually looked more like a giant worm with a toothy mouth but it also had a lot of those slimy tendrils coming out of it.

    "The mist is a lot thicker in this part...Captain, activate the formation!"

    Zhang Dong called out while also moving down from the Argonaut. It was time to get his hands dirty and to help out his sect brother that was getting swarmed by some strange tentacle monsters. Zhang Liena wasn''t far behind as all of the nascent soul masters sprung into action. The other cultivators remained on the ship that was equipped to protect them.

    The ship that went down belonged to the Divine Fist Sect. Fang Heng the man responsible for them was on the other ship but he was now hovering above it. There was enough time to evacuate the core formation elders onto the other flying vessel before the skyscr.a.p.er-sized monster flesh trees got them.

    Thanks to The Argonaut what they were facing would soon come to light. The large metallic sh.i.p.s'' large array formation started glowing bright gold. Runic symbols started appearing on the bubbly like barrier before it started expanding outwardly.

    Within a matter of moments, the whole ship lit up in a bright golden hue. It started pulsating with energy that was shooting outwardly in a burst of bright light. This continued for a time while causing the miasma around the area to get pushed back forcefully.

    Finally, everything was appearing before them, the fog was clearing up. The people that were looking at the ship''s screen and the ones that were outside to witness everything started gasping. What they saw was truly appalling, a sight that they didn''t expect to ever see.

    Where everyone expected to see ruins or some sign of a city that was here, they witnessed flesh. Everything was covered in a layer of meat, squiggly living one to be exact.

    What used to be the ground or the ruins were covered in a mountain of flesh. Tentacle-like appendages were protruding out of everything, strange mouths, eyes, even ears and noses were attached to that flesh. It was like out of a horror flick where some kind of alien monster had fused with every living being that it came across.

    "What is all of this¡­"

    Zhang Dong had to do a double-take over everything. He wasn''t sure what he was looking at, was this mass of flesh the Cthulhu monster that he was supposed to be facing? He tried examining everything with his system but it showed corrupt numbers and question marks over everything. Even it had trouble identifying what this thing was and he had a sinking suspicion as to why.

    "This thing¡­ it''s made up of thousands¡­ no millions of living beings... It has somehow fused with them together... "

    He detected vast amounts of demonic qi coming from the creature below. It was on different wavelengths that brought him to his conclusion of it being composed of various living creatures, humans included.

    The ship continued to send out waves of divine energy into the distance which helped in keeping the mist at bay. The tentacle mass below wasn''t all too happy about this fact and started thrashing its tower sized tendrils at the unwelcome guests. Luckily for Zhang Dong and his people, their ship was quite mobile and this monster below wasn''t the speedy kind, evading its attacks was manageable.

    The Argonaut wouldn''t be taking a passive stance in this battle. The crew inside was ready and waiting. The ship was equipped with large spirit cannons that were powered by the ship''s engine. Their power could be further boosted by the person using them. The order to attack was given long ago and the people were quite trigger happy.

    A rain of various colorful projectiles descended from the sky. It was as if shooting stars were descending from above. These energy attacks collided with the screeching monster below, tearing into it while it tried to defend itself with its massive body of squiggly flesh. The sight wasn''t pretty as the moment the monster''s body was pierced dark blood and pungent smell followed.

    This wasn''t the only enemy that was waiting for them. There was a myriad of flying monsters separate from it coming their way. They were quite strong at the pinnacle of core formation and able to move even without the mist surrounding the area around them.

    Zhang Dong looked at the monsters but he didn''t join the battle yet. The other three nascent soul elders had joined with the flying sh.i.p.s to support them but he was still looking around. There was something off about this whole place. The flesh monster did give off nascent soul fluctuations of energy but it wasn''t that strong.

    The only thing it had going for it was its size. It didn''t look like it would be able to handle all of them, which would make this an easy victory for their side. From his experience when things looked too good to be true, most of the time they were. That is also why he remained vigilant while scanning for other enemies.

    "What is that¡­"

    It wasn''t long since the mist cleared out but now he noticed something. In the distance there was a strange structure, it was still composed of flesh and part of this monster. It looked like three arches coming together into one spot. At the spot that they connected was some kind of fleshy rope that dangled around.

    It connected to a spherical object, due to the explosions it was swinging around. From it, he detected a strange energy signature. He focused more, listening in as he had a suspicion that this thing wasn''t anything simple.

    "Is that a¡­ heartbeat?"

    Zhang Dong was quite far away from those flesh arches but he could tell that they were the size of 100 meter tall towers. The thing that was hanging down from it was close to their size but much wider, the more he looked at it the more it appeared to be some kind of egg covered in a fleshy membrane.

    "F.u.c.k¡­ it''s in there¡­Qiang, Liena, help me out!"

    Zhang Dong pointed at the egg-like object in the distance while trying to get his ally''s attention. He didn''t like the way that thing looked and if his suspicion was correct it would be best to get rid of that thing as soon as they could.

    The two were having their own battles in the distance but they were quick to react to his summons. Liena and Qiang looked to where Zhang Dong was pointing to. They could see the strange fleshy structure with a strange dangling egg in the middle. Even they could tell that there was something not right with that thing.

    "What is that evil aura¡­"

    Liena gasped.

    "Could it be?"

    Qiang narrowed his eyes while looking into the distance.

    Zhang Dong just nodded while pointing out with his hand, his soul beast was summoned behind him and roared out. The other two didn''t wait long before summoning their own beasts. The red Ifrit radiated massive plasma energy while the Storm Phoenix brought storm clouds over.

    The three moved their hands out while pointing their palms at the egg-shaped mass of flesh. Energy started gathering a few meters away from where they were standing as the three grand elders concentrated for a combined attack.

    Green, red and gold energies started mixing with one another. The combined might of the three nascent soul elders caused everything to tremble around them. While the three were charging up, the mass of flesh below reacted.

    It seemed like the monster wouldn''t just allow the humans to continue with their attack without retaliating. Soon various massive tentacles traveled towards them, on the tips giant mouths with teeth set on devouring the three young grand elders. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#%!d(string=15646772505511005)/chapter-263_%!d(string=51485065846244018)">#%!d(string=15646772505511005)/chapter-263_%!d(string=51485065846244018)</a> for visiting.

    The three soul beasts that were hovering around the trio from the United Element''s sect wouldn''t just remain passive for this to happen. The massive beasts gave out a roar while charging towards the incoming tentacles. Their own mouth opened up wide and each one released a burst of energy that looked like an elemental breath attack.

    Those masses of flesh weren''t strong enough to resist this burst of energy and started to crumble. This didn''t stop new ones to appear for a continuing surge of monster flesh. These tentacles reformed themselves almost as fast as they were burned up, showing off how good at regenerating themselves they were.

    Luckily the three soul-beasts were capable enough to overwhelm the regenerative abilities of this being. This gave enough time for the three elders to gather their nascent soul energies in one spot.

    It started from a tiny fingertip-sized orb in the center. It gave out a burst of energy while expanding into something the size of a basketball. The three types of energies were combining into one which made it look like a taijitu.

    Soon the three were finished with concentrating and a massive torrent of spiritual energy was released. It looked like a massive beam of light that was composed of three dragons. They all shot towards the strange-looking egg while circling around themselves. They converged into one three colored dragon before connecting with their target, the explosion sent shockwaves into the surrounding causing the flying sh.i.p.s to buckle under pressure.

    The cultivators that were lighting up the sky with cannon fire stopped with their attacks. They all looked to the distance where the three grand elders sent their attack towards. What remained there was a mushroom cloud and dust, probably anything that was there was incinerated into nothingness. Any parts of that flesh monster that connected to that spot were crumbling into dark dust.

    "Was that it?"

    Huo Qiang called out while crossing his muscular hands together, his tone indicating his disappointment.

    "Let us hope so, I don''t want to remain in this evil place for much longer."

    Liena replied while fanning herself a bit. Zhang Dong didn''t chime in as he just squinted and looked into the distance. Then his eyes jolted open wide while he bolted for his wife. Liena gave out a surprised yelp while getting pulled to the side by Zhang Dong. A fraction of a second later a giant black beam of light shot towards where the three grand elders were standing.

    A massive howl could be heard from the spot the three fired their combined attack. That was also the spot from where the dark beam of evil energy shot from. The dust started to slowly settle revealing a huge monster lurking within.

 Chapter 264

    The monster had a vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers that some would call tentacles. Its body was covered in scales while also having a rubbery looking body texture to it. It had a somewhat humanoid shape, two legs with two arms, its hand and feet had prodigious claws. Behind it was a set of long webbed narrow wings that looked more like a decoration than a functional appendage meant for flight.

    Quasi-thulhu [ Nascent Soul Great Circle ]

    Zhang Dong looked at this creature, it looked almost exactly like the other two creatures he had faced. The biggest difference was its size, it was well over a 100 meters. It had probably burst from that egg sack that they fired upon. It was very surprising that it had survived, its regenerative abilities were probably further enhanced than before. Then he had to take its cultivation realm into account, with a nascent soul this creature would even live if its physical body perished.

    ''This isn''t going to be easy¡­''

    Zhang Dong bit his bottom lip while the monster started at him. There were some superficial wounds from the attack that it took but they were quickly healing in real-time. Before he could think up another strategy a certain overzealous friend of his shouted out from the side.

    "So this is this beast? I''ll take care of it!"

    Huo Qiang slammed his fists together while they glowed in a crimson hue. Various runic patterns appeared on the armor gauntlets that he was wearing. His soul beast howled out along with its master as both of them charged towards the massive monster.

    "That idiot¡­"

    Zhang Dong wasn''t fast enough to stop his battle happy ally and had to watch as he charged forward. He could only follow him after also powering up. His body gave out a golden sheen before he burst towards the dark green being, Zhang Liena close behind him with her Storm Phoenix soul-beast with her.

    The pair of husband and wife looked at each other while nodding. Instead of following behind their overzealous red-haired friend, they decided to flank the monster from the sides. Dong moved to the right side while Liena took the left one. The plan was to do a pincer attack while the beast was contenting with Huo Qiang.

    This Quasi-thulhu didn''t seem that perturbed by the previous attack that it received. It wasn''t moving at all, its face tentacles squiggled around while its yellow eyes scanned the surroundings. The three nascent soul cultivators that were flying towards it looked like small flies, their soul beasts were slightly larger but they didn''t look like they would stand a chance against this massive creature.

    Size wasn''t everything in this world though, a larger frame brought more power with it but it also reduced mobility. It would probably be easy to hit this monster but would it be enough to bring it down to its knees? Huo Qiang was now charging up an attack to test his mettle.

    Huo Qiang moved his fist back while flying forward on a collision course with the Quasi-thulhu''s massive squid face. His body was surrounded by red plasma energy, most of it was flowing right into that huge fist of his. the Plasma Ifrit was right behind his master, his body was mirroring this punching motion as both of them flew forward.

    Qiang''s spiritual energy exploded causing widespread destruction. Storm-like winds were caused by the eruption of speed and power. Anyone that was witnessing this attack gulped hard while stopping in their tracks to stare.

    The powered-up fist was finally thrown forward, the Ifrit that looked like it was standing behind its master was somehow absorbed into this fiery attack. Its whole body was sucked into a chaotic mass of spiritual energy that collided with the unmoving monster''s face.

    A massive discharge of fire-based energies occurred. The flying sh.i.p.s that were in the distance started rocking back and forth as even they were affected by the eruption of plasma.

    This wasn''t the end of it as Zhang Dong and Liena closed in from the sides as well. Both of them were ready to produce their own version of this attack.

    Liena motioned towards the monster''s side with her emerald fan. The bird made of lightning and wind energies gave out a screech before turning into a mass of spiritual energy. It descended on its target in the form of a giant thunder filled twister. The tornado slammed into the monster''s side while spinning around and burrowing itself deeply into its flesh, trying to tear it to bits.

    Zhang Dong was the last one to produce an attack. He held two of his fingers toward the enemy while holding his hand in a sort of gun shape. It didn''t take much time for his fingers to glow in a bright golden color. A bolt of golden energy shot out, arcs of electricity were surrounding it as it traveled at a speed that couldn''t be followed by a regular person''s eyes.

    A thunderous noise filled the whole area as three of those nascent soul level attacks collided with the monster. Each of them hit one after another before causing a massive explosion of spiritual energy.

    Zhang Dong and Feng Liena moved back a bit while floating in the air. The discharge of their attacks caused another cloud of smoke to form. Even with their enhanced senses, it was hard to tell what was happening inside. They needed to wait for the chaotic energies to disperse before knowing if the monster was affected by their attacks.

    They were sure of one thing though, the beast didn''t doge at all and took the brunt force of their attacks. Those attacks were at a level of a late stage nascent soul cultivator. Someone like Zhan Jie that Zhang Dong faced previously would be dead three times over if he was hit by all three of those attacks.

    It took more time for the smoke to clear up. Huo Qiang floated back as well while grimacing. He had his hands crossed over one another with his chest puffed out. On his face a slight frown of annoyance.

    "Senior brother, why did you interfere? Now the monster is dead!"

    Zhang Dong''s brows quivered as he heard his junior brother boasting around. He didn''t know this creature too well so he wasn''t understanding the gravity of the situation. When the smoke was slowly clearing away the truth was revealed.

    Quasi-thulhu was just standing there but it was missing part of its head. Part of it had been blown off right through. One of its yellow eyes was missing while black blood oozed out from the wound. Huo Qiang could see right through this hole to the other side, the hit looked like it punched right through the creature''s brain.

    On the sides where Zhang Dong and Liena attacked there were visible holes as well. The creature was missing its massive arms that had fallen down to the ground. For all intents and purposes, the squid monster looked to be defeated. It wasn''t moving much and the only thing coming out of it was black blood. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#%!d(string=15646772505511005)/chapter-264_%!d(string=51530510358333189)">#%!d(string=15646772505511005)/chapter-264_%!d(string=51530510358333189)</a> for visiting.

    Before everyone could rejoice, the mass of flesh that was all around this area started getting feisty. It was fighting against the two flying sh.i.p.s with all its might but its huge size proved to be a weakness. It just couldn''t land a clean hit on any of those floating vessels now after the moment of surprise was gone.

    While the three grand elders were looking at the unmoving monster the mountain of flesh started retreating towards them. Zhang Dong was the first one to spot this anomaly which caused him to back away while alerting his wife.

    "Something is wrong, get back!"

    Huo Qiang was the only one unconvinced, to him the battle was already won so he just looked around while floating. Liena listened to the advice of Zhang Dong and backed away while protecting herself with a shield made of green spiritual energy.

    The surrounding area that was mostly composed of the fused being of flesh started getting sucked up. This caused the destroyed ground to be visible as the being made up of flesh started to get smaller. While this was happening the squid-faced monster started moving around.

    The giant gaping hole that was made through its brain started mending itself. Tiny tendrils started squiggling around and transforming themselves into new flesh while connecting broken ones.

    The destroyed arms turned into fleshy tentacles as well while moving themselves back into place. The whole process didn''t take that long and Zhang Dong along with his companions could only watch with surprise as the huge monster mended itself back. It only took about fifteen seconds for the beast to be back at full health. There were no visible outside wounds to the monster and it also didn''t seem to have used up much spiritual energy to perform this task.

    This wasn''t quite the end of the spectacle happening here. The previously formless mass of flesh, mouths, and tentacles started transforming. Two large spires of meat appeared right next to where Quasi-thulhu was standing. They started taking form, with time the two transformed into grotesque monsters of their own with now a visible cultivation level that put them at the nascent soul late stage level of power.

    Their forms weren''t much better than their friend''s. The two were smaller than Quasi-cthulhu but not by much. One was a giant floating eye with many appendages coming out of its bulbous body. Some of them looked like ordinary tentacles, some like human or ape-like arms. Some looked like insectoid appendages with sickle blades like a mantis would have.

    The second one had a taur-like look to it. The lower half of its body looked like it belonged to some kind of four-legged beast with large talons on its feet. The top part was a bit more humanoid with a torso and four arms. Its head was mostly just teeth and a giant mouth with no eyes. Its eyes were placed on the shoulder part of the more humanoid section of its body.

    Zhang Dong tried identifying these monsters with his system window but what he was getting was corrupt letters and numbers.

    [email protected]&[email protected]#SDF21# [ Late Stage ]

    &[email protected]#^#GD^& #!%^SD [ Late Stage ]

    He could at least see their power levels but he could feel that the two monsters were at the very top of that ranking. If he compared them to the Dark Palm Sect Patriarch that he fought they would come up on top without much of a problem.

    Quasi-thulhu gave out a massive angry shout that caused the sound waves to push everyone back even the nascent soul fighters weren''t safe from it. Everyone protected themselves with their own skills while backing away. Even Huo Qiang''s haughty attitude had changed after seeing the other two monsters appear.

    "Gather up everyone, This isn''t a fight we can continue without a strategy!"

    Zhang Dong sent a message to the ship''s captain to aim for the floating eyeball of a monster. They would need to split their fighters between these huge demonic beings. The plan of surrounding the boss of the two had failed. Now they had to contend with other enemies that were almost as strong as the main one.

    "Let me aid you!"

    Fang Heng finally showed up while the ship with his sect members retreated behind the Argonaut.

    "Glad to have you on board¡­"

    Zhang Dong frowned a bit while looking at the large monster in front of him. His body started radiating energy while expanding in size.

 Chapter 265

    ...5...10...25...65...85...100...110¡­ meters, Zhang Dong''s old Avatar form finally saw being used today. He matched the Cthulhu look alike in size but he was still half a head shorter than it was. It didn''t seem like this massive monster would be easily killed with its regenerative capabilities. It also looked to be on the more sluggish side which made this form more useful in this fight.

    This new Avatar form technique was a bit different than the old one. For one thing, it utilized Zhang Dong''s soul-beast giving him less energy based qualities. He looked more like a golden statue covered with scales, lightning bolts and electric arcs were shooting off his whole body just as before.

    His body refining skill also came into play here. He had already pushed it further than his Qi cultivation at this point. Making heavenly grade items was something that he was already proficient in.

    This left him able to absorb them through the years, he was still restricted to the late stage as the resources were limited. Getting to the great circle stage would just bankrupt his entire sect. It was also not feasible due to a bottleneck that didn''t exist with the previous versions of this body refining technique.

    Now he actually needed to absorb a higher grade of item each time he moved a small realm up. This posed a big problem as there were no weapons that he could craft that would be of the very height of heaven grade. He lacked both the skills, knowledge, and resources to push through that threshold. Any tiny mistake would cause the weapons he made to degrade. This process needed perfection, this he could only achieve with time and crafting experience.

    Zhang Dong''s new and improved Avatar form took three of his aspects and combined them into one. With it, he lost some maneuverability and he couldn''t use most of his weapons. This form''s biggest attribute was its resistance and sheer power. He didn''t take the time to name it properly, he also didn''t have anyone to pass it onto either. This was a technique that he customized for his special constitution. Passing it on to his disciples wasn''t possible as they lacked his metal-like body refining technique.

    The Cthulhu look-alike finally became active, after getting hit multiple times without retaliating it was time for it to strike. Black miasma surrounded its body, it looked thick and was even dribbling down to the ground. The moment a droplet of this dark-green liquid fell down it burned a hole right through the hard rock.

    The monster opened up its large mouth to gather energy. Particles of dark qi were condensed into a smaller point right in the middle of that tentacled face. Luckily Zhang Dong remembered this type of attack as he had seen it once before when he was fighting this creature in his demon hunter disguise.

    He was quick to throw an uppercut to that squiggly chin. It connected at about the same time that the monster fired off its attack. This caused another explosion to detonate, right inside the monster''s toothy mouth. The dark rays of energy shined through to the outside, anything they touched died instantly. Plants wilted, rocks shattered into dust and even the small particles were affected.

    Zhang Dong''s face that was in his avatar form was unmoving but in reality, he was trying not to show the amount of pain that he was in. It was only one punch but his whole fist felt like it had punched through a cactus. It felt like a million tiny needles were inserted into his knuckles at the same time. His only explanation was this black miasma that the creature was covered with. It was similar to acid and caused an excruciating amount of pain.

    He couldn''t stop now though, he needed to follow this momentum. After the uppercut followed a straight punch to the exact same spot. The monster''s face caved in fully and it was pushed back. It looked like Zhang Dong had the advantage, the monster was getting pummeled by his giant form.

    The people on the ship were all hidden inside and either manning the cannons or ready to repair anything if they got attacked. Before anyone could cheer the monster finally retaliated. While being forced back by the second punch it swung one of its giant arms toward Zhang Dong''s face. He reacted by putting up his guard but he was still pushed back.

    The massive claws dug into his forearm that was used for defending. They ripped through his giant golden form causing dark-colored claw marks. The poison that was on the tips of those claws seeped in while Zhang Dong retreated in pain. His forearm that had a deep golden hue started turning black.

    He wanted to scream but managed to hold it in. He grasped his injured arm and started injecting golden energy into it. With some time the evil Qi was pushed back and he recovered. The same was true for the monster, its head that was missing was now fully reformed and it looked just fine. It shouted out once more while charging another mouth beam, this time around Zhang Dong wasn''t close enough to interrupt this attack.

    While Zhang Dong found himself in a pickle he noticed that his wife and Fang Heng was behind him. They were in the middle of their own battle facing off against the monstrous centaur looking deformity. If he dodged to the side there was a possibility of the two being hit. The beam that this monster could shoot off was quite wide and was also very toxic. He was somewhat protected by his holy Dao. His companions on the other hand would not be able to recover as easily as he could if they got hit.

    He decided to take it head-on. He covered his face with his arms in a protective position while focusing. Before the monster fired off its dastardly beam he started gathering his holy energies. His body began shining once more and a thin layer of golden lightning energy gathered around his arms that he was using for blocking. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#%!d(string=15646772505511005)/chapter-265_%!d(string=51578084368898872)">#%!d(string=15646772505511005)/chapter-265_%!d(string=51578084368898872)</a> for visiting.

    There wasn''t quite enough time for him to produce a proper quality shield but it would have to be enough. The torrent of evil energy condensed around that squidly mouth of the Cthulhu analog creature. It shot towards Zhang Dong''s upper body which was a stroke of luck for him as that was the spot that he was defending the most.

    When the beam impacted a loud thundering sound was heard. His entire body was shrouded in black energy and anyone or anything that was in close proximity was pushed back. Zhang Liena, Huo Qiang, and even the Argonaut weren''t able to hold themselves in place. The two monstrosities that they were fighting were affected as well, both of them tumbled back while actually receiving some residual damage from their boss'' attack.

    "Senior Brother!?"

    "Zhang Dong!"

    Both Liena and Qiang shouted out as they both saw what transpired. A similar mushroom cloud was produced in the spot that Zhang Dong was standing. Both of them wanted to jump in to aid in his battle but before they could act the two monsters they were fighting resumed their attacks.

    Quasi-thulhu howled in a strange way, it was as if it was laughing. After the smoke had cleared the golden form of Zhang Dong could finally be spotted. It was a lot less shiny than before, his forearms that he used for blocking were brownish-green. It looked as if he was being affected by the corrosive properties of this attack. Even he wasn''t able to fully resist it.

    But he would have to, he didn''t think his allies would do much against this monster. If he canceled out his avatar form at this moment, there was a danger of succ.u.mbing to this poison. He was many times stronger in this form than without it, even with it fully activated he was receiving damage over time.

    ''How am I supposed to kill this thing¡­ Should I try the pulsar technique? But that technique takes forever to charge¡­''

    The only techniques that were plausible against this thing took an ample amount of time to perform. He could try doing it like last time with his swordsmanship but this monster was much bigger than before. Cutting it up into tiny cubes before disintegrating it would not be possible. It would probably out regenerate those strikes and he had to be careful of its offensive capabilities as well.

    After receiving a simple claw strike and a simple Qi discharge his fighting capabilities had already dropped. He was losing copious amounts of Qi while healing himself as this demonic spiritual energy was draining him of his own healing powers.

    The beast wouldn''t give him much time to strategize as it lunged forward. Its webbed wings spread wide while it growled. Those tentacles on its face squiggled around as it opened its mouth.

    Zhang Dong had one advantage over this monster. He actually knew how to fight, this beast obviously was only good at overpowering its opponents. The attacks it used were easy to read and rudimentary. It was telegraphing all of its strikes, the way it moved it body made it easy for Zhang Dong to read its intentions.

    Quasi-thulhu went for quite the tactic as it attempted a bear hug. It was probably aiming to grab its opponent and then deliver a murderous bite. Zhang Dong was quick to react by stepping to the side, when the monster flew past him, he delivered a palm strike to the side of the monster''s scaly body.

    If this being had human anatomy then the blow would probably be a crippling one. It would at least take the air out of its lungs but instead, it only made it angrier. Quasi-thulhu shouted out while quickly generating dark energy on its claws. It aimed for Zhang Dong''s head but he was already able to read this move. He bobbed his head to the side and managed to slide his hand in right over for a counter punch.

    This blow sent shockwaves into the surrounding area. If a core formation cultivator was flying unprotected around this battle he would find himself blowing up into small bloody meat chunks. The spiritual energies that these two were producing were just far too massive for any normal person to stomach. Even Huo Qiang and Zhang Liena needed to move away from the two giants.

    It looked like the United Element Sect''s Patriarch had everything under control. He was dancing around this monster delivering blow after blow. Each time his kick or punch connected part of the monster''s body exploded. The problem was that afterward it mended itself back to its previous state.

    Zhang Dong was slowly losing out, if this fight continued for too long he knew that he would run out of stamina. He was still only someone at the middle stage of the nascent soul realm. He was fighting an opponent two small realms above him. Even with his better cultivation method, he would tire out before it and he wasn''t as proficient at healing himself as his opponent.

    ''Shit¡­ what should I do¡­''

    He dodged another blow while delivering a massive energy-filled palm strike to the monster''s back. He injected his lightning energy along with his holy qi into the spot he hit making it explode. But when he was pulling his hand away it was already mending itself back into place.

    Then he saw it, before the wound closed itself fully there was something he noticed. It was tiny compared to the monster and him but it was there. It was an item that he was familiar with why it was in the creature''s body was unknown.

    "Why is that there¡­ did this thing absorb it¡­ or is it powering itself through it¡­"

    His eyes shone a bit as he quickly thought up another plan, with this new discovery he might stand a chance.

 Chapter 266

    The monster roared at Zhang Dong that looked like a giant electrified golden statue. Both of them were now in a contest of strength with their fingers interlocking. No one was giving their enemy an inch but also neither of them was able to move. The creature and the cultivator seemed equally matched in strength at least for now.

    After a moment Zhang Dong''s golden fingers started changing in color, they shifted into an unhealthy looking dark green. The monster''s evil energy was seeping into his hands while expanding like tiny spiderwebs. Before this corruption could continue the monster received a swift strike to its nether regions.

    It was kind of odd to see the monster''s face convulse in pain after receiving this strike. The tentacles that were on its face weren''t the only dangly bits that this Cthulhu possessed. It had apparently some humanoid traits with some common weaknesses with this being one of them.

    The monster''s grip loosened up after the swift smack to its more squishy lower organs. Thanks to this Zhang Dong could move his hands back while also delivering a swift palm strike to the beast''s chest. This strike caused a large shockwave to travel far and wide, causing even more destruction to the whole area.

    ''Where is it¡­ I''m sure it''s in there¡­ I need to take it out¡­''

    Zhang Dong was looking at the hole that he blasted into the monster''s chest with his palm strike. It took a few moments for it to close up but this was enough time for him to spot a tiny metallic object inside that opening. It was something he was familiar with and also something that he was looking for all these years.

    It looked like a regular cube, similar to the ones he found in that secret ground and below the area where he was teleported into this world. It looked slightly different, it was pitch black and radiating a strange menacing demonic energy. The previous ones that he encountered weren''t like that. They mostly had regular spirit energy stored in them and acted as some kind of batteries or storage devices.

    Somehow this device that was connected to him arriving in this world was inside that monster. Was this ruins a spot that a previous person that was spirited away arrived at? Maybe this thing was their tutorial monster, maybe they perished during it and it was left here to its own devices?

    There were a lot of these scenarios going through Zhang Dong''s head right now. How it got there wasn''t that important but how this could help him in defeating this monster was.

    He knew that these cubes stored a massive amount of spiritual energy in them. During the fight with the old Pride Demon all those years ago he was able to raise his cultivation level to a new height thanks to it.

    This cube looked corrupt by the monster''s demonic energies. Zhang Dong had a suspicion that it was using this cube as a power source. The one he found below his initial summoning spot had a lot more energy in it than the one at the sacred grounds.

    There was probably another spirit vein down here, or there was one at least. It was possible that the monster somehow fused with it after suffering injuries from the Divine Fist Sect relic weapon. How and why wasn''t important but now he had constructed a plan of action, there was some hope.

    He only needed to get that tiny thing out of the creature''s body. The problem was that he had tried blasting several holes in this Cthulhu monster but the cube wasn''t there. He had used his spiritual sense to focus on it. This thing was moving around the monster''s body at a random pattern.

    Whenever he tried getting to it, it shifted to another spot and got away. The monster was also quite resistant, even though he was blowing chunks out of it, most of his energy was consumed during this task.

    After the initial strike, the cube dived back into the monster''s body to another part of it while the wound was mended. This had continued for several minutes, he was now slowly running out of stamina. The previous test of strength was proof enough, he was weakening.

    Huo Qiang and Zhang Liena were further away. Fang Heng and the Argonaut were supporting those two from a distance. The ship was constantly firing its many cannons while moving around in the air. The nascent soul cultivator performed his own ranged attacks that utilized his Divine Dao.

    The two monster helpers weren''t easy foes though. They had similar healing capabilities to their master. They weren''t as strong as the foes Zhang Dong was fighting but they were also battling against weaker opponents. Both sides were at a stalemate for the time being but the biggest problem was the main demonic being that was facing off against Zhang Dong.

    It was much stronger than anyone here and Zhang Dong was barely contending with it. Was it not for his battle sense he would have gone down for the count a long time ago. A direct hit from the monster''s massive fists or claws would be enough to topple the golden giant. In his smaller form, he would not be strong enough to deliver enough damage to the monster.

    He also contemplated trying to invade the monster''s body in his regular size to get to the cube but gave up on that idea quite fast. The monster was a shapeshifter and it could consume other people into its body. If he entered its insides he would probably find himself attacked by the inner organs, consumed in a matter of seconds by the demonic energy that was at the great circle of the nascent soul level. He was just not strong enough to resist them in his regular form.

    For now, he decided to focus on the cube. That thing looked like it might be responsible for this creature''s might. If it was fueling it, after its removal it should drop to a weaker state, maybe even revert to the core formation level. If it was that weak he would be able to crush it between his fingertips.

    So he tried again, this time around he used some of his reserves to activate another improved version of his old technique. He clasped his hands together, this combined with his golden form made him look like a giant Buddhist statue that was praying.

    His body started to shine brightly, golden lightning bolts started shooting out of his back into the surroundings. A sound of shifting metal could be heard as his body started to change. A new set of arms erupted from his body. Those arms appeared right below his shoulders, soon another set of arms sprung out making him look as if he had six of them now.

    Each of those arms opened up their hands while blue energy gathered. Soon each one was holding a sword made from lightning energy. This was one of his original techniques that he was sent to this world with, the Thunderlight sword. He had trained it up to perfection throughout the years as well as brought it towards the nascent soul level of strength.

    With the six swords in hand, he charged towards the massive opponent that was already healed up. The monster didn''t just stand there as it blasted him with more demonic energy. He had to force his way through it while defending himself with the swords but when he got in range the slicing started.

    He was like a machine, the plasma-induced swords started chopping Quasi-thulhu''s body into small pieces. His swordsmanship expertise showed as the body was carved up. His gaze was focused not on the damage he was doing but at the moving treasure inside the monster. He constantly tried hitting it with this thunderlight sword but each time he swung down the tiny object moved to another section of the monster''s body.

    The only thing he could do was to follow its movements while chopping parts of the monster up. The less body there was to travel through the easier it would be for him to get it. Time was of the essence as he knew that he wouldn''t be able to keep this up for long. The monster''s arms, legs, and even head were now falling down to the ground but he still wasn''t finished. Soon most of its torso was coming apart which left the small cube not much space to maneuver.

    ''Damn I can''t hold it¡­''

    The thunder swords started sizzling out of existence. His spiritual energy was almost drained now but he wasn''t giving up just yet. He moved his arms towards the part of the monster''s body that had the cube in it. All six of them were plunged inside of this demonic being but the moment they did Zhang Dong could feel that something was wrong.

    When he sunk his hands into the monster he didn''t feel much resistance but he couldn''t stop now. With his six hands still there, he managed to force the cube into a corner, and finally his giant digits managed to grasp it in place.

    The moment they did though, he felt a massive jolt of fear run through his body. With all his might he started pulling, his hand that was holding the small object jerked back but he was unable to remove it from the monster''s oversized body.

    Then it happened, the sliced up parts started moving back towards the chopped up body. Zhang Dong''s multiple hands started vanishing which left him with two of his original ones. One was deeply stuck in the monster''s body while he was using the other one to try and push himself back to freedom.

    Before he knew it he was getting pulled inside of the monster''s body. The corrupt cube was stuck in there with his whole fist around it. He just couldn''t yank himself free from the monster''s clutches. No matter how much he pushed, pulled, or even discharged his golden lightning into this demonic being it wasn''t budging an inch.

    He could feel the monster slowly absorbing his body. His golden form started corroding into a brownish color. Dark cracks started forming on his hands and face as he started to show signs of breaking. If he didn''t get out of here he would certainly get consumed by this monster.

    ''I¡­ I can''t¡­''

    He found himself unable to budge from his spot, canceling out of his transformation to get smaller was being blocked. The monster''s demonic Qi was somehow affecting his state. Activating the system''s teleportation function was also not working, things looked dire.

    Zhang Dong looked around hoping to find something that could aid him. His gaze landed on the Argonaut that wasn''t that far off. It was bombarding the large eyeball along with Huo Qiang that looked somewhat beat up.

    He steeled his resolve and sent a quick message to the ship''s captain. The man in question was sitting in his large chair as he received a red prompt on his monitor. There was a clear order there, the man grimaced but would comply with the Patriarch''s edict. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#%!d(string=15646772505511005)/chapter-266_%!d(string=51623802148288367)">#%!d(string=15646772505511005)/chapter-266_%!d(string=51623802148288367)</a> for visiting.

    The man stood up from his seat which brought attention to him. He remained silent without uttering a word while looking out to the large screen. On it, he could see the golden giant wrestling with the monster. With each passing moment the golden glow was dimming, this made him realize why the Patriarch gave him such an order.

    "The order has been given, activate the Gungnir. Aim¡­ aim for the Patriarch!"

 Chapter 267

    Zhang Dong was grasping the cube with his giant golden hand. He could feel its corruption even without examining it with his system. In his previous encounters, he only needed to touch this type of cube and he would either get a prompt to absorb its power or it would happen automatically. In this current situation, this wasn''t happening, the cube was somehow absorbed into this creature''s structure.

    There wasn''t much he could do in this situation. He was slowly getting absorbed into this creature as well, the only reason he wasn''t already dead was his holy dao. It was sufficient in pushing the demonic energies away but it also had its limit. Maybe if he was also in the great circle like this monster then he could overpower this power leech but at his current level, it was impossible.

    The only thing he could do now is buy time for his battleship to charge its main cannon. That thing was powerful enough to even kill him when fully energized. He could see the ship slowly moving towards his direction while the front part transformed. The cannon slowly expanded while pointing towards him, in a few seconds the moment of truth would be upon him.

    It might have seemed that he was committing suicide by battleship cannons but that wasn''t his plan. The beam of concentrated spiritual energy wasn''t for him but for the cube inside the monster. If it was destroyed he theorized that this monster would suffer a backlash, thus losing most of its cultivation base. Even if he got injured Huo Qiang and Feng Liena would be enough to finish it off in that state.

    "What are you doing?"

    Before the ship could blast away at him he heard a voice from afar. It belonged to his wife Zhang Liena, her soul-beast was surrounding the centaur looking monster with green cyclones while she on the other hand was flying his way. She had noticed that the ship was powering up and also who it was aiming at.

    "Don''t come closer, I''ll be fine."

    He sent her a message while also prompting the ship''s captain to hurry up with charging the cannon.

    "Captain, overload the engines, fry the systems if you have to, I can''t hold this thing for long¡­"

    His glowing golden form was slowly flickering. The black miasma was engulfing him from head to toe. The creature''s squid face was in close proximity to his own. Zhang Dong inserted some of his reserves to his forehead to deliver a headbutt to its face. The monster''s head flew backward but this wouldn''t keep it from giving up, it would soon regenerate while trying to swallow him whole.

    "You''re not fine at all¡­"

    Liena wasn''t hearing any of it as she transformed into a green beam of light and headed towards Zhang Dong''s position. She was clearly unwilling to just let her husband be blasted by the giant ship''s cannon.

    "Stop!"

    Her approach was halted though by one of her allies. In front of her was Huo Qiang, he was slightly beaten up from fighting the large eyeball but the monster was now contending with his soul beast. It wouldn''t be held for long though.

    "What are you doing, get out of my way Qiang!"

    "Senior brother told me to stop you¡­"

    "You¡­"

    Liena looked into the distance, Zhang Dong in his giant form was slowly getting engulfed by a mass of dark green flesh. His golden color was dimming and the ship was almost done with charging up its main cannon. Liena knew that she wouldn''t be able to get Huo Qiang out of the way at least not in time to help her husband. She would still try¡­

    "Get out of my way, or die!"

    She took out a certain item from her spatial ring. It looked like an emerald badge with a green phoenix engraving on it. She held it out in front of her and injected it with her spiritual energy to activate it.

    "You''re going to use that thing on me?!"

    Huo Qiang put up his guard while looking at her. He knew well what the thing she was using was. He backed off while looking at her and his own soul beast that was wrestling with the giant eyeball monster.

    Qiang wasn''t sure what he should do, he promised Zhang Dong to stop Liena for her safety and he would carry out that request. He knew very well what his senior brother was doing was very dangerous. He had trust in him, he believed that he would be fine but Liena would need to stay back for his plan to work.

    The problem was the item that Liena was holding. It was a special device that was gifted to her by Zhang Dong. Qiang himself was waiting for one of his own but Zhang Dong told him that he would need to wait as there weren''t enough resources to go around just yet.

    He put up his guard as he continued to block Liena''s way. The woman''s body started glowing in green color while the emerald badge floated towards her sternum. It attached itself a bit above that ample bosom which after an even shinier glow covered her body.

    In a fraction of a second Liena''s body started getting covered by metallic parts. They covered her entirely, from head to toe in a suit of armor. This armor had an intricate streamlined design that complimented Liena''s form. It looked like it was made from some sort of green jade or crystal.

    Qiang instantly felt Liena''s cultivation realm shooting up past his own. This secret treasure was similar to the dark armor Zhang Dong had gifted his grandfather all those years ago. It was tailored for his wife and was the only one that he had made. There just weren''t enough resources to go around, he didn''t even have his own version yet.

    Soon the transformation was done and Zhang Liena bolted forward. Both of her and Qiang collided in a bout of strength. What normally would be a specialty of this red-haired brute quickly turned around. The green wind energy overwhelmed the red plasma. Huo Qiang got pushed to the side by a strong smack to the face while Liena continued forward.

    But the deed was already done, the ship''s main cannon was getting activated. Her orders were ignored as the captain would follow Zhang Dong''s over Liena''s at any given moment.

    "No, Stop!" Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#%!d(string=15646772505511005)/chapter-267_%!d(string=51670735151755414)">#%!d(string=15646772505511005)/chapter-267_%!d(string=51670735151755414)</a> for visiting.

    She cried out while seeing the cannon''s massive spiritual energy cannon fire away. This condensed torrent of Qi was much larger than the one the ship fired off during the battle against the Unlimited Sword Society.

    This caused the ship''s main cannon to start melting, the tip of the ship even started to go up in flames as the order was given to overload the engines and fire at over 100%. Going over the limit would allow the cannon to fire off a stronger beam of energy but it would also destroy it in the process.

    At this point in time, only half of Zhang Dong''s head and part of his feet were sticking out. He looked like a person that was getting entangled in some dark rubber that had tentacles. The creature was trying to devour him alive but also was having trouble maintaining its humanoid form while doing this.

    He could feel the beam approaching, this was the moment to go all out. Zhang Dong gave it his all, with a burst of Qi he dipped into his reserves and the whole monster lit up along with him. He didn''t do this to free himself; at this point, it was far too late for that. No, he only used his last ounce of strength to move his hands forward.

    In those hands of his, he had the corrupted cube that was being used to power this beast. The moment the beam of condensed energy was ready to hit, he opened up his palm so that it connected with the cube instead of him or the creature.

    A gigantic explosion occurred instantly, everything went white. Liena that was charging forward was sent flying in the opposite direction, even with her armor on that pushed her power output by a small realm up she wasn''t able to hold on.

    The ground rumbled, the people on the Argonaut were helplessly trying to control the ship. The alarms were going off everywhere and they were losing altitude. The main cannon was on fire and part of the repair crew was trying to put it off.

    "Get the ship under control! What happened to the Patriarch, get the screen running!"

    The Ship''s captain barked out orders while the whole room''s crew was in a state of confusion. The explosion had seemed to have overloaded some of the spiritual devices. Before the Argonaut got stabilized two people rushed into the command deck.

    "What is the meaning of this!"

    The first person that had gone in was Zhang Liu, who was followed by Zhang Xue. Both of them looked maddened, why was obvious. They were manning the cannons not long ago but soon they found themselves looking at the main cannon firing at their Master. They weren''t able to do anything about it, so they rushed here to get some answers.

    "It was the Patriarch''s orders! Now sit down you two brats, you might be the Patriarch''s disciples but here you have no authority!"

    The man slammed his fist down on his chair while glaring back at the young man. Zhang Xue placed her hand on Liu''s shoulder as she tried to calm him down. Not long after the large screen flickered with light.

    "We regained the signal Captain¡­"

    They all started at the screen, there was a lot of static on it but slowly it started to clear up. When the dust had settled they were greeted with a surprising sight.

    "Where are they?..."

    What they saw was perplexing. There was absolutely nothing there, no monster or Zhang Dong anywhere. Instead, they saw a large hole, the strange thing about it was the shape. It was a perfect sphere. It was as if someone took a big chunk out of the ground.

    On the outside, Zhang Liena and Huo Qiang were closer to this phenomenon. Both of them could feel the strong spiritual energy coming from the center of that large hole. The two huge monsters that they were fighting against weren''t looking so good either.

    The moment the light subsided and the sphere hole was revealed they noticed that the two beasts started crumbling into dust. They could only explain this with the death of the main monster that Zhang Dong was fighting with. The big question was, where did he end up? Was he killed in the explosion along with it? Or did he get out in time? No one was sure but they wouldn''t be leaving this place before they found some clues.

    "I¡­ I don''t feel him anywhere¡­"

    Zhang Liena looked around but couldn''t get a read on her husband. She quickly deactivated her emerald armor and looked at her hand. On it was a ring that her husband gave her, it was linked to another one that he had with him. The two rings were linked by a teleportation formation, if she activated it she should have been able to go to her husband.

    Her hands trembled a bit but she activated it but to her dismay, nothing had happened. She tried again and again but to no avail, it just wasn''t working.

    Huo Qiang dived for that large hole that was formed after the explosion. He lit up the place with his fire but he couldn''t spot anything either. There was nothing there, no monster remains, and no Zhang Dong.

    "Where are you, senior brother¡­"

 Chapter 268

    "Did you find anything? Any clues?"

    An angry-looking Zhang Liena was tapping her foot on the ground. There were some people standing around her, they were looking at that tapping foot. The more it moved the more the ground shook around her.

    These people were members of the Argonaut 1 ship crew. The flying vessel had been put out of commission after overloading the main cannon. While repairs were underway the people that were free started searching the area where Zhang Dong had vanished in. It looked as if a chunk of earth was evaporating out of existence. The hole was perfectly circular and over a kilometer in diameter.

    A day had already passed since the fight with the gigantic monster and its two companions. The moment the monster vanished along with the sect Patriarch the other two went up in smoke. There was nothing left to tell the tale, the only thing there was the giant hole in the middle of those old ruins that didn''t exist anymore.

    "We have examined the explosion site¡­ after a day of searching we couldn''t find any rem¡­"

    The person that was answering was one of the elders that came along on this expedition. The moment he tried to mention Zhang Dong as the ''remains'' he felt a chill run down his spine. Zhang Liena looked at him with rage-filled eyes and while exuding some killing intent.

    "I mean¡­ we couldn''t find any sign of the Patriarch being there. There are also no monster remains, it''s as if they evaporated along with this fog."

    The old man sweated while shifting the conversation in a different direction. After the cannon was fired and both the monster and the Patriarch were gone, the mist cleared up.

    "We have contacted our sect members that remained at the Divine Fist Sect. It seems that the fog is now gone from these lands. Even the creatures that were inhabiting the infected people seemed to have vanished, as if they were never there, to begin with¡­"

    "Is that so¡­ you may leave¡­but keep looking!"

    Liena waved with her fan and the old man quickly bowed and removed himself from this location. This was just in time for Huo Qiang to appear out of the distance, he emerged from the bottom of the hole that Liena was also in close proximity. He landed next to the Matriarch, a big frown on his face along with furrowed brows could be spotted.

    "This is bizarre, there are no traces left of him or the monster. It''s as if the battle never took place."

    He stood next to Liena with his arms crossed over one another while both of them looked to the large perfect sphere hole down below. There were many lights and people moving down there as everyone was ordered to search.

    "He lives, I know it¡­ A master of his caliber would leave a trace behind, something¡­ it''s as if.."

    "He was teleported away?"

    Liena nodded at Qiang''s question. The two were thinking of the same thing, it looked like everything in this hole was just wished out of existence. A regular explosion would have left traces of spiritual energy behind. There would be faint signs of the creature''s and Zhang Dong''s nascent souls, those were much harder to erase. For these two people here it looked as if the whole spot that this detonation occurred was removed from this place.

    "My thought exactly¡­ the other possibility would be¡­"

    The two looked down with their faces grim as they didn''t want the other option to be true. This being that Zhang Dong was truly dead either by this explosion or by total eradication of his very being.

    "Yes¡­ what will you do? One of us must return back to the sect, I''m sure the Divine Fist Sect will aid us in the search now but we need to keep the news from spreading¡­"

    Huo Qiang asked while moving away, the news of their Patriarch perishing or vanishing in strange circ.u.mstances would bring them harm. They were already on a brink of war against the Limitless Sword Society. There was also the Yggdrasil Sect working in the shadows which was another problem they might have to contend with.

    "I''ll remain here with some of our sect members, the ship needs to be repaired, I''ll protect it."

    "I''ll return to the sect and bring the news, we will wait for Senior Brother''s return¡­"

    Huo Qiang nodded while moving away, before leaving he was sure to give Liena a small pat on the shoulder. She didn''t react much besides giving him a nod, without Zhang Dong around they would need to keep everything in check.

    The biggest problem was the other sects that might try to use Zhang Dong''s absence to their advantage. The next one was the inner members of their own sect, with the most powerful member now gone the power dynamic would be shifting in another direction. Even though these two didn''t want it, their camps were at odds with each other. Zhang Dong was a large sturdy wall between the two which kept anything from escalating but now he was gone.

    Liena didn''t look back at Qiang as he floated away. She looked down at her golden ring that she was gifted by her husband. It was one of the most treasured gifts that she received as it was the item that was proof of their betrothal. She was unsure of what had happened to her husband but she dreaded the thought of this ring becoming just a momento.

    She took up flight and closed her eyes, her spiritual sense examining everything once more. Liana wasn''t willing to just give up yet, if Zhang Dong was only teleported away then he might be alive, he might also still be battling this evil creature in another part of this world. If she could just get a hint as to where he went, then maybe the masters at the sect would be able to pinpoint his location. For now, she could only continue searching and she would search for as long as she had to¡­.

    "Dong''er¡­ where are you¡­"

    ........................

    ''Some time earlier.''

    Zhang Dong opened his eyes, he wasn''t sure where he was but he was in a heap of trouble. The last thing he remembered doing was positioning the corrupt cube in the line of the spiritual cannon beam. He was sure it was a direct hit but what came next was a blur.

    He didn''t feel any pain or that he suffered an injury. When he opened up his eyes he found himself back at his regular size. His avatar form was canceled out but he was alive.

    The odd thing was his surroundings consisted of chaotic energy. He found himself floating through some kind of tunnel, the walls of it were composed of strange Qi. He could feel that he was spinning out of control at an immense speed, where he was going and what this strange space was he had no idea.

    ''Did that Cthulhu die?''

    ''How long have I been in here?''

    ''What is this place? How can I get back?''

    He started asking himself questions, it was very hard for him to concentrate around here. He tried gathering his spiritual energy to make himself stop from spinning but to no avail. He was like a rock hurled into outer space, his destination unknown.

    Zhang Dong could see strange energy torrents, lightning-like energy, and flickering of lights everywhere. This looked like one of those bad drug trips that some people had when overdosing.

    The whole experience was making him sick, he was disoriented and had no idea what to do. The more he tried to activate his cultivation to free himself from this place the more his head hurt. It was as if this place wasn''t letting him use his powers at all.

    He tried feeling out the Dao around this strange space but the feeling was totally different than to what he was used to. He felt like he was running on an unsupported operating system, any attempts to gather his qi were getting shut down. The only thing he could rely on now was his system, the moment he brought up the screen he saw red.

    There were ''Danger'' and ''Error'' signs plastered all over this display. It was already hard to tell anything while spinning around but this just made things less bearable. With time and some squinting, he was finally able to see something.

    ''Lost world tether? What is that anyway?''

    The system was giving him some strange prompts, there were a lot of corrupt text and warning signals littering his display. Finally, he was greeted with a button that he could press, without any other options he begrudgingly pressed it. This prompted the system to give him more corrupt text but some of it was readable.

    ''Missing world tether¡­''

    ''Trying to establish a new connection¡­ please wait¡­''

    ''Searching...error¡­ error¡­''

    ''Error¡­ missing tether¡­''

    ''Overwriting commands¡­ looking for a new link¡­ please wait¡­''

    ''Trying to establish a new world tether to user number 80082¡­ error ¡­ subject deceased¡­''

    ''... found a new world tether from sector 41067 setting up a new link¡­''

    The error signals and prompts continued to appear for a while. With time something like a new world tether was found. His body started glowing immensely during this process and somehow the spinning motion started to lessen. He found himself stopping in his tracks together with a dinging sound that his system gave him.

    ''¡­ new tether added¡­ transferring user to the new sector now...''

    The moment that message appeared he felt his whole body jerking toward the energy tube wall. He was now traveling at neck-breaking speeds towards something that looked like pure energy, energy that was far above his cultivation realm. Before he could be fried by it an opening appeared. It was composed of white light and large enough for his body to go through.

    The inside of this white light was another energy corridor. This one was much smaller and he couldn''t actually move at all. It felt like he was going down a constrained tube of energy what was on the other side would remain to be seen.

    "GAHHHHHHhhhhhh"

    With a plop he was finally out, he hit something hard and tumbled forward. The momentum carried him further and further until he hit something hard. His face hit the ground and he sprawled out like a starfish. He couldn''t hear anything or anyone as he just remained face planted on the ground.

    "Ow¡­ my head¡­"

    He had a splitting headache, he tried activating his holy energies and they worked. A golden light surrounded his body while healing it. The wounds that he had sustained were slowly vanishing and he also felt like his energy reserves were larger than before.

    ''Where am I?... did I absorb some of that cubes power, I think my cultivation is higher¡­''

    He stood up to see where he was, what he saw was not something that he expected.

    ''Huh? What is this place?''

    There was nothing here besides a small wide pillar that he had hit while tumbling. The rest of this space was filled with nothing but the void. This void wasn''t pitch black, there was a stary sky above him that faintly lit everything up.

    He looked around but besides the wide pillar that reached up to his belly button, there was nothing there. Before he could examine this whole place further he felt a jolt of energy. He quickly glanced to the source which was right in the middle of that pillar.

    To his surprise, he saw someone appearing out of thin air right in the middle. It looked to be a person but compared to him, the person was quite tiny. It looked to be a young girl in her teens, she was so small that he would be able to squish her with one finger.

    The girl looked a bit confused while looking around, with time she looked up and noticed Zhang Dong staring down at her. After opening up her mouth wide along with her eyes she dropped down to her knees and started bowing. Then she finally spoke up.

    "Honorable heroic spirit, I Beatrice Hohenberg beseech thee to grand me a contract!"

    Zhang Dong just blinked repeatedly while staring down, soon a sound escaped from his mouth.

    "Ehhhhh???"

 Chapter 269

    "Lady Hohenberg?..."

    "Lady Beatrice Hohenberg of Dawn Lake, are you paying attention?"

    "Huh?"

    A young girl jolted awake, her vision blurry. The girl was fifteen years old, she was about 170 cm in height and was noticeable by her long golden hair. This was a trait of the Hohenberg noble house that was given to its true descendants.

    "I see that you are with us again, Lady Beatrice. I know today is the day that you get your summoned spirit but please at least try to pay attention."

    The blond-haired girl saw an uptight glass wearing lady looking up to her. They were in a classroom and the person that was speaking to her was one of the teachers at this noble academy. Beatrice blushed a bit while trying to cover her face with a book, the other people in this classroom started laughing and snickering.

    "I apologize Miss Enora."

    The lady stuck up her nose a bit high while looking at the other people in the room. Everyone here was of the same age, it was filled with a mix of boys and girls and all of them were wearing uniforms.

    Not everyone had the same uniform, some were white and some were black. There was a clear status distinction between the people here. The classroom was built up high similar to how a movie theater was made. The people in the white uniforms were sitting back up high while the ones in the black ones were down below and closer to the blackboard.

    Beatrice was someone that was sitting down at the first desk so her sleeping form was hard to miss. The young girl wasn''t able to sleep the whole night as today was a very important event. An event that would decide how her life would play out in the future.

    "Good, let me go through today''s ceremony. I''m sure that you are all aware of the utmost importance of this magical ritual that you will go through."

    "You have been practicing for this very occasion."

    The glasses-wearing lady teacher had a small wooden wand in her hand. She waved it around while pointing at the blackboard the moment she did the letters started shifting around. They took the form of some kind of pentagram with a lot of runes.

    "You will be brought to a room with this magic circle, be sure to go through the ritual as you have been instructed and place your prepared items at each point. Don''t make any mistakes as you could offend the spirits."

    "If you fail your ceremony your next one will be held next year. I must remind you that the older the summoner is the harder it is for them to connect to the spirit realm. A person that isn''t able to make a contract with a spirit will be deemed a failure at the age of 18 and will have to find a different profession."''

    The teacher continued to talk while Beatrice''s heart skipped a beat at the mention of someone failing. This reminded her of how she wasn''t allowed to fail, if she wasn''t able to procure a strong or even a middle-class spirit contract then the future of her noble house would be put into question.

    ''I can''t fail¡­ everyone is counting on me¡­ the main house might revoke our branch family rights if I fail too¡­''

    She was reminded of her older brother who was that unfortunate person. He was three years older and had dropped out after failing to establish a summoner contract. She wasn''t sure what he was doing now, he had left the main house while saying that he would find his own way outside the summoner profession.

    This left her as the sole heir to the whole Hohenberg of Dawn Lake family estate. A big burden was dropped on her shoulders and she wasn''t sure if she would be able to succeed. The fear of disappointing her parents had taken root deeply in her mind.

    There was a certain prestige that the noble families needed to uphold. She was part of a branch family, the main noble house required them to bring forth a summoner as an heir. Without it, the main family would drop their support and they would be stripped of their noble status. Without it, they wouldn''t be able to afford their estate that was also rented out through the main noble house to them.

    In reality, her branch family was nothing more than the property of the main house. They were just dogs kept on a short leash. If a dog lost its teeth and wouldn''t be able to protect its master then it didn''t have a purpose of being. Without a proper summoned spirit she wouldn''t be considered worth the investment. If that happened there would be only one option, a thing that she knew her parents would do.

    ''The will probably force me to marry someone... ''

    She shivered at the thought of being forced to marry some older man and having to bear his children. That was mostly what happened to noble ladies with no status and money. They would be sent out to tie the knot with a rich enough noble that would be able to support the failing estate. Her parents would be secure but her life would be in turmoil depending on who she would be left with.

    Beatrice looked at the blackboard that was constantly being changed. The teacher went through the procedures again but she had already memorized everything down to a tee. This didn''t mean that she didn''t look at the explanation again. Worrying that she might have forgotten something she continued to pay attention.

    The lecture concluded soon and the students had to go outside. She remained seated at her desk with all the other black uniform students. There was a certain class rule here, unless all of the white uniforms left the classroom the lower born weren''t allowed to leave. This sometimes caused her to remain here for up to an hour if some of the noble ladies got too chatty.

    She looked up to a certain person, it was a beautiful noble lady with similar blond hair to hers. The two looked a bit similar in one way or the other but this one was clearly of higher status. She was surrounded by other girls and boys in white uniforms and they were chatting away.

    "What do you think Lady Isabella will receive?"

    "I bet it will be a legendary spirit king like a white dragon!"

    "I think a phoenix would fit Lady Isabella much better."

    "Wouldn''t a Sylph be more aligned with that?"

    Beatrice listened in while a certain green-haired youth walked over towards Lady Isabella. He was quite handsome and the other people that were chatting took notice. They all moved back slightly, they were clearly making way for this individual that was of higher status than they were.

    "Would that be to your liking, your Majesty?"

    Isabella smiled at the new arrival and the two started talking. Beatrice turned her head away out of indignation. She knew that the man approaching was one of this country''s princes while the blond girl was his fiance. She didn''t want to interact with that girl but this was something impossible as she was someone from the main family. To her, she was nothing more than a servant, a useless one if she wasn''t able to get a fitting summoned spirit.

    The high nobles finally decided to move their butts. Beatrice was in Isabella''s camp so she followed behind her. She was the odd person out of this group, mostly her use was in doing troublesome errands. Today was an important day though, so even these nobles were more focused on the summoning ceremony. If they failed their prestige would be put in question even more than hers was.

    There was only one chamber to perform this ritual so she needed to wait. First came the more distinguished nobles like the Prince or Isabella. She and some others would need to wait till late at night to get their turn.

    She remained outside while waiting for her turn, the people that were from the more pristine noble houses were all able to receive their spirit summons. It was easier to achieve this with some additional items, some summons could be somewhat ''bought'' over to form a contract.

    The lower nobles like her didn''t have enough money for something like that. The items that a person offered during the ritual were a form of tribute to the summoned being. They were there to attract them, more than one spirit could answer your call. The strongest one would then win out over the others and be the one to form a contract.

    Time continued to fly and now the youths in the black uniforms were beginning their rituals. Some of them were successful while some failed. With lacking resources, they could only count on their lackl.u.s.ter talent. Soon it was her turn to give it a try, the large doors to the spacious ceremony room opened up and she was left alone there.

    She could see the stairs leading up to the summoning platform. The room was dimly lit but rays of light were shining on that platform. In its center was the magical circle that the teacher mentioned before. It had already been used by many other students before, some of the mana used in the ritual was still lingering.

    ''Time to place the gifts¡­''

    Beatrice took out the items that she prepared. They had some magic in them that was supposed to lure the spirits here. They were just ordinary magical items, the more costly ones were already used during her brother''s tries. Even with the higher quality ones he was unsuccessful. Even with moderately good items around there was a big chance of failure, she hoped that this wouldn''t be the case for her.

    ''Please... let this work¡­''

    She went down to her knees in the center of the magical circle. Her hands were clasped together as she went down into a kneeling position. The magical symbols started lighting up in a deep blue color as the ritual started.

    "Ego antiquum spirituum te rogamus, occurre obsecro mihi testimonii¡­"

    She started a long chant that she had remembered thoroughly. There was no stuttering and no hesitation in her voice. This was her one and only chance, failure was not an option. Rays of light shone down on her as she continued praying. Nothing seemed to be happening and she couldn''t feel the presence of any spirits. Normally they would start to appear the moment she finished the chant but even after going through with it once, there was nothing.

    There was still some time left in this ritual, the magic circle was active so she started repeating the incantation over and over again. She couldn''t feel anything happening but when she opened her eyes a strange scenery filled her vision.

    She wasn''t in the ritual chamber anymore, she was in some kind of dark space. When she looked up she could see a strange unfamiliar sky with many stars. Some of them were moving around, it made it look like rain, a rain of stars.

    Then she looked behind her and saw him. There was a giant standing before her, his large glowing eyes focused on her small form. This giant was wearing some strange white robes and his body was covered in some kind of otherworldly golden glow. She could also see arcs of lightning bursting forward from his very being.

    ''Is¡­ that a summoned spirit¡­ I never heard of something like this¡­''

    She racked her brain about an answer while slightly panicking. Then it came to her, in one book there was writing that some special spirits could pull their summoners into their own realm. These spirits were considered legendary ones, the ones that had a humanoid shape were also considered even rarer.

    She dropped down to her knees and started bowing the moment she realized that this spirit might have been a rare legendary one. Beatrice wasn''t sure why he chose her but this was her big chance, there was a possibility of the ritual failing if the summoned spirit didn''t agree. Thus she assumed the kneeling position and did her best to plead her case.

    "Honorable heroic spirit, I Beatrice Hohenberg beseech thee to grand me a contract!"

    After she spoke those words an uncomfortable silence was all that greeted her. This was only broken by a strange deep groan that this giant gave out. This only made her plant her face deeper into the ground while pleading more.

    "Sorry about that little girl, could you raise your head it''s hard to talk like that¡­"

    The next time the giant spoke up his voice was much softer sounding. She did as instructed and looked up, her body trembling slightly at the giant before her.

    "I think you need to explain a few things here¡­"

    The giant spoke up while moving his large face closer, the time for contract negotiations had begun.

 Chapter 270

    Zhang Dong looked down at the golden-haired girl that looked to be in the middle of her teens. At this moment in time, she was clutching her ears. After his little outburst, her ears were probably ringing. He noticed that his increased size was causing the girl harm so he tried to lower his tone.

    The need to lower the amount of energy he was giving out was also a must. He started glowing less but shrinking to her size was not an option apparently. If she was just someone from a tiny race was a possibility. Zhang Dong had a hard time believing that he had turned into a giant by coming to this other world.

    "Sorry about that little girl, could you raise your head it''s hard to talk like that. What did you mean by a heroic spirit when you addressed me? What is this about a contract?"

    She had clearly given him a title of some sort. This was probably a clue to this predicament, if not he would need to search for answers of his own accord.

    "Great Spirit¡­?"

    The girl looked up towards him, he had leaned closer slightly so his giant face along with his glowing eyes were now looking intently at the small girl. Surprisingly the girl didn''t flinch at his colossal sight again, was it bravery or resolve?

    "I thank you for answering my call, If the great spirit is willing I would be honored to form a contract¡­"

    He could see her fidget a bit after returning the question with a statement. From the short exchange, he could somehow figure out what this was. The problem was that it didn''t really make much sense, how was he a summoned being? He came from a fantasy-like world of cultivators, so summoners and wizards wouldn''t be really shocking to him.

    "You would like to form a contract with me?"

    He asked out of curiosity, maybe prooding with questions someone that thought that he was some kind of summoned spirit wasn''t the greatest idea.

    "I would be honored, Great spirit!

    The answer didn''t give him much, though he didn''t even know how to form this ''contract'' even if he wanted to oblige. Also signing strange binding contracts with unknown people in an unknown location would probably not be the smartest option.

    The space around him felt strange. He could somehow use his cultivation and powers but the energies were different than what he was used to. He could spread his spiritual sense in all directions but he couldn''t feel any other living being here. The girl and he himself were the only two people here. Even then, she felt more like an energy construct or a soul than a real living being.

    He wanted to try some other options before asking the girl for further answers. This space felt like some kind of dead-end, the only thing he wanted to do is get back to his sect. After going through all the teleportation treasures and his system options, he still couldn''t find a way out, being stuck here was a very real possibility.

    The girl down below remained silent while trying not to fidget while he continued to think.

    "G-great spirit? C-could we form a contract? D-didn''t you summon me here to form one, great spirit?"

    Zhang Dong looked down at her, one brow raised. The girl really wanted to get this contract deal going but there wasn''t really much in it for him. He would rather decline her request but a sudden new development threw a wrench into his plan.

    "Warning¡­ world link fading¡­ need to establish a stronger tether¡­ warning!"

    ''What is it now?''

    He groaned a bit while looking at his system window that started flickering with warning signs. He could see some kind of new counter that was going down.

    World synchronization rate 89%.... 88%...87%...

    It started going down and continued without stopping. He started getting some kind of strange feeling in his very soul. Zhang Dong could see that he was somehow getting rejected from this world by something, slowly fading away. He looked at his hands and after the rate dropped below 70% he could see them flickering in and out of existence.

    "It is advised for the user to form a contract with the summoner named Beatrice Hohenberg."

    "What the?"

    He heard a voice from the side, it sounded like an old text to speech module from an old operating system. He turned to the side to see a wisp of blue light hovering there, this was the thing that just talked.

    "Who are you supposed to be?"

    "I am the AI companion generated to aid the User number 80082. If the user fails to form a connection with someone from sector number 41067 he will be erased from existence."

    Apparently, the system had gained some kind of sentience or it was just a more elaborate AI program. It was advising him to form a contract with this girl. It sounded that if he didn''t go through with it, it would end in death.

    "Is there another way?"

    He asked.

    "Analysing the question... The User could absorb the person called Beatrice Hohenberg and inhabit her body forcefully. The User would be then recognized as an inhabitant of this sector."

    He looked at the young girl that was still kneeling down. She was looking at him with those big blue eyes, taking over her body was out of the question. He wasn''t an evil spirit that possessed others and he would like to keep it like that.

    ''I might not have a choice¡­''

    The counter dropped below 50% and he started to fade away. There didn''t seem to be another option but to take this girl up on the offer and form that contract. He wasn''t sure what that foretold for his future but he had to live. His family was still out there, he needed more time to figure things out. Sticking around a teenage girl for some time didn''t seem like much of a problem.

    "Uh¡­ system? AI helper? How do I form a contract with the girl?"

    "... sending information to the user¡­ please wait for the data transfer¡­"

    He felt a familiar pain run through his head. It was reminiscent of the jolt he always got when buying techniques from the old system store. In a matter of moments, he had the information in his brain.

    ''So that''s how it is¡­ it''s not as bad as I thought it would be¡­''

    The contract wasn''t binding him for life. Thanks to his level of power being far superior to the summoner he was the one with all the decision-making power. He would be able to break it off by his own will if he ever wanted to. If the summoner wasn''t strong enough to keep the summoned spirit at bay in some way, the spirit could leave at any moment. He could even switch hosts if he wanted to.

    "Girl...Beatrice was it, I will form a contract with you."

    The girl looked up, her blue eyes went wide with surprise. He wasn''t sure what she was thinking but she looked equally confused and ecstatic. Zhang Dong had gotten the instructions on how to perform this ''contract'' through this strange ball of light AI. He still wasn''t sure if he could trust that thing and how it even came out.

    He had a suspicion that it had something to do with that other cube, he had absorbed it and might have unlocked some new functions. The contract was similar to binding two souls together. They would be connected by a sort of chain and both of them could gain benefits.

    The summoned creature would be given energy from the Summoner and fed off of them. The one using the spirit would gain its aid in return, it was mostly a symbiotic relationship. Both of the parties were getting something for it.

    After the contract was broken the spirit would return to the so-called spirit realm. It would get to keep any strength that it was given and with time could even evolve into a being of higher power.

    Zhang Dong moved his finger out towards Beatrice. It was as large as her whole head but he needed physical contact with his summoner to perform the soul binding procedure.

    "Accept it"

    The girl shivered slightly while closing her eyes. He gently bumped his finger against her forehead to begin the procedure. A small fraction of his soul transformed into a golden shackle, it flew out towards the girl''s own soul and the two were connected with each other. This process was only possible if both of the parties were willing, if not the weaker one would be quite dead.

    He could feel the young girl''s soul getting connected with his own. His soul arts were still lacking but with the system''s help, he was able to perform this strange ritual. The magic this world used was similar to the one of his world but the ''wavelength'' of mana was slightly different than of Qi that he was used to.

    ''That should do it¡­''

    World synchronization rate 43%.... 44%...47%...

    The synchronization rate started going up the moment the connection was finalized. Before he could ask the girl more questions he saw her vanish. She just popped like a soap bubble and only faint energy particles remained.

    ''Damn, what now¡­ and how should I call you?''

    Zhang Dong frowned while looking at the small glowing blue light that was hovering over his shoulder. This thing reminded him of an annoying game element from one of the old games that he played. It was as noisy though and only spoke up when asked a question by him directly.

    "This unit''s designation number is 000451200-B08¡­"

    "... B08?... Okay, I''ll just call you Bob. So tell me, Bob, where am I and how do I get out of here?"

    He took a seat on the platform the girl appeared on. It was the only thing besides the sea of stars above. While looking around he spread his senses far and wide again, this place was kind of weird. With a bit of prodding he figured something out, this place wasn''t as big as it seemed. The sky above was only an illusion, the wide dark space spread a few kilometers in each direction.

    "So Bob, can you explain where I am and how do I get home? Also, what are you and this system¡­"

    The glowing light moved towards him while changing colors. It looked like it was thinking, after a few moments its robotic voice sounded out.

    "Insufficient data¡­ must gather more nuclei"

    "Nuclei?"

    "A nucleus is a concentrated hub of information about a given sector¡­."

    The machine started a long-winded explanation that pointed him back to the cubes as always.

    "Wait¡­ if I get more of those cubes, could I get back to my old world? I mean, to my previous sector?"

    "Calculating¡­"

    "With an additional nucleus, the probability of establishing a tether to users'' original sector is 37%..."

    "Oh? How probable is it without one?"

    "0,00145%"

    "Great¡­"

    Zhang Dong looked around this closed space and was already feeling homesick. The only thing on his mind were his wife and kids. There was the problem with the crazy sect of swordmasters still to be resolved. He was worried that with him not there a war between sects could happen.

    "How do I even find one of those cubes if I''m trapped in here?... huh?"

    He felt something tugging at him from the inside. He focused on this strange feeling and in a moment could see something strange. He could see a strange ritual chamber through the eyes of someone else. This was clearly the girl that he made the contract with, he was now connected with her. It was a strange sensation of being in two places at once.

    "I guess I will have to use this child to help me out¡­ I need to gather more information about this world."

    He rubbed his chin while looking at the girl through her eyes. The blond was looking at a glowing mark on her right hand. He could feel his own energy signature coming off it and it was the sign of a successful summoner contract. He could feel the girl''s joy when she looked at this strange runic symbol.

    ''I did it grandfather, I''m a summoner maybe with this¡­''

    He jerked a bit after hearing the girl''s voice in his head. Somehow he was able to hear her thoughts but it didn''t seem like she could hear his.

    "This will take some time to get used to¡­ think I''ll just observe her for now¡­"

    "Bob can you tell me more about this world¡­"

    He sat down cross-legged in this empty space, he wasn''t sure how long he would be stuck here but he would do anything in his power to return to his family and friends.

 Chapter 271

    Beatrice opened her eyes, it took a moment for them to focus but soon she could see the room that the summoning ritual had been performed in. She felt a bit out of it, the whole ceremony was unusual. The summoned spirits mostly appeared as phantoms in this very room and then formed the contract. Something like being sucked into a strange dimension and then looking at a titanic giant before her was unprecedented.

    She wasn''t sure if it was a dream but when she looked at her right arm she noticed proof of it being true. On it she could spot a certain symbol, it looked like a magic circle with a specific rune in the middle. This was the proof of a contract being made and this magic circle would be used for channeling the summoned spirit''s power.

    The girl started standing up from the kneeling position that she was in. She felt a bit weakened after the ceremony and also disoriented. It felt like time was moving slower in that dimension and that here not that much had passed. Beatrice grasped her hand that had the summoner symbol on it, it was glowing for now but soon it faded away into her skin leaving it invisible to the eye.

    ''I did it¡­''

    She held that right hand close to her chest, it was as if she was giving it a big hug. Before she could finish up with her moment of delight a knock on the door was heard. She turned to the sound, knowing well that it was probably one of the teachers checking up on her. Beatrice remembered that before the spirit summoned her to his dimension she did use up a lot of time. Other people were probably still waiting outside and waiting for their turn.

    "I''m coming!"

    Her feet shuffled quickly towards the exit, even if the time was close to being up the teachers wouldn''t just barge in on a summoning ceremony. They probably noticed the surge of mana during the spirit binding magic. After it was finished they probably wanted her to hurry up, at least that is what she concluded.

    "Lady Beatrice Hohenberg¡­ were you successful¡­?"

    A man in a teacher''s uniform greeted her, he had a large scroll in one hand while in the other a large feather. He was an older gentleman with a beard and a monocle decorated his face. This very monocle gave out a magical light as it was used as an identification device. The man looked at Beatrice''s right hand and could see that she did indeed have the magical insignia.

    "I see, Lady Beatrice. Everyone that has passed the ceremony will have two days off. You may return to your family for the time being. I''m sure that you are aware of the next test."

    Beatrice just nodded while the old man scribbled something into that large scroll. She was aware that getting a summoned spirit was just one part of the bigger thing. New classes would be formed after each student got their summon. These summons would be tested in a couple of days and depending on how strong they were they could move up into a higher position. Getting a white student uniform was even possible if someone was able to procure an exceptional spirit.

    This was also something that Beatrice had some hopes for, the huge white-haired titan that she saw looked like some kind of special heroic spirit. Why it was interested in her was unknown, the girl didn''t feel like she was exceptional. Her mana capacity was average and her grades were also somewhere in the middle of her class. Her position was also only of a branch family daughter, nothing really out of the ordinary.

    "Yes I am aware, I will excuse myself. I need to go see my parents."

    The students that completed the ritual were moving through the side exit as to not bother the ones that were still not done. There was nothing here anymore but as she moved deeper into the school grounds she noticed some sad faces. Not everyone was able to pass this test and would need to try a year later.

    The longer it took the harder it was to get a contract, she considered herself very fortunate to be able to do it on the first try. Even more with the gifts reserved for the spirit that were mostly of bad or mediocre quality.

    It was already late and most of the campus was silent. This place was called Lestallum''s School Of The Arcane, it was further divided into smaller subsections. She was part of the summoner magic circle that was one of the more influential schools of magic in the kingdom she was in.

    Beatrice, like most of the other students, lived in a dormitory. She was now heading towards it, on her mind, there was nothing else than contacting her parents. When they heard the good news they would probably praise her as their position would be secured.

    She also hoped that this would stop them from trying to find her any strange marriage partners. As the only child from this family with a new summon, her worth would increase. Maybe she would be able to be the one in control of her life from now on.

    While being excited she didn''t even notice that her feet were shuffling quite fast. Beatrice was now running towards her dorm room while her head filled up with various scenarios. She could already imagine being praised and showered by adoration from her parents. But the person that she wanted to impress the most wasn''t among them anymore.

    "Isn''t that Lady Beatrice? Why are you in such a hurry?"

    "I bet she failed and it running back to her room to cry."

    Her thought process was interrupted by familiar-sounding voices. She looked forward and saw a small group of three girls. All of them were wearing similar black school uniforms like her.

    "Lady Adabelle¡­"

    This was someone that she was familiar with. All of them belonged to Lady Isabella''s entourage along with her. Even though they all were theoretically part of the same camp it wasn''t of her choosing. It was something that was decided by their parents, the three here didn''t get along with her that well. Lady Adabelle was quite antagonistic towards her in particular.

    "No, I successfully made a contract with a summoned spirit."

    Beatrice clutched her right hand tightly with her left one while slightly glaring at the three. Without Lady Isabella around there was no way of knowing what these three girls would do but she didn''t think that it would get violent.

    "A failure like you managed to make a contract?"

    "Who are you calling a failure?"

    Beatrice glared at the girl next to Adabelle that was sniggering around. She didn''t really want to stay here and get belittled so she decided to just move past the three. Before she could move along one of the girls blocked her path.

    "Why are you in such a hurry, why don''t you show us your spirit?"

    "Yes, I bet she is just embarrassed that she failed. She probably doesn''t want to show us the proper respect!."

    A person that didn''t manage to summon a spirit was considered inferior to someone that did. Even if they were able to remain in the magical academy they would have to bow before the students that had a contract.

    "You will see my spirit when the tests are taking place, now get out of my way!"

    The three girls chuckled amongst themselves while continuing to block Beatrice''s way forward.

    "How about we do it like this¡­"

    Lady Adabelle moved her hand forward and the back of her hand gave out a greenish glow. A magical circle with a large rune in the middle of it appeared, soon before her, a large snake materialized.

    "What are you doing¡­"

    "Just a little test Lady Beatrice, just summon your spirit, otherwise¡­"

    The large snake slithered towards her while hissing. She backed away while looking at it with wide-open eyes, clearly feeling the danger.

    "Fighting is forbidden on the school grounds! You will get in trouble!"

    The girls just looked at each other and continued to chuckle.

    "Summoning a spirit isn''t forbidden~"

    The large monstrous snake was moving towards her. Beatrice realized that the three were just trying to egg her on. They were probably trying to scare her and wouldn''t go overboard but the snake spirit was real. It was horrifyingly scary to look at and was moving towards her very slowly.

    Beatrice moved her right hand forward, she didn''t have any practice but she knew the theory behind it all. Mana was guided towards her right hand, the magic circle activated quickly and started glowing in bright blue light. This caused the snake to stop in its tracks along with its summoner that was surprised that Beatrice actually had a contract mark on her hand.

    "She really made a contract?"

    The three girls were surprised but the astonishment on their faces quickly turned into mocking looks of pity.

    "Was that it?"

    "She couldn''t even summon it?"

    "Maybe she doesn''t have enough mana to summon a basic spirit?"

    The laughing continued while Beatrice''s face sunk. She looked at the glowing mark on her hand but couldn''t feel that special summon of her reacting in any way. While panicking the snake resumed slithering forward, it was now directly in front of her moving around her legs.

    "S-stop this!"

    She wiggled around in indignation while the trio laughed but unbeknownst to all of them a fifth person was among them, this being Zhang Dong in his new spirit form.

    ''Well, this is an odd feeling¡­''

    He thought to himself while floating right behind Beatrice, no one, not even his summoner, was able to see his true form. When the summoning process started Zhang Dong felt a slight tug. It was as if a small child was trying to pull him closer. The person doing the beckoning was far weaker, this meant that he as a summon didn''t really need to abide by the call.

    Zhang Dong did it anyway as curiosity got the best of him. After getting some basic information about this world from the new AI companion he wanted to give this a test. Being able to move around in this new world was something he had to do. Finding more of the cubes would be his most important quest as only those would help him go back to his wife and family.

    It was a strange feeling, he followed that tugging sensation and appeared in this world. He was floating right behind his summoner but invisible to her gaze. This was a strange feeling, it was as if he was floating between two worlds. When he tried using his cultivation the world resisted him but there was a small spark of power that he could use. This was coming from the summoning mark that the girl had on her right arm. Through it he felt that it was possible to do something.

    The snake started to slowly entangle itself around Beatrice but suddenly it stopped. It wasn''t out of its own volition but instead, there was something else stopping it. Right below the snake''s mouth a disembodied hand appeared. It was now holding the summoned creature and lifting it up into the air.

    "What is that?"

    Beatrice looked at the snake that was being dragged away. She was freed from the bindings before they could be sprung around her body. The hand that was holding the snake spirit looked like the one belonging to the giant that she made a contract with.

    The snake was soon seen getting shocked by an electrical discharge before disappearing into thin air. This caused the girl named Adabelle to drop down to her knees. If a summoned creature was forcefully compelled to leave its owner would suffer a backlash. The other two girls looked at the disemboweled hand in fright and quickly helped Adabelle up to her feet.

    "This isn''t over!"

    One of them said while quickly escaping, Beatrice was surprised by the display as she had never seen those three flee so fast before.

    "I see that you have peculiar friends. I guess young master types exist everywhere."

    A voice called out to her, it was coming from the floating hand. It was clearly her summoned spirit speaking. The summoning had worked and it seemed that the spirit was protecting her. Before she could ask a few questions she felt dizzy, the mana in her body was getting drained at a rapid pace and she was having trouble holding on.

    "I guess we will have to build up your spirit before you can summon me¡­ you should get some rest."

    The spirit said before the hand vanished into the void, it seemed that Zhang Dong''s new companion would need some training before he would be able to stay in this world for longer....

 Chapter 272

    Beatrice managed to return to the dorm room. Students with black uniforms were forced to share their space with others. The girl was feeling quite tired after the encounter with the group of girls and after using that summon for the first time her head was still hurting. She felt that she was suffering from drowsiness that came from overstraining herself and drawing out too much mana.

    Her roommate looked sloppy as always. It was a short girl from the alchemist circle, due to this the room''s smell was always strange when she came back. The two did get along but the constant threat of explosions and poisonous mists spreading through this room was a thing that she had to live with.

    "Hey, Beatrice."

    The girl called out while pouring some green liquid from one beaker into another.

    "Hey Marry, I''ll be in my room."

    Even though they shared the same dorm room with each other they both had separate bedrooms. They were still nobles so the ones in charge decided to not make them share bunk beds or be stuck in one small room with each other.

    ''Do summon spirits talk that much?''

    Beatrice flopped on her bed, she didn''t even feel like taking a bath or calling her family. The summoned spirit that she made a contract with was on her mind. Normally the spirits that magicians summoned weren''t that intelligent.

    They mostly followed their master''s orders in a robotic way. This one on the other hand was capable of holding a conversation. This meant that that heroic spirit was really rare as only the top shelf ones were intelligent enough to converse with their contractor. There was also another problem, this spirit never told her its name. Normally during the contract, the spirits true name would come to her naturally but instead, there was some kind of conflicting information that didn''t make sense.

    ''Maybe I''m not worthy enough to know its true name yet?... I don''t think I can control it well¡­''

    She thought back to the encounter with the snake spirit. When she attempted the summoning it worked but it took some time for her spirit to react. It was as if it only acted when its summoner was in danger but didn''t follow specific instructions. It also left on its own accord when her head started to hurt, without the summoning being canceled by the summoner.

    ''I''ll have to visit the library, maybe I can find an answer there¡­''

    Beatrice gave out a yawn while curling up in bed. Due to the stressful nature of this day and lack of sleep the previous day she was really tired. Soon her eyes were closed as she floated off to dreamland. The person she was thinking about on the other hand was wide awake, looking at his ''contractor'' from his void dimension.

    ''Her body can''t take the strain of summoning me into that world, I need to do something about that¡­''

    Zhang Dong was sitting on that column in the middle of the void. Shooting stars were flying down above him but not like he could move towards them. After further examining where he was in, there were a few conclusions that he was able to make.

    For one this place was a small pocket dimension, similar to what the Dimensional Regalia was in the beginning. The whole space stretched out for about five kilometers in all directions. When he tried flying forward he ended up at this pillar again, if he tried going towards the shooting stars he would hit an invisible wall that he was unable to break.

    It looked like there was nothing to work with here but that wasn''t necessarily true. If he concentrated his spiritual energy, there was a way to change the scenery. He tested this out by creating a small patch of grassland, the field was small but this was just a proof of concept. It was as if this place was part of him, part of his soul, just empty and uninhabited for now.

    ''I guess I could create a house for myself, for the time being, just sitting on this pillar isn''t very comfortable.''

    Before he did any renovating though there were other questions that needed to be answered. Today''s strange event of him being summoned to this world that his contractor Beatrice inhabited. Another question was concerning his ability to move through that other world. It was at least possible if his summoner called him but it was temporary.

    The amount of force this young girl could exert on him was minimal, he attributed that to being much stronger than his summoner. If he compared the amount of energy that this girl was able to output, it would be around the lower levels of Qi condensation. With him being now really close to the late stage of the nascent soul there was no way of her forcing him to do anything.

    ''She is lucky that I''m not some kind of malicious spirit, I feel that a strong summon would be able to devour their contractor if they really wanted.''

    He thought while looking to the side, there a small ball of blue light was floating about.

    "Hey Bob, Is there a way of increasing the girl''s spiritual energy? Though I guess they call it mana here."

    He was still getting used to the new AI companion that he received. It came to life after the absorption of the previously corrupted cube. The trust between him and this construct wasn''t quite there yet but there was a use for it. This system wasn''t something that he could wholly trust but without it, he would have still been stuck in that strange energy tunnel.

    "I have finished scanning the host named Beatrice, sending data to the user."

    Zhang Dong felt a jolt in his brain again, soon he had a detailed biometric profile of the person that he was inhabiting. The girl even had her own section in the system window from this point on. The blue AI had some other features that it could bring out, a holographic image appeared in front of him after he ordered it to produce it.

    "I see¡­ this world has a similar energy source as my spirit energy. Mana huh¡­"

    Mana sounded like something that belonged to a high fantasy world that had elves and gnomes in it. From what he could tell it worked a bit different than Qi from his world.

    A cultivator absorbed spiritual energy from the surroundings and nourished various parts of his body to get stronger. There were all kinds of cultivation techniques just as many as the stars in the sky. In the end, a cultivator ended up with an enhanced version of their body and soul. Even without specialized body refining techniques, their body would be transformed, more when a cultivator ascended into a higher realm.

    In this world, on the other hand, mana wasn''t absorbed in such a way. At least these summoners or magicians didn''t strengthen their body, they went for the soul instead. Thus they only increased their casting capabilities and mana reserves while the body didn''t change much from what a regular human would be.

    ''They can advance their mana faster than a cultivator would but at the same time they remain weaker¡­''

    Zhang Dong wasn''t sure but he figured that there were spells or ways that could enhance one''s body. It looked like they were more of a temporary boost than something that prevailed even if the caster was out of mana. A cultivator on the other hand would be left with a certain degree of strength even if they used up all of their Qi. Even more, if they were practicing any body refining techniques like him.

    ''I don''t really need to make her body stronger but I need her to have more mana¡­''

    He rubbed his chin while staring at the hologram of Beatrice. He could see all her vitals and statics, due to the contract the system was able to gather all of this data. With it, he was able to analyze how people in this world differed from the old one.

    There was a need for more information. The cultivation that he had amassed was for spiritual energy and not mana. The ones concerning a person''s soul arts were a bit more similar to the techniques people used in this world, he still needed more information.

    ''Well, she needs to wake up first¡­''

    He looked at the empty void with the patch of green grass that he made. For the time being, he needed to renovate here....

    Beatrice woke up with her face on the ground. She had somehow rolled down from her bed and landed straight on the floor. The girl''s original bed back home was much bigger and she was quite the high roller. This wasn''t anything new for the girl, she just climbed back up to her feet and moved towards the bathroom.

    Her roommate was not here anymore so she would have it just to herself. The water faucet was activated with an infusion of her mana. She was now staring at the reflection in the mirror while brushing her teeth. The events from yesterday were going through her mind, the only thing indicating that it really happened was the magical tattoo on her right hand.

    Thanks to passing the ritual trial she had the day off. The teachers had marked her down and the next round of tests would continue later. For now, she decided to relax in the bath after that it would be time to go home to meet up with her parents.

    They were probably expecting her to come back soon, it wasn''t allowed to use magical devices to contact people outside the school. She would need to go to the appropriate place and ask for permission first. But for now, it was time to relax, though while doing this she heard a disembodied voice call out to her¡­

    "Beatrice was it? Could you hurry it up, I would like to gather some information¡­"

    She raised her head while looking around, confusion was clearly on her face. The voice was familiar and soon she remembered who it belonged to.

    "Honorable Spirit? Is that you?"

    The spirit never told her his name so she still didn''t know how to refer to him.

    "Yes, it''s me."

    "How can you be here without being summoned?"

    "I''m not really here, I''m just contacting you through our link. Our souls are partially connected but don''t worry, you aren''t in any danger."

    This spirit had quite the soothing manly voice, it reminded her a bit of her late grandfather. For some reason it made her trust in his words, she still needed to clear one thing up.

    "Great Spirit, could you give me your name¡­ and tell me why you have chosen me?"

    The latter part was more important than the first one. She wasn''t sure why a powerful spirit like this agreed to a contract, there could be some ulterior motives.

    "My name you ask? I guess I forgot to mention it..."

    There was a moment of silence before the manly voice was heard again.

    "Yes, I will tell you my name. The people have already forgotten me but I am the one and only Holy Lightning Emperor, Leigong!"

    For some reason, there was a thunderclap sound the moment he disclosed his name. She had never heard of a being of that name before, it also sounded quite fierce. She wouldn''t know that this Lightning Emperor only went with this name to sound cooler. He didn''t want to go with the usual thunder god names and chose something closer to his current cultivator disposition instead.

    "Respectable Leigong, about my other question?"

    "You can drop the honorifics¡­ for the reason I chose you¡­ well¡­ let''s just say that you aren''t ready to know the truth yet¡­Now, could we go to a place with some books?"

    "Books? We have a large library with magic books at his academy¡­ but I''m supposed to go home now...would the book at my home estate be enough?"

    "Think that should be fine for now...let us depart, with haste!"

    Beatrice just nodded, she wasn''t sure what this spirit named Leigong wanted but he was her summoned spirit. This meant that she needed to cherish it. The books did say that the better relationship that a summoner had with their spirit the stronger it became. So the time came to return home.

 Chapter 273

    Zhang Dong floated around in his new void dimension. It was looking quite different now after he figured out what this place actually was.

    "Should I put more trees here? What do you think, bob?"

    He was now standing on a small tropical island with nothing more than the deep clear ocean surrounding him. There was a certain lack of living creatures swimming in that water and it was clear enough to see the bottom.

    With a flick of his finger, a set of palm trees with coconuts sprung out from the ground. Soon a nice sturdy hammock was placed between those two and Zhang Dong hopped into it.

    "You''re not much of a talker, eh?"

    The glowing orb didn''t react to the question as he had hoped for. The place that he was now looking at had changed to fit his vision. He could change it by sheer will as this small pocket dimension was in fact a reflection of his soul. Its size was tied to his cultivation realm, if he managed to reach the late stage it would probably expand further outwards.

    "My soul realm eh?"

    He glanced to the side and could see his soul beast taking a dip in the warm ocean. He could bring in some fish but they wouldn''t really be real, nothing more than a simple construct.

    This was certainly new to him. Apparently, this was something that everyone in the cultivation world and other worlds possessed. It was just hidden deep inside themselves as it was inside of their soul. He was somehow forced inside of this soul world during the whole crossing over worlds fiasco.

    Zhang Dong wasn''t sure about the logistics of being here. This was all done by his system that had functions that didn''t make much sense to him. From Bob''s explanation, it seemed that his soul was stuck between this world and the passage he was in previously. This was also the only way through he could survive as somehow souls wouldn''t be erased while existing outside their own world.

    He already knew that there were more worlds like the cultivation one that he came from. Something brought him thereafter he clicked that email, the biggest question was why.

    By how the system reacted it seemed that people weren''t allowed to travel between these worlds. If they did they would be erased out of existence just like he almost was. The system was given to him by whoever or whatever sent him to the cultivation world but it was broken during the time he almost died.

    It looked like the system thought he was dead as his designation number always came up as ''deceased'' when he was scanned. There was someone else like him who made this possible and he had left that cube behind at the old secret ground that he had been.

    This was also the reason that he was somehow trusting this blue orb thing. It was helping him for now, his secret helper was going against the being that created this whole mess. Though he wasn''t sure if that being was malicious in any way, it could have just been playing games. It was giving people strange powers from a mundane world, from a certain standpoint it could be considered a blessing.

    He profited from gaining this system. After coming to the cultivation world he gained everything, good looks, status, and power. He managed to turn his lesser than stellar life into something special.

    The big question was, what was this being or god expecting to achieve from giving others like him powers and sending them to strange fantasy-like worlds. Would there be some payment waiting to be paid at the end of the journey?

    ''Sometimes living in a delusion is bliss¡­''

    After giving out a sigh, his new partner in the form of a blond girl was still in the middle of traveling back home. Surprisingly the people in this world were quite advanced, they looked to be in a sort of renaissance era. Though instead of venturing towards more advanced technology they were investing their time into magic.

    Mana was an abundant source of energy that was just filling up the air. It recycles itself whenever a spell is cast so it was hard for it to run out. He knew this thanks to Bob''s help as well as to Beatrice that was happy to answer any of his questions. After being able to hear the girl''s thoughts he thought that he might be able to download some information directly from her brain but it wasn''t happening. He would need another way to get more information about this world and this would be done through books.

    "Might as well try cultivating here¡­"

    He jumped off his hammock and tossed the coconut that he poked a hole through. It was kind of weird but he was able to feel the sweet taste of the milky liquid inside. He could even make the coconuts taste like an energy drink if he wanted in here.

    The weather was calm as he floated up while in the lotus position. Since the whole monster exterminated he wasn''t able to cultivate. He concentrated on this soul realm, there was no way of advancing his regular realm but that wasn''t true for his soul. Now while he was here the access point was at his fingertips.

    The clear water that filled this ocean was quite calm and peaceful. Soon there was a change with that, the whole place started to distort and rumble. The soul beast that was Zhang Dong''s dragon looked at its master floating up and glowing in a golden color.

    His body started exuding powerful bolts of lightning that shot out in all directions. They collided with something and continued to push against it. This only caused the whole place to shake even more before Zhang Dong stopped his first cultivation attempt. His face was filled with sweat and he was panting.

    "It did work¡­ at least a bit¡­"

    The whole locked soul dimension got slightly bigger, he could feel this. He quickly measured how much his cultivation advanced and to his surprise, this form of cultivation was very beneficial. His soul had gotten slightly larger and more powerful, this also pumped up his qi reserves by a tiny amount.

    "This feels like it will be better than regular cultivation¡­ with a stronger soul all of my techniques will get more powerful, my soul-beast will also start evolving further¡­"

    He had something to do till his new partner in crime returned home but for now, it was time to cultivate.

    Beatrice was now sitting in a carriage, she had gone through all the procedures to leave the magic academy and was now heading home. The teleportation circle that she used was something that she would never get used to. It always made her sick in her stomach and she always needed some time to regain herself.

    This was the only way to leave the Lestallum''s School Of The Arcane. It was a very high-class place that was hidden away from prying eyes. It was apparently located on some kind of secluded island, even the students going there weren''t sure where it was. There were various magical illusion barriers and defensive ones around it to keep unwanted visitors away.

    Thus anyone that wanted to come and go would have to go through a special teleportation device. Unregistered and unknown people would be stopped before anything could happen. She had transferred close to the city that her parents lived in and where their estate was. Beatrice''s full name was Beatrice Hohenberg of Dawn Lake and her family lived close to this very lake.

    It had a grand name to it but in reality, there wasn''t much grand about it. Beatrice was now looking out of the carriage window and at this very lake. It had once been a focal point in the kingdom with many magical fish living in it that were a delicacy. But with bad management, the fish that had gathered were thinned out.

    ''That happened about the time when grandfather was young¡­''

    Beatrice remembered her grandfather that used to tell her stories. The lake fiasco happened before he was able to take over the estate after his own father. It was quite a hard task to manage it after they lost their main source of income. But due to being a strong summoner, he was able to get help from the main family but now he wasn''t here anymore.

    Her father on the other hand couldn''t hold a candle to the late grandfather. Thus their house was in a pinch, the main family was giving them a chance if the new heir turned out to be promising. If not they would probably pull away most of the monetary help.

    She was close, all the familiar-looking trees and landmarks were coming into view. The doors to her estate opened up and she was let in to her surprise there were a lot fewer servants than what she remembered.

    ''Did some of them quit?''

    Their reason for them moving on to a different noble house could be one, they weren''t offering much of a pay. With all the problems and even debt slowly crawling their way, there was no way of paying their servants their proper wages.

    "Beatrice!"

    "Mother!"

    She disembarked from the carriage and was greeted by her mother. The woman was slightly taller with a different shade of hair that looked more brownish than blond. Right behind her was an older gentleman in his 40''s. His hair color was more in line with Beatrice and he had a matching mustache to boot.

    "Good to see you but mother¡­"

    The mother-daughter pair continued to hug, all until poor Beatrice felt like she was getting choked out. The older lady finally parted from her child, tears of joy clearly visible in her eyes. Before the two could converse further the father stepped forward, his greeting being far more reserved as he just nodded.

    "Beatrice."

    He then glanced at his daughter''s right hand while squinting, the frown on his face changed into a smirk soon enough as he had confirmed it with his own eyes.

    "Good, with this our expenses will be secured!"

    "Dear¡­"

    The mother jabbed her elbow into the father''s side while glaring at him. She then moved over to her daughter and started pulling her away.

    "Come, I bet you are tired after your trip, we can talk inside."

    The father gave out a weak cough after getting hit in the stomach. He had to look as his daughter got pulled away into the estate.

    "Wait Beatrice¡­ what about the summoned spirit?..."

    "We will talk about that after dinner."

    The mother responded with a shout while her husband frowned some more and followed after the two.

    ''The mother is fine but the father is a bit¡­''

    Zhang Dong commented as he had broken off his cultivation session the moment the girl arrived at this estate. While the girl moved through the estate he started examining it. The whole building was quite big and expensive-looking but it also was kind of run down. It was obvious that there weren''t enough people here to take care of everything.

    The food that the girl was eating at least looked good. It looked like western style cuisine with some unknown meat. From what he knew there were some magical creatures in this world but they didn''t differ much from regular farm animals. This made him wonder if these words were just being copy-pasted from some kind of preset. In his old and cultivation world, similar animals and beasts existed.

    ''I should bring up the library before these two decide to go on some kind of spa trip¡­''

    He was kind of lost in the girly talk that this mother and daughter pair was having. The father was a bit to the side and very grumpy looking. It was obvious to Zhang Dong that he only wanted to talk about the summoned spirit. He might even have to make an appearance. He was even contemplating burning off this old man''s mustache for looking this cranky...

 Chapter 274

    "That''s enough!"

    A loud banging sound could be heard that echoed through a large dining room. Beatrice along with her mother looked to the cause of this noise. They saw a rather angry looking man with a mustache gritting his teeth and staring at them.

    "Father, is there a p-problem?"

    Beatrice stuttered a bit as she was in the middle of chatting it up with her mother. The older woman had been asking her all sorts of things. Mostly concerning her health and if she was doing well at school. It didn''t seem that she cared that much about her managing to get that summoned spirit. Her father on the other hand was a lot more interested in that fact.

    "Yes, we need to talk about your summoning ceremony."

    "Dear! She just returned home, gave Beatrice some time to rest."

    The older woman glared at her husband while getting between her child. She was certainly a doting parent which the fourth hidden person in the room noticed.

    "Helena, we don''t have time for such things. You know the importance of having a strong spirit, if it''s a low grade one we will have to think about the arranged marriage."

    "Arranged marriage?"

    Beatrice shot up from her seat the moment she heard what her parents were discussing. She could tell from how they were behaving that this ''arranged marriage'' business was something that was previously discussed. But from her standpoint now with her summoned spirit she would be exempt from something like that.

    "Don''t worry dear... we just talked about it, we haven''t settled on a suitor yet."

    Beatrice''s mother patted her shoulder while continuing to glare at her husband that started this whole thing. Before more nonsense could be spoken another fist collided with the large dining table which caused the tableware to shake around. The two girls quieted down as the man of the house looked quite maddened by the fact that he was being ignored.

    "Enough! Beatrice after you are done with eating come meet me out in the yard. We will test your summoned spirit!"

    The older gentleman stood up from his seat and moved outside. The only servant that was in the room had to fix the chair that had fallen over. There were also some spilled dishes on the table where that fist landed along with a small hole in the wood.

    "Don''t mind your father, he is just¡­ worried about the estate¡­"

    "I know mother¡­"

    After a moment of silence, Beatrice looked to her mother with another question.

    "What off older brother? Has he returned?"

    The mother just shook her head.

    "No, he became an adventurer before we lost contact, he could be in any of the many dungeons¡­"

    While the two women talked Zhang Dong perked up at the mention of dungeons and adventurers. This was one of the staples of the fantasy worlds from more westernised novels. He started wondering if the adventurers had ranks ranging from F to S, maybe even SSS like in those stories that he used to read.

    The two continued to talk while he listened in. The supposid brother had apparently gone on to become an adventurer. From what he had gathered there wasn''t anything like a leveling system in this world. There were classes and fantasy like professions like mages, summoners and magic knights. They gained their techniques and skills through hard work, there were apparently no shortcuts of killing monsters and gaining free skills and experience points.

    It looked like he would soon have a chance to show himself to that noble looking father. The man looked like he had a stick up his butt and that mustache made him look even more condescending. Though as a father he knew where the man was coming from. He was someone that had the weight of his family on his shoulders.

    From what it looked like the man had some degree of magical power in him. Zhang Dong could somewhat feel the danger level by how much mana they were exuding from their souls. It wasn''t that much though, if Beatrice here was at the lower levels of Qi condensation than her father was maybe at the very early foundation establishment stage.

    This was akin to an elder from a very small clan back in his world before he arrived there. Someone like that would have no way of starting a big family at most he could hope for an elder''s position in a smaller clan.

    The father was also only a Baron, which painted a picture to him. There was a steady hierarchy in this world as in the one that he came from. This was almost the lowest noble title that one could achieve, the only one below it was a knight. Which would put this man as maybe the level of an outer sect elder.

    Without a potential heir to the family techniques it looked to be over. But at least it was fine for Beatrice to take over, though he wasn''t sure about that as he wasn''t planning to stick around for that long.

    While he was thinking about the noble power dynamics Beatrice called out to him. She was now heading to the back of the estate. A large yard was back there where the guards and knights were training. With the loss of prestige some of them were transferred out by the main branch noble house. What remained were mostly inexperienced youths and old knights that were past their prime.

    "Um¡­ Holy Lightning Emperor Leigong, are you there?"

    He wanted to laugh at the long winded name that he had given himself but it was better than being called Dong in this English sounding world.

    "Of course, where else would I be?"

    "Wait¡­ is that the sound of the ocean?"

    "Ah¡­uh... don''t mind the small stuff, how can this Holy Lightning Emperor help you today my child?"

    Zhang Dong started coughing while realising that the ambient sound from his soul dimensions was getting through when the two were talking. With a wave of his hand the waves calmed down and his soul beast also stopped flopping around in the background. He had materialised some fish for the big guy to chase around.

    "Would it be okay for me to summon you again?..."

    He smiled a bit, the girl was really timid. She felt like a good kid and by being connected to her soul he knew that she had a kind heart.This made it easier for him to help her out but also made things more difficult. First he needed to get her stronger as without her having a higher mana pool he wouldn''t be able to interact with the world for more than a few minutes.

    "You can but¡­ your body can''t handle the strain too well. I won''t be able to stay for long, you must increase your mana reserves with haste¡­"

    This was the most important point, he needed to find a quick way to boost this girls mana reserves. He had a connection to her soul so there were a few approaches that he could take. Before he could do that he would need to be sure that it wouldn''t harm Beatrice in the slightest. There was also the possibility of something going wrong if he didn''t have the information. For this he needed to get to that library.

    "That''s why you must visit a library and procure all the books that concern magic, anything can be of use, the more the better."

    Beatrice nodded while listening to her summoned spirit talking about the library books again. She didn''t know what he wanted with those, normally a magical being as this should know more about magic than humans. Things like human magical theory wasn''t something other races could even use.Every race and being was slightly different and thus required a totally different approach.

    "Of course Honorable Holy Lightning Emperor Leigong."

    Zhang Dong gave out a chuckle while they ventured forward, this girl reminded him a bit of his disciples with how much prostrating she was doing. Finally they arrived at the supposed training area where he saw an old man in a suit of armor standing next to Beatrice''s father.

    "I am here, father."

    Beatrice curtsied slightly while holding her long skirt.

    "Good. How is that spirit of yours? Can you show it to me?"

    The girl evades her father''s gaze while holding her right hand on which her summoner insignia was. Her father had a similar one as she had which was also the proof of being the current family head.

    "Ah yes¡­ I can show him to you¡­"

    "Great, before that. Sir Heinrich."

    The old man that was on the side moved forward. He placed himself in front of the young girl with about twenty meters of space between them. Soon the sound of a sword getting unsheathed could be heard.

    "Heinrich will test your summoned spirit, you should have learned how to summon it by now, right?"

    Beatrice nodded while still clutching her hand together. She had summoned this spirit once before but it was a peculiar one. For one he felt like someone from the older generation that wasn''t taking things very seriously.

    Her hand was stretched towards the man in front of her. She infused her mana into it and made the summoner sign glow in a bluish light. The light flickered in a golden hue for a fraction of a second but just like last time, nothing appeared.

    "Beatrice? What happened?"

    The father looked from the side a bit surprised that there was no spirit there to fight the knight.

    "Ah¡­ the spirit is here¡­ he is there father¡­"

    Beatrice pointed toward a barrel in which some old wooden practice swords were stored in. It was close to where they all were standing and blocked part of the view.

    "There? But I can''t see anyt¡­ what is that?"

    The blond mustache wearing man leaned forward as he witnessed the form of his daughter''s summoned spirit.

    "A boot?..."

    It looked to be a white boot that didn''t go further past than the ankle. It looked like it would connect to a leg but it was cut off. The strange summoned spirit started floating around while getting close to the knight.

    "Um Father¡­ the honorable spirit says that we can start the test¡­"

    "The spirit told you that?"

    The man''s eyes bulged out slightly as the bodiless foot floated towards his armored knight. The old man in the suit of armor was looking at this strange phenomenon as well. The man looked to the baron as he didn''t know what to do.

    "Fine¡­ go ahead Heinrich."

    The old knight looked at the wobbly foot moving his way, it wouldn''t be hard to slice something like that in half. The man felt anger that he was forced to be part of a silly test like this. He was a sworn knight though and had to follow orders.

    His sword was raised and its edge was encased in flaming energy. The sooner he took care of this, the sooner he would be able to resume the training of the other guards.

    This strange boot reacted to the charge as it flew towards the armored knight. It changed its trajectory and it was now looking like a flying kick was coming towards Heinrich. He reacted by swinging his magic infused sword at the disembodied body part, soon the two collided with each other.

    What was supposed to be an easy victory for the experienced knight captain, turned to shock. Instead of the foot getting cut in two pieces it smashed the knights sword into tiny pieces. It flew even further and collided with Heinrich''s metal armor sending the experienced warrior tumbling back.

    "Impossible!"

    Beatrice''s father''s jaw dropped as he looked at the floating foot that soon vanished into tiny mana particles.The armored knight was out cold with a footprint on his armor. It had a strange symbol in the middle that looked like a checkmark.The old man wouldn''t be waking up for a while after this...

 Chapter 275

    Beatrice was concerned at first after seeing the foot appearing out of the blue. The floating hand made more sense as it could at least grab and punch things. This thing on the other hand was just a floating boot.

    To her surprise, the floating body part that was wearing some strange otherworldly boots flew towards the old knight. She knew the old man as a respectful knight that was quite strong, not much weaker than her own father. He would be able to single-handedly take on a monster-infested lair and come out on top.

    It was one thing going against Adabelle with her simple snake spirit. The young girl was untested in battle and didn''t know how to use her summon properly. Sir Heinrich on the other hand was a trained knight. He was past his prime but he was still more than able.

    This same sessioned knight was now slumped forward while leaning up against a wall. His arms were limp and he was foaming at his mouth.

    "Oh sorry about that¡­ I thought he would be able to handle it¡­ I guess this world''s strength standards are a bit lower than I anticipated, he was at most at a half step foundation establishment realm..."

    She heard her summoned spirit rumble around in her head. Apparently, he was even going easy on Heinrich, she wasn''t sure what that realm was but it looked to be some power measuring system that this spirit of hers had.

    "Is he alright? If you have enough mana I could heal him for you."

    "Honorable spirit can use holy magic?"

    Beatrice perked up at this revelation. Healing was a secret art that was mostly only possible by devout priests that channeled godly energies. It wasn''t something a regular mage could learn but maybe her spirit knew the lesser nature elemental regenerative arts of healing. Those could be performed by other magicians and shamans but weren''t as potent as the miracles that a priest could perform.

    "Yes¡­ I think you don''t really need to summon me for that¡­ could you just walk over towards him and follow my instructions¡­"

    She nodded and quickly moved over to the downed man whose body was twitching around. The sword that he was using had shattered into many tiny pieces as well.

    "Beatrice, what are you doing?"

    Her father called out from the side as he finally got over the shock of seeing his best knight go down in one hit. He was about to call out to some servants to come help but soon his attention was drawn back to his daughter that placed her hand on the knight''s chest.

    The summoning crest on her right hand lit up in a blue light that quickly changed its coloring to a more golden shine. He was an experienced summoner himself and someone that had worked with priests before so he could identify this mana pattern as holy healing light. This gentle light washed over Sir Heinrich that started looking better in a matter of seconds, waking up in a flash.

    Soon after performing the healing feat, Beatrice started panting out loudly. She felt a familiar headache which signaled that she was running low on mana. The man was healed but the footprint was still denting his steel armor.

    "What kind of spirit did you make a contract with¡­ you need to explain everything to me."

    Beatrice''s father ran up to lend his daughter a shoulder to lean on. Soon the two returned to the house and she was able to rest on a couch. Her mother was already next to her with some mana potions to relieve the head pain. She was quick to explain the situation of meeting the spirit, from how she was pulled into a strange space to his size and to how he was listening to everything they were talking.

    "Holy Lightning Emperor Leigong?"

    Her father rubbed his chin while trying to remember if there was someone like that named in the past.

    "It''s not odd for certain powerful individuals with strong mana to be reborn as heroic spirits¡­I will have to do more research on that name¡­"

    The man looked at his daughter and placed his hand on her shoulder.

    "Listen well Beatrice, I know that you are happy about gaining such a spirit but this could bring unforeseen consequences."

    Beatrice looked up to her father and then to her mother not really sure what he meant by that.

    "Consequences? Won''t the estate be secured when the main house from Dragonridge hears about this?"

    The father furrowed his brows while looking at the mother and soon he spoke out while explaining everything to her.

    "Beatrice, you probably don''t realize why the main house has stayed in power for all of those years."

    "Dear?"

    The mother moved in from the side as if trying to stop him from saying more but the man raised his hand to stop her.

    "She is a summoner now, one with a powerful spirit dwelling in her. She deserves to know the truth."

    "The truth? The truth about what?"

    Beatrice asked while looking between her parents, not really sure where this was going. She came here hoping to only get good news but things didn''t seem to be heading in that direction.

    "It''s about your grandfather, his death wasn''t an accident..."

    "What?"

    She jumped up from her seat, her eyes going wide at the revelation, from where the conversation was going there was only one possibility.

    "Did the main house have anything to do with it?"

    After a moment of silence, her father nodded.

    "Yes,he had gotten problematic to handle for the main house. He was very talented¡­ too talented for his own good¡­"

    Her father disclosed what he knew. Her grandfather was considered to be a powerful summoner, he had managed to nourish his spirit into a dragon after many years of progress. Thus the main house which had the name Hohenberg of Dragonridge, started seeing him as a threat.

    Zhang Dong listened in from the side, this whole thing sounded similar to how things were run in his own world. It was a similar situation to how he got too powerful in the Dark Palm Sect''s eyes. The ones in power couldn''t handle the thought of an upstart sect or clan sprouting in their territory.

    It was a normal way of living in worlds ruled by the mighty. He wasn''t sure if soul binding magic existed in this world. This side family didn''t have anything like that attached to them, so maybe that was the reason why this grandfather wasn''t turned into a slave. They had to murder him to keep the status quo.

    The story wrapped up with the father mentioning that he didn''t know how they did it. His father''s body was sent back to the main house and it was reported that he died fighting some monsters.

    "Yes I remember that day¡­"

    Beatrice moved her head down, now she realized why that story sounded strange. Her grandfather was far too mighty to be slain by normal monsters. She was young then as this had happened over five years ago. Since then the estate had been deteriorating slowly.

    "But father, we must avenge grandfather! How can we sit still when something like this happens, we must report it to the other ducal houses!"

    Beatrice started screaming out in rage. Something like this was unheard of, they were all nobles from the same kingdom. How could a ducal house kill someone from their branch family because they feared his might?

    "We will do no such thing, you will do no such thing either! None of this can leave this room!"

    "But father!"

    Beatrice protested by her mother and started pulling her to the side by the arm.

    "Listen to your father, the other ducal houses won''t help us. This is just how things work between the nobles dear¡­"

    "But mother¡­ What about grandfather''s death? How can we leave the perpetrators at large?"

    The mother looked into her daughter''s eyes and Beatrice knew well why there would be no repercussions for those murderers. There was no way for them that were at the lower end of the totem pole to go against a Duke household that was the main Hohenberg line.

    "You are a smart child, I think you understand the gravity of this situation. Even though that spirit of yours is strong you can''t show off its power¡­ At least not till you are stronger¡­"

    Zhang Dong continued to listen in, he wasn''t sure what he had gotten himself into here. He could somewhat feel Beatrice''s indignation at the fact that her grandfather perished like that. Even though she was nodding and now promising that she would be careful, but on the inside, she was like a powder keg.

    The biggest problem was that he was stuck with her and he would probably be the person having to go against any enemies if this young girl decided to act. He would need to keep her out of trouble as letting a child die under his watch would be unheard off.

    "Honorable Spirit¡­"

    ''Ah, here it comes¡­''

    The conversation between the family members had now ended. Beatrice had left the room as she wanted to digest this information and her parents let her have some space. Zhang Dong had a suspicion about what she wanted to ask him. Due to this, he was the first one to speak up.

    "Don''t get blinded by rage child, that path leads only towards destruction."

    "But¡­"

    "That doesn''t mean that you can''t get stronger. I can help you with that¡­"

    Zhang Dong didn''t want to use a teenager bent on revenge for his own gains but he also needed to get this girl''s mana reserves up. She had to get stronger for him to be able to act in this world. If on the way there he would have to take care of corrupt nobles, then so be it.

    "You can, great spirit?"

    "Yes, but you will have to listen to my instructions. First, we have to get to that library¡­"

    "Ah, yes."

    Beatrice replied as she had almost forgotten about that promise she made. The library that her family had wasn''t anything great but there were some books about magical theory here. Almost all noble houses that were related to magic had them.

    "What do you wish to do here, great spirit?"

    She pushed the large door open and was greeted by a dusty library. The lack of servants was showing.

    "Can you go pick up one of the books?"

    "Pick it up?"

    Beatrice moved forward on a bookshelf and picked up one of the manuals for beginners. It was one that she had studied when she was a child.

    "Like this?"

    "Yes, just like that¡­ now¡­ do it with all the books in the library¡­"

    Zhang Dong had absorbed the information the moment the girl touched the book. It was now in his system library along with all of his other knowledge. Now he just needed to get the girl to touch all the other books before he could start her training program. With more knowledge about this world''s magical system, he was going to produce a fitting training regime and manual for his new host.

 Chapter 276

    "T-that''s the last one, great spirit¡­"

    Beatrice called out while slumping against a tall bookshelf. She was stuck running through her noble house''s library touching every single book that was here. Even if it was a cookbook or one with poems, her summoned spirit requested her to give all the books a nudge.

    The girl wasn''t sure what this was all about by the spirit gave her a demand and as his summoner, she had to take care of it. She knew that a spirit could hold a grudge if their summoners didn''t treat it properly, even more, if they were a highly intelligent one that could even speak directly to her.

    "Was that it?... I guess this will do for now, when we return to that magic academy of yours we will have to go visit the library there."

    "The a-academy library?"

    Beatrice went pale in the face, the library at the academy was many times larger than this. It would probably take her ten times longer to touch every book there. Those would also only be the books that she was allowed to browse as a lower tier student. If the gates to the better books were opened this time would be doubled.

    "Sure, the more information I get the faster I can increase your mana capacity."

    "My mana capacity?"

    "Oh, I guess I haven''t spoken to you about that part. How should I say this without hurting your feelings Beatrice¡­ you''re kind of¡­ behind your peers when it comes to many things, mana included¡­"

    Beatrice flopped her head down in shame. She knew this fact well, her talent was mediocre at best. The three girls that were egging her on after the summoning ritual were all better than her when it came to mana and spells.

    Even though she was a summoner there were certain low level spells that every mage type could learn. She had trouble maintaining those simple spells and she trailed behind most of the other students. The only way that she was able to make up for it was through slightly better grades that came at the expense of hard studying.

    "Your mana capacity is too minuscule to summon me fully into this world, that is why at most I am able to materialize my body parts. Even then you probably noticed the headaches?"

    Beatrice nodded with indignation, she had a suspicion that it was her fault that the spirit couldn''t fully appear. Though this brought another thing to light, just how strong was this heroic spirit? Even though her mana capabilities trailed behind most of her peers, it wasn''t by such a staggering amount. Adabelle was able to control her snake without much trouble, she felt like that would also be something that she could do.

    "Yes¡­ I''ll try to increase my mana, I''m sorry¡­"

    "Don''t worry, I''ll take care of that. With these basic spellbooks I should be able to convert some of my own techniques¡­ but you might have to prepare for some harsh training if you want to get stronger¡­"

    When the word ''stronger'' was uttered Beatrice thought back to what she and her parents discussed. Her grandfather had been disposed of by the main family that they were serving. Even if she didn''t want to admit it, in her heart there was only rage and vengeance.

    "Don''t even think about that, at least not yet."

    "Great spirit?"

    "We are connected, I know what you want but you won''t find any answers at the end of that road."

    "But¡­"

    "Well, for now, go back to your family and rest. I have some work to do¡­"

    The connection between the two was cut as if Zhang Dong turned off a phone. It seemed like she wouldn''t really be able to control this heroic spirit at least not till her mana somewhat matched his.

    In his soul dimension, Zhang Dong looked at a tired Beatrice leaving the library. While she was touching the books he was able to absorb all the knowledge into his system. This knowledge was now part of his and thanks to it he already knew the situation in this world.

    It wasn''t that different from where he came from, just as he thought before the noble houses here were analogs to clans in his own. The biggest difference was the size which was much lower, this world''s planet was also much smaller than the immortal type world that he came from. It was about double the size of his old earth but compared to the giant landmass he traveled daily as a nascent soul master this place was quite tiny.

    "I guess when the gaps in individual strength get large enough and a single person can topple governments by themselves, worlds like these are the results¡­"

    He mumbled to himself while waving his finger around. As he did the scenery shifted to something more familiar, his old crafting abode. Instead of him now teleporting into it through the system it was created directly in this soul dimension. He needed the facilities here to combine a few things together, mainly some cultivation manuals with the magic manuals from this world.

    "They are quite similar to the ones I''ve studied but it will be safer to do this through the system."

    Through the years he had become quite an expert but this didn''t mean that he was all-knowing. He had a general idea on how to boost Beatrice''s mana reserves through some soul arts but it was better to spend some points first. He had gained quite a bit of them after absorbing that corrupt cube.

    Zhang Dong arrived at a familiar-looking desk with a lot of drawers. This was the device that he used to upgrade almost all of his and his sect''s techniques. With a little wave of his hand, he produced a book of magic. This one had the main mana technique that Beatrice''s branch family was using.

    It didn''t seem like much out of the ordinary, he even tried emulating some of the spells that this place had to offer. With his massive amounts of spiritual energy, it wasn''t that hard to convert it into mana. It only required him to change a couple of things while using his soul as a medium to cast spells.

    At least in theory as he was still doing this in his own soul dimension. He would also have to get the hang of this as he left, like utilizing his old techniques would be hard to reproduce in this world. Certain fundamental laws were different here but most of them were quite similar.

    "I guess I''ll give her the old heavenly lightning treatment¡­ it is my best technique¡­also there is also that one way¡­ think it should speed things up a bit..."

    He popped in the magical book into the shelf to put it up as the base while the other one had his Heavenly Lightning cultivation manual. He could add more points to get most out of it, things were dire so he decided to go all out. This wasn''t the time to be a miser, the faster the girl leveled up the sooner he would be able to go out into this world.

    He still had no idea where one of those cubes could be at. Cultivators were people that lived long lives so he wasn''t panicking just yet. Before anything would be decided months or years could pass by. Everything depended on how well the Saint Fist Sect could hide the fact that they weren''t weakened.

    Even then, the people from his own sect might not help them out if the Yggdrasil Sect came knocking. Which would give his family and friends more time, they were already quite strong without him. Qiang and Liena could somewhat contend with late stage cultivators and they would only get stronger.

    "They will be fine¡­ unless they offend someone¡­"

    He shook his head while trying to bury his worries inside. The faster he got out of here, the better, it was time to see if he could get this girl up into fighting condition. If she was able to summon him fully, it would already be a victory in his eyes.

    ¡­.......

    Beatrice closed her eyes as she curled up in her large bed. The day went by quickly, after getting the library part done she took a long bath and then went straight to bed. She was tired but also couldn''t really sleep due to the big revelation today. The death of her grandfather was still on her mind.

    Her parents weren''t going into much detail about it, not saying more than that the main family was responsible. They didn''t mention anyone in particular so she didn''t have a target to focus her anger on. The only thing on her mind now was to get stronger.

    After rolling around in her bed for an hour her body finally gave out and she fell asleep. But what should have been a fast awakening in the morning turned into a strange dream event.

    She found herself on some kind of tropical island with strange trees. Beatrice looked around and could see clear water everywhere. This all felt so real but something was off about it.

    "Is this a dream¡­ I never had a lucid dream like this before¡­"

    This looked like a dream, the biggest telltale sign was the giant golden dragon in the distance. She could see it shaking its ass around like a cat before pouncing on some kind of strange monster fish.

    "I''ve seen that you made it, we can begin the special training!"

    Beatrice turned around to see a familiar figure. It was her summoned spirit but this time around he was regular sized. This didn''t mean that he wasn''t imposing, he was still a large man while she was a smaller girl.

    "Training¡­ how did ¡­"

    "Ah yes, you''re probably wondering how I brought you here? Well, let''s just say that this Leigong has his ways."

    He started talking while getting closer, she wasn''t sure about this spirit''s motives but he didn''t seem like a bad person to her. He was also the only spirit that answered her call which made her see him in quite the good light.

    "I''m not sure if you know this, but the mana techniques that you are using are just a form of soul manipulation¡­ but the ones you are using are just imitating the real thing, quite ineffectively."

    Beatrice perked up as he continued to speak. This heroic spirit seemed quite wise so if he was sharing some of his knowledge with her, she would listen. She wasn''t really sure what he meant by soul manipulation.

    Casting spells consisted mostly of drawing mana from the air and condensing it into magic circles. With the correct sequence of the circles, a spell would be produced. She never heard anything about the relation between magic and the soul so this was quite the interesting reveal.

    "Well, it''s better to just show you¡­ this isn''t your true body, I just pulled a shard of your true soul here¡­ In theory, you should be fine¡­"

    "Fine with what?"

    She asked while Leigong her spirit moved over and gave her forehead a poke. The moment he did a jolt of electricity followed along with a torrent of information. This caused her pain followed by her face planting into the warm sand in front of her.

    "Well¡­ maybe not¡­ but you are still here¡­ so it was a success!"

    The heroic spirit laughed while Beatrice was squirming on the beach sand while holding her head.

    "Let us begin the training!"

 Chapter 277

    "L-like this, great spirit?"

    A confused Beatrice asked while juggling two balls. These balls were created by her own mana after a short explanation from her summoned spirit.

    "Yes like that, concentrate and visualize. The more of them you can juggle the more your spirit will increase¡­ also don''t just stand there in one spot¡­"

    Zhang Dong snapped his fingers and a wolf appeared out of nowhere. The creature howled before running towards Beatrice. It looked quite ferocious with its teeth bared at her. The way it was charging also looked very menacing which caused the poor girl to ask for help.

    "G-great spirit?"

    The girl tumbled forward and the balls that she was somehow managing to juggle hit the ground. The wolf jumped to bite her but before connecting with her it turned into cold water that splashed in her face.

    "Concentrate Beatrice, mana is just the expression of your mind and your soul. If you can''t manage such an easy task how can you think about advancing as a summoner. Now do five laps around the island with at least two balls."

    The girl was drenched in water but she stood up. The moment Zhang Dong mentioned her advancing as a summoner her eyes showed fire in them. He watched as the girl took off running while trying to balance the items that she produced from her own mana. This whole thing might have looked silly from the outside but the better she got at it, the more mana she would have in her when she woke up in the morning.

    ''This might take a while¡­ but even without this training her soul is expanding.''

    He noticed that the girl''s soul was slowly adapting to his own. It was slowly absorbing his high grade energies and getting stronger. Even without the training, her mana pool would keep increasing. This could be increased even further by some training though. By pulling the sleeping girl''s soul shard into his own soul world he could hasten the process.

    This was already the second night that she was going through this drill. First, he needed her to visualize her soul into items. Only after being able to create one ball would the training continue. When this item was created it had to be maintained by concentrating. Thus by forcing her to move around the difficulty was increased, if she managed to get through this training her mana reserves would increase exponentially.

    ''Think it''s time to go back to that school¡­ this whole thing feels like one of those games for girls¡­ there might be an otherworlder like me somewhere here¡­''

    After thinking it through Zhang Dong came to the conclusion that this world was the same from which he came from. It was very possible for people from his original world to be here or them having been there. If such a person existed here he would need to ask them about the place they were summoned to. There he would probably find one of the cubes that was used as a teleportation beacon.

    ''I should probably go through some of the myths¡­ maybe there were some old summoned heroes or powerful kings. Any of them could have come from another world like me¡­''

    There wasn''t much for him to do here. During the day he cultivated in his soul realm while during the night he helped his summoner progress. He also thought about certain ways of prolonging his stay in the outer world. For this, he told Beatrice to go to the yard and summon him when she woke up in the morning.

    "I guess this is a tad better¡­"

    Zhang Dong rubbed his chin while floating around, his upper body was fully visible but his legs didn''t make it through to the outside world. He had dropped his cultivation level as much as he could which lowered the requirements for him to be summoned dramatically. The most he could lower himself to was the early stage of foundation establishment, even his body refining had to deteriorate for this.

    "Continue with your training, remember to perform the breathing exercises that I taught you!"

    Beatrice nodded while Zhang Dong''s figure turned into many tiny blue particles. She was surprised by the progress she made. Even after only two days, she had already doubled her mana reserves and this wasn''t the end. The strange tasks that her summoned spirit was making her perform seemed odd at first but they were working. She had already caught up to some of the summoners that were miles ahead of her not too long ago.

    Soon the academy sent a message for her to return. The date of the next tests had been decided on and every young student that passed the ritual was to participate. She was now standing at the gate to the estate with everything already in the carriage. Her parents were here and she was just getting a big hug from her overprotective mother.

    "Take care dear."

    "Yes and remember Beatrice, try not to stand out¡­"

    She looked to her father who had a stern expression on his face. Beatrice knew that things could get troublesome if that main house realized that her summon was special. They had already done something to her grandfather, it was possible that they would see her as a threat. If she could keep a low profile still remained to be seen.

    The doors closed behind the carriage and she was off. The next stop would be the teleportation gate through which she would be transported back into the academy.

    "Your father is right, it would be best for you not to stand out before your abilities advance further."

    Zhang Dong spoke out while taking a small break from his own cultivation.

    "When your mana advances I''ll be able to teach you some spells¡­"

    He commented as there was a certain special feature that summoners had with their spirits. Depending on the elemental affinity of that spirit the summoner would be able to learn spells from that school faster. This didn''t stop with only elemental spells, if a spirit was good at illusion magic then the caster would also progress fast in that school of magic.

    The two chatted for a bit before each one resumed their own training. Beatrice was taught a breathing method that was akin to cultivation but especially transformed to fit this magical world. With it, her mana reserves could be boosted even further.

    Soon Zhang Dong and his summoner were greeted by a wide-open room. This was the teleportation chamber of the magical academy and she wasn''t the only person that was nowhere. The students were required to go through the teleportation circle at the same time to save up on mana. Thus all of them ended up in this chamber, this meant that she would be bumping into the old bully trio again.

    ''Better not to start any fights, keep a low profile, and bring me to your library.''

    Zhang Dong spoke to Beatrice who was eyeballing Adabelle and her three friends. He could see the three bullies flinching a bit when they saw the blonde girl. It was clear that his previous appearance and him choking up that ''danger noodle'' was still on their minds.

    For now, he needed more information. The books back at Beatrice''s estate were good to show him the basics but the good stuff was probably hidden away in this school''s library.

    ''There shouldn''t be much trouble for the time being¡­''

    Zhang Dong relaxed in his own soul dimension while sometimes glancing through Beatrice''s eyes. She was still a kid and was around other kids so he didn''t think that it should go out of hand. The small bullying incident was there but it was quickly resolved. In the future, he could just show himself as a floating hand to save on mana. The other summons didn''t seem to be too powerful, the snake he faced was at the qi condensation level.

    It did seem that way as everyone got out of this large chamber without getting into fights. The further aptitude tests would be taking place on the next day so Beatrice was tasked with going into the library. She was still only seen as the lowest of low students so the books that she had access to weren''t that great.

    She had to forget about her pride as she started going around and poking each book in the vicinity.

    ''Great spirit, you never told me¡­ but why do you wish me to touch these books?''

    Finally, the question was raised. He expected the girl to get curious, he probably would too. For once he decided to tell her a bit of the truth as revealing this would probably show that he trusted her.

    ''By touching the books I am able to absorb their knowledge.''

    She stopped in her tracks and the revelation.

    ''Just by touching them? How is that possible.''

    This was an ability gained through the system so it did seem quite astonishing. Being able to absorb knowledge just by touching a book was probably every bookworm''s wet dream.

    ''We spirits have our ways¡­ I could even share the knowledge with you if you wish¡­''

    Beatrice perked up at the offer.

    ''Just go to a book that you wish to learn and touch it but you might want to choose a thin one at first.''

    The girl went over to one bookshelf and picked out a book about another country''s history. It was something that she was interested in but never had time for it due to all the magical theory classes that needed to be taken.

    ''It''s a bit on the thicker side but it will do¡­ this is going to sting a little bit¡­''

    He performed his usual technique to share knowledge. The moment he did Beatrice felt a stinging sensation in her brain. It was painful enough for her to drop the book she was holding to the ground. This was a similar experience to the time he infused her with the previously made mana cultivation technique.

    ''Even shortcuts have a price, Beatrice.''

    Zhang Dong chuckled while the young summoner got over her headache. It didn''t take long but he could feel the girl''s bewilderment at receiving the information.

    ''It worked?...''

    ''Of course, it worked but this isn''t something you should abuse.''

    People in this world were different, their bodies didn''t evolve as much as cultivators. A regular person like her wouldn''t be able to absorb thousands or million of books like he was able to. An attempt at something like that could cause long-lasting damage, memory loss or brain damage.

    ''You can pick five books, for now, I''ll help you absorb the knowledge but only after we are done with this library.''

    Beatrice looked at the building with many shelves with all sorts of books. One tiny spell could have a giant tome written about it and there were many theories as well. Even touching them with her fingertip could take a while.

    ''Don''t ignore history books and others, even those could have some hidden knowledge left behind by an author.''

    Zhang Dong knew that sometimes masters of the craft left parts of their knowledge hidden in riddles. With the help of his system, he would probably be able to find hidden treasures like that.

    ''Now get to work, we need to finish this before your aptitude test!''

    ''Yes, great spirit¡­''

    Beatrice replied in a weak voice before moving forward, it was time to touch some books...

 Chapter 278

    Beatrice flopped on her dorm bed while rubbing her eyes. It was time to rest, tomorrow was her big day. She and the other students would be taking various aptitude quests with their summons. This was something everyone was preparing for years during basic classes so she wasn''t the only person that was nervous.

    A lot depended on this aptitude test. The biggest reason a person wanted to get a good result was status and power. By being rated higher a student would get access to better books, better teachers and would be prioritized.

    Even though Beatrice didn''t want to stand out she wanted all those things. Power was something she very much strived for only with that would she be able to avenge her late grandfather.

    "So you want me to help you get better results? Didn''t you promise your parents that you wouldn''t stand out?"

    Beatrice was now juggling three balls around while balancing on a log. This was inside the soul world that Zhang Dong created. The scenery had changed from a sunny beach to a river in a forest. The log the girl was balancing on was wiggling around in the stream while she practiced her concentration.

    "Yes I understand but¡­"

    "But you want to get stronger and to get stronger you require your academy''s knowledge?"

    Zhang Dong that was sitting on a large branch answered before flinging a pebble towards the log that Beatrice was standing on. This tiny rock traveled as fast as a bullet and caused the large log to shake around violently. What followed was a drenched Beatrice that landed in the shallow stream below, the balls that she was juggling landing on her head.

    "You''ll never get stronger if you lose your concentration like that¡­"

    He looked at the wet girl that was shivering in the cold water. Normally he would be all for the slow approach. It was best to keep a low profile while slowly building up the power base. The girl wasn''t really in a position where she could stand out too much. Even less with that crazy main house of hers looking over their shoulders. But he didn''t have much time on his side, he needed to get back to his own family.

    But still, he wasn''t sure if risking the child''s life would be such a great idea. If he was her summoned spirit, he could probably defend her from everything, but he didn''t plan on staying that long. He had made some plans towards that, all this mana that this young girl was building wouldn''t be just for show. Even if he left her she would easily be able to form a proper contract with another spirit or be a regular mage.

    Due to this, he was on the fence on how to continue, the girl was probably willing to get herself in harm''s way if it was necessary. It was still only an academy for kids, it shouldn''t be that dangerous if she stood out a bit.

    "Everything will be fine great spirit¡­ if I make it to the special class, I''ll be able to visit the higher levels of the library¡­ you''ll be able to get more books¡­"

    Zhang Dong listened closely, apparently, a higher tier student had more privileges. The locked away library building would hand him the knowledge that he needed. What he now wanted was the location of a cube, with it his chances of getting back home would skyrocket.

    ''I guess it should be fine¡­''

    In the end, the feelings for his own family won over. If this girl was willing to put herself in harm''s way, then he wouldn''t stop her. At least she had him if something happened. The girl was already 15 years old, in his world, this was already the age of an a.d.u.l.t. Most all the disciples in his sect were already battling ferocious beasts and putting themselves in danger. This all in the pursuit of power and prestige.

    "Trying to barter with this Lightning Emperor are you?"

    Beatrice shook her head in fright a bit but instead of rage, she could see a somewhat grin on Zhang Dong''s face.

    "Good, I will help you but only if you can perform this next task!"

    He wiggled his finger and the log that the girl was standing on started spinning in one direction. Beatrice was tasked to balance on it while he randomly pelted her with small rocks.

    On the dawn of the next day, Beatrice felt tired. Not physically but mentally, the small dream training sessions did put a tiny strain on her spirit. With the increase of her soul energy though the effect was minimized.

    Zhang Dong started thinking of how to get his eager summoner through these tests without making the other kids look bad. Even now Beatrice''s mana pool had risen tremendously, she was already surpassing most of the kids her age. The only ones that were still ahead of her would be the young master types that he loved so much. He hoped that those types of people wouldn''t get as easily offended as the ones from his old world.

    "We have gathered here to perform the annual aptitude test for all you young summoners, please remember to¡­"

    Beatrice had now moved to the gathering place with everyone that had passed the test. She was standing to the side with all the other black-uniformed youths. They were still segregated by status here. Zhang Dong had a feeling that even if those lower status youths were elevated by their test results, the original ones in power wouldn''t take kindly to it.

    ''I hope this goes well¡­ don''t really want Beatrice to be involved in the good old step ladder of generic baddies.''

    In a cultivation world what would mostly happen in this situation was one thing. A young master would not take kindly to an upstart getting similar or better results. He or she would then begin hazing and making trouble for this individual which would then result in this prideful person getting defeated in some way. Then the real problem would begin, probably starting with the young master''s older cousin or uncle.

    ''Okay, let''s go over it again. We will be aiming to get you into the top class but you must place lower than the top students.''

    Zhang Dong spoke out from his soul dimension. He had decided to help the girl get a better placement in the test but that didn''t mean that he wanted her to smoke the competition either. He wanted to have her place below the current top students like the prince or Isabella Hohenberg of Dragonridge.

    Isabella posed the biggest danger as she was from the main house that Beatrice wanted to go against. It would be a direct slap to Isabella''s prestige if someone like Beatrice did better at an aptitude test. It would probably bring various problems with it, he knew how those passionate youths operated.

    ''I understand great spirit¡­''

    ''Also you can stop calling me great spirit, it was funny at first...just call me Leigong.''

    ''But great spiri¡­''

    Beatrice was a bit surprised by the sudden request to drop the honorifics. This was a world based on strength, so being respectful to a strong summoned spirit like she had was a must.

    ''It''s fine, we are partners and partners need to be on a first-name basis!''

    ''I could never be foolish enough to refer to a heroic spirit in such a way¡­''

    ''Well, you will have to. Otherwise, I''m not going to answer your calls.''

    This revelation caused Beatrice to sweat slightly. If her summon refused to be called during the test then she would end up in the lower class for sure. It could be even worse and they could call her even being a spirit summoner in question.

    Beatrice had to begrudgingly accept Zhang Dong''s request.

    ''Great Leigong¡­ Mr. Leigong?''

    Though it appeared that it would take some time for her to drop some of those honorifics. The place the test would be taking place was a large hall. With them were about two hundred other students. If Zhang Dong compared it to his previous world the numbers were quite small. When it came to sect testing the disciple number was always in the thousands of people.

    The teacher continued the long-winded explanation of the tests that they would be going through. The first one was quite identical to what his own sect was doing just on a lesser scale. They would bring out some kind of measuring device that would show them how much mana each student had.

    After that, they would test the elemental affinities of the spirit by having the summoner channel their energies into another device. The user of the spirit would have their mana be altered depending on their summon. Beatrice here would probably be shown as a lightning user.

    The first ones that took the test were the students in white robes with the prince being first. It was clear that they didn''t want the high nobles to be stuck standing around and waiting for others. The device that was measuring the mana pool looked like a regular round crystal ball. It was placed in the center of some kind of magic circle and a number would light up above it. This number was the person''s level of mana.

    Zhang Dong looked through Beatrice''s eyes as a green-haired youth walked over to take the first test. He even noticed the shouts of praise from the noble ladies at the side, this guy was clearly the biggest young master here. The hand was placed and after a moment a number appeared above it.

    "489 points for prince Ludwig¡­"

    The people from the side started cheering out, in Zhang Dong''s eyes this youth wasn''t really anything special. After training Beatrice for a few days her mana pool had reached a certain threshold that wasn''t that far off from this so called prodigy.

    ''She''ll probably surpass him in a month or two¡­ for now it''s fine for her to be slightly weaker¡­''

    The people started going through the test and he took note. It was important for Beatrice to be slightly below the top students. It would be best if she made it in at the last spot but that would be a big gamble.

    This green-haired prince was somehow able to keep the top spot, the person from the main family that Beatrice was cautious of achieved a result of 411 and she was the third-best from the bunch. There was another youth from a ducal house that received 443 points.

    Most of the students in white uniforms had results between a 100 and 300 with the top reaching slightly over that. From his discussion with Beatrice, they would need to get from 150 to 200 to be sure. A person of lower status had to show more talent than a family that could buy their way in.

    The students in the black robes mostly hovered below the one hundred mark with a handful going beyond it. In time Beatrice was in front of the measuring device by Zhang Dong''s calculations if he didn''t interfere she would get slightly more than a 100 points. There was a way to boost that result with the help of a certain technique he developed thanks to the books. The problem with this was that he didn''t have much time to test it out and this would cause the first blunder to occur.

    "Beatrice Hohenberg.... 7¡­. 798 points¡­"

    The whole chamber got quiet after seeing the number above the device. No one could believe that a lowly daughter of a baron had more mana than a member of the royal family or from a ducal hose.

    On the inside of this here blond girl, there was a certain Patriarch scratching his head, not sure about what went wrong.

    ''Well¡­ uh if you do bad at the other test your rating should go down¡­ probably¡­''

    He called out while shrugging, Beatrice on the other hand dropped her head down as she was feeling too many gazes on her face. She clearly didn''t expect her super glorious summon to make a mistake like this.

 Chapter 279

    ''Mr. Leigong¡­ weren''t we not supposed to stick out this much?''

    Beatrice asked after moving away from the testing orb. The other students were looking at her with much interest after she had soundly beaten the crown prince''s score.

    ''Ah don''t worry everything is going according to plan¡­ you''ll just do worse in the other tests. They''ll just think you have a large mana pool but are behind in skills¡­''

    Zhang Dong quickly thought about something to salvage the situation. There were other tests ahead of them, if she only stuck out in one then it would probably be fine. They would just attribute her to having potential in mana and nothing else.

    The testing continued but the stares didn''t stop. He wasn''t sure what went wrong but he must have misjudged the effect that his spiritual energy would have here. It was that energy that he was using and not this world''s mana that was slightly on a different wavelength.

    ''I need to be ready for the next aptitude test and not make any more mistakes¡­''

    The first test only measured the summoner''s mana reserves. The second one would be testing another part, which would be the elemental affinity of the summon. For instance, if a person made a contract with a fire-based spirit like an Ifrit their affinity for fire would be high. Some spirits could have more than one affinity which he was expecting to get.

    Prince Ludwig was the first one to go as well. Zhang Dong wasn''t sure if it was due to the green hair but the youth''s main affinity was wind with a surprising holy element as well.

    "The prince managed to make a contract with a pegasus, as expected from a member of the royalty!"

    Zhang Dong listened to some of the students with interest. The youth''s summon was a flying horse and it was apparently also rare. He wasn''t so sure about such a creature''s strength in combat as it was just a horse with wings. But summoners could use certain summon specific spells depending on their spirit. Perhaps this was such a summon that boosted a person''s magical capabilities instead of being a minion that fought in their master''s stead.

    Isabella on the other hand looked to be the owner of a water-based spirit. From the conversations that some girls were having it looked to be some kind of water nymph. Just as the pegasus this was a higher form of spirit that was also somewhat intelligent. It was clear that the top students had attracted the rare spirits.

    Some with their own capabilities but most by offering better treasures for the contracts. Regular students were left with generic summon spirits like the snake that Beatrice''s classmate Adabelle possessed.

    After some time passed it was time for Beatrice to take the test. Previously no one had paid attention to her but now people were looking in. Some had expressions of disdain while others of curiosity.

    ''Okay¡­ this should work¡­''

    Zhang Dong tried to relax, the test should show the spirit''s elemental affinities. He was a cultivator that studied the Dao of lightning and of the holy element. His lightning should be the primary one while the latter the secondary.

    The magical device that measured this looked like a mirror. The student was tasked to concentrate on their summoning mark that was on their right hand. When they performed this task right the elements would appear on the surface of the mirror. They would look like small balls of energy, depending on the size it would be clear what the summoned spirit was best at.

    Beatrice placed her hand on the mirror and concentrated. The sign on her hand appeared and the surface of the mirror started to react. The tests here were open to anyone to see, the students were sure to look at the results of this dark horse.

    The mirror started to shine and soon a blob of electricity appeared in the middle of it. It was quite big compared to what the other student received and implied that Beatrice possessed the rare lightning elemental affinity, which was also quite high.

    But then something odd happened, soon after the electrical bubble in the middle appeared a second one also materialized. This one was bright gold, similar to the color the prince had with his pegasus but much larger and clear.

    "Lightning and holy?... wait¡­ there is more?"

    The students and teachers started murmuring again as multiple elemental bubbles started to appear. They circled around the two large ones in the middle as little planets. Green for wind, red for fire, brown for earth, blue for water. There were all there, the four main elements had shown themselves. There were even some colors that the teachers didn''t recognize.

    ''...is it because of all the various Daos that I picked up through the years?''

    Zhang Dong scratched his head again. He was a cultivator that had mastered a lot of techniques through the years. The Zhang Clan was versed in water techniques so he had picked up a few along the way. Huo Clans fire, Feng clans wind, and even some earth techniques from some side schools.

    He didn''t focus much on them but considering that he was a nascent soul master he could master them to a certain degree in a couple of days or weeks. Thus the mirror showed a reflection of the Daos that he was proficient in, which was quite many.

    This was something unprecedented as most spirits were only good at one thing. Rare ones had a secondary element to go with their main one. Then the legendary creatures had three of them. But he was already showing twice that number.

    Thus the eyes were again on Beatrice for showing something never seen before. Where the first test might have been attributed to luck or one rare skill, this showed something more. Now she was far ahead of her competition and only two more tests remained.

    ''G-great spirit¡­?''

    ''A-all according to plan¡­''

    Zhang Dong wasn''t sure what he could say, it looked like things were working against him. The girl had already aced two of the four main tests. She was already sticking out like a sore thumb and he wasn''t sure if he could do anything about it at this point. Even if she failed the other two quests she already positioned herself miles away from the competition.

    He had tried to lower his elemental affinities during this test but even then the mirror showed all of his inner workings.It was as if something was working in the background to expose his secrets.

    The teachers and the students were now paying attention to her. Through Beatrice''s eyes, he could see everyone whispering. The teachers were taking notes and he could even see some of them going elsewhere. In time he would know that they went to get some higher profile, people, to come. This whole thing was getting out of hand quite quickly.

    ''Beatrice, the next test is to measure how much magical pressure a summoner can handle, right?''

    ''Yes Leigong¡­''

    ''How about you just pretend to pass out before the other students, just wait enough for it to not be too obvious¡­''

    The master plan had been made, it was more or less the last hope. The next test would put the casters under pressure. From what Zhang Dong could tell it was similar to a popular test that cultivators liked to do. One of the stronger cultivators would release killing intent or their aura on the disciples. If the student didn''t pass out and held on through a test like that they would pass.

    This would be the same thing here. One of the mages would deliver magical pressure onto the young spell casters. They would feel strain to their souls and would have to last through it. He wasn''t sure anymore but he felt like with him around Beatrice wouldn''t really be affected by something like that. She would need to play dead otherwise she would probably outlast everyone else while yawning.

    ¡­...

    Unbeknownst to Zhang Dong and Beatrice, there was some movement in the background. The two tests that the young girl aced brought unwanted attention.

    "Is that the girl?"

    "Yes¡­ her results have been astonishing. Not since the Arch-mage has someone been able to get such results¡­"

    An old man with a long beard and a classical wizard hat was talking to some teachers. They were looking at Beatrice through a hidden side window. This man here was the vice principal and he was called overdue to the troubling results.

    "Could it have been a mistake?"

    "Not likely sir, we have checked the devices and they haven''t been tampered with. The girl also isn''t someone with such resources to fool our teachers."

    The man started rubbing his long beard with one hand while looking through the window. After some squinting, he spoke out.

    "There is something peculiar about that mana¡­ I will test her myself."

    The man hit the ground with his long staff that looked like a large tree branch with a big green gem at the top. He was surrounded by a magical glow before his appearance changed to that of one of the teachers in this room.

    "Could she be one of them? Wouldn''t they try to not stand out this much?"

    "It could be a possibility¡­ those results do look troubling."

    The vice principal placed his staff to the side and exchanged it for the one that the teacher was using. He then headed towards the testing room where a smaller group of students was waiting for him.

    They were standing in a circle and ready to take the test. They were about ten meters away from the teacher that would be standing in the middle. The disguised vice principal moved to the designated spot and prepared himself for the test.

    He was now looking in Beatrice''s direction. He could feel that there was something off about there but he couldn''t put a finger on it. There had been some troublesome things happening around this academy and this girl was being suspicious.

    ''I need to test her¡­ I will need to take a peek inside to be sure¡­''

    The students were preparing themselves, all of them had closed their eyes to concentrate so no one was able to see him staring at Beatrice with deep interest. His staff connected with the ground and the mana pressure was released.

    ''Interesting¡­''

    A normal mage would have not noticed something like this but the vice principal was someone very experienced. He could tell that the pressure he used for the first test was just bouncing off the girl in front of him. He also noticed that she was pretending to be affected by it, this of course sparked some concerns.

    ''Is she putting on an act?''

    Due to this whole thing looking fishy the man decided to probe her more. He sent a direct mana probe towards this young girl. If she was a normal human being then she would at most pass out instantly but if she was one of the enemies they were looking for then the reaction would be more adverse.

    "W-what is this?"

    "Why hello there¡­ I didn''t think I''d be having guests today."

    The man was surprised by a third result. The moment he tried probing the girl he felt something powerful pulling him inside. He found himself in some strange place face to face with someone powerful. This someone had clearly trapped him here as he felt that his connection to his own body was being blocked off and he couldn''t leave.

    What he was looking at was some kind of man sitting on a golden throne. He looked like some kind of otherworldly being. There was also another problem, right next to this man was a giant golden dragon that looked quite fierce.

    "You''ll have to give me a good reason about why you tried to do that to my little Beatrice."

    "Y-your little Beatrice?"

    "Yes, the girl I''m contracted with, why did you try to damage her soul?"

    The man started to sweat as he realized what this was. The person standing in front of him was clearly not the enemy that he was looking for. He was some kind of heroic spirit that made a contract with that student. The situation was dire as the vice principal knew well that the contracted spirits were very protective of their contractors. If he made a mistake he could very well have his soul erased by this powerful being¡­

 Chapter 280

    Zhang Dong was a bit maddened. He had made many blunders through these aptitude tests which caused Beatrice to stand out. The plan of getting into the special class with somewhat lowered scores had fallen through. Beatrice was looking like some kind of gifted child now, far above the other powerful noble houses. He knew well how those types of people reacted to upstarts, his only hope was that they wouldn''t go all out against a child till she grows.

    Then there was this guy that was trying to pull a fast one. He felt the magic instructor attempt some underhanded attack during the third test. To him, it looked like he was out for no good as this attack would damage Beatrice''s soul. The two were connected with each other so he was quickly made aware of this intrusion.

    The purpose of this underhanded attack was unknown to him. It certainly had a different purpose than the mana pressure test. He reacted fast by intercepting the attacker, he was injecting a soul fragment for some reason so it was easy to pull it into his own soul dimension. Through this, he was able to make contact with the old man''s own soul and trap him here for now.

    The place looked like a giant castle with him sitting on a throne. He had played around during the last training session with Beatrice and had left it like this. The old man he pulled in was now trembling before him and down on his knees.

    "I apologize for my transgression, great spirit."

    ''I guess he thinks I''m a spirit like Beatrice does¡­ Did he want to harm her? Maybe some jealous young noble ordered him to damage her future prospects?''

    Zhang Dong was thinking in line with what cultivators from his own world would do. It was normal for them to try to cripple the competition. If this was true then he was kind of at fault for getting Beatrice noticed by the other students.

    ''It could also be a big misunderstanding as always¡­''

    He also had enough sense and life experience to know that things weren''t always how they seemed. The old guy could very well be doing something else entirely. He wasn''t versed in these magic world''s techniques, he could only distinguish them on a basic level. A prodding towards the girl''s soul was done, if it would leave long-lasting effects or harm her, he wasn''t sure.

    That is also why he didn''t try to trash him the moment he got here. His own soul energy was far greater than this old man. Though the old fart was the strongest person that he came across here. His energy levels were akin to someone at the very early onset of core formation. For someone at the middle stage of the nascent soul, this was nothing.

    "Explain to me¡­ what was your reason? Who put you up to this? Are there people aiming for Beatrice''s life?"

    "Aiming for her life? N-no great spirit, you have it all wrong! This has nothing to do with the student that you made a contract with!"

    The man became quite chatty, this was probably because his soul beast was right next to him. The size difference between the small old man and the giant golden dragon was immense.

    Zhang Dong was painted a picture during this explanation. There were supposed ''demons'' in this world, ones that liked to infiltrate human locations like this magical academy. Due to Beatrice''s strange boost in power during the test, he was called to check up on her. The attack that he intercepted was there to see if she was one of this form shifting monsters.

    "So, these demons infiltrate schools like this to steal knowledge or to kill potential strong magicians?"

    ''Great now I have to contend with body snatchers¡­''

    "Is there a way to detect these demons?"

    "Yes great spirit, they are susceptible to certain magical spells. The same one that I performed on your summoner¡­"

    It was strange to look at an old man that was kneeling down and looking up to him with glistening eyes. He was like a really old wrinkled up puppy that looked at his master after peeing on the carpet. It did seem like he was telling the truth, he had certain techniques to measure things like that.

    "Very well¡­ you may leave¡­"

    "Thank you, great spirit! I will never forget your generosity"

    The man''s eyes opened up wide and he was all smiles but that turned upside down the moment Zhang Dong spoke out again.

    "But to be sure, I''ll have to leave you with a small present."

    "A present, great spirit?"

    Zhang Dong flicked his finger forward and a small golden bolt of lightning flew out. It connected with the soul version of the old man, the moment it did he could hear him scream out in pain.

    "I will leave my mark on you, if you ever go against Beatrice in any way, your life will be forfeit! You don''t have to worry, if you do a simple task for me your life will be spared."

    The vice-principal opened up his eyes to find himself on the ground. The students that were taking the test were around him. It looked like he had passed out and dropped dead during the test. Even some teachers were coming from the side.

    "Is everything okay?"

    He shot up to his feet and checked for something. There was a certain seal placed in his body now, it wasn''t something that he was capable of removing with his current power. The contracted spirit that lived in the girl had placed some kind of kill switch on him, of this he was certain.

    "Y-yes¡­ the test is over¡­ now if you''ll excuse me¡­"

    The old man that was still disguised as the teacher quickly ran back into the back room where his associates were.

    "Vice-principal what happened? You suddenly collapsed?"

    "How long was I unconscious?"

    "For about ten seconds¡­"

    "Is that so¡­"

    "What about the student? Is she a demon?"

    "The student?"

    The old man looked to the instructor that was asking him questions. Sweat was visible on his forehead the moment he thought about the person living inside of that young girl.

    "No she is not¡­ give her full marks for the test! Now¡­ I need to talk to the principal! Stall a bit with the next test, don''t let student Beatrice contend before I return! "

    The other instructors were surprised by the vice principal''s exit. He looked like he had seen a ghost and was clearly afraid of the girl. This left everyone here with only more questions and even fear towards this young lady.

    Beatrice was again the focal point of this test. Even the students that were together with her could see that for some reason the teacher was afraid of her. Zhang dong that was on the inside was slowly tearing out his hair. The vice-principal ruined his plans and Beatrice ended up with the highest marks again.

    Now it was already too late to go back, it didn''t really matter what would happen at the last test. From Zhang Dong''s perspective, the students and teachers were already looking at Beatrice as some strange rare animal.

    He placed a little soul binding technique on the old man so that he could listen in to what he would do. Through it, he could see the old man running towards some large tower that was further away in the magical academy.

    ''Good he is following the instructions, hope the person in charge will listen...''

    He rubbed his chin while Beatrice pestered him about what was happening.

    ''Listen up Beatrice, it''s probably not going to be possible to hide my presence anymore. We will have to change our plan¡­ slightly. ''

    ''Um¡­''

    He felt like the image of the glorious all-knowing spirit was dropping by the minute in Beatrice''s eyes. Nothing seemed to be working out so he decided to go out with a bang. The last test was going to be a practical one. The new summoners were supposed to call out their spirits and have them battle.

    Their opponents would be the instructors and their summoned monsters. The only thing he could do now was to leave an impression on others. He needed to show off that he wasn''t someone that anyone could mess with. People were already aware that Beatrice had gotten a special spirit.

    The only way to protect her now was to show that he was powerful enough to even go against the top experts of this world. This could be only achieved by facing off against the right opponent and that vice principal character would help him with that.

    ''If you say so Leigong¡­''

    He could tell that the young girl was starting to doubt his advice but for now, she was going along with it. Explaining the whole ordeal would take too long so for now he decided to remain mysterious.

    After some time every student had gone through the third test. The results were posted on a large board outside of the testing chamber. The person that was first again was Beatrice, the girl had to contend with more surprised gazes.

    Tests like this didn''t take that long and there weren''t that many people. The final test would be the longest as it required the young summoners to let their spirits clash. Before that, it was time for some arguing though as some of the young nobles weren''t having it.

    "How did you do it, how can someone like you score this high!?"

    A girl in a white uniform was now confronting Beatrice in front of the result board. Zhang Dong''s host was way ahead of the competition, the second place belonged to the young prince but it wasn''t even a close call.

    "How would I even do that? Bring some proof before you accuse someone!"

    Beatrice retaliated by glaring at the other female student. It was surprising to see someone from the less established students to shout back at someone in a higher position.

    "You dare!?"

    Zhang Dong perked up at the muttered words, it looked like this world wasn''t that much different than his. Now if the opposing side just continued with a ''courting death'' line it would have been perfect. Before things could escalate another blond lady appeared. She was quite the beauty and known by everyone here, she was Isabella Hohenberg a duke''s daughter.

    "Lady Godford, you should calm down and prepare for the last test... "

    The girl looked at Isabella and instantly shrunk back. It was like looking at a small mouse that was confronted by a ferocious cat.

    "I¡­ if Lady Isabella says so¡­ I''ll excuse myself¡­"

    She was soon gone along with her own entourage of students.

    "Thank you for helping, Lady Isabella."

    Zhang Dong could feel that Beatrice was surprised by the sudden aid. He could also see that it wasn''t done out of good will. That look that Isabella was giving Beatrice was filled with malice. It was unknown what she was plotting but he didn''t like where this was going. Luckily a green-haired young man appeared to diffuse the situation.

    "That''s quite the achievement, Lady Beatrice was it? I''ll be looking forward to your next test."

    The youth looked quite friendly and he wasn''t even jealous of losing out to Beatrice. There was a certain shiver that ran through Beatrice the moment the prince talked to her. It was followed by a snapping sound from the direction that Isabella was standing in. The fan in the girl''s hand that she was holding had been cleanly snapped in two.

    "Oh my, it must have been old, I will have to order a new one."

    She played it off with a laugh before walking away.

    ''I don''t think that girl likes you too much.''

    ''I can see that Mr. Leigong¡­''

    The gathering soon dispersed as it was time to get ready for the final test of the day.

 Chapter 281

    A loud knock on a white ornate door was heard. Behind that exquisite looking entrance there was a spacious room. On the sides, there were blue crystals that illuminated it from all sides while the windows seemed to be not letting much sunlight in.

    Inside there, various bookcases with various grimoires could be spotted. But the most characteristic item that was there looked to be a large white desk. Behind it there was a person looking over some scrolls, this person seemed quite annoyed at the loud knocking at the door.

    "Who is it? I said that I didn''t want to be disturbed!"

    "Excuse me Principal, it''s me¡­"

    "Vice Principal?..."

    The person behind the desk grumbled while putting the scrolls back onto the desk. Within a few moments, a feminine voice replied.

    "You can enter."

    The Principal that was sitting behind the desk was wearing a baggy wizard robe but her head was visible. She had long snow-white hair very akin to a certain Lightning Emperor. Her skin was much darker though but the most characteristic thing about this person were the thin long ears.

    "Thank you Principal, you have to help me!"

    The woman that looked like your typical dark elf from a fantasy book narrowed her crimson eyes at the old man that came crashing through her door. He even tripped on the carpet and face planted onto the ground. It was clear that something had to have happened as she never saw him lose his composure like this.

    "Vice Principal Elobarin, control yourself!"

    The dark-skinned woman wiggled her finger around and some sparkles appeared in front of it. A torrent of wind surrounded the fallen man and brought him to his two feet.

    "I apologize Principal, but the situation is dire¡­ I have been marked!"

    "You have been marked? By who? Who would be powerful enough to put a mark on a mage of your caliber?"

    The woman frowned while standing up. She was the principal of this whole academy and also the most powerful mage in it. After her came the vice principals, there were more than one of them around. They were weaker than her but still should be amongst the best in this academy and even this world.

    "Was it one of the demons? Did it infiltrate our academy!?"

    "No.. it wasn''t a demon¡­"

    The man grasped his chest as he tried to calm himself down. In a few moments, he looked at the woman and started explaining. He told her about the strange boost in Beatrice''s stats during the assessment test. How he tried testing her himself to see if she was one of the demons in disguise and then how he was confronted by a mighty spirit that left a mark on his soul with an ultimatum.

    "A spirit you say? How powerful could it have been to do such a thing, a Spirit King?"

    The man was finished with his explanation but was still sweating. In a moment he spoke up to correct the person he was working for.

    "A spirit king¡­ I don''t think so¡­ I think that spirit was much greater than that¡­"

    "You don''t mean?"

    The man nodded while looking at the dark elven lady with a sweaty forehead.

    "A Spirit Emperor? Why would a Spirit Emperor form a contract with that student, is there something special about her?"

    "I don''t know¡­ but he gave me a message to pass on to you before he let me go¡­"

    "A message? To me?"

    The woman raised her brow, not really sure why a powerful spirit like that would even be in the picture. Though magical spirits had their own ways of doing things so this situation wasn''t all that inconceivable.

    "Well, not specifically to the Principal. The spirit wanted me to procure a strong summoner for the last test."

    The old man started explaining some more. The spirit left a mark on his soul that could be triggered to kill him. Only if he brought over a strong summoner to face off against Beatrice in the coming test would he be able to get rid of it.

    "I''m not sure what its purpose is¡­ maybe it wants to fight a strong opponent?... He did look very ferocious and powerful¡­"

    The elven woman started rubbing her chin while moving over to the old man. She touched his shoulder while concentrating. While using her knowledge she looked at the Vice Principal''s condition. She could see some kind of strange spell being attached to his soul.

    She wouldn''t just let someone under her be exposed to something like this so she started casting some spells to get rid of this mark. Though the moment she attempted a removal there was an unwanted reaction in the form of electrocution.

    A large explosion was heard from the office of the academy''s Principal. This alerted the secretary that was working outside. The young woman quickly ran into the room to see what was going on.

    "Principal are you okay! W-What happened!"

    The woman was greeted by a partially destroyed room. Many torn up books pages were still floating around and falling down on two people that were down on the ground. Both the Principal and Vice-Principal were twitching around their hair had been electrocuted which made the two look like they had afros.

    "Elobarin¡­ get Isilin to test that spirit¡­"

    "Y-yes Principal¡­"

    It took some time for the two to gather themselves but it was enough to prepare the stage for Zhang Dong and Beatrice. The other students were now going through the last test in the same order as previously.

    Beatrice was in a side room with some other students. She was clearly getting strange looks from others, no one expected her to be at the top of the class after most of the tests were over. It didn''t even matter how well she did in the last test, she would be getting into the prestigious class with the other high nobles.

    ''Don''t mind them, they are just surprised that''s all.''

    Zhang Dong spoke to Beatrice that was just sitting there. He had noticed that this young girl didn''t really have any friends here. Even before she started these trials there wasn''t anyone that she spoke to. The only person that interacted with her was that strange roommate but even that one didn''t converse much with her.

    She was truly the lonely heroine of this story, and now with him forcing the attention towards her, the other people were aware of her existence. He already knew where this was going and he didn''t like it.

    ''It''s okay Mr. Leigong I''m used to it.''

    Due to the soul connection that he had with the girl he could see some flashes of old memories. Even in those, she was the odd girl out, mostly hanging out in the back while the high noble ladies like Isabella chatted.

    ''Look on the bright side, now no one will be able to ignore you, you''ll be a hot topic in the noble circles!''

    He tried shifting the conversation to a better place but the girl just gave out a sigh while grumbling. It was clear that the attention that she was getting was troubling her.

    ''I thought we weren''t supposed to stand out so much, Mr. Leigong.''

    Beatrice replied in a somewhat cold tone, it was clear that she was on to his hogwash. He couldn''t do much about it, the all-knowing spirit act wasn''t something he was used to. There were too many variables so he made her rate above all the other students by a mile. What was done was done though, the only way to salvage the situation now was to make people fear her.

    If not, any two-bit schmuck would try to test her true power. This was the biggest fault with people that liked to hide their true strength. They would be approached by anyone and everyone for any small discretion. He could already imagine Beatrice getting hazed by the higher nobles if they thought they could take her. On the other hand, if they knew that she was able to easily take them out, they would remain in their lane.

    "Beatrice Hohenberg please get ready."

    Zhang Dong''s train of thought was broken by one of the teachers that entered the waiting room. The other students looked to Beatrice with interest as she stood up, quite a bit of people were interested in this spirit that could make this average noble girl progress this fast.

    ''Don''t worry Beatrice, just summon me and I''ll take care of the rest!''

    He called out to her while she got ready. The last test would be a practical one where summons would be pitted up against each other. This was also why he used the vice principal to his advantage. He gave him one order, to get a strong summoner to face off against Beatrice here. If not, he would be fighting a lesser spirit that wouldn''t really be very impactful for his show.

    To show off his power he needed the right opponent. If he faced off against a weak spirit like that one snake there wouldn''t really be much impact on it. Only when the hero had the right villain could he shine.

    ''Calm down, I''m with you.''

    Zhang Dong could feel that the young girl was getting nervous. After walking through a long corridor she arrived at something that looked like an arena. There were other students and teachers to the sides watching them.

    ''I''m fine¡­ but why are there so many people here¡­''

    ''Oh? Are there usually fewer people at these events?''

    ''Yes¡­''

    A smile appeared on his face as he heard that. This meant that the attention was on him and the girl. He would need to perform well now, from what he knew people were thinking that he was some kind of super-rare spirit. If they thought he was a rarity they wouldn''t hurt the girl that managed to summon a legendary creature.

    They would probably try to somehow profit from this event, try to control her first before any kind of violent act would be attempted. He would need to use the time given to progress the young girl further down her path of power. At a certain point even if someone tried something drastic she would be ready.

    "Student, Beatrice Hohenberg. Are you ready to be rated?"

    "I am!"

    She nodded while looking up to the person that spoke out. Zhang Dong looked with her and noticed a peculiar looking woman with dark skin and long ears.

    ''Is that an elf? and a dark elf to boot?''

    After Beatrice confirmed that she was ready a certain person walked out from behind from where that dark elven woman was standing. There was a spell cast to propel this person forward all the way into the ring.

    "Isn''t that Instructor Isilin?... isn''t he a five-star summoner?"

    "Why would someone like that¡­"

    People started murmuring amongst themselves after the person performing the test was revealed. It was clear that his little blackmailing attempt worked and they were now facing a more powerful summoner.

    With Beatrice on one side and the instructor in a dark robe on the other, the test was going to start. Instructor Isilin was a lanky looking man with glasses and a magic book in his left hand. He waved his right hand on which he had a summoning circle that began to glow. A myriad of magical circles started appearing before the spirit summoning started.

    Soon the creature that Zhang Dong would need to face would appear. By the size of the magical circle it appeared that this creature would be quite large. The people moved closer, none of them believed that someone like Beatrice would be able to summon something that could stand against a five star ranked summoner. But soon they would be astonished by the being called the Lightning Emperor Leigong!

 Chapter 282

    More and more people poured into the training arena where the summoner test was taking place. Word had spread that a new top student had appeared that belonged to a lower noble house. This caused all of the black-uniformed students to be interested in seeing one of their own move up in social status. Also, the white uniforms were interesting in the new upstart.

    Everyone murmured while they saw her walking out even more after they all realized that both the Vice Principal and the Principal were watching this test. This caused quite the uproar while also filling up the whole place with people. All eyes were on Beatrice, the young girl wasn''t taking the attention too well as she dropped her head so that others wouldn''t see her face.

    ''This test is between summoned spirits, so just leave everything to me.''

    There was more than summoning a battle spirit to a fight between Summoners. Each of these mages could also support their creature with attacking and buffing spells. They could lend more mana to the spirit that could then perform some specialized attacks. Also with time as a summoner''s mana capacity grew they could support more spirits.

    Beatrice was facing a five-star summoner, this was someone at a quite advanced level. She on the other hand would be considered a one-star summoner after passing this test. So someone that wasn''t even a proper summoner was facing off against a master. Most instructors in this school were at the three-star level. Thus this was quite the event, it was obvious for the people in the stands that there had to be something special about this Beatrice Hohenberg.

    ''Why is instructor Isilin here¡­''

    Beatrice asked while her eyes went wide. She only now realized that the Principal and some high profile people from the academy were all here. Zhang Dong on the other hand knew that he was the reason that they were here. He had left a little shocking present in that Vice Principal''s soul that would be impossible to remove for anyone below the nascent soul level.

    When that person invaded his realm he was able to exert the maximum of his cultivation realm on him. He expected the old fart to go to one of the powerful mages to remove this mark that he placed. He also was sure to make it jolt people with some lightning if it was prodded too much. It looked quite dangerous but the man wasn''t really in any danger of his soul being damaged. Zhang Dong just wasn''t that type of person but the people here didn''t know that. So this allowed him to play as an eccentric spirit.

    ''They must be aware of my existence, probably just want to test the extent of my power.''

    He replied while Beatrice bowed before the instructor. Zhang Dong was a bit worried about his summoner''s mana reserves but she should have enough for him to show himself and defeat a higher caliber of summon.

    If he actually failed to defeat his opponent then Beatrice''s life could be in danger. Those people that were from the main house could get some stupid ideas. Which was also why he needed to make them at least think that he was more than even their strongest mage could handle.

    "Begin."

    It was time to start, the Principal gave the okay for the bout to start and everyone looked into the ring. Instructor Isilin started to perform his summoning spell by reaching out with his hand forward. A large round magical circle appeared in front of him and after a moment a creature started rising from within it.

    Beatrice noticed that this already looked a bit different from what she did when summoning her spirit. When she performed the summoning her hand only flashed slightly and then Leigong''s body parts appeared at a random location. There was no magic circle or anything he just popped out of nowhere instead.

    Before she could think about it more, her gaze was drawn to the spirit that was emerging from the large magical circle. The first thing that she noticed was its face, it looked similar to what a toad or frog would look like. The toad-like mouth wasn''t without teeth, there were omnivore-like chompers stacked nicely together.

    This creature was quite large, many times larger than a human. The body was prolonged and there were more than two sets of legs. It had three legs on each side, the feet had large claws that dug into the hard ground beneath. If Zhang Dong had to chime in, he would tell her that this creature looked like a cross between an alligator and a frog with a bonus set of legs to probably keep that large body moving.

    "It''s Instructor Isilin''s Land Dragon! Didn''t think we''d get to see such a powerful summon spirit!"

    "Isn''t that spirit a king class summon? Why would they use it on someone that isn''t even a one-star summoner?"

    People started chatting with each other while the large monster emerged. Its tail started wiggling about and smacking the ground that caused some tremors to go through this arena.

    "Student Beatrice, please summon your spirit."

    It was finally time for the young girl to perform her summoning but with so many people watching her the only thing that she wanted to do was to run away. People started whispering some more after seeing her hesitate, some even started to laugh.

    "Are you sure that girl can summon a spirit?"

    "Maybe it''s a tiny slime and she is ashamed to bring it out?"

    The mocking voices filled the arena building while Beatrice started shrinking back, the only thing that brought her back into reality was the voice of her contracted spirit.

    ''Beatrice, ignore those kids, they don''t know you. Just perform your summoning like you practiced and leave everything to me!''

    The confident voice of Leigong made her finally snap back to reality. She soon moved her hand forward while concentrating. The mark on her hand started to glow in golden color while everyone quieted down.

    People that were the most interested in the girl''s spirit were the Principal and the instructors. They all could already see that something was off, this spirit was unique. They could feel the mana energy around that summoning mark and it had a somewhat different quality than what a regular spirit should have.

    This summoning was a bit different as Beatrice saw a golden ball of light appearing in front of her instead of the usual foot or hand. The audience started at the ball of light while narrowing their eyes while calling out loudly.

    "Is that a Will-o''-Wisp? ...isn''t that at the same level as a slime?"

    Before they could laugh out through something different happened, the ball of light exploded causing a massive burst of bright light to blind everyone in the vicinity. There was also a loud explosion-like sound akin to a thunderbolt connecting with a tree. Everyone covered their eyes and ears that were in a world of hurt.

    "W-what happened...wait who is that there¡­"

    The people started shouting in pain at first but after recovering everyone started pointing down to the arena. There before Beatrice stood a man. He was quite handsome with a chiseled jaw, rippling pecs, and shoulder long snow-white hair.

    "W-why is he like that?"

    "Cover your eyes!"

    There he was, Zhang Dong in all of his glory and in a white loincloth. The people that were facking his backside could behold those stunning rear cheeks that were only partially hidden by a thin white material.

    ''Mr. Leigong¡­ where are your clothes¡­''

    Beatrice blushed as she was the closest person to Zhang Dong. The only thing hiding that package was a tightly placed loincloth but the spirit that was summoned didn''t seem to mind, it was as if this was all going according to plan.

    ''Well my little Beatrice, let me explain. You see, my godly clothes are made from very rare materials. When you summon me with them you use up too much mana, so if I want to appear fully I have to show up like this. But don''t worry, I don''t mind."

    Zhang Dong''s gear was all above the heavenly grade. When he tried to materialize in this world mana would be used up for those clothes to manifest. Thus the easiest way was to remove this problem and just use the smallest amount of fabric possible. He was mostly bare like this but with his enhanced body he didn''t really need armor.

    This of course caused the young ladies in the audience to squeal. He was quite the handsome man and looked to be in his early twenties and in the prime of his life. The other people here could not contend with all this manliness before them.

    "How did that girl summon such a vulgar looking spirit¡­"

    "Yes¡­ look at that jawline and all those muscles¡­"

    "And look at that indecent appendage down there¡­ it''s grotesquely large!"

    "Do you think I could form a contract with a similar spirit? Is it some kind of new summon creature?"

    The men in the arena started looking at the women that were talking loudly. At first, it looked like they were angered by this human-looking spirit''s appearance but when continuing their true intentions shine through.

    "Is that the spirit that put the mark on you?"

    The dark elven woman asked the Vice Principal that was staring with eyes bulging at the half-n.a.k.e.d man down in the arena.

    "What? Ah yes, that was him¡­ but he was wearing clothes¡­ why is he almost n.a.k.e.d?"

    "I see...Instructor Isilin, please continue with the test!"

    The Principal called out from the stands to the man performing the test. He was also stunned by the humanoid spirit that was before him as they were a rare breed. With a wave of his hand, he gave an order to his Land Dragon. The creature gave out a loud howl before charging towards this peculiar looking summon.

    Zhang Dong squatted down while not really paying attention to the charging monster. He scooped up some sand from the ground and let it fall through his fingertips.

    "Finally, I can interact with this world normally¡­"

    After removing most of his clothes he was finally able to bring his entire body into this world. If he didn''t use up too much of his spiritual energy he would be even able to walk around without Beatrice''s mana running out too fast.

    ''Great Spirit¡­ t-the Land Dragon¡­''

    Beatrice sent him a massage while he was spacing out. He looked forward and could see a huge alligator-frog bolting toward his position. The monster''s head was larger than his whole body, it could swallow him whole if it wanted to.

    "Don''t need to worry, it''s but a tiny amphibian reptile."

    He replied while slamming his arms into the ground before him. Zhang Dong remained in place with both his hands stuck in the dirt. Before the creature could get into biting distance he made his move.

    Zhang Dong stood up while pulling the ground in front of him upwards. It looked as if he was flipping a table but instead of a table, it was a big chunk of the arena that the creature was standing on.

    The people in the audience went slack-jawed as they saw the smaller humanoid spirit flip half of the arena with the Land Dragon standing on that part. The creature was tossed back with the huge chunk of ground and rock falling on top of it, burying it in the process.

    "See? Nothing to worry about!"

    Zhang Dong laughed out loud while looking back at Beatrice that also had a strange expression of astonishment on her face.

    "I¡­ I see¡­"

 Chapter 283

    After a moment of silence, the audience in the arena started to shout out. They just witnessed a half-n.a.k.e.d man lifting up half of the arena''s ground and flipping it with the large dragon on it. It just looked like he dug his hands into the ground and pulled out a large part of the ground from underneath.

    The Summoned Land Dragon roared loudly before all the noises stopped. Now everyone was looking at a big pile of rubble and with only the half-n.a.k.e.d man before it. His long white hair was waving around from the wind pressure and he looked quite happy for some reason.

    ''See Beatrice, what did I say? No problem!''

    Zhang Dong looked at the rubble before him that he just flipped on his opponent. After being able to come out he started performing some tests. For one thing, he was quite a lot weaker than he would like to be.

    At this moment he wasn''t even able to reach the core formation level if he wanted to remain in his full-bodied form. The monster that he was fighting was about at the strength level of a late stage foundation establishment beast.

    He himself was a bit stronger while only utilizing his body refining technique instead of his Qi cultivation. There was enough mana for him to use from Beatrice to maybe perform one stronger Qi attack but that would probably tire his summoner out. He was already minimizing the strain on her by not wearing most of his clothes. The usual boxers he used were also replaced by a loincloth to lower the expenditure even further.

    Before he could raise his fist high in victory he heard something. There was a rumble in all that rubble that he created. This made him also notice the instructor that Beatrice was up against. He could see the man injecting mana down where his opponent would be. In a few moments, he knew why as the Land Dragon showed his frog-like face to him.

    ''The books did say that summoners have that utility as well.''

    Zhang Dong had gone through the library books so he had more than the basic knowledge about magic and this world. What this summoner was doing was healing his creature with the help of his mana.

    From what he could tell, summoners could be divided into a few categories. This man here was from one that specialized in high mana capacity. They mostly just used their summoned spirits for fighting while hanging back in the background. With more mana, the spirits could perform more spells or have a boost to their strength.

    There was also a category that didn''t rely on summoned spirits to fight for them. They just used their elemental affinities to produce their own spells and fight closer to what a normal mage would. Those types had some subcategories depending on their way of fighting. Some did it form close range while others from far away.

    The students went quiet as they felt the whole place rumble. In a matter of seconds, the creature that looked like a mix between a frog and an alligator started crawling out from beneath that rubble.

    "Hah, I guess it''s time for round two! This Lightning Emperor Leigong will put you in your place!"

    Zhang Dong shouted out, his words were clearly heard by the people around this large room. This brought everyone''s attention to him instead of the Land Dragon that was crawling out from within the pile of rocks and dirt. He kind of knew why they were surprised as he wasn''t acting like a normal summon.

    Normal summoned spirits like him wouldn''t be able to converse with other people than their summoners. He had a connection with Beatrice through her soul so learning the language was easy. The books that he absorbed through the days helped to fill in some holes and now he was more than able to speak in this world''s language.

    "Leigong? Was there someone like that?"

    "Lightning Emperor? Did such a spirit exist? Is it some kind of new spirit?"

    "That spirit hasn''t used any lightning magic, is he really a lightning type? Why can it speak our tongue? "

    The teachers that were gathered besides the Principal started talking with each other. Zhang Dong had thrown out his name on purpose. His intent was to make a big impression and he needed to have a grand name to go with it. Calling himself an Emperor was also on purpose.

    He knew how the spirits were rated in this world and a spirit Emperor was a legendary type. His intention was to make himself look stronger than he actually was. With the label of a legendary spirit, Beatrice''s life would be better protected. At least till he got enough time to get her to a high enough level where she could let him access his nascent soul level powers.

    The lanky instructor named Isilin looked at the strange half-n.a.k.e.d man before him. After hearing him speak out he became even more interested. This spirit that was being used by a young girl with zero fighting experience managed to deliver a devastating blow to his own summon.

    This instructor was an experienced summoner though. He knew that defeating a single summoned creature from someone like him wouldn''t bring victory. There was much more mana that he could spend to resurrect his creature along with summoning others to aid it in battle.

    Before he did that he looked back to the Principal that ordered him to do this unique test. In his mind this test was already over, there was no reason to continue the newbie summoner had already proved herself. This test was just here to measure the spirits might and this one seemed to be enough to contend with the best spirit that he could offer. But, it looked like the Principal had other plans.

    "Continue Instructor Isilin."

    This man wasn''t very outspoken so he just nodded while looking back into the ring. His opponent that was wearing the silky white loincloth didn''t seem all that afraid. He was just standing there with his hands crossed over one another, his chest puffed out as if he owned the place.

    The second round was going to start, with the ground already destroyed Zhang Dong would have to take another approach. The dragon roared out like a maddened beast while opening his mouth wide.

    He noticed that a lot of magical energy started flowing towards that opened mouth. It appeared that this monster wasn''t called a dragon just for show. Even though it looked like a mix between a lizard and a frog it apparently also possessed the fabled dragon breath attack.

    Normally an opponent would run away and try to hide, other times they would produce some kind of defensive magic to block. On the other hand, the one that called himself the Lightning Emperor remained in place without moving. Even Beatrice that was standing behind him looked worried but her spirit didn''t seem that he was thinking about dodging.

    The large mouth opened up wide and a torrent of energy escaped. It was a burst of orange flame that submerged Beatrice''s spirit in fire. Beatrice was a bit to the side but she had to jump back a bit to not get affected by the residual heat. Even while being at a distance she had to look away while covering her face as the hot air was pushed towards her location.

    "It''s the fabled Dragon fire breath, is that person alright?"

    "That wasn''t a person, it was a spirit! But it probably had to retreat back to the spirit realm, there is no way it survived something like that!"

    The young students started chiming in from the side. All of the people that were interested in Beatrice''s progress were here. Both the prince and Isabella were together, the blond lady was looking between the arena and the prince. Her eyebrows were twitching around as she noticed that Ludwig was focusing his attention not on the battlefield but on Beatrice instead.

    Soon the whole arena was filled with a cloud of smoke. The dragon continued to spit out fire which caused the ground underneath to melt with some polishing it could certainly look like a mirror. With the breath attack now halted the creature stood with head raised as if proud after defeating an enemy that shamed it.

    Before it could relax though it noticed something odd. Someone was chuckling and that someone was the man that called himself Leigong. His form appeared out of the smoke as he took off in a sprint. When his foot made contact with that molten ground that turned into glass, it shattered in a fraction of a second.

    The people here had trouble following Zhang Dong''s speed but some of the more experienced masters could see it all. He just zoomed toward the large Land Dragon summon and delivered a swift kick to its chin. Normally no human would even try that, even though this creature looked peculiar it was still a dragon.

    It had rock hard scales that covered its entire body. It could repel swords, arrows, and even regular spells without flinching at all. But what they saw here defied logic, the kick went right through these scales and shattered them into small pieces. The huge dragon was propelled upwards by the force of this kick, its front legs clearly shot up as it started to perform a backward flip.

    It performed a reverse somersault while causing its summoner to panic. This creature was huge and it was close to falling on him. Isilin was quick to jump back with the assistance of some lesser wind spirits that carried him into safety.

    Everyone was baffled by how easy it was for this man to kick the huge dragon back. The teachers and the Principal started wondering what this heroic spirit''s body was made of to perform such a feat. The dark elven lady, in particular, noticed a strange golden sheen that appeared on the man''s foot right before the kick connected.

    This wasn''t quite over yet, after the Land Dragon was on its back Zhang Dong jumped up into the air. It was time to deliver the final blow and he had to make it count. He knew that he would need to borrow most of Beatrice''s mana for this but it had to be done. Only if the people saw his true might would they begin to take him seriously.

    A rumbling sound of thunder was heard as he rose into the air. Everyone watched with astonishment as the half-n.a.k.e.d man turned into golden energy. Lightning and holy energies started gathering into one place before a massive flash of light blinded the audience members.

    They opened their eyes to another strange scene, instead of the white-haired man there now was a dragon. It was a disembodied head of a massive beast with scales and horns. Even though it was only the head of Zhang Dong''s soul beast it was many times larger than the Land Dragon below.

    This golden dragon opened up his mouth and the people that were keeping watch of this fight started sweating. The Principal quickly rose from her seat while letting her magic power fly towards the arena.

    "Quick, reinforce the barrier!"

    Every able-bodied wizard in the vicinity lent a hand in reinforcing the protective barrier that kept the audience members safe. Soon a golden beam of plasma descended from the dragon head''s mouth. It connected with the flipped over Land Dragon and caused another massive flash of light.

    Everything turned white and the whole place began to shake. The loud noise of crackling thunder and lightning was the only thing that anyone could hear. This last attack signaled the end of this bout, the only thing left after was a massive deep hole in the ground, anything that was in it had vanished into the ether while leaving everyone here with a shocked expression. No one would be able to forget what they witnessed today and the name Leigong would be etched into their hearts for times to come.

 Chapter 284

    Beatrice covered her eyes along with all the other people as Zhang Dong was performing his attack. She felt rather small and weak the moment the giant dragon head popped out into the outside world. She recognized this as the golden dragon that she saw in her spirit''s soul dimension.

    It was unknown to her what this dragon was as it behaved like a dog. The dragon didn''t really behave as the legendary beings that she read about in the books. These giant scaly lizards were supposed to be very prideful, wise, and domineering. This one on the other hand always acted like a big puppy whenever she was over for a training session.

    This time around it was clear that this puppy had some sharp chompers. The moment it opened its mouth a giant torrent of golden light connected with the ground below. A massive explosion followed suit but for some reason, she didn''t really feel the impact. A barrier of golden light surrounded her and gave her protection.

    The moment the attack landed on its target Beatrice felt weakness taking over her. She could feel most of her mana leaving her along with another migraine coming alone. At this point in time, she was a bit used to this feeling of mana deprivation but she still had to focus, otherwise, she would surely pass out.

    After the flash of light subsided everyone could finally see the aftermath. There was no Land Dragon in sight, instead there was a giant hole that filled out two-thirds of this training arena. The instructor named Isilin was passed out in the corner with part of his robe missing due to the blast. He was alive but just out cold.

    The people outside the blast radius were protected by the magical barriers that barely survived this attack. This was mostly the case due to the dragon head aiming a concentrated breath attack straight down. The beam of light left a huge pit behind that stretched for an unknown number of meters, the bottom nowhere in sight.

    "H-how is this possible?"

    "W-was that a d-dragon? A g-golden dragon?"

    "Why was it only a head? Why was it so big?"

    The students and a.d.u.l.ts that were gathered here started reacting to what they saw. Zhang Dong used the rest of his energy to summon his soul beast to deliver its breath attack to finish the job. It was all done to be flashy, he knew that dragons were legendary beings in this world. They could also apparently change their appearance to humans, thus now everyone would think that the girl had made a contract with such a being.

    ''Beatrice are you all right? I''m sorry I had to use more mana than I previously anticipated. Maybe next time I''ll put on a smaller loincloth.''

    ''W-what? Please don''t do that Mr. Leigong¡­''

    Beatrice held her forehead for a moment while taking in a deep breath. She could now see everyone looking in her direction. It was clear that everyone here had shocked expressions. From this point on it would probably be hard for her to be seen as one of the regular students.

    ''Don''t worry, he is alive, I was sure not to hit him and just his summoned spirit.''

    Zhang Dong said as Beatrice was looking at the passed out instructor. He was thrown to the side and his underwear was visible to anyone that was there. The man was wearing something similar to regular boxers but the coloring was a bit off with all the pink hearts there.

    ''Should we head back, or do we need for the instructor to wake up?''

    Zhang Dong asked as he wasn''t sure. From what he knew the teacher needed to announce the end of the testing battle. They would then give the young summoner a grade. Regretfully the man that was supposed to do that was out cold.

    ''I think we need to wait¡­''

    ''How about we asked that old guy?''

    ''Old guy?''

    ''Yeah, that Vice-Principal, I bet he could just give you the grade.''

    ''T-the Vice-Principal?''

    Beatrice responded in fright as asking someone like a Vice-Principal was something a student in her position couldn''t just do. She didn''t know that the old man had met Zhang Dong and was now bound to him.

    ''Think they were sitting up in that booth, he should be right next to that dark-skinned elf lady.''

    Beatrice looked up to where the Principal was sitting, both she and the old man were there. They were all looking at her as if she was some kind of rare animal. It was clear that Zhang Dong''s little performance left quite the impact.

    Still, she wasn''t someone in a position to speak out, the Principal was also a noble and the strongest mage in the whole academy. Her noble rank might not have been of a Duchess but strength-wise she wasn''t far behind.

    ''See they are looking at you, just wave them over but if you want I could talk to them.''

    Zhang Dong called out while Beatrice started panicking. Coming into this she was already worried about what might have happened. Now she was looking at one of the most influential figures in the whole empire. She wasn''t sure what her summoned spirit was planning but at this point, she felt like he might make things worse.

    ''I don''t think I have enough mana for that¡­''

    Beatrice replied while trying to talk Zhang Dong out of it.

    ''You don''t need to worry about that, I can take on a less strenuous form, you won''t even feel a thing.''

    ''Ah...t-that''s reassuring Mr. Leigong¡­''

    She slumped her shoulders forward after he replied.

    "Silence!"

    A loud booming voice filled the whole arena and everyone went quiet. It was clearly backed by some magic as it traveled through the whole place.

    "Student Beatrice, report to my office immediately!"

    The one shouting was the dark elven girl which was also the Principal. Beatrice wasn''t in a position to refuse. Even though she just wanted to go back to her dorm room and lay down, she needed to follow the order.

    "Y-yes Principal¡­"

    She replied while nodding as she wasn''t sure if the Principal heard her.

    "Please clear this training arena out and someone get instructor Isilin to the priest. The other tests will be moved to another location!"

    The announcement continued as the Principal started shouting out orders for the other teachers. The test wasn''t over for the other students but Beatrice was now obliged to follow the order.

    After the announcement, the students started leaving this place. Beatrice returned to the room she was previously waiting in. The students that were there were now looking at her with even more astonishment. It was clear that they were acting sheepish, clearly, her show of might was making them more submissive.

    "Beatrice Hohenberg of Dawn Lake?"

    "Yes?"

    A man with a large white beard and of older age was waiting outside. Beatrice knew him as he sometimes made some long-winded speeches. He went by the name Elobarin and was one of the Vice-Principals from this academy. If they went by noble ranks this man would be akin to a Count.

    ''Don''t worry, he is on our side, you can go with him. Tell him that the Lightning Emperor sends his regards.''

    ''W-why?''

    ''Don''t worry, just do it.''

    Elobarin looked at Beatrice that came out of the room. She bowed her head before him as a proper lady which caused him to wonder how someone like her was able to possess a special spirit.

    "I''ll escort you to the Principal''s office, follow me."

    "Ah yes Sir, also¡­ uh¡­"

    "What is it, young lady?"

    Elobarin asked while the two were slowly moving away from the other students.

    "Um,... The Lightning Emperor sends his regards?"

    She said in a weak voice while trying not to offend the old man. She was having trouble with so many powerful people and beings around her. She didn''t want to offend the Vice Principal but her summoned spirit was scarier. After the training fight she had with the instructor, this fact was cemented in her mind. Even she knew that what Zhang Dong did there was unprecedented.

    The moment she uttered the words she could see the old man''s face contorting in a weird way. He looked like he had seen a ghost, the old man almost tripped and fell as well.

    "H-he does? D-did he say anything else?"

    "Um¡­ please wait a moment¡­"

    The two started walking slowly towards the Principal''s office. It looked as if Beatrice was looking up into the air but in reality, she was talking with her summoned spirit.

    "Ah¡­ he said that when we arrive at the Principal''s office he will talk with you both¡­"

    Beatrice and Elobarin both didn''t like this reply. None of them knew what Zhang Dong was thinking and what his true goal here was.

    "Is that so¡­ let us continue."

    "Yes, I''ll be in your care¡­"

    Both of them started laughing nervously while moving on. The people continued to whisper each time they saw the cute blond summoner, it was clear that her infamy was slowly starting to spread through the whole academy.

    "The Principal is waiting for you."

    A lady was sitting by the desk. She had glasses on and looked very professional. They were finally at the Principal''s office after walking mostly in silence. The Vice Principal knocked on the closed door before going inside.

    Beatrice and Zhang Dong could see more than one person inside. Besides the dark elf that was sitting behind the desk, there was a woman in a maid uniform. Beatrice looked out of the corner of her eyes at this person but then turned back to the dark-skinned lady. Zhang Dong on the other hand focused on this person''s ears which were quite large.

    ''Is that a cat girl?''

    He thought to himself while examining the whole place further. He could also feel that some of his own spiritual energy was still floating around in this room. It was clear that the little safety measure that he attached to the Vice Principal''s mark had gone off here. Some books were still on the ground and the made was in the process of cleaning up.

    "Welcome Student Beatrice."

    The elf lady called out in quite the seductive voice while looking at Beatrice. Zhang Dong took note that this woman was quite seductive looking but not quite on the level as his own wife in the curves department. Beatrice performed a proper curtsy before the woman of status while the Vice Principal remained in the back.

    "You wished to speak to me, Principal?"

    "Yes, you probably know why."

    "It''s about the honorable Lightning Emperor Leigong¡­ he also wanted to talk with you¡­"

    Before the elf could reply or agree to Leigong''s arrival something happened. The mark on Beatrice''s right hand started glowing. The two mages in the room backed away while putting up some magic defenses at this sudden surge of magic.

    "No need to worry, This Leigong won''t hurt anyone, unless they wish to do injustice against my contractor!"

    A small golden orb of light appeared before Beatrice, the strange thing about this was that this summoned spirit was showing itself without its summoner''s chant.

    "Is that¡­"

    "Yes, I am the great Lightning Emperor Leigong!"

    Zhang Dong pronounced his name with a thunderclap going off in the distance. Everyone in this room looked at the form that he took on. He wasn''t full-sized or n.a.k.e.d, nor was he a body part either. Instead, he looked like a tiny cute action figure of his original self in a white robe, standing at a very imposing ten inches of height.

 Chapter 285

    A chibi version of Zhang Dong with a somewhat bobble head was floating around the room. This form used up almost no mana as it was small and without much density. The design he went with was one that would make him seem cuter. His face looked quite cartoonish with enlarged eyes but still had some of his old face structure.

    The people in the room looked at this ''Lightning Emperor'' with mixed expressions. Most of them were baffled by the strange look that was inspired by animated movies from his old world. He wasn''t sure if this was the right choice for the occasion but at least he was garnering some attention.

    "Honorable Lightning Emperor Leigong?"

    After a moment of silence, the dark elf Principal decided to speak up first. Her words were preceded by a cough that caused the Vice Principal to also straighten up.

    "I see that your associate has mentioned our encounter."

    Zhang Dong looked at the old man that was standing to the side. The moment he did he could see the Vice Principal''s face twitching a bit.

    "Yes, he did inform me about it. I would like to apologize on his behalf."

    The dark elf looked to the side, where the old man was standing. She started wiggling her eyebrows a bit to make him aware of something. This made the Vice Principal move forward and perform a small bow before Zhang Dong and Beatrice that was behind him.

    The young girl started flailing her hands awkwardly as she didn''t know how to react to something like this. This was quite the normal response by someone on the lower end of the social ladder like a Baron''s daughter. The person in front of her was akin to a Count and far above her status. Her summoned spirit on the other handheld his nose up high while nodding.

    "I''m glad that you understand, I will let this transgression slide but only this once!"

    Zhang Dong replied while slowly floating toward the old man. He had scared the old man into submission and he could clearly see the fear in his eyes. Even though he looked like a cute anime character now the man probably saw him as some kind of ferocious creature. He had given him the stick but now it was time for the carrot.

    The people in the room could see Beatrice''s spirit moving and reaching out towards the old man''s chest with his tiny hand. Before they could ask what he was doing a strange magical pattern was felt by the two strong magicians.

    "T-this¡­ how unique¡­ What kind of magical energy is this?"

    The Principal called out from the side with awe. She could feel a small amount of energy moving from that small hand. There wasn''t much power in what this tiny spirit was doing but the mana was different. Soon the purpose of this magical spell was clear as the Vice Principal let out a sigh of relief, the mark that was on him had been dispelled.

    "T-thank you, great spirit!"

    "I''m glad you understand my magnanimity!"

    Zhang Dong laughed out loud while swishing his long sleeves around. He had made a more wavy robe variant with this form which made him look more like a traditional cultivator.

    "Vice Principal Elobarin, is the mark gone?"

    "Yes, Principal."

    Both of the mages in this room looked at the small floating cultivator. It looked like a big weight was removed from their shoulders. They were probably glad that this strange Spirit Emperor could be reasoned with.

    "This was the reason that you called us here right? Or was there something else?"

    Zhang Dong asked while floating to the side. There were a lot of books in this room so he started giving them little pokes. While being here gathering more information was paramount.

    He also wanted to make these two mages work for him, they were on the top of the totem pole here. They would be able to speed things up, he wouldn''t need to go through the usual child games that would be happening in the classrooms if he did it the normal way.

    "Yes, if the honorable spirit is willing to talk with us, we would like to give him some questions¡­"

    Zhang Dong could see that there was a little glint in the dark elf''s eyes. It appeared since he removed that soul binding technique from the man named Elobarin. It was clear that his unique cultivator Qi was different from mana.

    After reading up on some of the spells he figured out a way to make it work in this world as well. The conversion rate wasn''t as good as in his old world but there was a way to transform mana into Qi.

    With this cultivation would also be possible here but it would take a lot more time. The people cultivating would also find it harder to recharge their energies after performing their Qi dependant techniques. The whole process was akin to emulation and a lot of energy was lost during it. That''s why he was trying to come up with new ways of using his own Qi here, without the need of emulation. Learning magical spells wouldn''t be that easy though so he needed a lot of research material.

    "A few questions?"

    Zhang Dong started rubbing his chin that was part of his new bobblehead. The two mages started looking to each other with some concern in their eyes.

    "I guess I could answer a few questions, are they about those demons that you spoke about?"

    Zhang Dong looked to Elobarin. The old man had previously mentioned that there were some shape-shifting demons running around this school here. Maybe if he took care of that problem he would have something to leverage for.

    He didn''t want to waste too much time but Beatrice wasn''t strong enough. That attack that he performed with the help of his soul beast didn''t even reach up to the nascent soul level. It was the most he could do at this point in time. From what he could tell this Principal lady was at about the middle or late stage of core formation.

    She was apparently the strongest mage in the whole academy while also making her one of the strongest mages in the entire world. How strong was the strongest he didn''t know but it looked like these people haven''t yet taken a step into the nascent soul level of power. Which was good for him as if he recovered all of his strength he could easily flatten anyone here.

    "Yes, amongst other things¡­"

    Zhang Dong nodded, he could tell that the woman wanted to ask him about other things more. That look she had was something he was familiar with, it was very similar to what his junior sect members did. They were always trying to get pointers from him who was the most powerful cultivator in the whole sect. She was looking at him like a pupil that was eager to learn.

    ''I should throw her a bone but put some restrictions on it¡­''

    He knew that he needed something to trade with. There was not much that he could offer for the information and resources that this academy had. The thing that he wanted to ask for were the cubes. Mages here would probably know some locations where these items could be located. If this world was like his previous ones the cubes had to be in places that previous ''players'' like him were summoned to. For now, he decided to push the conversation towards the demons as this looked like a problem that could be tackled.

    "Yes, I am sure that the great spirit is aware of the age-long battle between the demons and the coalition of races."

    "Mhm."

    Zhang Dong nodded as he went through some of the history books that this place had to offer. The setting looked to be very similar to games or other books that he had read before. It was quite generic, this ''Coalition of Races'' was composed of various fantasy-like races, elves, humans, dwarves, and some others but those were the big three main ones with the most pull.

    These humanoid races were in an aged long battle against the demon race. These demons came in various shapes and sizes but mostly had one thing in common, their red skin, horns, and a third eye right in the middle of their forehead. There were also existences known as the ''Demon Lords'' along with a ''Demon King'' that ruled over all of them.

    From what the books said this ''Demon King'' lived in some kind of secluded castle surrounded by rivers of lava. He didn''t leave this castle and only the demon lords were sent out as his generals. There was a certain reason for that.

    This Demon King was supposedly the strongest being on this planet. The only reason that he wasn''t able to destroy the other races was a massive barrier that was surrounding a continent where all of the races gathered.

    There wasn''t much explained on how it worked, but supposedly it kept the strongest demons out but weaker ones could somehow squeeze through openings in the net. Some of those demons that made it through could get to the level of the strongest people living on this side.

    The gist of it was, that the weaker demons were slowly infiltrating these lands and trying to weaken the barrier. Sometimes they succeeded which allowed one of the demon lords to hop to this side. Thus the war continued to this day, the races were holding on for now but they were slowly losing land while the demons closed in.

    "Before that, shouldn''t we do something about that?"

    Zhang Dong said while pointing at the cat-girl maid that was listening to the conversation while cleaning.

    "Don''t mind Gertrude great spirit, she is someone that has worked at this academy for years and we can trust her."

    The maid perked up at the conversation, she was putting some books back on the shelves. She turned around to give the whole room a warm smile that could melt icebergs.

    "Is that so? Can you remind me again, the demons mostly have red skin, horns, and a third eye, right?"

    "Yes great spirit¡­"

    The principal replied while not being sure where this summoned spirit was going with this.

    "That person has a third eye."

    Zhang Dong pointed towards the girl in the maid uniform while staring. He was someone that had a disguising technique that would even fool nascent soul masters. The demons were using something similar so these people that were below the nascent soul level were unable to detect anything. He on the other hand could see behind this disguise, the girl was clearly a transformed being.

    "W-what? Are you certain, great spirit?"

    "Can''t you check with that technique of yours?"

    The cat lady started backing off while looking at the Principal and Vice-Principal. Both of these mages were looking at her in a strange way.

    "W-what? Did I do something wrong?"

    The principal looked to the great spirit with confusion in her eyes. The maid here was someone that she knew for a long time. She had worked here for many years and her loyalty had been proven but before she could act the spirit moved in first.

    "Well, I can do it for you.. shouldn''t be too hard¡­"

    The Principal looked at the small spirit performing some strange hand gestures while pointing at the cat girl. The girl started to panic but it was too late. The strange spell was cast and the girl''s from started to shift.

    All of her hair started to fall off along with the cat tail that turned into some black sludge. What remained was a bald lanky humanoid that wasn''t even female in figure. Its face wasn''t pretty to look at and it had both the horns and third eye that any demonic being possessed.

    The demon gave out a loud shriek that caused the windows to shatter. It then jumped out through it while the Principal and Vice-Principal were stunned by the reveal.

    "You''ll have to catch it yourself though, I think you should hurry up before it calls more friends over or escapes"

    Zhang Dong chuckled while floating around, the old man quickly jumped through the window to give chase while the others were left to discuss more in the Principal''s office.

 Chapter 286

    Zhang Dong watched the monster jump out of the window and the Gandalf look-alike Vice-Principal chasing after it. He was lucky that he noticed the cat girl''s transformation technique, this he achieved after he started poking some of the old-looking books.

    As always he was looking for information but he witnessed the third eye flickering into existence after he got closer. His power was diminished so he couldn''t spread his senses into the surroundings to scan people. In this form, he was limited to a couple of meters, maybe more if he had Beatrice lend him some mana. Now after dispelling the disguise he had left the poor girl with another headache.

    "Would you be so kind as to give Beatrice a mana potion?"

    He asked the dark elf lady who was holding some kind of crystal orb. She was already sending out some orders to other teachers and academy enforcers to catch the shape-shifting monster.

    "Ahh¡­ of course¡­"

    The interruption didn''t go unnoticed and the mana potion was delivered. Zhang Dong in his smaller form pointed to a nice leather couch to the side while speaking to Beatrice.

    "Beatrice, how about you rest there and I''ll discuss a few things with the Principal."

    The blond girl just nodded while drinking the bitter mana potion. It was clear that she was reaching her limit after the stressful day filled with tests and trials. For now, she could take a nap while he maintained his form with minimal mana use.

    The Principal looked to the blond lady that followed the spirit''s instructions. It was strange to see a summoner listening to their spirit and not the other way around. It was also strange to see this spirit maintaining his form without the need for the summoner to concentrate much.

    From where she was looking the girl named Beatrice was quite tired, a normal summoner would need to concentrate at least a bit for the spirit to remain in the material realm. Otherwise, they would be forced back into the spirit realm. This worked by the summoner feeding the mana into the spirit themselves.

    Summoned spirits couldn''t absorb mana out of the world themselves. They needed the help of their contractor to filter the energy for them and then inject it back for them to work. This spirit here was somehow able to either minimize the effect or go around it in some way. The way it changed its forms to suit the mana usage was also something unique, normally a summoner couldn''t just summon a part of a spirit. It was either all in or nothing.

    "While your subordinate chases after that three-eyed goblin we can discuss our new business venture."

    "Business venture?"

    The dark elf replied while the small white haired Zhang Dong floated on top of her white desk. The two were now looking at each other. The woman had called Beatrice over here to get some answers and have the Vice-Principals mark be removed. Now after that was resolved she was left with many more questions, the biggest one being who this spirit was and how was it so intelligent. It didn''t even feel like a spirit but more like a human.

    "Yes, I already showed you some of my capabilities."

    Zhang Dong said while leaning back, his form was smaller so he could sustain his flight with minimal mana usage.

    "Now I would ask you for something in return¡­"

    "Something in return?"

    The Principal narrowed her eyes as she had never heard about anything like this. Summoned spirits only came to this world to form contracts with the mages. Mana that was abundant in this world was the only thing they were interested in taking. The spirits didn''t make any demands of other people after forming a contract, only when it was broken would they try to find a new summoner.

    This one on the other hand was about to make some demands while offering his demon detection capabilities. The elf thought that this spirit was a lot more cunning, more like a person as it understood how to barter.

    "Yes, please take a look at this."

    Zhang Dong replied while waving his finger. He produced a few cubes that looked like the ones that he was looking for. The ones that he had found didn''t always have the same shape and sometimes had strange runic symbols on them. He recreated all of those that he came across so the dark elf would have more to work with.

    "I need you to help me find artifacts that look like this. They might not look like much but I''m willing to share some of my knowledge and services if you help me find them."

    The cubes that Zhang Dong produced were just holographic recreations of the originals. The Principal looked at them with interest as the runic patterns weren''t something that she was familiar with.

    "This¡­"

    "I know that it might be hard but any help would be appreciated, you would have this Leigongs eternal gratitude!"

    "I don''t think that I have ever seen artifacts such as these honorable Lightning Emperor¡­ I will have to consult the old scriptures¡­"

    "That is fine, I would also wish to visit places where some old famous figures were first spotted¡­ I think you also sometimes perform hero summoning rituals¡­"

    Zhang Dong knew where these cubes could be hidden. They were probably buried deep underground where no one could spot them. It was normal for the elf to not know where they were.

    The biggest problem now was his system that was severely underpowered. The map that he could use to help him scan everything was limited in range. If he was in his nascent soul realm he could just scan the whole planet in a matter of days. It wasn''t that large compared to the place where he lived.

    Due to this, he would need to rely on the people here to take him to places where old heroes or sages were first spotted. Those were the most probable spots where one of these cubes could be hidden.

    He also had an idea where one of the cubes could be, which would be on the Demon King continent. He had a sinking suspicion that he would find one in the Demon King''s castle or even inside of the monster itself. Similar to how it was inside of the Cthulhu that he faced.

    Besides those spots, he also wanted to visit some of the dungeons that this world had to offer. Those were locations where adventurers set off to gain experience and increase their battle sense. Even though this place lacked a leveling system the people somehow increased in strength through battling many monsters.

    After going through some books he believed that this place could have some kind of hidden leveling system that people didn''t have access to. Maybe only the people that were teleported here from other worlds would be made aware of that. Everyone sent here most likely had a similar system that he had to help them in their own adventure.

    "Hero summoning? Famous figures?"

    "Yes like sages of old¡­ powerful kings, emperors, and maybe some heroes that lived long lives? I''m sure you''ll figure something out. In return, I could help you with that demon problem you are having¡­"

    He had stated what he wanted and now it was time to offer something in return. His spiritual sense was several times weaker than normally so he couldn''t just scan the whole school. He would need to examine everyone up close and personal. This wasn''t his problem though as there were ways to go through everyone even with that limitation.

    "T-that would be very helpful great spirit¡­ Is this the only thing that you desire?"

    "There are some other things, concerning Beatrice. I would like her to have access to the full library and maybe some pocket money for some items¡­"

    Zhang Dong started listing some things that he wanted. Besides the books in the library, he wanted access to most places in the academy. This would probably be possible by having Beatrice achieving the white uniform status. Then he needed freedom to move through the teleportation gates without needing to pay, some money to get potions for Beatrice so she progressed faster. He also needed a pass for her so she would be allowed to travel through the lands unrestrained while not having to attend the tests and lessons.

    "But that would cause problems with the other students; they might not accept a Baron''s daughter..."

    "I''m sure you''ll figure something out, don''t you want to get rid of all the demons in your school? They could be replacing your people at this very moment, I don''t think you have the time to care about things like status¡­"

    Zhang Dong shrugged while floating around. He knew that people like this adhered to the status quo. This wasn''t something that he was concerned with, the girl had already shown that she was above the rest during the tests. Her receiving a high reward after breaking old records was something only natural in his mind. If the other students complained he could just have them battle him and Beatrice. He didn''t think that he would lose to any of those youngsters in any shape and form. After defeating the instructor he was quite confident.

    "Don''t you have some special exceptions for exceptional students? Where the heroes of old not exempt from the social quarrels and bureaucracy of this world?"

    "W-well there is one position but I''m not sure if the noble houses will be too thrilled about something like that, I would need to consult with the other Vice Principals¡­"

    "I''m sure that you will work something out!"

    Zhang Dong replied while floating back towards Beatrice. The girl had fallen asleep during his talk with the Principal. The stress from the day had finally crept over till she just passed out.

    "I will only aid you after you make the announcement, not sooner. I''m sure that you realize that you shouldn''t waste time as your student lives could be at stake here. I''ll be awaiting your reply but for now, I bid you farewell!"

    Zhang Dong''s figure started to change into tiny golden bubbles of light that soon faded away into the ether. It was clear that he returned to his summoner while leaving the dark elven Principal in this room with a hard decision to make.

    He found Beatrice sitting in a chair in his castle that he had made before. She had awoken in his soul realm automatically after falling asleep.

    "Mr. Leigong¡­ what did you discuss with the Principal¡­"

    "Ah you don''t need to worry about it, you should probably wake up and go to your dorm to rest, I''ll send you on your way."

    Zhang Dong snapped his finger which caused Beatrice to wake up on the Principal''s couch. He then watched the blond be very apologetic before removing herself from the woman''s office.

    "Hope that Principal delivers, this could hasten up the process tremendously, hope I can find a cube on this continent but I''m not sure if that will be enough¡­"

    From what he knew one cube would only give him like a 30% chance of returning home, if he got two then that number would double. To be sure he would need three but if there were even three of those around here remained to be seen.

    "Well, I should relax. I''m sure they will accept my terms. I didn''t ask for that much¡­"

    He said to himself while snapping his fingers, his soul dimension shifted back to a tropical island location as it was far nicer to relax here than at a cold castle.

    "Time to play the waiting game¡­"

 Chapter 287

    "The entrance ceremony is beginning soon, all new summoners please assemble at the auditorium. Please remember to sit on the arranged chairs."

    A large bird that looked like a cross between a pelican and a parrot gilded above the academy while doing an announcement. All the tests were now over and from the two hundreds of participants only about thirty made it into the prestige class.

    This entrance ceremony was mostly there for these students. They would have their names and noble ranks announced to all the other students that didn''t make it in. The ones wearing the black uniforms would have to take note of this as they would more or less be their subordinates in the future.

    ''I think we should hurry up, you are the girl of the hour Beatrice.''

    At this moment a frantic Beatrice in a brand new white uniform was running towards this entrance ceremony. Due to the way the whole test debacle transpired the girl couldn''t get much sleep.

    The uniform that Beatrice was wearing looked strangely familiar to a regular school uniform. It was mostly white with a blouse, blazer, tie, a skirt, and white socks. The whole getup looked more modern and that it would fit into another setting entirely. This only made Zhang Dong attribute this to being another game or fantasy-like world that took inspiration from other works of fiction.

    ''They can''t start without the ''star'' student, now can they?''

    Zhang Dong laughed while Beatrice groaned even more. A large shiny badge adorned her new uniform which signaled a certain rank. Each black-uniformed student that came across her stopped to take a double-take before dropping their head. It was clear that Beatrice had gained a special position by being first on the test.

    He could almost feel the cold sweat that Beatrice was giving out the moment he mentioned her new rank. It was obvious that the girl was quite nervous about her new status. This was mostly his doing as he petitioned the Principal for more resources.

    The only official way of doing such a thing was to give his summoner a special position in the school. This academy had some unique rankings for students that proved themselves to be exceptional. Thus Beatrice was given this position which made her soar above the rest, even above the high nobles and one of the members of royalty.

    This was quite the big thing and also something that very rarely happened. Normally a person that was only a baron household would need generations to rise up in the ranks. Even then it was hard to get past the Count''s noble rank.

    But when a person with enough natural talent and strength appeared then it was slightly different. If the other high nobles weren''t able to exert their status or power over such a person, the only way would be to have them join their ranks instead. Thus Beatrice was given a high position because Leigong the Lightning Emperor deemed it to be.

    "If it isn''t the new star of our academy!"

    ''Ugh¡­ it''s that guy again¡­ can''t you just ditch him? I don''t like that look in his eyes¡­''

    Zhang Dong complained as after arriving at their destination they were greeted by a certain green-haired youth. It was this country''s prince that went by the name of Ludwig. For some reason, he had been poking his head into their business after Beatrice had come out on top.

    The youth was behaving strangely from Zhang Dong''s perspective. He was supposed to be the top dog in this academy and even had the highest status around by being part of the royal family. After getting crushed by Beatrice''s results he expected Ludwig to show some animosity but instead, he was showing interest in her.

    "Ahh¡­ G-good day your Highness!"

    Beatrice panicked slightly and quickly performed the usual greeting that a noble lady would give to a prince. The grass haired prince just chuckled while waving his hands.

    "You don''t need to do that, you outrank me in this academy now, you are the star student and not me."

    This was something that came as a perk. Inside the academy, there was a different pecking order that could be enhanced by a student''s grades. Depending on how well they did they could even start ordering high nobles around even when being of lesser descent.

    Even if this was allowed by the academy no one would really go through with it. The lower-ranked students were still trapped in the thing called the status quo which was mostly decided at birth. Breaking off from old habits wouldn''t come easy.

    "I wouldn''t dare, your highness is still a prince."

    Beatrice started wiggling around rather frantically which made Ludwig smile even more.

    "Prince, we shouldn''t bother Lady Hohenberg, she has to prepare for her speech."

    Another attractive looking male stepped forward. This youth was a bit taller than the prince and had a more robust build, his hair was quite reddish-orange which somewhat reminded him of his old friend Huo Qiang. His name was Lucas and he was this prince''s personal bodyguard and a knight. Even though he was a knight he was also part of an influential family that outranked Beatrice in every way.

    ''What''s with those hair colors¡­''

    Zhang Dong was a bit suspicious about what this world was. At first, he thought that every person was similar to this carrot and moss head but after further investigation, this wasn''t true. Most people had regular black hair and quite the average looks. Some others like these two had the more unique appearances, it was as if they were important characters in a story that were made to stand out. It looked like the rest of the people in the world were nothing more than filler that were just there to make these people shine.

    ''This might really be one of those otome games that I''ve heard about in my old life, never really played them much but could Beatrice here be the main heroine? Wouldn''t that make that other girl the villainess?''

    Almost on cue he and Beatrice could feel some killing intent coming their way. With a quick glance, they could see lady Isabella Hohenberg glaring at them from afar. She was mostly hiding behind a wide pillar with part of her head sticking out. She didn''t do much to hide her presence so it was hard not to notice her glare.

    "Is that so? Lucas might be right Lady Beatrice, I''ll be looking forward to your speech."

    The prince just smiled while leaving Beatrice alone for the time being. With the two stooges gone the girl that was hiding behind a pillar decided to show herself. She wasn''t alone though as there were two other girls right behind her that were also part of the special students.

    "What is that pungent smell?"

    "You''re right Lady Anne, it''s the smell of unsophistication."

    The two girls that were behind Isabella spoke out while laughing. It was clear that they were here to cause trouble and were here to cause trouble. Beatrice frowned at the group of three girls as she knew what they were doing.

    "What''s with that glare, a Baron''s daughter dares look at us like this!"

    This was also part of this world, someone of lower status was supposed to not look directly at someone of higher status. Their head should be down and only moved up when the person of higher status allowed it, very similar to the cultivation world that he was from.

    Beatrice on the other hand didn''t seem to be having any of it. She had clearly glared at one of the girls that were from a count''s house which normally would cause some problems. The only thing saving her was the fact that she was a star student who had a special rank here. While in school she wouldn''t need to bow her head before anyone besides maybe the instructors and the Principals.

    "Why wouldn''t I dare! I am the star student, you should show your respect to me instead!"

    Zhang Dong could feel Beatrice''s rage hitting a new high inside. It seemed that this mostly good-natured girl was finally reaching her boiling point. Even more when standing up against her biggest enemy, Isabella from the main house.

    He could see the two noble ladies that were laughing at her being taken aback by the reaction. It was true that her special rank overwrote the previous placements but most of the people in this academy would still stick to the old roles.

    "Don''t get ahead of yourself, you might be the star student now but how long will you hold on to it?"

    This was another thing about gaining the special rank. The student holding on to it would have to be on top of his or her class constantly. If someone else came out on top then the rank would go to them. This was also why not many people took it that seriously as most of the time this rank was passed around between the top 5 students. It was difficult for someone to hold onto it for more than a few months before the next big test or trial.

    While Beatrice was angrily staring at the two noble ladies the main villain was just holding a fan in front of her face. Zhang Dong was only reminded of his own wife who liked to carry around similar fans to cover her face. He could kind of tell by Isabella''s eyes that she was having a fun time and probably laughing while her two cronies fought with Beatrice.

    ''That little vixen probably doesn''t want to get her hands dirty. It would seem out of place if someone from a duke household was seen fighting with a baron''s daughter.''

    The insults continued to fall from both sides and it didn''t seem like it was stopping. Zhang Dong kind of knew what this was all about, the time for Beatrice''s speech was coming out, and if this continued she would be late.

    His lovely summoner seemed to have forgotten all about it while getting in a shouting match with these young girls. Normally he wouldn''t care for something like this, he would even think it was fun to watch a little catfight. The problem was that time was of the essence, he was promised more books and more information about potential cube locations. Beatrice also needed to further increase her mana capabilities, without those he wouldn''t be able to fully protect her.

    ''Beatrice, you''ll be late just ignore them and walk away.''

    The girl was brought back to reality the moment he mentioned that. She gave the two girls one last glare before walking towards the auditorium. The two ladies of course blocked her way which caused Zhang Dong to groan inwardly.

    ''Were these young master types always this annoying?''

    Before the two could speak another word a burst of golden energy shot forward. It emanated from Beatrice''s whole body and caused the two girls to fall on their butts. The only person that managed to take this slight energy shove was Isabella.

    "Who dares block this Lightning Emperor''s path!"

    Soon the girls were treated to a rather cute looking version of Zhang Dong that he previously showed off in front of the Principal. The girls were rather stunned at his appearance, he was already able to get to this world on his own even without his summoner''s mana flow. The only downside was that with this forceful summoning he couldn''t exert much of his power. For that, he needed an official summoning from his contract. It had something to do with the laws of this world that even he couldn''t break.

    "T-this spirit¡­ is it that n.a.k.e.d man we saw the previous day?"

    "W-why is it so small now?"

    Zhang Dong frowned a bit as due to the nature of this form he wasn''t very scary looking. Most of the people wouldn''t really take him seriously but he had to show up to move things along.

    "The next time you block my way, your lives will be forfeit! Now let us depart Beatrice, you have a speech to present!"

    The girls looked at the small cute spirit while Beatrice walked away, none of them were sure how to react. Everyone saw how overbearing this spirit could be.

    "Lady Isabella¡­ should we follow after her?"

    The lady named Anna asked while glancing at the duke''s daughter but the only thing that Isabella muttered in response was.

    "C-cute¡­"

    "Lady Isabella?"

    "Huh? Oh no, leave her alone¡­ we should get to the auditorium with haste."

    The girls scrambled to their feet while Isabella went ahead, the two not sure why she ordered them to stand down as this was her idea in the first place. Soon every student was present and the long boring ceremony started.

 Chapter 288

    ''Huh, is it over?''

    Zhang Dong called out with a sleepy voice while Beatrice was going down from the stage. The speech that she performed was rather long-winded and took quite some time. He as well as some other students had dozed off during it. He could even see good old moss head and carrot top barely keeping their eyes open.

    ''Mr. Leigong¡­ that''s mean¡­''

    Beatrice started pouting while carrying a stack of papers. She had spent quite some time preparing this speech that she was very proud of. From Zhang Dong''s perspective, it was a bit too much. He was also someone that performed some declarations or lectures. Thus he always made sure to make it swift and not divert too much from the main theme. His contractor on the other hand recounted most of the academy''s history while also thanking all the instructors she had studied with.

    ''I told you that you made it too long¡­ hope no one will hold a grudge....''

    ''Why you!''

    He laughed while safe in his soul dimension. It looked like the girl was slowly opening up her heart to him and treating him more as a friend than a great spirit. Being seen as an equal and not as some otherworldly being of power was something he was aiming for. After many years of that in his sect, he was a bit tired of being placed on a pedestal.

    ''Now go take your new key and let us depart towards the library, we will be studying a lot!''

    One of the perks of being a white uniform was getting a new dorm room. It would be more of a full apartment that she would have to herself. Her old roommate took the news rather well as she now could experiment more without worrying about any poison fumes getting to Beatrice.

    The time started to pass, Zhang Dong was sure to use the library pass to get through each book that this place had to offer. There weren''t that many books and scriptures if you compared it to his own sect but for a world much smaller than his this was quite a lot.

    His own family was constantly on his mind but he couldn''t do much about it due to his poor state. His power was limited as he couldn''t even map out the area he was in.

    In his regular body, he was able to scan everything for multiple kilometers in all directions but now he could barely squeeze out 200 meters. His system just wasn''t working correctly with the limitations that were put on him here.

    This left him wandering around the whole academy with Beatrice as his guide. The Principal didn''t get back to him with those special locations so this was the only thing that he could do. One of those dimensional cubes could be in this very academy or even under it.

    The problem was that he couldn''t see any empty black spots on his map. Like before the zones where these cubes were at showed up as those black spots. After going through all the places in this academy he didn''t turn up with anything.

    "I think that was all of them Mr. Leigong¡­"

    Beatrice called out to him while looking at a large statue of a long-dead hero. Spots like these were visited by him throughout the entire school area. The only places left were outside this well-guarded academy. For that, he would need the permission of the one in charge and that would probably only come after he returned the favor first.

    "Mm, let us go back to your class for now."

    There was not much else to do here. Zhang Dong felt dejected as he just wanted to return home. He couldn''t just leave Beatrice though, the girl was far too weak for her current predicament. The other students weren''t looking favorably at her and he had an idea why.

    Isabella Hohenberg, she was probably the villain in this story. Her looks also fit with those long drill-like locks that she possessed. She was the typical lady villain that people could read in various stories or games. She continuously ran into Beatrice and him while they were trying to search for some clues or read books.

    Sometimes it would be some other students that picked fights with Beatrice. His cute summoner didn''t know it but he had marked this drill blond the last time they encountered her. Zhang Dong knew that she was always sneaking glances from afar while using some kind of hiding spell. It wasn''t hard to spot for someone of his caliber but regular students would find it hard to notice anything.

    The ''bullying'' was quite standard, this whole academy was built like one big high school. The classes were larger with fewer students but the whole feeling was the same. In the cafeteria, they would try to put some diet pills in her food. While there were swimming lessons someone would try to steal her clothes or put tacks in her shoes.

    It was all very childish and made him feel bad for the girl that he was contracted with. Luckily for her, she had him around to spot things like this. Though even he started to get annoyed by how these teenagers were behaving. If this continued he would need to punish them in some way. The reason why he didn''t do anything yet was that Beatrice asked him not to. She was far too afraid of the higher nobles acting up if something bad happened to their children.

    ''Glasses guy is giving today''s lecture but I''ve already gone through the whole library so this will be quite boring¡­''

    The instructor that was giving the lecture was also quite characteristic. His hair was blue and he was quite the handsome young man. He was an elf of an unknown age but his beauty made all the girls in here blush.

    ''Together with carrot top, moss head, and glasses guy that would make it three capture targets¡­ there might be another hidden one¡­ maybe an exchange student will also arrive later¡­''

    He was thinking in terms of an otome game now. These people looked quite flashy and were all gathered in one classroom. This all fit in a setting of a lesser noble like Beatrice being stuck with snotty higher nobles.

    In games like those the player that was playing someone of lower status would try to befriend the capture targets. Things like events would pop out here and there, then depending on the player''s choice one of the capture targets could come to like her more. In reverse, they could become more antagonistic if they went with the wrong route.

    Isabella fit in as the person that was getting in the way of Beatrice''s progress with the capture targets. She was the fiance of the prince which kind of made some of her reactions justified. No girl would like to see their future husband go after other ladies.

    This made Zhang Dong look at the prince with less favor. He was already taken but he was still l.u.s.ting for other women than his own fiance. Isabella was quite the looker but she didn''t seem to be good at talking to this prince of hers.

    From what he had seen she remained stoic and reserved while Beatrice on the other hand was more animated. She found it hard to talk to this young pretty boy and the prince looked quite happy at the awkward reactions that she gave him.

    ''That prince guy is no good¡­ he is too much of a ladies'' man not sure if he is playing dumb or is doing this on purpose¡­ reminds me of ol'' gramps¡­ at least he hasn''t gone over the line yet¡­''

    He was prepared to give the youth a good thrashing if he attempted anything funny. The only problem was that if he did that then Beatrice would have the whole kingdom after her. It would be fine in his eyes to leave this place but he didn''t really want to destroy the life of this young girl.

    "So then if the relationship with your spirits increases you will be able to perform spirit fusion¡­"

    The lecture continued, this teacher was also a summoner. Most of the lessons that had been going on now were all theories but later there would be some practical classes where he would also need to participate.

    ''Fusion huh?''

    Zhang Dong already knew the theory behind this but wasn''t sure about trying something like this out with Beatrice. This technique was a strong one but it put a lot of strain on the summoner. It would increase his power by quite a lot, the problem was the backlash to Beatrice''s own soul.

    The summoner needed to be at a similar level as their summon. If they weren''t then the magic-user could be injured as they would need to contain the force given to them. He was already someone far ahead of anyone here, even the so-called Principal that was the top mage here couldn''t reach his toes.

    ''I should probably spend some points to see if I could better this technique¡­ maybe with a better grade the strain on little Beatrice''s soul will be lowered.''

    "Beatrice Hohenberg please report to the Principal''s office after the classes are finished."

    He perked up at this notification that everyone in the room heard. This class consisted of about fifteen people all of them of high birth and status. Most of them looked with scorn at the blond daughter of the Baron. No one was willing to believe that an upstart like this was taking away their own glory.

    ''Good¡­ think we can move things along now¡­''

    Zhang Dong cheered as it was finally time to do some work. He had made an official contract with the Principal of this school. After helping them with finding all the stray demons in this school he would be allowed to leave and check out the world. They would provide him with a flying ship and some protection.

    The only problem in this plan was Beatrice that was feeling skittish. This was quite the normal reaction as they would be traveling all over the kingdom. Luckily he had managed to somehow convince her, her mana was improving day by day.

    "Hey Bob, go look into that fusion technique will you?"

    "Affirmative."

    His system had started to evolve as well, this AI program that he was now stuck with could actually perform some simple tasks for him. He could just tell him to combine skills to improve some techniques and it would carry out the order to his specification. He was still unsure what this program was but he was stuck with it for now. If it would still be there after he got his regular body back was still left to be seen.

    ''Let us go, Beatrice!''

    After the lecture had ended a little ball of light appeared in the classroom. The students here had been surprised the first time they saw him but now he had been accepted as Beatrice''s unique summon.

    "Make way you fools, the Lightning Emperor is coming through!"

    He shouted out which made all the snotty students cringe. While they were being rude to Beatrice he made sure to return the favor twice fold. Taking on an overbearing persona was something he was familiar with. Since his little arena bout, he was seen as a powerful summon that shouldn''t be messed with.

    "Please Mr. Leigong don''t make a scene¡­"

    Beatrice just blushed while quickly leaving the room. He on the other hand made it sure to glare at each and every person in the room. Though due to his cute appearance it could have been seen in another way.

    "You''re no fun Beatrice¡­ fine let us get some demons!"

 Chapter 289

    A glowing tiny version of Zhang Dong was floating beside Beatrice as they walked through a long corridor. Next to them was the Principal and the Vice Principal that looked like your regular white-bearded wizard.

    "So you have everything prepared?"

    "Yes, honorable Leigong."

    "No one besides you two and a couple more know what this is really about?"

    "That is right, everyone that we trust have already been seen by you."

    Zhang Dong nodded while looking forward. A few moments ago at the Principal''s office, there were more people present. All of them were examined by him and deemed safe to work with. Now they were on the way to a secluded location where the screening process for the demons would be taking place.

    "Fine, just remember that Beatrice is not to be seen."

    He looked to the side, his summoner was walking right next to him and going towards a dangerous location. There was no way of knowing how strong the demons here were. The catgirl that he discovered was a minor one that was apprehended by the Vice-Principal. If they others would be that easy to catch remained to be seen.

    The most trusted people that the Principal brought over were just part of the staff and not very strong in general. The biggest threat to the students would come from the other four Vice-Principals. They were already posing as strong people of the races, if they were more powerful in reality defeating them would be hard.

    "Don''t worry, we would never let any harm come to one of our students."

    "Oh really?"

    Zhang Dong thought back to the countless times he saw students bullying other students in this magical academy. Was this dark elf just oblivious to things like this or did she just not care. This also made him think about his own sect and clan.

    He was the leader there and quite similar to this dark-skinned lady. Were some of the disciples getting oppressed by the more influential sect members? What could a new member from a lesser clan do against someone from the main Zhang Clan line if they chose to terrorize them? Would any word of this reach his ears? Probably not, he thought.

    "Is there a problem, honorable Leigong?"

    "No¡­ it''s fine, but you should probably do something about the power dynamics in this school."

    Zhang Dong mentioned to the surprise of the Principal that he still didn''t know the name off. They had finally reached their destination and were greeted by the people he examined before.

    This was quite the varied bunch of individuals. There was a bearded dwarf, a smaller gnome, and even some half orc that was almost three meters in height. All of them were trusted retainers of this Principal and also instructors in this academy.

    "Is everything ready?"

    "Indeed."

    The dwarf answered while leading everyone to a side room. It gave him some law and order vibes, with him and Beatrice being on the other side of the mirror. The room was dimly lit with a large glass window. Through this window, they could look into the chamber beyond it. Inside of it would be the place where the instructors would gather.

    These teachers would then be examined by Zhang Dong. If deemed clean they would just continue on with their day, if not they would be apprehended and questioned for details related to demon activities.

    Beatrice looked around while the Principal moved over to the glass window. It had the function of two-way glass. The person on the inside would not be able to see what was inside this room while they had a clear view inside.

    "Well, this might take a while Beatrice so you might want to keep yourself busy."

    The blond girl nodded while Zhang Dong floated away. There was a chair and some books for her to keep her busy but she decided to do something else. He had taught her some breathing exercises that would push her mana capacity forward. They would also boost her body functions as if she was cultivating a lesser body refining technique.

    "Interesting¡­"

    The Vice-Principal played around with his beard while looking at this blond girl. She sat down in a lotus position and started performing a strange exercise. He could see mana entering her body through passages that he didn''t think were possible.

    "Interested?"

    The old man snapped back into reality after a small Zhang Dong floated over to him. The old man was a bit sheepish around him after he had placed a mark on his soul. Thus he thought the Lightning Emperor was angry with him after he looked at his contractor performing a secret art.

    "Relax, I''m not going to do anything to you. We are allies now, if you help me find what I am looking for I could even part with some secret knowledge that just a spirit of my caliber is capable of!"

    There was no way of knowing how long this would take. If he promised more rewards these people might prioritize helping him find the cubes.

    Finally, the wait stopped and people started entering the room. This whole thing would take quite a bit of time. The magic academy wasn''t as big as a sect from his world but there were still many people here. They were going through every instructor today and being safe by forcing them inside a closed-off room.

    "Hm¡­ she is clean¡­"

    The person inside the room looked a bit surprised after walking in and even more, after she was told to leave after a few moments.

    "What did you tell them this was?"

    Zhang Dong asked while the old lady that was a teacher left the chamber through a different door that she came from.

    "That it''s just a standard examination. We sometimes have instructors make a report of their yearly work."

    He nodded and got back to work. The teachers and instructors were ordered to sit by a desk that was close to this mirror. Zhang Dong''s scanning range had been diminished by quite a bit but this was enough for him to notice any third eyes that were being hidden. Even the blue-haired handsome teacher made his appearance but he had already seen him during the lectures so he was clean.

    After about an hour the first demon appeared. It took the appearance of an old man that was similar to the Vice-Principal.

    "Are you going to capture him here?"

    The Principal shook her head while telling this demon to move to another room. There were actually more than one exit from this room.

    "Follow me honorable spirit, I''ll be counting on you to dispel the creature''s disguise!"

    "Sure, wait here Beatrice."

    He was able to move away from his summoner without feeling any losses in power. For now, it was about three hundred meters but if Beatrice continued with her training then it would only increase.

    In the other room, the Vice-Principal was already waiting with two other mean-looking men. The old man that was the demon looked surprised but he wasn''t blowing his cover yet.

    Zhang Dong looked to the Principal that nodded at him. He performed the same technique that he previously used on the catgirl and the old man started losing hair and changing into a red-skinned goblin of a monster.

    The monster performed a similar scream of anger at the people inside but before it could charge at anyone a magical circle appeared on the floor. This circle started glowing in green color and caused the red demon to drop down to its knees. It was as if gravity was pulling him down and he wasn''t able to move.

    Then the two men that were standing together with the Vice-Principal moved in. They placed some kind of collar on this creature that had some strange runic patterns on it.

    "Is that?"

    "Yes, it''s a slave collar, with it on the demon will have to follow our instructions, the magic in the collar will compel it to act."

    Zhang Dong rubbed his chin as there were versions of this slave collar in his own world. This one seemed to force people to follow the instructions of someone with a special command item. It was mostly a ring or some necklace that the person wore.

    The magic item couldn''t brainwash the person that was wearing the collar. It would send painful shocks down anyone''s spine that wore it. It even worked on non-organic beings and could cause huge amounts of pain to anyone. It was possible to resist this collar but a slow death in agony awaited anyone who did that. The collar would also activate whenever a person lied or harbored bad intentions directed at their master.

    "Place it in the dungeon!"

    The elven lady called out while the creature was dragged out. This made it the second demon that had infiltrated the academy which didn''t bode well for any other institution. This was one of the most prestigious places in the world. A place to train noble magic users, if demons got in here then they certainly would be able to infiltrate lesser guarded organizations.

    "I used to play chess with that man¡­"

    The Vice-Principal called out from the side with concern on his face.

    "Let us continue¡­ the sooner we get all of those demons, the better!"

    "As long as you hold your side of the bargain, I''m all for it."

    Zhang Dong chimed in from the side while the three went back to the room with the two way glass. He wasn''t given much just yet but he was promised a flying ship to visit other regions that could hold the item that he was looking for. The Principal didn''t give him any other good news as she was not able to come up with any cubes.

    This was something that he was expecting as regular people wouldn''t really be able to distinguish them from other artifacts. These strange items could be anywhere and they also varied in size. One could be inside some volcano, while another down at the bottom of the sea. The fastest way for him to find them would be to get himself back up to the nascent soul level. Then to just use his map around this globe but this would take some time.

    So the scanning process continued. The vast majority of the instructors and teachers came out clean but like the old man before there were some shapeshifters hiding around. The monsters were probably taking over the lives of these people before using the grand teleportation magic to get here.

    Their technique was quite good as they could even mimic a person''s soul and DNA to an almost perfect degree. The only reason Zhang Dong was able to see through this disguise was due to his own technique that allowed him to fool even nascent soul masters.

    "Hm¡­ you''re not going to like this, but that one is also a demon¡­ and I think it''s a lot stronger than the rest¡­"

    What he was looking at now was one of the Vice-Principals. The demon was masking itself as someone at the lower end of core formation but in reality, it was a lot stronger. By how much he wasn''t sure as he was still limited with his senses.

    "Well, if it''s too hard to handle I''ll be glad to lend a hand¡­ for a little price of course¡­"

    "Price?"

    The Principal asked.

    "Yes, how about instead of lending me a flying ship¡­ you just give me it. Also some elixirs for Beatrice there would be nice¡­"

    He smiled while the dark elf''s eyebrows twitched in annoyance.

    "I''ll think about it, great spirit¡­"

    "Well good luck then!"

    A big thumbs up was raised by this small Zhang Dong while the two magicians pulled out their magic staves and got ready for the coming battle.

 Chapter 290 - Chapters 290

    "Watch out!"

    "Keep it contained, increase the magic output!"

    "W-we can''t hold it, it''s going to escape¡­ We need to evacuate the academy!"

    "All of you feeble flesh bags will perish within my flames!"

    "Heh, this one is a big boy¡­"

    Zhang Dong commented from the side as he was looking at a five-meter-tall horned demon. It had the classical look of a muscle-bound giant with sharp claws for hands. The legs were hooved and it also had the usual red pointy devil tail. It was covered in an aura of demonic flames that was making everyone here sweat.

    For the past few hours, they had been going through the testing process. Most of the instructors and teachers came out clean with the occasional red goblin-looking demon hiding behind their skin. Without knowing what this was in reality the demons all followed the instructions and were captured in that magic circle.

    It had some kind of demon binding magic infused in itself which was quite interesting. Zhang Dong made sure to add any spells and magical techniques to his own library. He already discovered that these skills could be used by cultivators, he only needed a better way to convert the energies that were involved in these magic arts.

    It was going quite well with five goblin-looking demons being apprehended. This was until it was time for the Vice-Principals to participate. There were four others like the gray-bearded Elobarin. They were all at the lower levels of the core formation if he compared them to cultivators.

    It started out well, the first one looked like a three-meter-tall man made of marble. It was some kind of special rocky race of this world. It was quite fascinating as this being was more akin to a body refiner than a magic-user. Following him, there was an old lady that had a nice large witch hat and a broom. She came floating in while sitting on it and complained quite a bit.

    The last one was a gnome with a long white beard as well, it was clear that the mighty in this world had a certain amount of age to them. The elf Principal that he didn''t hear the name off yet was actually the oldest person here. It looked like these guys were clean but that was until the last person showed up.

    The man was similar to the Principal in the way that he was an elf, but a pale-skinned one. He had long golden hair that went down to his waist and a face that would make all the ladies squeal in joy. He looked like your perfect pretty boy but in reality, he was a form-changing demon.

    They managed to get him to leave the room with the magic trap but then the problems started. He was a powerful being by this world''s standards so he realized what this room was. Before the trap could be fully activated he revealed his true form by shedding his skin. It looked quite grotesque to see him expand in size while the fleshy skin he was wearing burst forth.

    "How did an Archdemon hide itself in this school!"

    The witch-looking Vice-Principal called out while throwing some hexes at the red beast. The other high level magicians were informed about what this investigation was about. Now all the four Vice Principals as well as their Leader were facing off against this red monster.

    The problem was that this one was an actual demon lord. It was one of the powerful named monsters that was at the great circle of core formation. This posed a problem as all of the magicians that were gathered here were weaker with the dark elf lagging behind this beast.

    "You will all perish here! The day of reckoning is coming and I The Lord of Pain Doth''tollen, will pave the path!"

    It didn''t look well for the people of the races gathered here. Zhang Dong used his small body to pass through the walls and back into the room that Beatrice was in. His body wasn''t made of flesh and bone but of mana particles. He was more like a spirit than a real person in this world.

    "Honorable Leigong, we need to help them!"

    "How noble of you but you should think about yourself first, leave it to the a.d.u.l.ts to handle this."

    He wasn''t sure of the capabilities of the people of this world so the decision was made to let them handle this monster. The person that he needed to protect was Beatrice and not those four a.d.u.l.ts. His little cute summoner had leveled up a bit since his fight in the arena but she wouldn''t be able to give him enough magic juice to battle this monster. At most he could perform a similar attack like last time before draining Beatrice of most of her mana.

    "B-But¡­"

    "No buts! We need to leave, remember our conversation. Your Principal told you to evacuate if any of the monsters get loose and that is what we are going to do!"

    Zhang Dong blocked off the path and pointed to the door on the other side. He wasn''t sure how that group of magicians would do but they had reinforcements coming. The alarms in the magical academy were going off everywhere after the demon threat was identified to be one of the demon lord class beings.

    "Now let us go!"

    He pulled on her hand while using some strength and forced Beatrice to go towards the exit. It was remarkable that she wanted to help out but this was out of her capabilities. On the outside, they needed to get through some stairs and winding corridors to finally arrive outside. On the way, they bumped into some other security personnel that was running towards the room that the demon was being held in.

    On the outside, Zhang Dong noticed that people were slowly panicking. The young students were running like headless chickens without knowing what to do. It was obvious that no one really thought that something like an Archdemon could infiltrate this well-guarded location.

    If he didn''t come along to take off its hideous mask it would have probably been far too late to do anything. Now on the other hand the people here had a fighting chance. The strongest mages were already trying to contain the monster while more reinforcements were coming.

    *Everyone is to evacuate to the magic shelters as practiced, this is not a practice drill, please follow your teacher''s instructions.*

    A loud announcement was going off on repeat while people were evacuating. Some of the people who heard it were quick to change directions and move towards those shelters.

    ''Do you know where those are?''

    ''Yes.''

    Beatrice nodded and started jogging towards this shelter but before they could get anywhere close to it the ground started to rumble.

    "Lower beings, accept your destruction."

    Both of them heard an imposing voice from the area that they left. Soon the whole place started shaking and Zhang Dong could somewhat feel that something was coming.

    "Quickly, get to cover!"

    He was still in his small form so he pushed Beatrice to the side with a lot of force. This was just in time as the earth below her started to part.

    "I''ll bathe in your decaying flesh!"

    The demon soon appeared from a large fissure in the ground and it looked a bit different than before. The number of legs had increased while the goat-like lower body was fully abandoned. This part now looked like some kind of fat worm with hooved legs. Its clawed hands were now elongated into sickles that looked black and razor-sharp. Its head was grotesque with a huge toothy mouth and three horns on each side of its large head.

    ''Think Mr. Ugly is angry¡­ where are that Principal and her lackeys? Are they all dead?''

    Zhang Dong thought while helping Beatrice to her feet. This didn''t bode well for this entire school and the students living here.

    ''Did I make a mistake and activate the final boss¡­''

    He had thought that picking out the demons from the masses would hasten his progress. It seemed that his shortcut had a price, one that could cost other people their lives. If he was fully powered this monster wouldn''t be anything special, he could crush it with his pinky. Now on the other hand he would at most be able to injure it if he got a clear shot.

    "Lady Beatrice, get behind me!"

    His pessimistic outlook on the situation was brought to an end after the ''cavalry'' arrived. It was the resident moss head prince and his carrot top knight. They had some other students and teachers with them along with their summoned creatures that seemed ready for battle.

    ''This is a bad idea¡­''

    Zhang Dong knew that these children wouldn''t be able to do anything about this monster. At most they could stall it till someone stronger appeared. Normally there were some sort of safety measures in place. This place was filled with noble sons and daughters, their parents should have been strong individuals. With time they would probably arrive to save the day but if there would be anyone left around to save was the big question.

    Before the monster could charge at them something large delivered a blow to its side. It looked to be some kind of large stone creature similar to what a golem would look like.

    "It''s Vice-Principal Varadath! We are saved!"

    It was apparently the marble-looking man that he saw previously. He had changed size to match the monster and the two were now pounding away at each other. Soon some of the other Vice-Principals along with the Principal decided to show themselves. Every one of them was somewhat injured with the Witch lady being in the worst state. She was being carried by Elobarin that looked quite pale.

    "Prince Ludwig, what are you doing here. Instructors bring the children to the shelter and leave this to us!"

    "I can''t do that Principal, not when fair maidens are put in danger!"

    Zhang Dong rolled his eyes and wanted to puke after hearing those words leave this young man''s lips. He was dressed up in some kind of emerald green armor and the orange head next to him in a red ruby one. They looked like two shiny gems that would go for quite the amount in an auction.

    The Prince was holding a heavy rapier that had also some emeralds on it. He could feel that this weapon was earth grade and actually would be able to wound this red monster if used correctly. That is if it actually had a competent user, this youth wasn''t even around the foundation establishment level.

    "It doesn''t matter how many weaklings you bring, you will all know pain!"

    The monster gave out a strange wail that caused most of the people to back away. This attack carried some demonic energies with it and Zhang Dong noticed why. Soon every student and teacher that had yet to be apprehended started turning into three-eyed monsters. It was clear that this demon was calling for reinforcements, the battle was only beginning.

 Chapter 291

    This was a large magical academy with thousands of students and teachers. The people that they examined today were only a small fraction. There was a focus on the teachers this day but the bulk of people was composed by the students. It would have taken them a week or two to go over everyone here but the Archdemon threw a wrench into their plans.

    With a loud howl from its toothy mouth the students and teachers that weren''t tested started to change. Every person that was a demon in disguise shed it and started attacking the closest person to them. The monsters were outnumbered but they were much stronger than the youths. These were noble children that were brought up being sheltered by their parents and knights, fighting in true battles wasn''t something that they were prepared for.

    "Protect the students!"

    "The students in the shelters are turning into monsters and attacking!"

    "Activate the teleportation circle, call for the Falconian Knight order!"

    Many shouts filled the area as the young students panicked. Some of them fought with the use of their magic while others just ran away in fear. Most of these young lords and ladies failed to stand up to the occasion and just hid away in hopes that others would take care of the demon situation.

    At this very moment, the Archdemon was grasping the hands of the stone golem looking Vice-Principal. The red creature had grown another set of arms just for this occasion. It was now holding its opponent in check with those added appendages and pounding away with its pointy sickle hands.

    Soon the rocky golem crumbled into dust and the person inside dropped down to the ground. He was in the middle of the chest cavity performing a spell so he wasn''t directly harmed. After the creature caused irreparable damage to his stone form he was now out of energy, still alive but with no power to activate any other spells.

    Luckily for him, there were some other magicians out here fighting as well. While the monster was trying to seal the deal long range spells started raining against its back. It turned around while the magical energy bathed its red skin, it was as if it didn''t even care that it was getting hit.

    "You insignificant worms, such trifling magics won''t work on the Lord of Pain!"

    It laughed and then opened up its large mouth. Zhang Dong had seen this type of attack and quickly signaled everyone to get down. Regretfully he didn''t have much pull here and the wizards continued to fire off their spells.

    What the monster was doing was a massive beam attack. The energy condensed into a dark gray sphere close to its mouth before being fired off. The beam wasn''t uniform in size or direction as it burst forth into many smaller beams. The destruction that followed was massive as it melted into the buildings and magic shields that were in its way.

    A massive explosion followed suit along with the screams of people that were in the range of the beam and without any protection. The largest of these beams was aimed at the spot where the Principal and others were standing. Regretfully this was also the area where Zhang Dong and Beatrice was at.

    "Idiots¡­"

    The dust started to settle revealing a golden glow behind it. Zhang Dong had been forced to use up quite a bit of Beatrice''s mana reserves to produce a big enough shield to protect the people around him. Due to the injuries that those higher level magicians had suffered beforehand, they were slow to react to protect the students around them.

    "Thank you, great spirit."

    The dark elf Principal called out while getting off the ground. She was already drinking some colorful potions and her wounds were being healed. The same thing was happening to the other wounded magicians around here.

    "Retreat for now, leave this to the a.d.u.l.ts, Prince Ludwig I will leave them in your care!"

    The Principal shouted as the three turned to face the monster. They were quick to bring the fight to the Archdemon, mostly doing it to stall for time.

    "L-let us listen to the Principal."

    Beatrice said while wobbling back while also drinking a mana potion. The prince finally nodded and agreed. Zhang Dong wasn''t sure if he realized that the enemy was too strong or if he just took the chance to act as a gallant knight to protect the lady he was interested in.

    The group here consisted of moss head, carrot top, and a few other students of various genders. Isabella didn''t seem to be around and neither were any of her ladies.

    "Leave everyone in my care, I will protect them! Lady Beatrice came with me!"

    Soon a white steed materialized as the Prince performed his summoning spell. The creature that he possessed was the type that mostly increased his speed and wind spells. It could also be used as a mount while not being able to do much damage itself.

    "I¡­"

    Beatrice looked at the horse and the outstretched hand. Zhang Dong could feel that the girl''s heart was racing. It was clear that she was thinking some things that she shouldn''t at this dire moment.

    ''Just get on the fairy horse¡­''

    She snapped back to reality and finally grasped Ludwig''s hand. She hopped onto the white steed with his help and they were off. The other students didn''t say anything but some of the young women had strange looks in their eyes.

    Soon everyone was retreating while the battle raged on behind them. From time to time a red skinned monster would try to attack them. There were even variations of smaller ones that were more in numbers than the people here anticipated.

    "It must be the demon thralls, some high level demons can summon weaker minions to aid them in battle."

    The carrot head knight said while pushing his sword through an imp looking monster''s head. Zhang Dong was made aware of this as he could feel a lot of strange demonic energies popping up all around them. The so-called Lord of Pain was apparently summoning more monsters to help him in battle. There also could have been specialized demonic shamans calling those monsters over here.

    For now, Zhang Dong decided to manage his powers. The students looked to be capable enough to take care of these lesser demons. Unless a tougher enemy showed itself he wouldn''t make a move.

    ''Can those guys defeat that ugly demon?''

    He thought back to the Principal and her aids. They were all in the core formation realm when it came to power but the monster outranked them all. He wasn''t sure if this magic academy had any precautions in place for demon attacks. It looked like it didn''t, it was hard to get in but it was also hard to leave.

    The people running this place might have been a bit too prideful. They were so sure that no strong Archdemon would be able to sneak inside that they were lax with the defenses. He could see some mechanical golems running around but they were all at the foundation establishment level of power.

    It didn''t seem like anything here was strong enough to handle this threat but he himself also didn''t have enough juice. If he could tap into his old core formation level of strength it would be enough, he just needed it to last for more than one attack.

    "Prince we are here¡­ but¡­"

    They arrived at one of the shelters but the door was busted open and the magic circles that were used for the mana shield were scratched up in various places. There were traces of battle and even some dead bodies of young students and red monsters.

    ''Damn¡­''

    Zhang Dong looked at some of the dead bodies with worry. He wished that he could help these youths but there was only so much he could do in this situation by himself. It was impossible for him to just set off on his own and get to all of these crimson monsters. There was also the problem of keeping his host Beatrice safe and he didn''t really trust this prince to do a well enough job.

    "How about we try the teleportation platform?"

    Carrot top gave some advice and the people nodded. Using the teleportation magic to flee would be a good idea but Zhang Dong had a suspicion that it wouldn''t be that easy. While the whole place continued to rumble they moved onto the next building. During their escape, they came across other students that joined them.

    Slowly the youngsters led by the green haired prince battled their way towards the teleportation circle. Zhang Dong was surprised how the others were to quickly fall in line, the moss head apparently had enough fame to make everyone submissive and follow his orders.

    When they arrived at the spot where the chamber to the teleportation circle was supposed to be they discovered a collapsed entrance. There were even imps running around and attacking some of the teachers that were trying to get inside.

    "Did the monsters get to it before the instructors could call for help from the Falconian knight order?"

    "Impossible!"

    The students looked at the scene with horror in their eyes. It looked like combat was the only option now.

    ''What should we do Mr. Leigong?''

    ''Probably better to stay in the group, there is strength in numbers.''

    "Okay everyone let us split up!"

    Ludwig proclaimed while waving his fancy heavy repair around. In the young man''s eyes, it was best to split up and search for survivors and other possibilities. Zhang Dong knew on the other hand that this would just let the smaller number of monsters attack one of these groups that was diminished in numbers.

    "You there grass hair, I don''t think that would be a smart idea."

    He decided to speak up, leaving things in these kid''s hands would only bring more harm to them. There was one way of them getting out of this alive and it would require all of these youths to work together.

    "G-gras hair?"

    The prince looked to the voice that spoke out and could see a somewhat smug-looking small humanoid spirit floating towards him.

    "This spirit of yours has quite the mouth, Lady Beatrice¡­"

    The knight with orange hair commented from the side while getting between him and Zhang Dong. The other students looked at this lightning spirit in disdain for calling their heroic prince in this way.

    "Silence!"

    A loud crackle of lightning brought the attention back to Zhang Dong. Even in his depleted form, he was the strongest person here. The Prince was close but still not in the foundation establishment realm of power. When he released some of that spiritual pressure the kids started buckling under it.

    "If you want to save your friends, you will do exactly as this Lightning Emperor orders! Now someone get some chalk, we need to draw a magic circle!"

    After going through the magical books in the library he had come across a peculiar spell circle, one that could aid him in temporarily regaining some of his lost power. If it would work depended heavily on the youths here.

    "With haste! We don''t have much time!"

    The thunder sounded off again before the students got in gear, it was time to perform some magic.

 Chapter 292

    "Are you sure we should be doing this, Prince Ludwig?"

    "Lady Beatrice''s summon was somewhat convincing¡­ if it doesn''t work out we could¡­"

    "Hey, Carrot top, Moss head, be quiet or I''ll zap you again!"

    Zhang Dong shouted out from the side while finishing up with his drawing. What he was producing was a combination of a magic circle and an array formation from his own world. He was aiming for something similar to a spirit gathering array that caught ambient Qi from the surroundings. The only difference was that this one was using mana instead.

    This circle would also be using all that mana to fuel the central person. It was very similar to the defensive and offensive formation that multiple cultivators used. The same ones that his clan used during the sacred ground that would boost their fighting prowess.

    "That should be it¡­ now as I said previously, gather at those locations."

    There were about thirty people here, they were all students. They looked at each other sheepishly but followed the instructions. Zhang Dong was acting in an overbearing way but had also promised that with this magic circle he would be able to help the teachers.

    *BOOM*

    A loud explosion sounded in the background followed by a magical tower collapsing. The self-proclaimed Lord of Pain was battling it out with the best magic users and knights that the academy had to offer. They were somewhat holding it back but for how long no one could tell. The monster was clearly stronger and without any reinforcements coming any time soon the outlook was bleak.

    "Don''t get distracted and sit down in the lotus position, follow my instructions and you will all be safe. This is what I, the Lightning Emperor promise all of you!"

    Zhang Dong tried to reassure the kids that had fear in their eyes. Luckily for him, people tended to believe spirits around here. Apparently, a spirit that would break a promise would be somehow punished by the laws binding this world. He wasn''t a spirit though so using a little white lie to get things done wasn''t above him.

    Using his small form he presented the sitting position that the youngsters should take and continued with the explanation.

    "Yes, now close your eyes and breathe in. The array formation will assist you in gathering the plentiful mana from the surroundings, just let it flow through you and into the formation! Yes, just like that!"

    He was glad that everyone here was somewhat competent in pulling mana out of the air. It was a school filled with magicians and taking in mana was something that they learned from a very young age.

    "Beatrice, are you ready?"

    "Yes!"

    The blond girl nodded while also sitting down in the center of this magical circle. All the other people were around her in circles. The outermost students were the weakest while the closer to the center the stronger a person was. Due to this, the prince and his knight were the closest to Beatrice as they did have the highest mana reserves from this group.

    A faint blue light filled the area and the giant magic circle that was composed of many geometrical shapes started to light up. Inside those shapes were peculiar-looking runes that started to glow brightly in a golden hue. Soon the outer circle was glowing brightly and the array was starting to activate.

    ''Now listen up Beatrice, you are just the conduit. Don''t try to absorb any of that mana or you will sustain damage. Let it flow through you and I will take care of it.''

    The girl nodded while trying to relax. Soon the two young men close to her were also concentrating on absorbing the mana and pushing it towards the person in the center. The moment the circuit was complete Beatrice felt a massive surge of energy rushing into her very soul.

    ''Yes, just like that, let the power flow through you and into me¡­''

    Zhang Dong was waiting for this moment. His small body started glowing in the usual golden glow that was far brighter than before. His form started to enlarge as he took on his full shape. Long white locks, a chiseled chin, and rippling pecs all behind his usual white robe were materialized.

    He gripped his fist strongly and let the lightning energy flow through him. The arcs of blue electricity started going around his whole body as he tried to gauge how much power he was able to output.

    ''... Great circle core formation at most¡­ this will have to do¡­''

    "Everyone, stay here. You will all be protected by my lightning, keep this formation going and I''ll take care of that demon."

    After nodding he materialized a protective barrier around the whole magical circle. Soon he was flying away towards the demonic being that caused it all on his mind, the Principal and her aides. He wasn''t sure if they would still be alive at this point, he could only hope that this would be enough power for him to get rid of that monster.

    ....

    "Was that all? The people of the races are unworthy to face the king if this is all they amount to."

    A grinning demon was looking at the defeated magicians that had faced off against it. For a moment they were able to hold him off but after running out of mana they were nothing but dead weight.

    The crimson creature was now looking at the dark elf that was all bloodied up. Her companions were to the side, some of them missing limbs after getting them cut off by the sickle arms. If they were still alive was unknown but even if they were, their faith had been sealed, no one would be walking out of here in one piece.

    "Are the demon lords always so chatty? Just finish it you bastard we will never surrender to demonic sc.u.m like you!"

    The Principal spit out some blood to the side while looking with avarice at the ugly monster. She knew that even if reinforcements arrived it wouldn''t change anything. It would take several duke level magicians to defeat this monster, maybe only the current king could face it off in a one-on-one battle.

    "Death by my hands is a blessing. I will reap your souls and present it to the king as a token of my devotion."

    The monster opened up its toothy mouth as wide as it could. A gray ball of demonic energy appeared in front of it and increased in size as the attack gained in power. With nothing more to do the elven woman closed her eyes. Thoughts of simple days in her youth filled her head and caused a single teardrop to form that combined with the blood on her face while it dripped down.

    "Oh no, you don''t!"

    Before the attack could go through a familiar voice was heard by her. Baffled by it she opened up her tired eyes to witness a man in a white robe kicking the large mouth of the red monster upwards. The sheer force behind this kick forced the beam attack to shoot up while also shattering some of those pointy yellow teeth in the process.

    "T-the spirit?"

    She called out in surprise as the massive demonic beam shot up into the air and split into many smaller beams. It looked like gray stars were raining down from the heavens. Soon those beams collided with the ground and caused many small explosions around their location. Luckily there was enough space between them to not cause any casualties.

    "He really didn''t pull any punches¡­"

    Zhang Dong had appeared before them, his aura filled the area and caused the monster to buckle backward in surprise.

    "Who dares?"

    "I dare. You damn overgrown caterpillar!"

    "A lowly astral realm being? I will eradicate your existence from this realm!"

    The monster released its aura causing the rubble to shake. Every person that was close by could fear an overwhelming aura of evil moving forth. The moment it collided with their senses they were paralyzed with fear, unable to move or even scream for help.

    "Don''t think you''re the only one that can do that."

    Zhang Dong''s eyes glowed in a golden color and his entire body shone. Several bursts of light started shooting out from his form. These rays enveloped the whole area and bathed everyone in its protective light.

    "W-warm¡­"

    The downed elf muttered while basking in the warm holy energies that Zhang Dong was giving off. There was a small healing property to this golden aura that was coming from the Lightning Emperor. Even though it wasn''t all that much it was enough for the Principal to get to her own two feet and go for a healing potion.

    "What is this disgusting energy¡­ it burns!"

    A wail of anger and pain could be heard from the red monster. The holy element was doing wonders against this monster''s skin that started to melt from just being near him. It wouldn''t be that easy, when the monster noticed his opponent''s aura it coated itself with its own to repel the holy element that was being used against it.

    "Lowly astral being, accept your demise!"

    The monster charged forward with its massive body and many legs destroying the ground below it. The sharp appendages that were once its arms had multiplied and were now slicing the air around while coated in some dark energy.

    "Accept this!"

    Zhang Dong didn''t just stand there and do nothing. He closed his hand into a fist and condensed a sword of light. This was one of his first techniques that he didn''t use in quite some time. With the added bonus of his holy dao the thunderlight sword looked like a spire of golden energy.

    A clash between light and dark commenced. The creature swung its many blade arms around while breaking the sound barrier. With only using one hand he started batting away those attacks with the help of his energy sword. Sparks flew and more dirt was kicked up as these two beings of power clashed with each other.

    "U-unbelievable¡­"

    The Principal muttered while slowly moving away from the battle zone. She had found the Vice Principal with the bushy white beard with a missing foot and was slowly dragging him away.

    While running away she had turned to the fight to see the spirit clashing with the monster. Leigong was far stronger here than he was during the arena match, she didn''t know where this boost of power came but this was the best moment to reorganize.

    The whole battle was now taking place in a different location than where the monster exposed itself. While slowly limping away the Principal came across one of the students shivering behind a large pillar. The characteristic drill hair made it obvious who this person was

    "Why are you still here, you should have evacuated a long time ago!"

    The blond lady looked to the bloodied dark elf with wide-opened eyes. After looking around for a moment she seemed to have made up her mind as she approached the two injured people.

    "L-let me help you."

    Normally the Principal would tell the child to just run, but she was far too tired and injured. Any help at this point would be appreciated.

    "You have my gratitude, we must escape towards the inner parts of the academy while the spirit is keeping the Archdemo¡­

    Before she could finish the sentence a beam of demonic energy flew right towards the three people that were evacuating. Yet before this attack could connect with them a friendly white-haired Lightning Emperor swooped in to save them.

    "You''re not very good at getting away are you¡­"

    The small group of three was enveloped by a warm golden shield together with the spirit inside. His eyes glowing and flickering with lightning energy. The battle was not over quite yet as the monster''s scream caused everything to shake and crumble.

    "Your end is nigh!"

    "This might be harder than I thought¡­"

    Zhang Dong muttered to himself while looking at the monster that was healing itself with its own demonic energy. His own on the other hand was running out, the students left behind to act as his batteries were probably not able to hold on anymore. He needed to finish this fast or else it could be the end for everyone here.

 Chapter 293

    People were floating around in a bubble while being slowly healed by Zhang Dong''s holy energies. He had moved forward to distance himself a bit while facing off against the red demon.

    The situation didn''t look so good at his end as he could feel that his power was fading the more he remained in this world. The young students that he had left to lend him power were transferring less and less of it his way.

    There was also the problem of too many unconscious and injured people around him. With them here he couldn''t really let loose any unconcentrated attacks in fear of killing someone in the process. This was also why he was using his thunderlight sword and facing the monster in close quarters combat. This technique was made of holy energy so it worked quite well against a demon like this.

    ''I need to get them out of here first¡­''

    "Listen up, I''m going to send you all into one location. There you will find my summoner, if you wish for me to defeat this demon you must lend her your mana."

    "Lady Beatrice?"

    The one that asked was Isabella, the big drill-haired bully.

    "Yes, that one. It would be nice if you forgot about your misgivings about her and lent her your power. "

    Zhang Dong gave the girl a big manly smile before looking down at the Principal. She was the strongest mage here and also had the most mana. If she somewhat recovered and added her mana to the array formation that he created there would be a chance.

    "I¡­"

    The young blond lady opened up her eyes wide and it looked like she was thinking about something. There wasn''t much more time for chit-chat as the Demon Lord of Pain was now charging their way.

    "Death will be your salvation!"

    Zhang Dong rolled his eyes after having heard enough edgy one liners from this guy. He used a big chunk of his energy to pull every bruised and battered body towards the energy sphere. This caused some discomfort for the previous people within it but not like they could protest.

    "Now go!"

    With a little shove, they flew into the air as he aimed to place them somewhere close to the mana gathering magic array formation. Right on cue the monster was there, attacking with his many sickle-like hands. This time around he found it a lot harder to bat them away as his cultivation realm was regressing below into the late stage.

    "I must keep my distance and stall for a bit¡­"

    He was mad that no one in this academy was able to actually do anything about this demon. This also made him think back to his own sect grounds. Without his system''s detection ability some spies could make it through the cracks. There were the scanners but they weren''t at all locations and one rat or another could always make it through.

    "Tch¡­ screw of!"

    The golden sword of light shone brightly as he brought it down on his enemy. He utilized one of his slashing attacks from his own swordsmanship style. Thanks to having reached sword heart before it gave him enough advantage to keep up even in a lesser realm of power.

    "Your power is fading spirit, soon you shall succ.u.mb to pain!"

    With the high-powered slice, he had managed to shove his enemy back. He even managed to slice through one of those bladed hands. Regretfully with time, it would regenerate itself back to its original form.

    "Yeah well¡­ your breath stinks¡­"

    ''Hope they make it there in time¡­''

    He jumped to the side to evade another one of those beam attacks and the battle continued. Back at another location, a group of people were rolling in a big ball of light. This ball burst like a soap bubble to reveal many injured and unconscious people along with the Principal.

    "Is everyone okay?"

    The elven woman called out, the people that were conscious started groaning. Some of them were able to stand up while others remained silent. It was unknown how injured everyone was but there wasn''t really any time to care for everyone. The battle was still not over and the Archdemon still remained.

    "Principal, I''m sure my father will arrive soon."

    Isabella commented while gathering herself to her own two feet. During the whole ruckus, she was separated from other people that she knew. The girls that used to hang around her were quick to run towards the shelters without even waiting for her.

    "The Duke? ¡­ let us hope so¡­Elobarin, can you walk?"

    "Give this old man a second¡­"

    The Vice-Principal was also here, he was missing a foot but after casting a spell green energy started condensing towards this injured spot. The man didn''t grow a new foot but a one that looked to be made from wood. It was clear that this procedure wasn''t anything comfortable as his eyebrows twitched in pain.

    "That should do it...what is that?"

    He pointed into the distance where a strange light was coming from. After a moment other people started to notice it too.

    "Didn''t that spirit say something about this? Could that be where student Beatrice is?"

    Leigong the spirit had given them some vague instructions. They didn''t really know what he meant by lending Beatrice a hand. They were slowly running out of options, the most powerful magicians from the academy had been defeated. If Leigong didn''t come to their aid the group of people here would have been already dead as well.

    "It is possible, we should investigate."

    The old man said while producing a wooden cane to help with his prosthetic leg.

    "Please everyone, help the ones that can''t walk we must move."

    After nodding the Principal moved forward along with the others. There were enough able bodies to help the other people on the way. When they arrived at their destination they noticed the large glowing shield and the students inside of it. Some of them were on the side and clearly passed out. Others were barely keeping up while panting.

    There were also some charred bodies of what looked to be small imps and demons before the magical barrier. It was clear that they wanted to penetrate inside of it but were burned to a crisp during the attempt.

    "This must be it¡­ fascinating. What is that magic circle¡­ it is gathering mana from the surroundings and focusing it into the middle..."

    The elven Principal commented while the people here moved forward. Every mana and health potion that could be used was now emptied. While some people from the group tried to regain their senses others approached the large mana gathering array that Zhang Dong made.

    "He said to lend his summoner mana?"

    She looked inside this barrier and could see Beatrice in a sort of trance sitting in the middle. It was clear that the girl was taking in the vast amount of mana from the surroundings and channeling it somewhere. It looked like it was going towards the astral realm where her spirit resided; this was also probably why its power had increased by this much.

    "Is it wise to give up our mana? Shouldn''t we evacuate and wait for the Knights or the Dukes to arrive?"

    "Y-yes, we should evacuate. Why are we even here?"

    Some of the people from the side started calling out to the Principal as staying alive was the priority. None of them wanted to waste this opportunity to get away, no one actually believed that the spirit that helped them could beat an Archdemon.

    "I think we should listen to what the spirit said¡­''

    Isabella commented from the side while some of the instructors were shouting between each other.

    "Silence! Don''t you feel ashamed for yourself? Act like a.d.u.l.ts."

    The Principal was mad that the instructors and teachers in this school that were hand-picked by to be the most talented were so cowardly. Everyone here was a noble, so she feared that they were used to the easy life too much.

    "We will aid the spirit while we wait for reinforcements, not like there is a place to hide. Look around you, the academy has been mostly destroyed."

    She proclaimed while touching the golden magic barrier that was protecting the students inside. The others looked at this with fright due to the dead monster bodies close to the barrier. It looked like this magic was highly destructive and could hurt anyone that was touching it.

    "Calm yourselves, this isn''t that type of magic...look."

    The moment she made contact with the golden light her hand just passed through. It looked like it was fine for people to go inside but not for monsters.

    "I see¡­ this is how it functions. Listen up, this magical circle will absorb your mana into it. Replace the collapsed students with haste before¡­"

    The moment that she uttered those words a sound of a thunderous explosion could be heard by everyone here. The people turned to the direction of the noise to see a glorious Leigong flying their way. He was bouncing off the ground like a ragdoll and crashing into everything though. Ending his voyage by sliding for about fifty meters and making a small crater.

    "W-why are you taking so long¡­"

    The spirit groaned while grasping his head. He wasn''t looking well, there were visible injuries all over his body and mana was leaking from them. Spirits from the astral realm didn''t really bleed like people from the material realm. They would leak energy that they were composed of in the form of bright-colored energy bubbles. Even though Zhang Dong was slightly different his current body was also composed of various energies.

    "Your end is nigh, astral creature!"

    The demon lord was not far behind and he could clearly see the large array formation that was glowing in the background.

    "What is this disgusting energy? Begone from my sight!"

    "Shit¡­"

    It looked like the plan had failed. The people that he shot over to the mana circle that he created to help him regain his strength were scattering to the sides. The only person that actually entered it was the Principal but the others were now running away for the hills. If he got an injection of power now then he might have stood a chance but it didn''t look like the monster would give him any time for that.

    The demon lord took aim once more, this time with a more concentrated beam. This monster seemed to not tire or run out of mana at all. It was now seeing the array formation as an eyesore and ready to destroy it along with the students and Beatrice inside.

    Zhang Dong jumped to put himself between them and the monster''s beam attack. Everything went bright as his holy energies and the demonic ones collided with each other. The massive torrent of pressure tossed everyone in the surrounding back while they screamed for help.

    The monster grinned after looking at its opponent that even managed to injure it a couple of times. Zhang Dong was slowly fading away, his energy had run dry and even Beatrice was slowly losing consciousness. It looked like it was over for him but he had to somehow get the kids out of here.

    ''Can I toss them away from here¡­ but this monster will follow after them anyway¡­''

    "Thus begins the slaughter!"

    The monster laughed but then something strange occurred. Isabella Hohenberg during the confusion had made it inside the mana gathering array and was now right next to Beatrice. She looked quite serious as she went down to her knees and grasped Beatrice''s hands together with her own.

    Isabella closed her hands and started focusing. It was clear that she wanted to aid Zhang Dong with her mana but at this point, he knew that it wouldn''t be enough. That was what would have normally happened but for some reason, the two girls started glowing in an even brighter light than before.

    "What is this?"

    Zhang Dong was baffled by the strange light show that he was seeing. This wasn''t all as he could feel his energy returning to him in truckloads. The hands that were fading away just a moment ago took shape and all the wounds that he suffered were mending themselves.

    "Is this the fabled power of friendship? I thought those girls hated each other though¡­"

    The monster released another burst of multiple beams as it noticed that something was wrong. This time around there was a change. Zhang Dong just waved with his finger and it looked as if time stopped. The beams that were about to collide with multiple targets stopped in the air, not budging a centimeter.

    "You had your fun, now become a good punching bag for me!"

    Zhang Dong cracked his knuckles as he charged forward, he wouldn''t let this sudden boost in power be wasted.

 Chapter 294

    A whirlpool of bright golden energy surrounded two blond-haired maidens while people watched on from the sides. The moment they touched a sort of trans took them over. Their bodies were now floating up in the air while the two young girls were holding their hands together, not letting go as they spun around in place.

    Not far away from the girls was another person that was going through a transformation. The Lightning Emperor Leigong that was about to fade away was just getting his second wind. His body was reconstructing itself as many tiny wisps of energy condensed onto him.

    "Not sure how this is possible but I''m not complaining¡­"

    "How could this be¡­ what is this wretched light!"

    Zhang Dong had now stopped the Archdemons attack that he shot out through its mouth again. The dark rays were frozen in the air while he kept his finger pointed forward.

    "Be turned to cheese!"

    With a small flick, the demonic energies did a U-turn and shot towards the creature that fired it off. The monster put up some defenses but the demonic rays managed to do some damage. This damage was fast to close up as this creature''s vitality was quite high.

    "You can''t regenerate if there are no particles left to regenerate¡­"

    A massive spike in holy energy caused the whole academy to rumble once more. This power was many times above whatever the Archdemon could output and left the Principal and other magicians in awe.

    Zhang Dong wanted to end this fast with the strongest attack possible. How long his new power boost would last was unknown, he needed to use this energy before it ran out.

    "This matters not astral being, you will fall like the rest!"

    The ugly monster wasn''t having any of this as it charged forward once more. If the ranged attack didn''t work then maybe close range combat would seal the deal. Unfortunately for the Archdemon during his charge, its opponent vanished for a split second.

    "Think fast!"

    With a swift kick to the face, the Lord of Pain was sent tumbling into some buildings. This kick was packed with holy lightning energy causing the monster excruciating pain, its screams were quite audible to everyone here.

    What followed was a one sided beat down. The denizens of this world looked on as the white haired Leigong kicked the huge demon around as if it was a football. There was no end to the hits and the creature had no way of countering the faster opponent. Soon it found itself floating up in the air with many shattered bones and broken teeth.

    "yOu...sHaLL¡­ pErIsH...bY¡­mY¡­hAnD"

    "Not if you perish first."

    Zhang Dong first had to incapacitate his enemy. With swift kicks and punches, he had caused some surface-level damage to make the monster''s regeneration to kick in. He had noticed that during this period the monster would lose most of its speed. The last part was flinging it up into the air as it didn''t possess any flying capabilities that he was aware of.

    There was also the bonus of making the monster crash into the giant demon repelling barrier that this academy was surrounded with. This protective bubble was just what he needed to keep this monster in one place.

    When the creature connected with this shield he could see the demonic energies and it counteracted each other. It was causing it some harm but it wasn''t enough to kill it. This type of barrier was there to keep things out and not to destroy them.

    "Okay, wait there, this is going to be a big one¡­"

    Another light show was started that piqued everyone''s interest. The spirit named Leigong turned into a large sphere of energy that started expanding in all directions. This energy egg started floating up while constantly growing in size till a cracking sound was heard.

    "By the gods¡­ what is that?"

    "C-could it be¡­"

    The stunned magicians below could see a giant webbed wing appearing from the torrent of bright energy. It was truly gigantic and followed by another one to the other side. Soon a large golden dragon head was seen by everyone. The people that witnessed Zhang Dong''s arena fight remembered this head but not it was attached to the rest of the flying beast.

    "A-ancient D-dragon?"

    "How is it so big?"

    The Principal and Vice-Principal called out with wide-opened eyes. The large dragon that they were seeing was at least fifty meters in height. The wing spawn was even larger which made this majestic creature look even bigger than it already was.

    Thanks to Beatrice and Isabella, Zhang Dong was able to reach a state of half-step into the nascent soul. With that, he was now able to manifest his soul beast out into the open. He chose it as it possessed quite the ferocious breathing attack that worked wonders on demonic beings alike. It was backed by holy and lightning energies as well as plasma, this would make quick work of this Archdemon.

    "iMpOsSiBlE! HoW cOuLd oNe oF tHe oLd oNeS sTiLl bE aLiVe?"

    The Lord of Pain shouted while fighting against the magical barrier that was keeping him from regenerating fully. Regretfully for the red monster, it was too late for him to flee. His opponent in the form of a golden dragon was already charging up his breath attack.

    ''Ancient Dragon? Old One?''

    The names that were getting thrown around made Zhang Dong raise a brow while looking at his soul beast taking aim. It seemed that his soul beast''s form was quite popular in this world. Maybe thanks to this he would be able to gain some notoriety, luckily for him, most people liked golden holy element dragons.

    With a final burst of energy, the dragon moved its head towards the trapped opponent. It opened its large maw to release a torrent of heated plasma and holy energies. It looked like a giant beam of sun radiation shooting out of the dragon''s toothy mouth and it was on a collision course with the Archdemon.

    "iNcOnCeIvAbLe¡­ hOw cOuLd I¡­ mY kInG¡­"

    The monster was unable to dodge while being affected by the academy''s large protective barrier. It was bathed in sun-like flames of Zhang Dong''s soul beast, the particles that it was made from quickly evaporated into nothingness. The demonic energy that was shielding it previously didn''t even last for a second.

    He made sure to perform the attack for a bit longer. During his travels, he had come across many monsters that could regenerate themselves. Without making sure that the monster was really dead he wouldn''t feel comfortable.

    ''I think it''s dead¡­ I can feel that its demonic soul has been erased¡­ but what is that?''

    Zhang Dong had traded spots with his soul beast and was temporary in his own soul realm. His little Ai helper Bob flew over as it also discovered this item.

    ''Nuclei signature detected''

    It started glowing red as he had told it to alert him whenever it found anything about the cubes. It would seem that it was inside of this monster for some reason and it couldn''t be harmed by his dragon''s breath.

    "That''s enough, I''m coming out¡­"

    He needed to look at this with his own eyes. The energy that he was given was now slowly fading away, there wasn''t much time before he would be forced to take a backseat once again.

    The people that were looking up had to avert their eyes as the dragon''s breath was far too hot and bright. When they glanced back up they could only see the large dragon vanishing and Zhang Dong appearing out of the blue. For all intents and purposes it looked like he was the dragon while in reality, it was just his soul beast switching out with him.

    While the people were in a state of shock and awe and before the unwelcome guests that he also noticed came over he decided to grab the item he was looking at.

    ''It looks corrupted¡­''

    What he was holding wasn''t a cube but a dark crimson gem.

    ''Is this really it Bob?''

    His Ai companion started beeping after a little ding he gave an answer.

    ''Affirmative, this is a portion of a Nuclei but it is incomplete. Should I begin the absorption process?''

    ''It''s not complete? How better are my chances of getting home¡­ my own sector after I absorb this thing?''

    ''Calculating¡­ 5,1%...''

    He frowned after hearing that, before Bob told him that one full cube would give him around a 30% boost in the chances of getting back to his family. This incomplete nuclei on the other hand just got him a measly 5%.

    ''This is better than nothing¡­ probably these other Archedemon''s that call themselves Demon Lords have these with them. Their King will probably have the biggest one yet¡­''

    From what he knew there were five Demon Lords, which would bring his chances up by 25% after he killed them all. The Demon King was their boss so his Nuclei could be twice or many times more capable. It might push him past the 50% mark which could be enough for him to get home.

    ''Killing these demons is probably the fastest way of taking care of things here but¡­''

    He looked down to where Beatrice and Isabella were before. The two were still grasping each other but slowly descending to the ground. From what he could tell their souls had some kind of strange reaction to each other the moment they got close inside the array formation. The other girl''s soul was strangely similar to Beatrice''s, he would need to investigate this later as now wasn''t the time.

    He was holding the corrupt gem in his hand now after his soul beast had returned. At least that is how it looked to the people around him as there were more of them here now. While he was disposing of the Demon Lord he blasted a hole through this magical barrier revealing what was on the other side.

    This barrier kept the outside as well as the inside hidden. It was constructed to not let people from within see any landmarks to keep this place hidden. Now it was gone and he could see the sky above him and also some steep rocky formations. It turned out that this school was built inside some kind of huge volcano. Even if someone looked from outside they wouldn''t be able to see any of the buildings that were placed inside.

    This wasn''t all that he was looking at. There was a certain large black dragon looking at him, behind it were other lesser flying dragons with people on them. It was clear that this was the ''cavalry'' that was late as always.

    On the largest beast there sat a man with blond hair and a matching yellow beard. It was clear that the people outside witnessed him destroying the Demon Lord and now they were watching as he turned the monster''s corrupt gem into powder.

    "How could this be¡­ an Ancestral Dragon Emperor!"

    He could hear the man call out while the other dragons became loud. They soon floated downwards and dropped all of their heads down. It looked as if they were prostrating themselves in front of him.

    ''Do they think I''m some kind of Dragon Lord? Well¡­ if this lets me get more resources then it''s fine but for now it looks like the time is up¡­''

    Zhang Dong looked at his hand that was previously holding the corrupt gem. He had absorbed it but now his body was going transparent. He used the last of his time to move his hands behind his back and do his usual ''Senior-straight-like-a-sword'' pose before he faded away into mana particles. This signaled the end of the battle and the end to the demon menace in the academy.

 Chapter 295

    "Huh?"

    "Rise and shine~!"

    "W-what is this¡­"

    "Glad to welcome you back amongst the living, want something for that dry mouth?"

    A dumbfounded Isabella was looking at a white-haired man behind a tiki bar. There were various colorful c.o.c.ktails sitting on that bar counter and the wind was making the bamboo chimes hit against each other.

    There were some large totems to the side along with tropical trees and even hula girls dancing in the background. Along with the man there, there was also Beatrice that was slowly getting on one of the wooden barstools. She looked not as bewildered by this whole predicament as if she had gone through the whole thing before.

    "Here take a seat, relax. We need to talk about a few things, I bet you are confused but that is because of the soul resonance you two had gone through."

    "Soul resonance?"

    This time it was Beatrice that spoke up first.

    "Yes, you seem to be connected more than by your bloodline."

    After the battle was over Zhang Dong returned to the soul realm but there he also found both of these blond girls. Seeing Beatrice there wasn''t anything out of the ordinary but now he also saw the drill blond that was supposed to be the villain here.

    Both of them were a bit out of it after trance they were through so he prepared a nice tropical setting for them. Something like this was quite easy to him, by shaping his soul repeatedly he was gaining familiarity with it. The more he did it, the stronger it became and the more access to his spiritual energy he gained.

    "This is knowledge that isn''t that well known so let this Leigong explain."

    During the stay here he had gone through all the possible books and scriptures that this academy had to offer. Thanks to his special disposition he could even go through the Principal notes and the old archaic books. Through this, he knew a few things and one of them was this soul resonance.

    "You see, this is a very rare occurrence and only happens between two or more members of the same bloodline. It also depends on how remarkable the ancestor was that you were drawing power from."

    "Ancestor?"

    Isabella finally decided to join the group as she awkwardly sat on one of the bar stools. Next to her was a drink with a little umbrella in it. It had a strange light pink coloring to it that was strangely alluring. The young girl resisted the temptation of giving it a sip as she had no idea where she was.

    "Yes, with the soul resonance you can call up the powers of your ancestor and materialize them to some degree. Your souls must be quite similar to a powerful summoner, thus you were able to lend me enough mana so I could exert more of my original power."

    This is what he learned from the books. He was sure that the other magicians in this world would know about this as well. What they would do with the knowledge he didn''t know. Beatrice wasn''t fond of the main house that Isabella was from.

    Then Isabella wasn''t very welcoming to Beatrice that she saw as some upstart trying to go out of line. Now the two girls would need to work together and help him defeat all the demon lords. This was something that he needed to do as it was his only clue to finding more cubes.

    "Yes, it must have been someone good with mana as your powers increased exponentially. Thanks to you two I managed to slay the Archdemon."

    "You were able to defeat a Demon Lord?!"

    Isabella jumped to her feet while slamming her hands on the tiki bar counter. The drinks started shaking around while she looked at Zhang Dong in disbelief.

    "I knew you could do it Mr. Leigong."

    On the other hand, Beatrice gave out a sigh of relief, she at least had belief in his power. After spending so much time in his soul dimension she had also grown accustomed to his quirkiness.

    "Of course, that little demon was nothing. If I had access to all of my power I could crush it with my little pinky!"

    Zhang Dong gave out a laugh while Beatrice rolled her eyes a bit. After being close to him so much she kind of knew that he liked to joke around a lot. She also knew that he might be telling the truth as his power was something real.

    "Where are we... how do we get home¡­ what is this place¡­"

    Isabella on the other hand was slowly waking up to the reality of this moment. She was on a strange tropical island. There was a large golden dragon playing around in the water in the background. It looked to be wrestling with some kind of huge prehistoric-looking fish. There were also the hula dancers that after a while started to vanish into thin air.

    "Don''t be afraid, we are just in the spirit realm."

    Beatrice smirked a bit while looking at her old enemy. She was glad to rub it in and Zhang Dong could tell that she was liking the fact that Isabella was acting afraid.

    "Spirit realm? H-how can this be...how do we go back home¡­"

    "Calm down little girl, no one is going to harm you. Due to the strain on both of your souls, your bodies went into a coma. With time you will recover while I nourish you back to health with the help of my own power. Look."

    Zhang Dong pointed to the side and Isabella followed his finger. There a rift opened up to show what was happening in the real world. Both the girls were together in one room and were being watched by some a.d.u.l.ts. The man that had ridden the dragon was also there, besides him was a familiar-looking man in a mustache.

    "Father?"

    "Pappa?"

    Beatrice named her father quite traditionally while Isabella on the other hand referred to him as pappa. She noticed that both Zhang Dong and Beatrice looked at her in a funny way, this caused the girl to blush.

    "Yes, they are both there. I''ve spoken to them about this so don''t worry, in a few days you will recover and be able to return to your bodies."

    Zhang Dong thought back to a day before, this was the moment that he brought down the demonic being called the Lord of Pain. The salute that the dragons gave him was quite unexpected but it also gave him the leverage to proceed with his little plan.

    The person that came riding on the dragon was a Duke and current leader of the main house that Isabella was part of. He was the most powerful summoner in this kingdom that used his black dragon to battle foes. Thanks to Zhang Dong''s draconic soul beast they thought that he was some kind of old Heroic Ancestor Dragon. This made things easy as they took the whole soul resonance explanation easily.

    He had explained to the Duke the connection that the two girls had. The man was hard to read as he kept quite the poker face. He didn''t know if the man liked the idea of her daughter having a similar soul to someone from a weak branch house. It was possible, these noble types saw their weaker relatives as nothing more than moochers.

    Their existence was dependent on the main house but now it seemed that this branch family was standing out. Zhang Dong was afraid that these people would not like how things are turning out. First was the grandfather that was one of the more capable summoners, even close to this Duke in power if what Beatrice''s parents said was true.

    For now, the Duke was cooperating with him but this was probably due to the status of ''Dragon Ancestor'' that he had now. What would happen if he wasn''t there anymore was bothering him. He needed to make Beatrice strong enough to fend for herself in one way or another.

    "So, you two can get acquainted. Why don''t you two try working together?"

    "Us working together?"

    Beatrice''s face contorted a bit while looking at Isabella. The blond with the drills narrowed her eyes as well before turning her face away.

    "Why do I need to work with the likes of her?"

    "The likes of her? What do you mean by that!"

    Beatrice jumped up to her seat while slamming the poor tiki bar with her fist. The wood started buckling under the pressure and even broke in a few spots.

    "Not even an ounce of dignity and decorum!"

    Zhang Dong wanted to facepalm as the two girls started to argue. He knew well that Isabella was the reason Beatrice was being bullied in the academy. This was something she knew as well, working with your bully was not an easy thing to do. Why Isabella had it out for her wasn''t out in the open, he attributed it to the pretty boy with green hair.

    He was her fiance but was showing more interest in Beatrice than Isabella. If he had other girls on the side wouldn''t really surprise him. In this country, high nobles were allowed to have mistresses but only one wife.

    Normally Isabella''s parents and the royal family would never allow the prince to take Beatrice as a wife. But then he appeared, a super-strong spirit that was able to defeat a demon lord. With this Beatrice''s stocks would flourish and she would be seen as a proper marriage candidate. The moss head was also not the crown prince, so he could be used as a pawn to get other powerful families on the side of the royals.

    What he needed to do now was to somehow get these two girls to work together. They were stuck here with him so they would need to interact. Speaking with others wasn''t his forte but he would probably need to play the nanny in this situation.

    "That''s enough!"

    A crack of thunder and lightning resounded through the entire place. The sunny sky turned cloudy, hurricane-like winds picked up and rain started to fall. The two girls instantly looked to Zhang Dong who was now out of his bartender role and back in his white robe.

    "Stop bickering, you''re acting like little brats both of you."

    He pointed his finger at the two while they backed away.

    "You will have to learn to work with each other from now on. The lives of many are at stake, do you think the demon lords will wait?"

    One of the Archdemons was dead, news of this would probably reach everyone in time. Maybe the demons already had gotten this information and were now preparing for a counterattack. Beatrice and Isabella were now both in danger and he wouldn''t be able to protect them unless they performed their soul resonance.

    "Please great spirit, appease your anger."

    Isabella, who didn''t know Zhang Dong well, was quite afraid while Beatrice grumbled under her breath. But after he gave her a glare she also started apologizing, the fear of balancing heavy objects while running away from menacing beasts was still with her.

    "Good. Now we can talk about your future endeavors!"

    The weather turned back to normal and the girls were handed fresh c.o.c.ktails.

    "Endeavours?"

    "Yes, you two must learn to get along with each other and also be able to perform the soul resonance when the time comes!"

    "You don''t mean?"

    Beatrice gulped while backing away.

    "Yes, we are going to do some special training!"

    "Nooooooo¡­."

    The sound of the waves blocked away the screams of the two girls, soon their new training would be starting.

 Chapter 296

    "G-great Ancient Spirit, is this truly necessary?"

    "Yes¡­ do we really have to do this, Mr. Leigong. I''m not sure how this is supposed to help¡­"

    "You dare question my methods?"

    "I dare not Great Spirit but¡­"

    Isabella answered while looking at Beatrice that was narrowing her eyes at the spirit called Leigong. For one reason or another, the scenery changed to a large dance hall. It looked like a party fit for wealthy powerful nobles.

    The hall was large but mostly empty. The floor was polished to a shine and made from some expensive stone resembling marble. There were some yellowish patterns here and there that made everything look as if it was bathed in gold.

    Isabella was wearing a lovely-looking yellow ball gown with a lot of beautiful accessories. She looked quite dolled up for the occasion. On the other end, there was Beatrice that looked a bit maddened by the fact that she was wearing a noble man''s clothes.

    The two were opposite each other and it was clear that they were supposed to dance.

    "Your assignment is to dance! One will lead while the other will follow. Also, be wary of the sharks and alligators below!"

    This was another part of this strange scene. The dance floor was quite large but at the edges, there was a pit filled with water. In this water, there were many flesh-eating fish, alligators, and even sharks.

    "But¡­"

    "No buts, now start!"

    Zhang Dong clapped with his hands and the two girls looked at each other. Beatrice was used to the strange training methods that her spirit offered her by this point, thus she was more relaxed. On the other hand, Isabella didn''t know what was happening. The spirit told her that both of them needed to practice their soul resonance but how dancing would help with that was unknown.

    With a clap the music started, a large beam of light was pointed at the pair and indicated the start of the spectacle. The two girls looked at each other with mixed expressions. The two weren''t very close with each other. They were actually more akin to enemies than friends. The predicament with the Prince going for another woman than his fiance brought this upon them.

    "You should start dancing¡­ otherwise¡­"

    While the two looked at each other with spite the stage started getting smaller. The sounds of splashing and gnashing of teeth forced the two girls to move forward. The two had gone through extensive etiquette and dance training in their youths so they knew how to perform.

    The problem was that one of them needed to play the part of the man and lead in the dance. This would fall to Beatrice but Isabella wasn''t that eager to follow at that pace. Thus it resulted in stepping on feet while the awkward dance continued.

    "You need to understand your partner more, your spirits must become one. When one leads the other follows¡­"

    Zhang Dong looked from the side while examining the dance. This was actually a very basic way of training people to work with each other. In his sect, something like this was used to teach new disciples to work with each other during formations. It was required to know their partner while performing specialized movement techniques in combat formations.

    Dancing was a good way to bring people together. Though most of the time they would perform the same dance side by side, mimicking each other''s movements at the same time. He went with a more noble dance due to the upbringing of these girls but it might have been a bad decision as they weren''t working together that well.

    Isabella wasn''t willing to follow Beatrice''s lead during the dance. Beatrice on the other hand was very forceful in guiding the dance, not willing to pace herself. Thus the two were awkwardly moving around and soon the sharks came into play. The stage continued to shrink due to their failures to sync up and thus their end was nigh. Both of them fell down into the pit filled with sharks, their screams filling the air.

    This was nothing but an illusion but the feeling of wetness was quite real as the two found themselves back on the same stage with drenched clothes.

    ''Hm, it looks like their dislike for each other is keeping them from working together... how did they even manage to get in that state of soul resonance in the first place¡­''

    He tried to remember back to that moment. Beatrice was close to passing out before Isabella moved into the picture. The two collided with each other by mistake and somehow went into the state of a trance.

    ''I might be able to force this state by tweaking the spirit gathering formation¡­ but a forced technique will always be weaker¡­''

    Zhang Dong knew that if the two learned to work together this soul resonance could get stronger. It might even be able to boost his power towards the nascent soul level. It was unknown how strong this demon king was in this world. He was probably above the demon lords that were at the great circle of core formation level.

    ''If he is at the half step into the nascent soul level the forced method might be enough¡­ If not¡­''

    There was also the option of gathering more mages into the gathering formation to fuel his transformation. Getting people to cooperate with him would be the hard part. Isabella''s father seemed to be wary of him but due to the dragon ancestor title he was willing to work with him.

    The number of core formation experts was also limited. To get enough power to push him towards the nascent soul level he might even require a thousand of them. These two girls on the other hand pushed him into the half step realm even with a forced soul resonance. This was an easier way to give him a power-up.

    Otherwise, he would need everyone in the academy to power him during a fight against the Demon King. If the other demons would just let them power him during the final battle was something out for debate.

    "Okay start over again, remember you have to work together, if not for yourself do it for the people close to you."

    The girls looked at him while thinking. He had already explained to them that if they lent him enough power he would take care of the demon menace that was plaguing the whole continent. This was something they were willing to believe as he did trash the Lord of Pain quite easily with their help before.

    What followed was a myriad of trust-building exercises between the two girls. Dancing wasn''t the only thing Zhang Dong was making them do. To some, it might have looked like he was giving them random tasks but in reality, there was a purpose to this madness.

    One of the exercises consisted of them being chained together and having to run away from some ferocious monster. Another one pitted them in various sport events against some soul constructs that he made. Unless they were willing to work together they would not be able to persevere in these tasks.

    The days passed and while it did the girls continued to recover their lost soul power. While Isabella was here he also used some time to teach her some new techniques to gain more mana. He wasn''t directly connected to her soul but when Beatrice was close by there was a soul connection formed. Through it, he could pull her into his world after she recovered.

    ''Think I might have overdone it a bit¡­''

    In his attempts to get the two girls together he had forced them to live in one room. They had to eat together, clean together and even bathe together. They had started out staring daggers at each other but after a while, something clicked. Now he was looking at the two again, they were even braiding each other''s hair and applying makeup that they were able to produce with the help of soul power.

    "You sure look cute with this hairstyle Lady Isabella."

    "Not as cute as you~"

    They laughed and smiled at each other while continuing to play around in the soul realm.

    ''Think they started acting like this after seeing that¡­''

    He was thinking about the time ago when the girls asked him to show them what was happening in the material world. Through his summoner he was able to peek around the room they were sleeping in and a bit further beyond.

    There was no reason to refuse so he obliged. To his surprise, there was a certain moss head hanging around them. At first it looked that he was just there to leave some flowers along with sweet words. The problem was that the girls wanted Zhang Dong to see what he was up to outside the room. There a little scene played out that he wasn''t expecting.

    "My prince, it might be harder to court lady Beatrice after this event."

    "The harder it is, the better the rewards will be my friend. You saw what that spirit could do, we need to have its secrets!"

    Quite the scene played out behind the doors as the two were leaving. It was now clear that the prince had ulterior motives which was Leigong the Spirit Emperor. Apparently, he only approached Beatrice to get to her secrets. He might have even wanted to steal him from her in some way or another.

    "Will lady Isabella be fine with it?"

    "Isabella? She has already been sworn to me, she just needs to follow the path that was laid out to her. She won''t mind a Mistress or two."

    It was clear that this prince was quite the character. He closed the connection before the girls could hear too many chosen words. This reveal had shattered their worldview quite rapidly. At first, they didn''t want to believe it but soon rage took them over. It was clear that the two were now dead set on getting back at the casanova of a prince.

    ''Well, at least they can focus on one enemy¡­ thank you moss head, your sacrifice will be remembered!''

    He did a little prayer for the pretty boy in his head. In the near future, he might have to give him a little thrashing if the girls deemed it so. This would all be to increase the soul resonance and bring him closer to his own goal.

    "Okay, listen up you two. Your souls have recovered and will soon be drawn back to your bodies. For now, continue with your training when you return."

    With the new techniques at hand reaching a level of a foundation establishment expert wouldn''t be a dream anymore. How long it would take both of them to get there was vague as it depended on them. Zhang Dong felt that if that happened they would be able to boost his power even more, maybe enough to propel him back into his true realm.

    "Isabella!"

    "Beatrice."

    The two sleeping beauties were back amongst the living and their parents were there. The man with the mustache was more reserved than the blond haired Duke that was hugging his daughter.

    "Let us return to our estate!"

    The Duke called out while checking Isabella from head to toe. Beatrice''s father didn''t say anything for now as there was a little agreement made beforehand. It looked like the Duke was trying to not follow through with it. Thus Leigong the Dragon Ancestor had to make an appearance again.

    "This wasn''t what we agreed on. Your daughter is to aid me and my contractor in defeating the Demon Lords."

    A little clash of wills was upon them, the Duke was quite strong so a diminished Zhang Dong couldn''t really make him budge just yet. The little stare-off between the Duke and Zhang Dong''s small version was broken through Isabella''s words.

    "I wish to stay with Lady Beatrice''s father, we will lend them our flying ship, the Jergintarth!"

    "But sweety¡­"

    He could see the girl with the drill hair pouting with a disappointed look while the Duke tried to appease her. It was quite obvious that she had him wrapped around her finger. If they could use that to their advantage then it would be fine, getting a mobile flying vessel was something that was very high on his to-do list. With it, he could finally start the search for a way home.

 Chapter 297

    A smaller version of the Lightning Emperor was standing upright at the helm of a middle-sized flying ship.

    ''The technology is quite similar to our own but the engine looks to be more refined. If I could implement it in the Argonauts design when I return...''

    Some time had passed since the Archdemon''s attack. Thanks to the healing spells and potions in this world the casualties were lessened. People like the Vice-Principal that lost a limb could also recover without that much of a problem.

    It was clear that when it came to healing this world''s magic was stronger than Zhang Dong''s. Missing limbs would require special pills that required even rarer materials. Only people at a very high level with the holy element like him would be able to emulate the priest spells from this magical world.

    "Lady Isabella you must reconsider what will the people think about this¡­"

    "I have already decided, please don''t associate yourself with me anymore, Prince Ludwig."

    Zhang Dong''s attention was brought down to a little scene. There was a group of young noblemen and women bickering about. On one side stood Isabella and Beatrice also along with a few maids. On the other side was the Prince with a couple of knights. It was clear that after eavesdropping on Moss head''s conversation both the blond girls were furious with him.

    He couldn''t fault them for that and was quite glad that they all listened in on the conversation. Since Isabella was a proud lady she found offense in the way the prince was thinking about her. She was nothing more than a tool, someone to just link him to her strong family.

    ''Not much different here than where I came from huh¡­''

    This wasn''t anything new, something like this was how people in the clans formed bonds. The problem was that Isabella apparently didn''t see it like that. She was a young maiden that was still apparently looking for love. From his perspective, it would be immensely hard to find a loving partner in that way. His wife had grown on him through time and the love came later.

    ''Well, at least this helped me to get this ship¡­''

    Isabella was part of the main family that Beatrice belonged to. Since the two were required to work together to help him fight the demon lords he was given this ship. Together with it a crew of knights and wizards from both the academy and the Duke Hohenberg of Dragonridge household.

    Beatrice''s father also lent some soldiers in the form of the old man that he previously faced off against. He was tasked with being Beatrice''s bodyguard and would have his work cut for him. The young Beatrice didn''t have much pull here to make any decisions. Only thanks to him were they willing to listen after he defeated the Demon Lord.

    "Lady Isabella, I''m sure this is some kind of mistake I would never¡­"

    Before Ludwig could continue with his words Beatrice stepped next to Isabella and started glaring at him as well.

    "Lady Beatrice¡­ you too¡­"

    The prince looked quite baffled. From Zhang Dong''s perspective, he was just the young master type that never had any hindrance in his life. He was also not the crown prince which lowered his responsibilities while still giving him a large amount of status. This was probably the first time one of his schemes had gone down the drain.

    "My lord, think we are done here. The great Holy Dragon Ancestor has requested our aid to rid the whole of humanity of the demonic scourge. We mustn''t keep him waiting!"

    After the little battle with the Lord of Pain Zhang Dong had gained another glorious title. Thanks to his draconic soul beast everyone thought that he was some kind of heroic spirit of an ancient dragon god. Due to his unknown name, they thought that he just had to be some long-forgotten ancestors, maybe even the father of dragons.

    ''Daddy of all dragons doesn''t sound so bad¡­ I hope none of them will try talking to me though¡­''

    Dragon''s were an elusive species around here and revered by all. The high tier ones could change their form to look human thus his disguise was perfect.

    He glanced at the conversation below and could see the prince moving to block Isabella''s path. After the cat was out of the bag Isabella asked her father to annul the engagement. The duke was quite fond of his daughter and almost instantly obliged.

    From what he knew, the one who actually wanted the marriage was Isabella. The prince was a sweet talker so he did manage to weasel himself into her good graces. Now on the other hand he was going to lose quite a bit. Not being able to marry someone at the level of a Duke''s daughter was a hit to his face and prestige. It looked like he wouldn''t just give up like that.

    "Please prince Ludwig, we are done with our conversation. We must depart towards Isthvar to gather more people for our quest."

    "Worry not Lady Isabella, how about I join you on your trip and have my men accompany you. They are the very best! We then could talk about everything in private¡­"

    ''I got to give it to him, he doesn''t easily give up. Having some royal knights along the trip isn''t something that could be easily refused¡­''

    Refusing this aid would normally be seen as foolish. The royal family possessed quite the military might that could bolster them. There was also the problem of a Duke''s daughter not being able to decline the help of a prince if he really imposed it on her. Their ranks were quite close but still in favor in old moss head''s. So then, before the conversation could go in the wrong direction a thunderclap was heard and a bolt of golden light descended towards the bickering children.

    "That is enough, you may leave young prince of the humans, your services won''t be required."

    It was clear that this young casanova would try to somewhat sweet talk both of the girls along the flight. Maybe a few lucky events could somehow bring them all back together. Zhang Dong on the other hand wasn''t really interested in having this guy on his ship. He would clearly not be willing to listen to him, it was best not to bring him or any of his men along as they couldn''t be trusted.

    "Lady Beatrice¡­ your spirit¡­"

    "My spirit?"

    Beatrice narrowed her eyes while looking at the green-haired prince. From what Zhang Dong could tell she was mad that he referred to him without any honorifics. It was clearly rude to refer to a Dragon Ancestor as ''Your Spirit'' but the young prince didn''t see spirits as beings above him.

    He probably only saw them as useful tools, nothing more than a machine to do their bidding. This was quite normal for the young master types, even more, when his father was the strongest man on the continent. From what he could deduce this King should be at least on par with an Archdemon. In the eyes of this youth, he probably thought that his daddy would have no problem in slaying that beast alone.

    While he was shaking his head Isabella took it upon herself to jump in.

    "How dare you speak in such a way to the Dragon Ancestor, apologize immediately!"

    "That''s right, apologize to Mr. Leigong!"

    After the two had reconciled due to the prince being a sleaze bag, they were quick to work together against him. He wasn''t sure if Beatrice was still angry at the main house about her grandfather but at least she didn''t seem antagonistic towards Isabella anymore.

    "Apologize, me?"

    The prince was of course taken aback, he probably never had to apologize to anyone besides maybe his parents. While Zhang Dong wanted nothing more than to look at this comedic routine to play itself out he had things to do.

    "ENOUGH!"

    Zhang Dong''s form expanded into his regular size and lightning energy covered his whole body. When the girls were close by he could exert more of his power without Beatrice passing out.

    "We don''t have time for your mortal squabbles, we must depart before the demon scourge causes even more chaos."

    He exerted some of his strength which pushed the people from the prince''s side to their knees. It was a very similar aura attack that cultivators loved to perform to assert their dominance over others. No one here was above the foundation establishment realm in power, even the knights only reached up to about the early stage at most.

    "Beatrice, control your spirit, this is going too far!"

    This time it wasn''t the moss head but the carrot top instead. From his perspective, this was an obvious attack against someone from the royal family.

    "Oh, am I going too far? Why don''t I eat you along with that little prince of yours."

    To scare the duo Zhang Dong''s pupils turned draconic in nature and resembled reptilian eyes while he stared at the two young men. He wouldn''t eat them of course but the people here didn''t know that. To them, he was a scary spirit that could change into a huge dragon if he wanted to.

    The two flinched at the notion of being eaten and started inching back while still underneath the pressure of Zhang Dong''s aura.

    "Don''t worry, I wouldn''t eat you, human meat is disgusting."

    It was fun to play around with these kids but he didn''t want to be labeled as some kind of flesh eating monster. He waved his hand and the two girls started floating up into the air. Soon all of them were flying towards the ship where most of the people were already waiting for their departure.

    "Mr. Leigong¡­ how do you know how human meat tastes?"

    While flying he looked to Beatrice that had a silly smirk on her face. It was clear that she saw through his bluff. Isabella on the other hand was more gullible as she saw him as some kind of god like being that had descended to this very earth.

    She also for some reason liked him in his small form, to the point of asking him to allow getting petted. He had noticed that the girl had been looking at him funny from day one and it was apparently due to the love of cute things.

    "Why you little¡­"

    He wanted to give her cheeks a good pull but they had already arrived on the flying ship. People were already done loading all the necessary items and they were close to being able to depart. The principal couldn''t leave with them due to her position but the old friendly Vice-Principal was going with them. With him as a guide, they would be able to pass through most of the pesky barriers between the large cities and nations.

    "So, do we have any information about any demon sightings?"

    "Yes, there has been movement by the demons, they are fleeing as we speak, we must catch up to them!"

    The one replying was the Vice-Principal who had his leg healed by now. He looked quite invigorated that he was chosen for this mission. It was clear that he wasn''t a fan of the demons and saw this as a good chance for retaliation.

    "Well then, let us depart."

    Zhang Dong looked at the magic academy that he spent a few weeks in. He was glad that he was finally able to move on. With the help of these people, he hoped to reach his goal sooner than before. Hopes of meeting up with his family again grew even higher than before and he was ready to do everything in his power to return.

 Chapter 298

    Darkness filled Dorian''s vision as he awoke. It was clear to him that he had something in the form of a sack tied to his head. It made things hard to breathe and very uncomfortable.

    He was just a regular farmer''s son that had been out on the field all day. The last thing that he remembered was going back home after working. The sun was setting as they had to hurry up with this month''s harvest. Then things became blurry, something happened between the time of him walking home and arriving here.

    "Ughhh¡­"

    When he tried to speak something compelled him to not. There was nothing inside of his mouth but when he tried to open it, he couldn''t. It was as if his lips were glued together and the only thing he could do was to mumble. Soon he heard rustling from the sides and similar mumbling and groaning were heard by him. It looked like he wasn''t alone in this place.

    "The sacrifices are waking up high priest."

    "It matters not, the ritual is ready to begin, the Lord of Terror will be pleased with us!"

    In the silence there were voices, the young farmer had no idea what was happening but this had something to do with the demon worshipers. His parents had warned him about them when he was younger.

    There were certain people that worshiped the devils that were banished from these lands. They would perform strange rituals to open the rifts in the barrier in hopes of getting power in return. This could come in many forms but mostly they would turn into demonic beings themselves then serve the demon that they worshiped till the end of their life.

    "Remove the sacks, let the sacrifices bask in the Lord''s glory!"

    Footsteps followed the man''s words and the bag on his head was removed. What he saw was many people like him. Hands bound and curled up on a strange red circle. He wanted to scream but couldn''t after realizing that this magic writing was painted in human blood. There were multiple headless corpses to the side that were used for this purpose.

    The other people looked to be mostly commoners from the villages just like him. They were of various genders and ages, even of mixed races as apparently no one was spared. The women were crying while the men were looking with anger in their eyes at the massacred people and the demon worshipers that were responsible for this.

    "Be glad sinners, you will be graced by the Lord''s love! He will devour your very souls and use it as nourishment to cleanse these lands from the rot that covers it!"

    A man in dark robes and various strange accessories stood out on a dim-lit platform above them. There were others like him gathered in this place around them. It was clear that they wanted to sacrifice them to some kind of demonic being. Running was the only option for survival.

    Dorian''s struggles didn''t bore fruit, his body felt sluggish and he just couldn''t untie the ropes that bound him. The same thing happened to the others as even the more robust-looking men couldn''t break free. Something was sapping their strength already and soon some kind of strange portal appeared. It was right in the middle of this dastardly demonic circle and looked like it was made from blood.

    "Yes! YES! The Lord is coming through!"

    "Behold the lord''s glory infidels, bask in his light!"

    The cultist started mumbling some strange incoherent chants while the people on the ground tried to flee. Soon the portal started expanding in size and with time something started to push through.

    A large hooved leg appeared, it was covered in some tight red leathery skin. With a thump, this leg slammed to the ground below and caused it to tremble. Soon the demon''s form was revealed. It was many times larger than a human, close to ten meters tall. Its lower half looked like it belonged to a goat while the top half was more human-looking.

    This being had similar characteristics to the first Demon Lord of Pain. The torso was muscular and covered in red leather. Its head didn''t possess eyes instead its brain was sticking out, below it a large toothy mouth with black teeth that were covered with blood. Various horns and spikes were coming out of its spine as well as from its fists.

    "We greet the Lord of Terror! We present you these sacrifices, please feast on their immortal souls!''

    The giant demon lord was able to get through the demonic gate of blood fully revealing itself. Even without any eyes, it seemed to be looking deep into everyone''s soul that was here.

    "Inadequate¡­"

    The monster''s shrill voice filled the area without it even talking. It pointed out towards the cultists with its large digit. The person that was getting pointed at evaporated into dark gas that was then absorbed into the creature''s mouth.

    "T-the sacrifices weren''t enough, we have angered the lord!"

    The person that looked like the boss of the bunch started backing away but it was too late. It looked that the monster was unhappy with the number of sacrifices. The moment it stepped through the portal it started to devour its own worshipers. Some of them tried to escape while some just kneeled down with opened arms as if happy that they could be of use to this demonic being.

    It went after the cultist first, even devouring the main priest. Soon it turned to the people in the magic circle that were still alive. It didn''t point with its finger but instead started moving towards them. For one reason or another, it grabbed Dorian with its massive hand and raised him up towards its toothy mouth.

    The man screamed out, after the cultist had been devoured whatever was stopping him from speaking was now gone. The monster''s grip was far too strong to break out from the only thing that he could do now was watch that ghastly orifice opening up to devour him whole.

    His death was before him, everything that he couldn''t do flashed before his eyes. Regrets of not asking that one girl to the festival a few months ago, not helping his parents more, not being able to become a man. He wasn''t ready to die but there was nothing he could do, the demon was far too strong and he would consume him like the rest of the people here.

    But the beast stopped before devouring Dorian whole. It was as if it noticed something, it moved its head up and Dorian looked up as well. There it was, glowing in bright light and coming straight for them. Before the monster could react something collided with the ground right next to it.

    Dorian felt weightless for some reason and soon he realized why. The monster''s hand that was grasping him just a moment ago was evaporating into nothingness. He was afraid that he was getting erased as well but instead, a gentle golden light covered his body and guided him away from the demonic creature.

    He wasn''t the only one that was being saved. Every person that was bound at that bloody circle was quickly floating away why shielded by bright energy. Soon they all were further away with their bindings gone.

    "W-what is that¡­"

    A woman pointed at the demonic being that previously swallowed up all those cultists with just a pointing of its finger. It was being held in place by some kind of golden figure. This figure looked to be of similar height but more majestic in outlook. It was some kind of being of energy that was bathed in bolts of lightning. At the moment the two beings were clashing in a contest of strength but the demon was losing.

    "Is that an angel?"

    "A holy spirit?"

    The people looked on in shock and awe while the two huge beings continued to fight. They were duking it out in close quarters combat, throwing punches filled with either divine or demonic energy. The previously scary monster with the brain sticking out looked a lot less intimidating the moment it started getting smacked around by this golden giant.

    "Please don''t stand around and evacuate."

    Suddenly a voice from above called out to them and the people could see a large flying ship descending their way. A group of people in shiny armor jumped out and started evacuating everyone to this flying vessel.

    The people that were previously sacrificed had no problem going with these knights in shining armor. It looked like they had come to save them in their time of need. Everyone was slowly carried off while the two powerful beings were fighting in the distance.

    When everyone arrived on the flying ship they saw another strange sight. There were two beautiful girls kneeling in the center of this ship''s deck. They were surrounded by armored men from all sides and their bodies were glowing. The glow was akin to the one that the being of light had which made Dorian connect the dots together.

    This was of course Beatrice and Isabella carrying out their soul resonance. The duo had been traveling the lands and searching for demon lords to defeat. This wasn''t their first rodeo either as this Demon lord of Terror was their third target.

    Soon a giant monstrous roar that could only belong to a massive beast was heard. Everyone gathered at the ship looked to it to discover a giant golden dragon discharging rays of energy into the ground below. Its aim was clearly the Archedemon that it was fighting, now not much remained from his body as he was melting away at this very moment.

    "Could it be¡­ the Twin Saint Priestesses?"

    Dorian looked at the person that called out from the side. It was a woman from his village and she was pointing at the two cute girls that were holding hands together.

    "The Saint Priestesses¡­"

    He knew that name, it was something that took the land by storm not even a month ago. First, there were some rumors that one of the Demon Lords was slain by an unknown entity. Then with time, another one fell not long after, the rumors suggested two v.i.r.g.i.ns bathed in light were always present when such a thing occurred.

    They commanded some kind of giant dragon emperor that could spit out lightning and control the holy elements. This had to be true as the beast that was slowly burning away the demon was an actual dragon that fit the description. The golden figure had somehow transformed into this majestic beast during the battle.

    Soon the energies from the surroundings faded and people were greeted to a giant crater that had been dug up by the dragon''s breath. The monster vanished soon into many tiny particles while the whole scene was illuminated by a clear sky and moonlight.

    The third Demon Lord was gone and the legend of the Twin Saint Priestesses continued. The two ''saints'' in question were not that happy about their new title. Their divine dragon wasn''t either as he was seen as nothing more than their contracted beast without a mind of its own.

    "Three down¡­ two to go!"

    A strange man dressed in a white robe appeared out from nowhere. Dorian and the rest glanced at him in bewilderment as he had some kind of strange otherworldly aura to himself. Soon he vanished into particles of light while the blond girls returned to normal. The fight was over and everyone rejoiced.

 Chapter 299

    Zhang Dong returned to the ship after crushing the demonic stone into dust. This was the third one that he had received. It was looking good on the outside but the search was slowly coming to an end. These monsters weren''t that hard to kill, finding them was the hard part.

    The massive protective barrier that separated the continent of the races from the demonic lands was an issue. These demonic lords had a hard time coming through to this side. He was already lucky that he managed to get to three of them in such a short amount of time.

    Even this Demon Lord of Terror was more of a fluke. The only reason that they found him was that his senses had expanded and he was able to sense a big spike of demonic energies. The cultists were also quite bad at hiding their tracks as they picked off people from close by villages without bothering to hide their tracks. Anyone that was lucky to be leftover was quick to report their movements to the authorities.

    "Bob, with this one what are the chances of returning back to my sector?"

    "The chances are 17,78%"

    Each nucleus had a different amount of energy which then increased the percentage by a random amount. It seemed that the stronger the Archdemon was the more percentages he would get.

    He had already asked Bob about the way back home. It wasn''t as hard for him to actually do it at this very moment. He would only need to design the proper teleportation formation and then focus all of the energies he had gained onto it.

    When he activated it he would be blasted to the same path between worlds. That would be where the absorbed nuclei would come into place. The energy from them would be required to tether himself back to his own world. As someone that was an owner of a body that belonged there, he would be able to materialize there without being a spirit like here.

    He required these cubes to be sure that he would make the journey back home. Depending on where he initially started out in, it would require more energy to find the connection. Then even more to make it.

    Bob even told him that if he was able to reach a realm above the nascent soul level then the cubes wouldn''t be required as much. He would be able to travel between worlds of his own accord. This was something that he couldn''t wait for, even getting to the great circle of the nascent soul level would take many years. Even more in a world without spiritual energy but mana that wasn''t that suited for his cultivation.

    This is why he needed to get as many of the nuclei from this world as he could. Otherwise, he could be lost between worlds forever. He was lucky enough to come in contact with this world during Beatrice''s summoning. The next time he tried there could be no Beatrice to pull himself to, then he would be left out in the void and die alone.

    "Twin Saint Priestesses! We are saved!"

    His attention turned to the two girls that were sweating. Their teamwork had gotten better and he was able to keep his form for longer while also adding more power. Ever since the first demon lord was killed rumors had been spreading about their adventures.

    He was doing most of the heavy lifting in sensing the Archdemons and actually battling them one on one. On the other hand, he as a summoned spirit was pushed into the background while the two Summoners that used him were at the forefront. Everyone praised them as the Twin Saint Priestesses or the Golden Saints. There were various other nicknames but the two were now very popular with the common people.

    Due to him requiring the Archdemon gems they traveled through the continent to demon-infested regions. They cleared them out one by one while watching out for the demon lords. Though he was doing most of the ''clearing out'' by disintegrating the demons with his lightning.

    ''The ungrateful life of the summoned spirit¡­ I wonder why you do it¡­''

    Zhang Dong looked at a water nymph that belonged to Isabella. Since the soul resonance, he could also access the other girl''s soul. Through it he could actually interact with the spirit she made a contract with.

    This spirit in particular had the appearance of a beautiful woman but regretfully he couldn''t converse with her well. He wanted to know more about the spirit realm as he wasn''t really part of it. This spirit wasn''t that chatty though and also could only perform basic commands. Due to his massive strength, she also saw him as someone to be listened to. He could actually overwrite Isabella''s commands that she placed on this spirit.

    After pulling the spirit into his own soul realm he had it interact with his soul beast. The dragon was actually happy to have someone else to play with. Though this water nymph wasn''t that fond of him and mostly turned to water whenever the big guy tried bothering her.

    ''Hey, you two. Get some rest and let us return to the city. The mana engine needs to be refilled.''

    He vanished after taking care of the Archdemon and left the two girls to tend to the crowd. With them around, he wouldn''t need to interact with the crowd at least.

    The academy life was over for now and they returned to a large city of Elfheim. This was this country''s capital and was the largest city in this world. Even though it was the biggest, the population was only at about two million. His own Spirit Spring City that he hailed from was way bigger. This world''s size and population was a lot smaller than the sun-sized world he came from.

    With time the ship arrived at the dock. Thanks to something akin to a magic floating stone it was able to remain up in the air. The mana engine was only needed for the propulsion speed while this strange rock kept it afloat.

    This place had been their base of operations. The Principal was an influential magic user, she gifted them her villa as a place to stay along with the Vice-Principal as help. The old man was necessary to get things going. Without someone with some status it would be impossible to just fly around the whole continent unchecked.

    Isabella''s father had also supplied them with many guards for protection. With them around, he could safely battle the demons while the girls concentrated on lending him mana.

    "Glad that you have returned."

    Elobarin greeted the two girls along with Zhang Dong that was saving his energy in his smaller form.

    "You should go rest, I bet the battle was hard-fought."

    "Not really, I think he was weaker than the last one. The ritual that those cultists were performing was incomplete."

    Zhang Dong replied while the Vice Principal chuckled. The old man wasn''t as afraid of him as he was previously. Leigong was now seen as a force for good and a powerful being that aided the people of the races. He knew that people talked behind his back, telling everyone that he was quite eccentric.

    "Is that so¡­"

    Elobarin rubbed his beard while chuckling but then looked to Zhang Dong as if he was worried about something.

    "Is there something more?"

    "Ah yes, there is such a thing but we shouldn''t talk about it here, let us return."

    Zhang Dong raised his eyebrow but nodded. The soul resonance wasn''t such an easy technique to perform. The girls were always tired afterward and needed at least a day to sleep it off before returning to normal.

    While moving down from these flying ship docks he looked at the city once more. There were various smaller devices flying around, not all in the form of a ship. There were also people like witches, magical beasts, various types of golems moving back and forth between everywhere. It looked quite busy, flight seemed to be a lot easier here than back home, probably thanks to items like the floating stone used in the ship.

    They all returned to the villa that the Principal provided for them. It was nothing compared to his own house back home but in this world, it would be considered quite large. Inside there were many maids with dog and cat ears alike. This time around they weren''t demons but just regular women.

    There was a barracks for the knights to stay in as well as a field for their training. They would normally head out for a week to scan the areas for potential demons. Though the one doing the scanning was him. The range he was able to monitor had increased but he wasn''t able to find any spots with more cubes. The only clue that he had were the Archedemons but after taking out three the trail started getting cold.

    "Are there any news about more Demons? We should rest up and head out tomorrow if it''s possible."

    Zhang Dong declared while the two sleepy girls yawned. They were inside the main room of this mansion with a few other people that joined them on this journey.

    "The young miss has to rest, there is no news of the demonic presence, we have done enough for now."

    Elobarin replied while scratching his beard. Zhang Dong on the other hand was a bit anxious about no news of any demonic lords around. It has been a month since they left the academy and he wasn''t even close to getting all of the nuclei.

    "Now now, there is no rush. Let us talk about other news, a letter from the royal castle arrived. They wish to invite young Beatrice and Isabella to the yearly royal ball."

    "The royal ball?"

    Beatrice, who was almost asleep, opened up her eyes wide after hearing this news. Isabella on the other hand narrowed them as if she wasn''t that keen on going there.

    "The ball¡­"

    "Mr. Leigong we must go, all the members of the royal family will be there¡­ what should I wear¡­''

    Beatrice started bouncing around as if the previous drowsiness didn''t exist. Soon both she and Isabella left to discuss some lady business. Zhang Dong on the other hand was left with Elobarin.

    "Will the king be there?"

    "Yes, he will but please you must not be rude to the king! That man''s temperament is something no one can control!"

    The old man started panicking while looking at Zhang Dong who just raised an eyebrow.

    "Have I ever been rude to anyone before?"

    "Well, there was that one time when¡­"

    "It was a rhetorical question! More importantly, the king is the person that could help me battle the Archdemons, maybe even organize a preemptive strike..."

    "P-preemptive strike?"

    Elobarin started panicking even more. Attacking the side of the demons was something that he didn''t think was possible but for Zhang Dong the time was ticking. He couldn''t wait months or years for the monsters to decide to attack.

    "Yes, we bring the fight to them¡­ Don''t worry, I''ll speak to him myself."

    "T-that''s why I''m worried¡­"

    The old man called out while Zhang Dong shrugged and vanished into his own soul realm. While waiting for this royal ball he would continue his cultivation.

 Chapter 300

    "Have you heard, another demon lord has fallen."

    "My gosh, doesn''t that make it three already?"

    "Yes, isn''t it grand? Do you believe that it is all thanks to the Hohenberg house? Who would have known that they were hiding such strength¡­"

    "It only took them this much while the royal family hasn''t been able to do anything¡­"

    "Shhh¡­ be quiet¡­ do you want to get your head cut off?"

    A group of noble ladies and noblemen were talking while surrounded by lavish decor. This was the place where the nobles gathered each year to promote their own houses. This large party was the perfect place to talk with powerful figures.

    High nobles like Dukes along with members of the royal family were required to participate. Thus the lower seated ones were always eager to speak with them. Everyone wanted their sons and daughters to be married off to well-off houses. This year around the Hohenberg house was quite prominent.

    The title of the Twin Saint Priestesses held power over the people. It gave them hope in this world filled with demonic beings. This wasn''t entirely good for the powerful ducal house that was behind them. With more fame came more troubles, other factions would see them as a foe that was trying to gain more power. This time they were stepping on the toes of the royal family.

    No monarch liked being questioned about their motives. Leigong the Lightning Emperor was making the actual Human Emperor look bad. During his rule, the demonic menace only spread and it didn''t seem that he was doing anything. He was a powerful individual that ascended to the throne early after battling his brothers for supremacy.

    Being powerful didn''t mean that he could freely move throughout the lands. He was required to stay in the capital as fear from a demon attack to their stronghold was a possibility. This didn''t keep the regular folk to spin rumors around of a powerful king not acting when his people needed him most.

    "What are you chattering about?"

    "Ahh¡­ nothing your highness, long live the king!"

    The group of nobles flinched at the appearance of someone from the royal family. It was one of the princes, they were all characterized by their colorful heads. This prince in particular had fallen out of favor after his arranged marriage to a powerful duke household had fallen through. His name was Ludwig and he was Zhang Dong''s favorite moss head.

    "Calm down prince, you shouldn''t mind such gossip."

    Carrot top was there to cheer up his lord that he was sworn to. Ever since Beatrice and Isabella started giving them the cold shoulder nothing was going their way. They lost a lot of funding from the royal family, Ludwig was now required to find another potential wife or beg Isabella to reconsider. This was also one of the reasons that he was hereafter knowing well that the two girls would be here.

    The ball was taking place in the grand castle of the Palodis Kingdom. It was the strongest Kingdom on the whole continent due to its military might. Due to the demon menace, the other countries were allied with each other but it was clear that if conflict would ever arise then this kingdom would be victorious.

    Elves were the most magically gifted and dwarves could build the strongest weapons but they couldn''t compete with humans when it came to battle. This race multiplied fast and was very adaptive while the others found it hard to change their ways.

    The second in power were the elves thanks to their aptitude for mysticism. The only problem was that their birth rates were small compared to the humans. They were outnumbered ten to one but somehow made up the difference in sheer magic might.

    The third were the dwarves, they had more people than the elves and used the underground as their kingdom. They were divided into many dwarven city-states and had a hard time in working together with each other since their last king died to one of the demon lords.

    These were the three main races with the others being too minor to matter in the big picture. Thus the human kingdom reigned supreme with their king taking the title of strongest man alive.

    "Now arriving Ladyship Beatrice Hohenberg of Dawn Lake and her grace Isabella Hohenberg of Dragonridge¡­."

    The people were slowly gathering and all eyes were on these two noble ladies. Some were more interested in the new upstart lady Beatrice. She was still an untapped resource that people weren''t sure how to treat. Isabella on the other hand had the Duke backing her, she couldn''t be approached as easily as someone that was a daughter of a baron.

    "Also...uh¡­"

    The man that looked like a high-class butler straightened out his tuxedo but continued to announce the peculiar arrival.

    "His Excellency, Lightning Emperor Leigong¡­"

    This was quite the peculiar sight, behind the two ladies that were all dolled up in costly dresses there was a man. He had an otherworldly feel to him and looked slightly different than these nobles. His hair was long and white as the whitest snow. His jawline was strong and made him look quite handsome. The ladies were quick to hide their gaping mouths behind their fans.

    People knew who he was but were surprised that a spirit would make an appearance at the royal ball. He was wearing a strange white robe with quite the assembly of costly-looking accessories. There were various gems and gold-like metals embedded into this more ceremonial-looking robe which made some nobles gulp.

    ''I guess we need to get through this one way or another, hope this king guy can lend me some help against the demons¡­''

    Zhang Dong had decided to show up in his regular human form. With Beatrice progressing at a steady pace he could hang out in the material world normally. This was also made possible with some artifacts that he fashioned for both his summoners. With limited resources and time, they were only able to slightly increase the mana that he was receiving.

    He was also able to remain at something around the early stage of core formation without the girls needing the soul resonance. If he actually fought anyone then Beatrice would be drained as always but with the bonus from her new items, she would last a lot longer.

    "Is that really the famed spirit that defeated the Demon Lords?"

    "It looks more human than I anticipated¡­"

    The people started whispering from the side while Zhang Dong remained close to the two girls. Whenever someone tried making a pass on Beatrice he would be there to glare and send some oppressing aura their way. There weren''t many nobles that could block something like this out so he proved as the best chaperone for the two young ladies.

    "Mr. Leigong¡­ you are scaring the Aristocats¡­"

    "Do you really want another Ludwig to pop up?"

    "N-no¡­."

    Beatrice shrunk down while looking around. She was a fish out of water and knew no one here. Isabella on the other hand was mingling with the crowd and smiling. This wasn''t the first time that she was at a party like this and she had her own circle of young ladies as well.

    The ones that left her up to dry at the academy were already banned from it but she was quick to replace them with new ones. There was a wide range of noble ladies willing to go to various lengths to get into Isabella''s circle of friends.

    "But you are right, I can''t protect you forever. Maybe you should join Isabella, I bet she will guide you through it."

    Zhang Dong urged Beatrice to go to Isabella''s circle, at least there she would be with someone that she knew. The moment she left he himself was ganged by nosy nobles. Mostly women for some reason that were enamored with his looks. Some of them even tried touching his hair or arms, though they found themselves quickly electrocuted.

    "This Lightning Emperor is spoken for, disperse you, harlots!"

    He could only cause a little scene which caused some of the nobles to laugh while the women that were trying to get his attention were quick to leave. The people here were quite more promiscuous than the ones back home.

    ''What''s wrong with them, are they possessed by some s.e.x demons?''

    Cultivators were more reserved and l.u.s.t was something akin to a demon that everyone tried to purge to progress"s with their cultivation. Here on the other hand the nobles were bored and willing to delve into more debauchery. As someone with children and a wife, he was unwilling to give in.

    ''Old gramps or Qiang would have a field day here¡­''

    He wanted to chuckle after remembering his own family and friends. Though his smile turned to a frown quite fast after being reminded that he was still stuck here with no certain way of getting home.

    For now, he became a wallflower with arms crossed over one another. He kept his gaze around the large ballroom that paled in comparison to the one he used during his wedding. Soon everyone had arrived and it was time for the big shot to make his appearance.

    "His Majesty, Alexander Angelo Palodis"

    The people looked up as a man dressed in a royal uniform and a big golden crown hovered down. Zhang Dong could feel some pressure coming off from this person, he was clearly utilizing his aura to keep people in check. Everyone hit by this aura was forced down to kneel.

    ''He really is stronger than a Demon Lord."

    Zhang Dong remained leaning up against the wall while this attack happened. Like most of the magic here it was aimed at the soul which was ineffective to someone like him that had already advanced his soul past the nascent soul level. The fact that he was the only person not kneeling wasn''t unnoticed by this king.

    King Alexander looked like a man in his late forties. He was large in stature and his might was very real. His hair was dark blue just as the well-kept beard that made him look more regal.

    He floated down onto his throne and moved his hand up. Soon the oppressive force subsided and everyone was able to stand up. Some of the nobles noticed the glances exchanged between the fabled spirit and the strongest man alive. It was a worrisome sight as people knew that the king had a short fuse.

    Luckily the king just leaned on his hand while closing his fist. The man that was previously doing the announcements then clapped his hands.

    "His Majesty is happy to be the host for the annual¡­"

    The man performed a practiced speech for the king while he continued to stare in Zhang Dong''s direction. It was clear that the show of resistance was something uncommon.

    ''Don''t think he likes me but without the girls supporting me I wouldn''t stand a chance.''

    Zhang Dong decided to keep up his poker face but he didn''t use any oppressive aura or soul attacks to get back at the man. He was a guest and acting out would be bad for Beatrice and Isabella. He was also here to get some help with the demon situation.

    "Get on with it."

    The King called out in a low tone to the man doing the speech.

    "My apologies, your Majesty. This Royal Ball will be a special one, I am glad to announce that the Hero Summoning ritual will be possible this very day."

    "Huh?"

    Zhang Dong gave out a perplexed sound while the people cheered out loud.

    ''They can summon heroes here?''

 Chapter 301

    "The hero summoning can be performed? What a wondrous occasion!"

    "It hasn''t been performed in many generations."

    "We might really be free of the demon lords and take back our lost lands!"

    The people cheered while Zhang Dong on the other hand was to the side listening. It sounded like the people here would be performing some kind of ''Hero Summoning''. If he went by the knowledge from his more nerdy days he kind of knew what this would bring.

    ''Will they really summon people from outside? Could they be from my original world?''

    He was the only one here that really understood from where these ''heroes'' were coming from. Just like him before they might be clicking on a strange email and getting transported. There could be other ways of them being transported here but one thing was clear.

    ''If they can summon people into this castle then one of the cubes must be close by¡­ probably right under it¡­''

    With this reveal came the good news. With a fully functional nucleus, he might be able to boost his chances of getting home. There were a few problems with this though.

    ''I don''t think this king will just let me dig under his castle, the cube might even be in the summoning chamber directly.''

    Zhang Dong was just a summoned spirit, he couldn''t just take the castle apart to find the item that he needed. The king was stronger than him in his current form, getting the girls to aid him against their own monarch would probably not be possible. There was also another problem with his plan, mainly these new heroes.

    What would happen if he took the thing that brought them here with him. After absorbing it, the cube would lose all of its teleporting capabilities. The people being brought over here would be stuck here forever.

    ''But is there even a way back home? I''ll have to observe and decide later¡­''

    There was a possibility of just swiping the cube and running for it. That wasn''t really his style though, his morals kept him from betraying Beatrice and the people that he was helping here.

    "We will be performing the summoning ritual soon, please everyone gather in the hall outside!"

    The person that looked like a high-class Buttler proclaimed while the nobles shuffled outside. Apparently, the ritual wouldn''t be taking place in any chamber but somewhere out of the castle.

    When everyone stepped outside they could see a cleared-out space. It was clear that there was something like a large garden or a hedge maze here before but it had been cleared out.

    Instead, there were five large pillars that were connected by a magic circle. Inside of it was a large podium that was surrounded by a pentagram. After reading all of the books he was sure that this was akin to a teleportation formation. He even tried to recall the one that he saw back in his own world, the one under the spot that he appeared in.

    ''It is similar...the cube might be below this area or somewhere in the general vicinity.''

    He wasn''t sure about the range these teleportation spots had. In his world, it was directly under the open field he appeared in but it was buried several kilometers below ground. If he didn''t have his system map he would have never found it in the first place.

    ''The range is still too small¡­''

    When the people were gathering he started to move around with his map out. There were no dark spots on it even when he was standing outside with the others. There was nothing more that he wanted to do but dig underground but he had to wait till this ceremony was over. First, he needed to see this so-called summoning ritual being performed.

    ''Bob, record everything that will be happening. Maybe if you get more data on this teleportation circle we can use it to get me home faster.''

    The problem of getting home was the route. Only after escaping this world would he be able to triangulate the world where his wife and kids were. But now when this grand summoning ritual was taking place there was a chance of getting more data. He might be even able to tell where these ''heroes'' were summoned from.

    "Isn''t it great Mr. Leigong, I would have never dreamed about being able to witness a hero summoning."

    Beatrice said while standing to the left of Zhang Dong.

    "This is truly a joyous occasion."

    Isabella commented while she was on the right along with some other nobles from her friend circle. There was a lot of space here so everyone could look at this ritual.

    "Hm, is it?"

    He replied while rubbing his chin. From his perspective being summoned to another world was a traumatic experience. Now if he was dropped off here with many strange noblemen and noble ladies looking at him he would be even more traumatized.

    There were guards and wizards all over the place. It looked like they were expecting a demonic being to appear there and not a hero. What would happen to the people that were forcibly brought over here?

    It looked like this king wouldn''t take a no for an answer. The heroes would probably start out fairly weak which would not help Zhang Dong with his situation. There was also a possibility that they would come with some kind of cheats included. This could hasten the process of them heading to the demon continent and getting the DemonKing.

    "Is there something wrong Mr. Leigong, you look troubled?"

    Beatrice turned to Zhang Dong, the white-haired man was intently looking at the summoning circle while everything was being prepared. Apparently thanks to the stars aligning in the right way this very moment it would be possible to summon these people. He himself knew that this was probably a lie and somewhere a cube was going to power this teleportation function.

    "Ah, it''s nothing."

    It was finally time to start the ceremony. Many mages in blue robes gathered around this summoning circle and there was a large number of mana stones gathered as well. These stones were similar to spirit stones but Zhang Dong wasn''t able to absorb their energy as he could with the ones from his own world.

    The king was just looking at everything from afar without even coming out from the castle. He was up on a large balcony and just sitting on a large chair. There were other people with him with various hair colors. It was clear that this guy had multiple spouses and children, Zhang Dong could spot at least 10 youths of various ages along with four women there. The king couldn''t hold a candle to Zhang Jin but probably for this type of world, he was in that ballpark.

    Soon the chanting commenced, the magical circle lit up in deep blue and started shining. The sun had already set so it was quite the mythical show. Tiny blue lights danced around while forming the spell formation.

    ''World rift detected.''

    Bob sounded the alarm while Zhang Dong looked up to the sky. The clouds were opening up as rays of blue light descended to this magic pentagram. With his enhanced vision he could see something in that hole in the sky. The image was flickering about but he could somewhat see into that world.

    ''Are those cars? ¡­ what country is that¡­ ''

    It was clearly a similar world that he came from, if it was the same was unknown. He couldn''t make out too much as the portal was opening from above the clouds so he could only see skyscr.a.p.ers and cars that looked like small ants.

    ''I think I have seen that tower somewhere, wait¡­ could it be?''

    "Now everyone, the stars will align, pour all of your mana into the summoning circle!"

    The main court mage shouted out while everyone focused. The magical pentagram started shining brightly and a column of light shot up into the sky above. It was really bright and even caused some of the nobles to avert their eyes. Zhang Dong on the other hand was staring at the whole display with much interest.

    ''Bob, try to find the nuclei, it will probably give off some kind of energy signal when this summoning spell is activated¡­ Also, what are my probabilities of survival if I jump through that hole in the sky right now?''

    ''Calculating¡­ data inconclusive¡­''

    ''I figured¡­''

    He could try jumping through this gate to another world but if he would be able to go through it was another thing. Then if he ended up in that world would he even be able to survive? What if it was his old mundane world and he would lose access to his system altogether? Then returning to his new home would be impossible.

    In the end, he decided against diving into the large hole in the sky. It was more probable to gather to just gather more cube energy here and draw up a teleportation circle himself.

    Soon more and more light burst through the sky and covered the entire area in warm light. Zhang Dong could feel someone slipping through the opening and being transported to this place.

    ''One¡­ two¡­ four people?''

    Even before the light stopped shining he could tell that there was more than one person present. The light began to fade and the opening in the clouds vanished from this world entirely.

    ''Bob, did you get it?''

    ''Affirmative, the location is 12¡­.''

    His trusty AI started listing him the geographical location of where the signal originated from. To his dismay, it wasn''t directly under this summoning circle but a bit to the side, which would put it directly under the castle. It was also quite far beneath the ground, further than the one that he spotted in his own world.

    ''Damn, that puts me out of range of Beatrice and Isabella¡­''

    If he ever wanted to go down there he would need to at least take Beatrice with him. How to explain the plan of digging down beneath the castle was something that he would need to come up with.

    "It''s the heroes!"

    "It really worked, the legendary heroes have arrived!"

    Some of the younger nobles cheered while looking at the platform where the people were summoned to. Everything was quite loud and the youths out on the platform looked quite confused.

    "Koko wa doko?"

    "Hm?"

    Zhang Dong listened to one of the summoned heroes speak up in a different language. This was a language that he was familiar with due to watching certain animated movies back in his old shut-in days.

    What he saw was a group of dark-haired Asians. There was one youth of about fifteen or sixteen years of age and around him were three young girls. The group of girls varied in age, size, and demeanor.

    There was the young sister type with twin tail hairs. There was the busty older sister with quite the chest. Then to end it there was the one in the middle that more or less was a combination of the two. The young man on the other hand looked quite average, he wasn''t that tall or muscular, just normal in all sense of it.

    "Is¡­ Is that a harem protagonist?"

 Chapter 302

    What Zhang Dong was looking at was a group of high school kids. They were wearing matching school uniforms and even carrying bags. It was clear that the summoning ritual forcefully pulled them over here.

    This was different from how he got here. After filling up that strange email his mind was transported into the body of Zhang Dong. His previous persona of Matt was slowly being fazed away through all these years.

    In his mind, he would always go back to his core beliefs but it was clear that he was slowly changing with time. Killing enemies and defending his loved ones was the biggest reason for that. Now he was a leader, one that needed to make hard decisions and prioritize the many over the few.

    Now, these four were put in a similar situation but instead of leading others, they were here to kill demons. Those creatures didn''t pose a threat to someone as powerful as he was but to non-combatants as these, it would probably be hard to stomach.

    He also robbed them of a few encounters by taking out three of these archdemons during his travels. Thus he might have saved them from actually having to participate.

    ''Were these children supposed to arrive here at this time?''

    Zhang Dong started thinking, he wasn''t here for long. Only about a month had passed since his arrival. If these youths came at this very moment the demons back in the academy wouldn''t have even shown themselves.

    If he took this as a generic plot to a movie or novel then the kids here would be the protagonists. They would go through their training phase slowly fighting progressively more powerful demons till finally taking out one of the demon lords. The ones he fought were of similar power but they got progressively stronger with each iteration.

    ''I wonder if they also have some kind of system like me¡­''

    He turned to Bob, his Ai companion. He wasn''t visible to anyone besides him here as he resided in his soul world and reacted to inner voice commands.

    ''Scanning¡­ scanning¡­ affirmative, signs of similarities to the user''s system detected.''

    After nodding he continued to look at the quartet. The kids sure looked confused with so many people staring at them. Even more, considering they were of a different race and from a different world. He didn''t notice it before but black hair was rarer here than blond or even the other exotic colors like green and blue.

    ''Interesting¡­ now what will this King do with these kids¡­.''

    "The heroes are here but the language they are speaking is foreign to us, mages!"

    The butler-looking person called out to the group of mages. They quickly moved in to deliver some kind of accessories which they then tried giving to the scared kids. They looked to be earrings, probably they would convert the sound and let the youths hear this place''s language.

    There was a slight problem that these people miscalculated. These adolescent youths weren''t that trusting of the people gathered here. Everyone was looking at them as if they were zoo animals. The smallest girl quickly went behind the oldest while the only male from the group tried going forward to block the approaching mages with his body.

    ''Hm, at least he isn''t a coward¡­ though I can see that he is quite afraid himself¡­''

    Zhang Dong could tell that the boy was sweating, his eyes were darting all around. It was clear that he was under a lot of stress but the mages continued pushing forward with outstretched hands, some of them even stepped forward while trying to put one of the earrings on one of the girls.

    "Hey, get away from me you weirdo!"

    The girl delivered a swift kick to the middle age mage that was going towards her. The man was clearly not expecting this as he fell on his butt while grasping his stomach. This girl looked like the more sporty type that was prone to anger, the look on her face was quite dejected.

    "Is everything okay¡­ the heroes look scared¡­"

    Beatrice commented from the side while everyone looked at the scene playing itself out. It was clear that these kids weren''t prepared for the summoning. The people here were quite mistaken in thinking that the heroes would just accept this sudden turn of events.

    Zhang Dong on the other hand knew very well how they felt. He also was scared when he first arrived in a strange new world. There were monsters lurking in every corner but he was lucky enough to have an iron body to protect himself. He wasn''t sure if these youths started out with enhanced capabilities. Their form of world travel was different than his so probably not.

    "Don''t worry, let me handle this¡­"

    The King that was hanging out in the back looked progressively angrier. If he didn''t do anything about this, there could be consequences for these rowdy high schoolers.

    Thanks to him being quite of a weeb in his old days he had sat through many anime shows alike. Now with his enhanced intelligence, he was able to piece the language together that he once heard. The people here couldn''t understand what these scared youths were saying but he on the other hand could.

    "Wait, what is that spirit doing¡­"

    The king wasn''t alone in his booth, he was there with his current queen as well as with his concubines. His children and current crown prince were also here. This young man was in his early twenties and had a similar stern look like his father.

    "Interesting¡­ let us see what that spirit does¡­"

    The king proclaimed which made everyone in this booth quiet down. Anyone besides the crown prince was afraid to utter a word, even he went silent the moment his father spoke up.

    Down on the ground Zhang Dong had arrived at the scene of the summoning. Even before speaking to the high schoolers, he had Bob perform more scans on this area.

    "Calm down, no one is going to hurt you."

    He proclaimed in Japanese while looking at the group of four. The girl that kicked the mage managed to get herself his staff and was now swinging it around against the others. The young man on the other hand was shielding the other two girls with concern in his eyes.

    "W-what is this place, who are you people?"

    "This is going to take a while to explain but let me ask you this first, are you really from Japan?"

    The four looked at each other and then back to the somewhat imposing Zhang Dong. He was much larger than the kids and also looked out of place even among these mages. It was normal for them to also fear him but he was the only one that could speak their language.

    "Y-yes, but where are we?"

    Zhang Dong wanted to ask them about things concerning his old world. Things like the president from a popular country or what year it was. These youths could be from an Earth similar to his but not from the actual one that he came from. First, he had to talk them down and accept those earrings though, without them they wouldn''t be able to communicate.

    "Well, this is another world. These people have summoned you to be their heroes. A somewhat selfish reason if I might add."

    "Another world?"

    The boy asked while his eyes got big.

    "Yes, I bet you saw many shows or read some books, it should have been a very popular genre in fiction¡­"

    "How can this be another world? Take us back home!"

    The sporty girl shouted out while pointing at him with the stolen mage staff.

    "I wish I could but I''m not the one that summoned you here, it was the people from this world."

    "From this world? You speak as if you don''t belong here¡­"

    The one that spoke out now was the oldest girl with the largest assets that was hugging the youngest girl against them. Zhang Dong wanted to not disclose the information about him coming from a different world. He didn''t really know the character of these four, telling them all of his secrets could bite him in the behind down the line.

    Yet he felt a kinship with them. They were as he was, tossed into another world without any notice. The only real difference was that they weren''t alone when coming here but they also weren''t quite as strong. He could tell from just looking, they were just regular untrained humans. There was a certain potential behind them though, probably attributed to a similar system that he had.

    "You''re quite observant, yes I''m also like you, a person from another world, though my origins are a bit different than yours¡­"

    The four looked at him while he tried to smile. Being soft-spoken and kind-looking wasn''t really his forte. Mostly what he did was look mysterious or be a reliable teacher. He was still working on the reliable part though.

    "What are they talking about, shouldn''t we stop them? How does it know the language of the heroes? Was it a hero before?"

    People at the sidelines continued to watch as the summoned Spirit that belonged to Beatrice conversed with the Heroes. There were a lot of rumors about him, maybe now they would think that he was some kind of born-again legendary hero.

    "Enough, tell them to accept the magical devices."

    A rumble was heard from behind as the King finally spoke out. His voice wasn''t loud but thanks to the infusion of mana it could be heard by everyone here. The group of high school kids trembled for a second as the voice and mana that was carried with it washed over them. It was something that their bodies weren''t used to so they instantly dropped down to their knees while panting.

    "This guy has no tact¡­"

    Zhang Dong waved his hand which caused the mana that was pushed out by the King to vanish. It looked like the man was trying to assert some dominance over these kids here. Regretfully if it came down to a fight, in his current state Zhang Dong would be on the losing end.

    "We don''t have much time, listen here. Don''t trust the King and the people here, they just want to use you but for now, you will have to follow their instructions. The earrings that they offered you will allow you to understand their language. You probably aren''t aware of it yet but you have certain capabilities that will let you grow strong in a short amount of time. Use this time well but with some luck, you won''t need to act."

    Zhang Dong quickly told them the bare bones of what they needed to know. The most important fact was not to trust the people here. They would probably try to pull them to their side and use them as disposable pawns in their fight against the demons. What would happen to them after that was done was up to debate.

    "I''ll try to visit you later, for now just listen to what they tell you but be careful and best to keep our conversation for yourself."

    He picked up an earring that had fallen down and handed it to the male of the group before heading out. While leaving he looked at the king that was glaring in his direction.

    ''Ah, he has such a punchable face¡­''

    After groaning inwardly he decided to go back to Beatrice and the group she was in. The heroes finally decided to put on the earrings and the ceremony continued, now without his involvement.

    ''I wonder if I could dig up that cube... Well, not like it''s going anywhere. I can focus on the demons, for now. Then come back and dig it up later...''

    He thought to himself while moving back to his summoner, the day as not yet over so he would take his time to keep an eye on these new world travelers.

 Chapter 303

    "Sato-kun are you sure we can trust that person¡­"

    "I don''t know¡­"

    "I don''t like that king, he had a condescending look!"

    The group of youngsters were talking while gathered in one room. This was already the following day after the summoning occurred.

    All of them were on the way to school while they were trapped in the summoning ritual. The male youth of the party was called Sato Takeshi. He was just a regular average boy at the age of sixteen. The only thing that caught a person''s eye when looking at him was how average he was.

    Then there was his class mate Takagi Ami. She was the one that kicked the mage when he was offering them the earrings. She and Takeshi were childhood friends and had known each other since they were small.

    Lastly, there were two sisters, Sakura that was the youngest at 13, and Yua Yamamoto was the oldest at 17. They were his neighbors and all of them always met up on the same street while going to school. This time on the other hand they were blasted into a foreign land and greeted by magical beings.

    "The king was scary but the prince was¡­"

    Sakura blushed a bit while happily munching on some sweets that were given to them by the castle maids. All of them were being treated quite well, given new fashionable clothes and interesting food that they had never tasted before.

    "Which one? There were like¡­ five of them?"

    "Hm¡­ the one with green hair!"

    Sakura replied after Ami asked her this question. The girl tried remembering which one that was but there were two that fit the bill. The shades of hair colors in this world were quite confusing.

    "What about that white-haired man? They called him Leidong? Do you think he is more trustworthy?"

    Yua asked Sato again while the other two girls were eating the sweets. It looked like those two weren''t taking things as seriously as the rest.

    "I think it was Leibong. He did speak our language but I''m not sure we can trust him either, he might be hiding something from us"

    "That guy? Are you sure you aren''t jealous of his looks Takeshi?"

    Ami smirked at the youth while he frowned at the question. It was true that he couldn''t compare in any shape or form to that Leigong character but that wasn''t the problem. This person was apparently like them, from another world. He also placed a seed of doubt in them by telling them not to trust the king or the people here.

    "That person wasn''t wrong, the people here are strange¡­ they are letting us have all these things but we aren''t allowed to leave this room without an escort¡­"

    Ami said while finishing up some food. It might have seemed like they were being wined and dined but there was a restriction placed on them. They were unable to go out, they needed to ask for permission. Even now there were armored guards outside this very door and they were placed here to wait for further instructions.

    "What do you think big sis?"

    Yua thought for a moment before smiling and clapping her hands together.

    "I think we can trust that person, he seemed genuine."

    "If big sis says we can trust him, then we can trust him!"

    The youngest girl with the twin tails commented while moving both her hands up into the air.

    "I''m very happy that I am so trusted!"

    A manly voice resounded through this room and the youngsters jumped up the moment they heard it. It was clearly the voice of the man they spoke to previously. The group wasn''t wearing the translation earrings at this moment and speaking in their native language. The white-haired man was the only one that could understand them here.

    "C-cute¡­"

    The first to notice him was the youngest girl. Zhang Dong had squeezed in through the closed window as a mass of magic particles and reformed his body into his small form. He was now a rather cute version of himself at a whole eleven inches of height.

    "By the way¡­ It''s Leigong, not Leidong..."

    He had decided to pay them a visit. After he was done with his talk he was unable to converse with the kids anymore. They were moved over to meet up with the king, there a long-winded speech ensued about needing their help to save the world. They were clearly trying to somehow bring them over to their side. It was clear to him that they only saw these kids as a potential war asset.

    The visit with the king wasn''t the only thing that they went through. They were also clued in about their versions of the system. Previously Zhang Dong had figured that there was no such thing as that in this world but that was only for the regular people living here. These youths on the other hand were different.

    They were able to access a game-like interface that closely resembled an RPG game system. They apparently had things like strength, agility, intelligence, and other attributes that they could see themselves. It was somehow similar to his own system but he could only measure people by cultivation levels. This system that the kids had was a bit different and more akin to a game than his own.

    Only these high schoolers had access to it just like him. After the activation, they were taught to use some skills like identification. They just needed to concentrate a bit on the desired item or person and think about it. They would then have a description of it in their status. The description depended on the intelligence stat and the skill level and also on the level difference.

    If they tried to examine Zhang Dong they would only get question marks. This was also what most of them were doing. The question marks along with the red color proved that he was way out of their league.

    "You won''t be able to see my statistics, even if you strain your eyes that much, little missy¡­"

    Sakura the youngest one was not good at hiding her attempts at scanning.

    "Who are you calling little? You''re shorter than me!"

    "Hah, this form is only temporary. You on the other hand are probably past your growth spurt."

    Sakura was quite short compared to the rest of the young people here, even for her age she would be considered quite meager. He wanted to laugh as the young girl started going red in the cheeks and pouting. The other youths in the room weren''t that relaxed though and he couldn''t fault them for it.

    "Getting used to the new world? I see they have you under lock."

    He floated around in his small form which made the kids realize that this was really a different world filled with magic.

    "Don''t be concerned, I just wanted to discuss a few things with you. If everything goes as planned you will be able to return back home without even facing any demon or monster."

    The small group had heard about the battle against the demons that the people were having but there wasn''t anything specific. They were to train with some knights and get used to the equipment. Each and every one of them had some specialized skills along with a corresponding Hero class.

    Takeshi had the ''Sword Hero'' class, Yua had the ''Healing Hero'' Class, Sakura was a ''Mage Hero'' and Ami was a ''Fist Hero''. Two close-range fighters and two supports looked to be your generic setup, the thing they lacked was a thief or an archer.

    From the class names, it was painfully obvious what archetype everyone was given. The only male in the group had the popular sword as the main weapon. It seemed like he would be the main character while the girls acted more as supporters.

    Even now Zhang Dong could feel like there was something off here. After further examination and with the help of Bob he figured out why. Takeshi was apparently the only one with a full system while his friends had only some pseudo ones that were connected to his own. It was clear that he was the protagonist of this story just like Matt as Zhang Dong was of his own.

    "Why should we trust you?"

    Takeshi stepped forward while looking down at the smaller Zhang Dong.

    "Would you rather trust that King? Or did you fall for one of the princesses already?"

    He was on the sidelines during the introduction but the King of this country didn''t act very welcoming. He just sat there on his throne while not saying much. He had one of the princes use his charm on the girls while a pink-haired princess was all over Takeshi. The youth acted similar to him when he had his first experience and was probably still shaken up to this very moment.

    "He is right, you had a dirty look on your face Takeshi¡­ animal!"

    Ami commented while the three girls looked at the boy. They were clearly judging his performance from the day ago.

    "Don''t worry I''m not judging you but you have to hold back those hormones. You girls weren''t better off, I saw you looking at that princes¡­"

    Moss'' head was quick to strike in trying to get into the good graces of Ami here. One of the older brothers on the other hand moved into court the other young ladies. They were all good-looking young men and women, these kids here stood no chance to their allure.

    "What, I was not looking¡­"

    "Oh my¡­"

    Ami denied it all while Yua just grasped her cheeks and blushed. He wasn''t really blaming them for acting like this as this was clearly done to keep them in check. Every hero would probably have a member of the royal family assigned to them like this. They were all beautiful in their own way and looked exotic to these youths.

    "Well, I could teach you a skill to clear your mind and not be affected by your hormones if you let me but first we need to discuss some things."

    Zhang Dong had sneaked in here before the youths could be led out to train. Thanks to Isabella''s water spirit that could camouflage herself quite well he was able to gather some information.

    They were planning to train the heroes up while also not allowing him to move as freely anymore. The king had ordered Isabella and Beatrice to remain in the city for now and also they were to help the heroes progress. They would be assigned to be their party members which meant that they would have to wait for them to grow enough.

    He wouldn''t just sit there twiddling his thumbs around, he had to figure out a way to get out of here sooner. The king was blocking him from moving forward into the demonic continent where the other demon lords resided. Taking him out was not an option as this would make Beatrice and Isabella an enemy of the whole kingdom.

    The only way out was to make these kids progress faster and for that, he needed to know how their system worked. By knowing the ins and outs he was thinking of doing some good old-fashioned power leveling.

    Luckily apparently below this very castle, there was some strange dungeon that only opened up when the heroes were summoned. It appeared to be the training spot for them, maybe there he could raise their levels to the stratosphere.

    "Let us start with how I got here and then I can explain my plan to you¡­"

 Chapter 305

    A set of large doors were opened and a man dressed in a colorful tunic walked through them. He had his head lowered and quickly dropped down to one knee. Silence filled the room only when he heard the order did he reply.

    "Speak."

    "Yes my King, we have news concerning the dungeon."

    "Mmm, how far have they gotten? Don''t tell me that they weren''t able to even get to the 10th floor?"

    "No my King, actually¡­"

    The man that came with the news stopped himself before speaking out as if scared to utter the next sentence.

    "Get on with it!"

    A malicious magical aura filled the room and brought the man down to both his knees.

    "T-they completed the dungeon all the way to the 99th level and the heroes managed to find all of the holy weapons!"

    The man was quick to reply and felt the weight be removed the moment he finished the sentence. He managed to peek up and noticed that the King had an unusual facial expression. Most of the time he looked mad and grumpy but this time around he seemed to be confused.

    "It''s only been two weeks, how is this possible. The heroes of old were said to have spent many months before being able to complete it."

    "W-well my king¡­ actually¡­"

    "What is it now!"

    The king smashed his hand into his large chair which made people flinch.

    "They had apparently reached the 98th level within a week¡­"

    The messenger painted a picture for the king. From what they knew the spirit that belonged to Beatrice was helping the youths gain levels at an increased pace. He would disable monsters for them and they would only deliver finishing blows.

    The dungeon was a magical place built by an old sage from days past. No one really knew how it worked but it activated when the heroes arrived. The creatures inside would somehow miraculously regenerate themselves after a while and give the heroes power after they were slain.

    This place was used to get the heroes up in strength to face the demon lords. It was there to put them on a somewhat equal footing or so said the legends.

    Due to Leigong''s involvement what should have been a tiresome process of combat changed to a small expedition. The man reported that this spirit bulldozed through the lower levels not even giving the heroes a chance to level up. Only at about the middle level did he start letting them perform attacks.

    Unbeknownst to the king and his aides, Zhang Dong was just performing a basic power leveling tactic. There didn''t seem to be any restrictions so he chose the strongest monsters available for the heroes to kill.

    This was just basic mathematics. Why let the heroes fight monsters that gave 10 experience at a time when he could just let them deliver a critical blow to one that gave 1000 experience points. Holding them down didn''t seem to work against him, it was as if the system didn''t see his involvement as anything out of the ordinary.

    The dungeon would end after the last boss was defeated so after arriving at the 98th floor he took the chance to level the kids up as far as they could. Only after the monsters started giving meager rewards did they move up to the final boss.

    "It seems that the last floor was actually completed by the heroes without the spirit''s involvement¡­"

    The king had retainers keeping an eye on everything happening in the dungeon. They did allow Beatrice and Isabella to participate thanks to their spirit. The king wanted to keep an eye on them and there was nothing better than examining how the spirit does against the dungeon monsters.

    He had no way of knowing that they would finish it in about two weeks. The people that he sent inside weren''t even able to send consistent reports. Everything was happening too fast as the whole hero party steamrolled through the monsters inside the dungeon.

    The magical devices that they had to communicate with the outside were apparently also not working correctly. There was always static and it was hard to make out anything. Also due to the fast pace, there wasn''t that much time to make a proper report. Even less when the scary Lightning Emperor was looking over their shoulders.

    "So they managed to complete the secret dungeon?"

    "Yes, my Liege!"

    The man replied after being finished with the report. The dungeon went down and the party had food to last them for a month but no one expected for something like this to happen. The king thought that he would have half a year to slowly work on the heroes.

    When they were weak and gullible it was the perfect time to place a seed of doubt in them. He was afraid that if they got too powerful they could turn against him. This was also why he was using his offsprings for courting.

    He hoped that they would control the people from the other world through their emotions. The king even encouraged his kids to have s.e.x.u.a.l relations as a baby would tie the heroes to the royal family. Only with strong bonds like those would he be able to relax.

    "It''s that blasted spirit isn''t it? No¡­ could it be¡­"

    Before continuing with his train of thought the king waved his hand to indicate that the messenger was allowed to leave. The man just bowed and quickly removed himself from the throne room glad that he could finally go rest.

    "Bernard."

    "Yes, your Majesty?"

    The man that looked like a high-class butler appeared from the side and bowed before the king.

    "What do our spies say at the Hohenberg house? Did they start moving?"

    "Our people haven''t been able to find anything out of place, it would seem that the Duke isn''t involved."

    "Impossible! Damn incompetent fools, tell them to get more information!"

    The king started to rage while also causing his throne armrest to splinter into tiny chunks with his fist. The man called Bernard remained standing while being able to hold his composure. It was as if he was used to these outbursts.

    Others could feel the castle rumbling as the King continued to let his emotions out. In time he managed to calm himself and sat back down on his destroyed throne.

    "The Hohenbergs might still be holding a grudge since ''that'' incident. This spirit might be just the beginning, prepare the men, make sure that everyone is on alert, and increase the guards. Be sure to question the members that were with the hero party, we need to know if those Hohenberg''s are plotting anything!"

    Since Leigong showed up the King couldn''t stop worrying. The spirit outmatched him in strength, the magical soul attacks were unable to harm it in any way. He was quite certain that if he struck fast he could take out the summoners before this spirit could act. The king was a very cautious man, there were far too many unknown factors here.

    There were situations where a spirit went berserk the moment their summoner was slain. It could function for a couple of minutes which could be enough to deliver a deathly blow. This was mostly the reason why he hadn''t done anything, fearing that this overpowered spirit could kill him after he crippled its summoner.

    There was also the whole predicament with Duke Hohenberg. The man had a large territory and army of flying dragons. The man could also come asking for trouble or even go to another kingdom for aid. There was too much risk in acting for now but something had to be done as the heroes had progressed away from schedule and before he could prepare more contingencies.

    Before a new plan of action could be thought through the whole castle started to rumble. It started off slowly but soon transformed into a giant earthquake that caused the marble floors to crack.

    "What is this? Is the Demon King attacking?"

    The magical king spread his senses to try to find the cause of these tremors. But even when he looked far and wide he couldn''t spot any demonic energies or any foreign attackers coming from outside. His attention was then moved towards the lower regions and he noticed something.

    "T-the secret dungeon is crumbling?"

    He could feel that the many tunnels that were below the castle started to cave in. It wasn''t an attack from outside, nor did any monsters pour from within the premises. The dungeon that was under the castle for many generations started to crumble.

    "How could this be, the legends never said anything about this?"

    The man looked to his retainers that were running around like headless chickens. The castle was shaking violently while slowly sinking down. This wasn''t the first time that a hero summoning had been done. The dungeon was used by previous generations and even after the last boss was slain nothing like this was written down in the texts of old.

    During the chaos, he also felt something, a massive surge of power coming from below. His eyes went wide as this strange power even overshadowed his own. Soon the person to whom this power belonged appeared.

    He was hard to distinguish due to the large golden bubble of light surrounding him and his companions.

    ''It''s that damn spirit again¡­ how could he be this powerful?''

    The large sphere of holy energy burst through the ground and was now floating above the whole castle. It continued to shake and sink down into the ground for a good couple of minutes before about one-third of it was below ground. At that point, the shaking finally subsided.

    Soon the inside of the sphere was revealed to have people inside. Beatrice, Isabella, and the heroes were all there. So were the people that the king had sent along on the expedition, all royal family members included.

    Beatrice and Isabella were holding hands while channeling their power thus allowing Zhang Dong to reach his powered-up state. This state had gone up slightly since the start of the trip and was above the King in power.

    "What is the meaning of this!"

    The same king wasn''t amused after spotting Zhang Dong and the others. It was clear to him that they were somehow responsible for this disaster. In a fit of rage, he gathered his magical energies and flew towards this large bubble of power. Heading straight on a collision course for the group.

    But as soon as he was near he saw the spirit called Leigong look at him. His eyes were glowing and he had a strange otherworldly aura of holy energies covering his body.

    "An Emperor doesn''t take orders from a King, begone human!"

    Leigong''s eyes glowed in a fierce hue before a massive surge of energy descended on the King of humans. He tried to protect himself but was unable to fight against this massive aura that this spirit gave out.

    For the first time in his life, he was forced to retreat and this was done by his enemies'' aura attack that overtook his own magical energies. Other people looked on from the sides as they saw their king fall down like a wet noodle and leave behind a small crater on the ground.

    What was left was an astonished group that finally floated down from the sky. Leigong''s face remained without emotions as he looked at the human king that wasn''t able to contend with his power.

    ''Hm, did I overdo it? Think he did receive the message though¡­''

    Zhang Dong could see a glint of fear in this man''s eyes. Which was what he was aiming for. The expedition was more fruitful than he anticipated and he also received a nice reward at the end.

    In his hand was what looked like a square box. This cube soon crumbled into dust and faded into the scenery.

    ''This brings me closer to my goal¡­ Don''t worry, I''ll be back soon.''

 Chapter 306

    Zhang Dong hovered above the partially sunken castle. It was still the tallest building in this city even though a third of it was now below ground. With him were all of the hero party members and also Beatrice and Isabella. Everyone was looking down with mixed expressions after he had sent the king blasting away to the ground.

    "... D-did you have to do that?"

    "He was asking for it!"

    He replied to Beatrice while shrugging.

    "I could take him out if you want, just lend me some of that power."

    A big grin appeared on his face while the two girls waved their heads to indicate a refusal to this option. They were already powering down so Zhang Dong was running on fumes but he was sure to give the King a little scare. From what he could tell, this stunt had worked and he had successfully planted some doubt in this magical king''s heart.

    "No, please don''t do that¡­"

    Finally, the group started to descend down into a mostly undestroyed area outside of the castle. Everyone was still baffled by how far it sunk down to where the dungeon they were previously in was.

    Zhang Dong started to recall what transpired down below and how this predicament came to be. It was mostly what the spies reported to the king. They all moved quite fast while he disabled the monsters for the heroes to defeat. For some reason he could function better the further down they descended and he attributed it to the cube that he had found below.

    The last chamber on the 99th floor had a giant hydra monster with many heads lurking. It was supposed to be the hero''s final test which they succeeded in doing even without his help.

    After taking time to overlevel them to the fullest the boss monster was easy to beat. It had a rather easy-to-read fight pattern which the four youths could counteract with their skills. Due to their increased stats, the monster was unable to hit them or even deal much damage. When it did the healer of the party could just bring everyone back to full health without losing many mana points.

    While the fight was underway Zhang Dong activated his map while making sure that no one would die. There he realized that there was a large black spot that he couldn''t examine and it was right past this chamber.

    After the Hydra was slain it disintegrated into tiny particles of mana. These went into the heroes but some were carried down into a certain chamber. In there they found the legendary weapons that were meant for the heroes.

    Sword for the sword hero, gauntlets for the fist hero, and so on. They all looked like ancient artifacts with cool designs. In Zhang Dong''s eyes, they weren''t all that great and about the level of high earth grade treasures. If he had had the materials he could fashion a half step heaven grade weapon.

    This treasure room wasn''t all, he soon discovered a nearby wall that followed a similar pattern to the one he saw in his own world. He was scanned like before and allowed to enter the chamber inside.

    It was a carbon copy of the cube room that he saw back then. He didn''t just snatch it like a greedy madman. He had Bob do a few scans and answer a few questions. The biggest problem he had was leaving these kids here out to dry.

    When he took this item he would sentence the youths to a long life here. They already had superpowers but would not be strong enough to go against nations. He couldn''t just leave them here without being sure that they wouldn''t get in trouble.

    They might be like him and actually, like the new world they live in but they were a lot younger than he was when this happened. While he was an a.d.u.l.t that had taken a bad turn in his life and the new world was a chance to start anew. These youths weren''t even in their twenties, they never even had a chance to spread their wings at home.

    Luckily after some scans, Bob informed him that it would be possible to triangulate the world that the youths came from with this cube. He would need to use up some of the stored power but there would be some left for him to use.

    This was an acceptable resolution to the problem. After defeating the demon king and the rest of the demons he would be able to send the kids back home by himself. He wouldn''t even need to come back here as the schematics for the teleportation formation were already in his head.

    The only problem was the moment he decided to reach for this cube. Bob had forgotten to tell him that the whole dungeon would collapse when he did that. This was new to him as no such thing happened back in his own world. Here on the other hand the moment he absorbed the energy the whole place began to shake.

    Everyone started panicking and he quickly returned outside. The whole place was collapsing onto itself and the whole group of people was trapped 99 levels underground. It was all up to him to save everyone, with the help of Isabella and Beatrice he powered up and protected everyone with his barrier.

    The rest was history, now he was looking at a somewhat slanted sunken castle and a surprised King. He was sure to raise his chin up to look quite lofty, just like an Emperor would act. He needed to sell his superiority and that he wasn''t afraid of this man in any sense or form.

    In reality, he would probably be downed by one punch if this guy decided to attack him now. His power level was still at the lower end of core formation even absorbing the cube didn''t really help him with that.

    "Father!"

    "Daddy!"

    The members of the royal family could see their father slowly getting up from the rubble. His hair was messy and his royal robe was also dusty. This was the first time they had ever seen him taking a loss like this. They were still afraid of his might so they didn''t comment much about it.

    Before they could move towards him the king moved his hand up to stop them. All of them soon parted to the side while the King looked to the white-haired spirit and the heroes behind him.

    The King continued to stare for a moment, the people here gulped as they could see sparks flying between the two older men. Soon the royal guards arrived at the scene to back up the king, the moment they arrived the old man gave out a snort and turned around.

    Soon he started flying away while his own kids began to chase after him. Zhang Dong turned around as well, he wanted to compliment himself on his poker face skills that were now almost perfected.

    "Mr. Leigong was that really necessary?"

    "Of course it was."

    Beatrice asked and slumped her shoulders forward after Zhang Dong was quick to reply. The four heroes behind them started to laugh as after the journey in the dungeon they started to open up.

    It was clear to them now that Zhang Dong was a person from their own world. At least from one that was quite similar. They had the same politicians and countries as well as continents.

    The date was also really close, the time in his original world seemed to be moving slower as it looked that only about a month had passed since his disappearance. For him, it was already years, if he returned he could probably just say that he went through a midlife crisis and return to his old life.

    This was not something that he wanted to do. Why return to a dead-end job when he was a respectable Patriarch? The only thing that his old world had going for it was the internet and video games. Now after spending time as a powerful cultivator such things as video games lost their appeal. Though there were a few things that he missed, arguing on the internet while being anonymous was one of them.

    "Are you sure you should be doing that?"

    Takeshi asked while holding his large sword over his shoulder. The youth was now fitted in a shiny new armor along with a brand new sword. His companions had also found ''legendary'' items that somehow all fit their frames perfectly. Though the caster girls were wearing robes one black and the other white.

    Zhang Dong turned his head to the group of youngsters. He wasn''t sure why but Takeshi looked a lot manlier now than just two weeks ago. It could be due to the stats increase which somehow also affected his stature. Gone was a mostly skinny boy and now he was looking at a toned strapping young lad.

    His tone had also changed and he sounded a lot more confident in himself. He mostly went through a week''s worth of monster-killing but this was apparently enough to make his character shift. The only thing that could have done this so fast was his system, it had somehow boosted the youth''s confidence.

    ''I wonder if it was affecting me as well before that¡­''

    His mind went back in time to his own journey forward. He had used system points to buy the Tranquil Mind skill which then made him a lot calmer. Since then he had his head in the game but he could say that this was the system''s effect and not him growing as a person himself.

    ''As long as I wrap this up within this month they should be fine when they return home¡­''

    Bob didn''t confirm anything as he didn''t have any data but he wasn''t sure what would happen to this system once it was through with the user. When sending the boy back would this system remain with him or would it vanish?

    He knew that there was someone working in the background making these systems but for what reason he had no idea. There was a certain risk in sending the boy and the girls home with an intact system.

    Would they be safe and sound, or would they explode when passing through to their original world? Bob continued to tell him that he doesn''t have enough data but after absorbing some more nuclei he could formulate an answer. Zhang Dong would need to wait until after he took out the demon king.

    "Don''t worry, that King might be overbearing but he isn''t stupid. He won''t act unless he is 100% sure that he will be victorious. Why do you think he never attacked any of the demon lords?"

    He answered while the group reorganized themselves. It was time to rest before asking for the construction of an attack force. If everything went well, they would be finally organizing an attack against the demonic beings.

 Chapter 307

    The word that the Heroes had been summoned reached the masses. The kingdom was unable to hide this fact after the large castle sunk down into the ground. They had to somehow appease the commoners that thought that their capital had been attacked by the demonic beings.

    Soon the heroes with their brand spanking new legendary weapons were getting paraded around the city. Since leveling up Takeshi started to change, both in his looks and demeanor. He started acting c.o.c.ky and was clearly enjoying how everyone looked at him with a twinkle in their eyes.

    Zhang Dong was examining everything from the background. Ever since they got back from the castle things were being prepared. There was no reason for them to wait anymore but it would take some time to rally the troops.

    Due to Zhang Dong''s power leveling, the youths levels had skyrocketed. They had probably reached a level that was above what they normally should after that dungeon. Instead of slowly fighting their way through normal enemies and then taking out a boss monster they were grinding on those very boss monsters instead.

    The amount of experience had no cap which allowed them to reach a power level at the core formation level. With the weapons and armor and considering that there were four heroes, it could be possible for them to take out a demon lord. That is if their teamwork was satisfactory but there wasn''t really time for something like that to occur.

    Easy kills thanks to Zhang Dong had made these kids powerful in general stats but that didn''t mean that they had good battle sense. An experienced opponent with lower stats and worse skills could be able to defeat them.

    ''I wonder if it''s the system''s fault¡­ I made him reach close to his maximum potential. The nascent soul early stage is probably as far as anyone can go in this world.''

    Zhang Dong could only speculate as his own system was somehow damaged when he almost died against the early stage nascent soul pride demon. But after Takeshi entered the core formation level of strength there was a shift in how he behaved.

    He started looking forward to the battles even taking on monsters and demons alone. Even without Zhang Dong''s help, he started to be able to mow down his enemies. The difference in stats and skills was apparent.

    There was a certain skill that allowed the kid to look at the world in slow motion while also being able to think fast. Due to it, he was almost able to react to anything coming his way. Zhang Dong started seeing him transitioning from a scared young man to a daredevil. The three other girls weren''t as bad but they also seemed to grow to like the battling.

    ''Could the system affect someone''s psyche? Or was this something that was always in them from the start?''

    "Hey Bob, can you access Takeshi''s system if I pull him into my soul dimension?"

    "Not enough data¡­possibility of the task at 27%"

    "I thought so¡­"

    "Accessing user Takeshi''s system may prove fatal to user Matthew. Current user''s location could be discovered by an Overseer, caution is advised."

    "An Overseer?"

    Zhang Dong recalled that this was how he was seen by the scanning AI in the place he found this or the previous cube in. From the naming sense, these Overseers sounded like some mods in a forum or chat. It also sounded like there was someone above them, an admin. This being could very well be the person that created this strange system and game-like worlds.

    "Hm, won''t they become aware if I send the kids back to their own world not through the previously setup teleportation formation?"

    After hearing the Overseers be mentioned he started to worry. Would they know that something went wrong if the heroes that were supposed to be here for years returned back in a month''s time? There could also be some kind of tracker or alarm system the moment the space between worlds was opened.

    "User''s current system isn''t connected to the mainframe, tracking from outside isn''t improbable."

    "If you say so¡­"

    He would have to take his AI''s word for now. There was no way for him to know if this would come biting him back. He needed to get out of there and send the children home, if an Overseer noticed him going around worlds was something that he couldn''t control. Bob here at least thought it was a bad idea to get involved with these world moderators.

    "Is everything alright Mr. Leigong, you''re looking a lot more grumpy than usual?"

    Beatrice brought him back to reality. While the party of heroes was being shown off to the masses on a large flying ship they were trailing behind on a smaller boat. Even though the size was a third of the one the heroes were riding on, it was still very lavish. It belonged to Isabella who was to the side sipping from a fruity drink. It was quite similar to the one he had made her at the tiki bar. Since then the blond with the drill hair had started loving these bubbly drinks.

    "Just thinking about some things, I think we should go to the other kingdoms."

    "What''s the rush? The demons won''t go anywhere."

    Beatrice stretched out while also drinking some sweet alcoholic drinks. From her and Isabella''s perspective, there was no reason to rush things. They would even like it if he took things slowly, mostly so that they could train and become better at their combination technique.

    "You sure about that? Think they will just let us have as much time as we want?"

    From his point of view, these demons should be doing something in the background. There was no way that they wouldn''t prepare anything after three of their strongest fighters were dead. Would they just twiddle their thumbs and await for the nations together with their forces only to then get attacked?

    They could also think that the people of the races would never actually try to get rid of the barrier. This was something that would open the flood gates to an all-out war between everyone. Though from what he knew the whole barrier wouldn''t be broken, they would just fly in through a small opening.

    It sounded all like the last map from an RPG where you go attack the demon castle. The heroes would remain inside while the normal people defended the small opening from lesser demons. Keeping it open for when the heroes needed to retreat.

    ''I wouldn''t be surprised if they close the barrier behind us the moment we enter through it¡­''

    "You''re worrying too much Mr. Leigong. I haven''t heard of a spirit that worried this much. Look at Undyne, she isn''t worrying."

    Zhang Dong looked to the side to spot the water nymph that Isabella still had. This spirit hadn''t been able to do much besides spying. It was just wiggling around while looking down at the people from the flying ship. It was even smiling and waving to them.

    "Don''t compare me to her!"

    He wasn''t actually a spirit that wasn''t able to think much. This water nymph had the intelligence of a six-year-old. Beatrice just chuckled while Zhang Dong thought about the ways to spice up the dream training.

    The parade continued for a bit, it ended with Takeshi lifting up his holy sword and making a beam shoot up into the sky. The people cheered as their faith in the kingdom was restored. Some of them also glanced his way but were more interested in the two blond girls which were now official members of the hero party.

    In a few days, it was finally time to pack up and leave. The ship that was lent to them by the Duke could still be used. They were even gifted two more with even more people and now also the heroes.

    While they were slowly boarding Zhang Dong could see Takeshi walking together with the pink-haired princess. The three girls on the other hand had a prince to contend with. It seemed like the three old friends stopped talking to each other after a while, busy with their new partners.

    It was clear that the King''s scheme to rope these youths was working. He couldn''t control them with strength alone so he switched it up. Since reaching the higher levels the high school kids also became more susceptible to their carnal desires. It was as if they were slowly losing themselves to this power.

    "I should probably hurry, the longer we wait the more could happen¡­"

    For now, he was here so he could look over these horny youngsters. He feared that if he left them to their own devices then an accident could happen. If it did it would be a lot harder to take these four back home. With an added family member they would need to remain here.

    "First stop the dwarven kingdom, then the elven kingdom and then we will reorganize."

    He nodded to himself while talking in his regular form. Beatrice had also progressed thanks to the dungeon and the cultivation techniques that he gave her. She was now able to allow his full-sized form in clothes to freely walk around without a problem.

    While they were departing another scene was playing out in the background. A blond-haired gentleman was kneeling down before a familiar-looking grumpy monarch.

    "Do you know why I summoned you here, Duke?"

    "No your Majesty."

    The man replied instantly while also standing up. His face was without any emotion while he looked at the strongest man in the kingdom.

    "Don''t lie to me, you know what this is about. We had this talk, that time it was that old man from your family but this time..."

    This was the father of Beatrice. His head turned to the flying sh.i.p.s that were on the horizon, his daughter on one of them.

    "The spirit¡­"

    "Yes, you know what I want."

    "What will happen to my daughter?"

    "She is free to go, the one I want is the summoner. My people say that your daughter isn''t connected to it, so she may live."

    The man clenched his fist after hearing the response. He waited for a moment before bowing.

    "It will be done¡­"

    Soon he removed himself from the throne room and headed over to where his dragon was waiting for him. There he found one of his trusted retainers waiting for him.

    "My lord."

    He was an older man with a full beard that was gray. His frame was larger than average and there were many scars on his face.

    "Let us depart, we will gather the forces to aid with the hero''s endeavor¡­"

    The man bowed and moved to his wyvern that was standing right next to the Duke''s large dragon. As the man flew away to carry out the order the Duke looked at his summoned beast and gave out a sigh. He knew what must be done and he didn''t like it, just like before he would need to take the life of a family member. All this to protect his own line, to do this an innocent girl had to die.

 Chapter 308

    "So that''s the world tree huh? Thought It would be bigger..."

    Zhang Dong commented while looking at a giant tree that reached up into the clouds. It was majestic and green but from someone used to things being large, this wasn''t that spectacular. Back in his own world, he had gone to forests with similar-sized trees already.

    "What do you mean, it''s huge!"

    Next to him, an astonished Sakura bounced around while looking at the large tree in the distance. All of them were on a large flying ship flying towards this very tree.

    "If you say so¡­"

    The only thing Zhang Dong could think about was the tree''s name Yggdrasil and how it was the same as the tree hugger sect that he bumped heads with. The naming sense from this world and his own was strangely similar. Even this tree''s name was a very popular name in fiction and games that was mostly used as the point of origin of elves.

    Here as well, this tree was a focal point of their civilization. There was a legend that the first elves were birthed from this very tree. Only afterward would they proliferate throughout the lands the usual way. Even then the birth rates were quite low, many times below the human race. What they lacked in numbers they made up in magical power.

    "The mana density around this forest is very high¡­"

    Beatrice commented while also gawking at the large tree.

    "So you''ve noticed, practicing your breathing technique here would boost your development. I''d say double it, at least?"

    He replied while Beatrice''s eyes started sparkling. This girl had reached the mana capacity of an early-stage foundation establishment person. Isabella had also caught up and with this, it was a lot easier to keep up with the soul binding for the two of them.

    Regretfully even with the power boost, he was still unable to tap into his full nascent soul power level. He was inching towards it slowly but it still remained in the half-step region. This mostly made him worry about his upcoming fight with the demon king. Would the monster be above him in terms of strength?

    The only thing he could compare it to were the demon lords. They were at about the great circle of core formation, which made them easy targets for his half-step prowess. Through this he expected the demon king to be about at his level. The heroes he pushed through the dungeon weren''t all that strong either. He tried to base the maximum strength on the strongest person in this world that he met, which was the human king.

    He didn''t think that whoever set up this world would let the heroes lose. So the demon king should not be that much off from this king that would never act on his own.

    ''Though it could be one of this power of love or friendship endings where their power multiplies many times over¡­''

    This was one of the options that he didn''t want to be true. If this was the ending it was going for here the demon king could even be at the very top of the nascent soul level. The heroes would have to have some kind of breakthrough during the fight or would get some aid from their system that would perhaps give them a temporary boost in power.

    If something like this happened he would be in a lot of trouble. The demon king would make quick work of him and maybe even Beatrice and Isabella. This could actually push Takeshi and the three girls to get their breakthrough of power.

    He was going off script though, so anything could happen at this point. Zhang Dong knew it was risky but he didn''t want to wait half a year to train the heroes and his two summoners. There were other ways for him to get power, for that he only needed the cooperation of the races and access to their people.

    ''I''d have to construct some formations on these sh.i.p.s¡­ I hope the elves give us some of theirs and also give me access to their library¡­''

    They were finally here, the grand elven city. At least right in front of it. There was a large glowing barrier blocking their way forward. This one was much larger than the academy shield he pushed the demon lord against.

    This made it clear that the elves'' magical knowledge was above the humans. He could tell that this shield was of better quality even after one glance. It would be really hard for any demon to cross to the other side.

    He could feel holy energy radiating off this shield. Any demon that came in contact with it would be incinerated by the holy fire it was made off. It was similar to his dao but felt a bit diminished due to the fire part.

    Zhang Dong''s holy cultivation had been progressing at a steady pace after he came here. This was all thanks to him being able to focus on his soul which was related to this Dao. He expected a boost to his cultivation when he returned home. This soul expansion would cause his nascent soul power to be enhanced further even without reaching the next realm.

    "We greet the heroes from the human kingdom and their followers."

    After being stopped for a while a group of beautiful golden-haired elves arrived. Their skin color was akin to the jade beauties from his own world. If Zhang Jin was here he would probably be going crazy at this sight before him. He on the other hand preferred the darker skin tone that a dark elf would have so this didn''t really get his heart pumping.

    Just like before the Heroes were more important than he was. Most people didn''t realize that he was the main powerhouse of this journey quite yet. He didn''t want to argue with anyone about such a thing so he just left the talking to Takeshi and his party members while he waited in the background.

    "Are you feeling well?"

    He looked to Beatrice that was glancing at a particular green-haired youth. It was Prince Ludwig that switched from Beatrice to Sakura, the youngest member of the party. He was quite a handsome young lad and had a silver tongue. The young girl was unable to resist his approach.

    He wasn''t the only royal family member here. Zhang Dong hoped to ditch them during this journey but they came as a package deal with the sh.i.p.s they were getting. He couldn''t go to the king and complain without the soul resonance up so he had to let it slide.

    "I''m fine¡­"

    It was easy to tell that the girl was still a bit mad at the whole predicament. From Zhang Dong''s perspective, this was actually a good thing. Beatrice was hit by reality, people weren''t always what they seemed to be. He hoped that she would learn from this event and grow. It was actually good that this happened now and not after she was too attached to that casanova.

    "I''m ashamed that I ever considered someone like that as my fiance! Truly reprehensible!."

    Isabella was to the side as well, she looked quite annoyed. It was clear that she wanted to go over there and tell the moss head a few chosen words. She had to restrain herself though, he was still a prince. The girls here were unable to word their disdain due to the barrier in noble ranks.

    "Just learn from this experience, I''m sure you''ll find yourself a fitting partner in time."

    "How about you marry Mr. Leigong Isabella."

    Beatrice poked the grumpy Isabella from the side after hearing the conversation.

    "W-what? Marry him?"

    Zhang Dong just smiled down at the two girls. Isabella went bright red in the face which only made him want to tease her more.

    "Regretfully I''m already spoken for, but I''m flattered nonetheless."

    "Oh, you have a wife?"

    Beatrice asked as he had somehow managed to evade this topic through his stay here. No one had asked him to marry him though, being a spirit and all.

    "Ah yes and two kids!"

    "Spirits can have children?"

    Beatrice and Isabella looked at each other but soon they recalled that Leigong here wasn''t your average spirit. He was a special never before seen one with a somewhat strange unknown background.

    "Well, here take a look."

    He wasn''t against talking about his own family. The girls were already close to him so he didn''t mind sharing some of his secrets. Though at this point in time they still knew him as a strange spirit and he didn''t mention him being from another world.

    While the two girls moved closer he held out his hand and a little 3D hologram of Zhang Liena appeared. She was dressed up in an exquisite robe that she wore during their wedding.

    "Oh¡­ she is beautiful¡­ but¡­"

    The two girls'' eyes wandered on the presented hologram and the shape of the woman''s body. Soon they both focused on the chest area that was quite prominent.

    "Big¡­"

    "Yes big¡­"

    Both of them moved their hands to their own chests while looking at the hologram of Zhang Dong''s wife. He could tell that they were feeling defeated which only caused him to chuckle, his laughing didn''t go unnoticed.

    "Does size really matter?"

    "Yeah¡­"

    He wanted nothing more than to rub it in but he also didn''t want these two girls to get some strange chest size complex. Due to this, he moved to the next hologram which was of his little cinnamon roll.

    "Oh, who is this cute little girl?"

    "She looks a bit similar¡­"

    "I see that you have noticed, this is my oldest daughter, isn''t she cute?"

    The girl''s eyes started sparkling as they saw the child moving around in the palm of Zhang Dong''s hand. While they were cheering he on the other hand started to get less excited. The sight of his daughter only caused the worrisome thoughts to enter his mind again.

    The hologram then changed again to his wife holding a newborn in her hands while the older daughter was to the side full of smiles. He started staring at his family without saying a word only a louder call out from Beatrice managed to snap him out of it.

    "Mr. Leigong, are you okay?"

    "Ah...sorry about that¡­"

    He moved his hand away while removing the hologram of his family. The two girls that he tried to cheer up were now looking at him with concern in their eyes.

    "Well, it looks like Takeshi and the others are done with the elves, we will be moving into the elven city you two should get ready."

    Beatrice and Isabella looked at Zhang Dong who was clearly trying to shift the conversations. Before they could actually ask if he was really fine the flying shift jolted forward. They had to give up on their cross-examination as they would also be required to enter the elven city. There they were supposed to get the aid of the elves against the demonic beings.

 Chapter 309

    "Are you done Mr. Leigong?"

    "In a moment¡­"

    Zhang Dong was waving his hands around while some books and scripts floated towards him. Around there were some people like Beatrice and the elven folk. They were in the elven library and he was in the process of absorbing all of their knowledge.

    "I''m sure you''re glad that you don''t need to touch these books anymore."

    He laughed as he remembered that in the beginning, Beatrice needed to poke the books by herself. Now with her reaching a higher realm of power he was able to move around freely and do this himself.

    "There that''s the last one¡­ do you have any more?"

    "Yes oh ill.u.s.trious Spirit Emperor, the secret texts are in the levels below, it would be a pleasure to lead you there!"

    A beautiful elven woman prostrated herself in front of him while he tried not to laugh. He started to recall what had happened a few hours back when they arrived in this place. He was standing in the background at first and let the heroes do their thing.

    He had discussed the plan with them beforehand and it looked like they had more status than a spirit like him. That would soon come out as a big mistake after they managed to get an audience with the elven monarch.

    "It''s an honor to greet the Elven Queen!"

    The biggest problem was that there were unwelcome guests with them. Three strapping young lads and one pink-haired princess that were clinging to the hero party. The oldest prince was the one that greeted the Queen this time around while the rest were left to kneel down.

    That is, besides one white-haired person that was hanging out in the back. Due to the way he had set up his persona as a haughty and mighty Spirit Emperor he couldn''t just bow down before this woman. He did the same thing when he met the human king and he had to keep up appearances unless he wanted his act to crumble now.

    This didn''t go unnoticed by the elven people around them. A large man in a pure white robe with his hands crossed over did stick out like a sore thumb.

    "Show your respect to the Queen, human!"

    One of the royal guards called out, it was a beautiful-looking man in a shiny golden armor. The elves in this world were matriarchal in nature, their men were mostly just used as guards. This was mostly due to the low birthrates which made the women a more valuable resource than the men. Thus they would do everything to protect their females while also putting one on the throne.

    "I am no human, mortal!"

    Zhang Dong keeping to his shtick delivered a direct attack to this man''s soul. He had learned a thing or two about those types of attacks during his stay here. He was unable to cultivate anything but his own soul, through the weeks he stayed here it had increased in size exponentially.

    These attacks could not damage the outside shell which was the body but were devastating to the mechanism that kept it working, the soul. If someone was unable to protect themselves from a soul attack they would be paralyzed. Their body would stop functioning and they could even die if the connection was broken.

    All of this could be done by putting your soul against another. These attacks had a large risk to them, they could damage the user''s soul which would cause a large backlash. A backlash was more volatile than being damaged by someone else''s soul attack. This made this type of skill high-risk high reward. You were literally putting your life on the line whenever using it.

    On the other hand, it was quite safe to use on anyone that had an inferior soul to the user. It made it quite a skill to take out many weaker enemies. This was now the case as Zhang Dong had to crank up the output. The other guards tried surrounding him but found themselves on their knees instead.

    "Beatrice, control your spirit!"

    The one shouting out was Prince Ludwig. He had quite the angry expression on his face, probably still angry about how Isabella tossed him to the side. Now he had to cling to Sakura''s thigh in hopes that his father gave him some assets that he lost.

    "Silence! Before the Queen!"

    Two elven women stepped out from the side. They were wearing white robes with some strange golden runic patterns. Each one had a staff, at the end a large shining gem that was radiating magical power. They slammed these staffs onto the floor to produce some kind of magical effect.

    Zhang Dong felt like he had overdone it a bit with his Emperor act but luckily this magical attack was soul-based in nature as well. Because he was someone with an oversized soul with no one in this world matching up to it, it was quite ineffective.

    These women mages expected their warriors to be set free from the spell that Zhang Dong produced but instead they saw it being repelled back towards them.

    "How is this possible!"

    They gasped while taking a step back, both of them perplexed at their magical attack not working.

    "Who is that man, is he part of the hero party? But there were supposed to only be four!"

    More people started arriving in the throne room. It was clear that Zhang Dong''s little soul attack had brought everyone''s attention to him. He looked unperturbed but deep inside he wanted to cry. They only came here to get help from the elves, have them lend them a few flying sh.i.p.s and a couple magicians.

    The elven mages were really good at barriers like the one they constructed here. If they wanted to enter the demonic continent they would need the help of the elves to open the path. By how things were looking getting out of here in one piece had become the biggest concern.

    "Silence mortals, you dare attack this Lightning Emperor Leigong!"

    Zhang Dong decided that he might as well give it his all. He had already been quite disrespectful so there was no going back. Apologizing at this point would only show weakness and he still could use his soul attack against these weaker soldiers, the biggest problem was the Elven Queen.

    She was at about the same level as the human king, trailing behind by a small amount. She would be able to defend herself against his soul attacks due to him being in his powered down state.

    ''Can this be salvaged¡­ should I tell the girls to get ready for a fight¡­''

    He was slowly thinking that they might have to strongarm the elven faction into obeying them instead. If the diplomatic talks broke down this would be the only thing that remained. They still needed their knowledge which could also be gained by reading their secret texts. Before he could make a decision though he felt something coming his way.

    The elven queen looked in his direction while squinting. She had remained silent for the whole predicament but it looked like she wanted a piece of him after her guards had failed. If she directly pitted her mana against his then he would surely lose but luck was on Zhang Dong''s side.

    ''Wait is she¡­ these elves sure like the soul-based attacks...heh well come in if you wish.''

    It was a direct attack against his soul world. He wasn''t sure if the Queen was just trying to test him after seeing him perform his own soul attack but he was glad that she did. Just like with the Vice-Principal before he sprung his trap. If it came to defending against such skills, there was no one who could out soul his soul.

    "What!?"

    The beautiful woman found herself in an open grass field. The sky above was clear with no clouds and everything looked peaceful.

    She knew that she was just clashing against the unknown human that was in the hero party. There was no information about someone of that caliber so she thought that she could easily subdue him and force him to show respect. Even the heroes remained respectful but this rude man never even kneeled.

    Now she was concerned, the path outside was blocked and she knew that her soul was somehow pulled into this dimension by this person.

    "Who are you? ¡­ What are you?"

    She shouted out with all her might as her voice echoed through the open grasslands. Her mind began connecting the dots while trying to piece everything together. There weren''t many beings in this world that were above her in might. She was already close to being a thousand years old and she had seen it all.

    She was there when the previous heroes were here. She was there when they battled the previous demonic lords and there when the demon king was forced to retreat. Even then she couldn''t recall anyone that could do something like this.

    "Who am I, Little one do you really need to ask?"

    "This energy¡­"

    The whole place began to rumble and the sunny sky began to become cloudy. Storm clouds approached and the wind picked up. Thunderous lightning collided with each other while the ground began to split apart. The elven woman was unable to access any of her magic, falling down on her posterior was the outcome.

    "You have a lot of gall to address me in that tone of voice, mortal."

    The lightning bolts started shooting down from the sky onto the splitting earth. Soon it was like a torrent of plasma energy just descending from the sky, forming a humanoid figure.

    Zhang Dong took shape as a being made from lightning energy. His face was somewhat distinguishable but he looked like a being completely made out of electricity. The huge electric giant looked down to the elven queen that was trembling down on the ground.

    "S-spirit King? N-no Spirit Emperor!"

    Her eyes bulged after seeing the form that was before her. This giant made from lightning was clearly giving off a strange mana signature akin to beings from the astral realm. Elves were beings close to this realm and mostly made contracts with nature spirits. Zhang Dong had shifted this energy slightly so that the elven queen would indeed think that he was a real spirit.

    "I see that you have realized."

    Spirit Emperors were the highest form that a spirit could take in this world. They were beings at the very top of the pecking order and also very rarely seen. Not much information was out there about these beings which made it easier to fool others. The only consensus was that they were more powerful than anything that could be produced on this planet.

    It was unheard of that a Spirit Emperor took shape amongst the mortal people. They usually only gave out some blessings like the weapons that the heroes possessed. At most they could be summoned to deliver one devastating attack, sometimes at the cost of the summoner''s own life.

    "Please great spirit emperor, forgive me and my people for being so narrow-minded. Punish this mortal but please show mercy to my people."

    The woman was quick to drop down to her knees and to prostrate herself. Due to the soul interception, he could tell that she was sincere. She was mostly concerned that Zhang Dong could wipe her people out of existence.

    ''Well that went better than expected, this will probably save me so much time!"

    He chuckled inwardly, it was time to have a talk with this lady. After this event, he was sure that they would do anything that he required of him.

 Chapter 310

    *Thump*

    The elves looked as their Queen slumped forward in her throne and then face-planted on the ground. The exchange in Zhang Dong''s soul dimension only took a couple of seconds. Back in the real world, it looked like the Queen was staring at him for a moment before face diving into the floor.

    "Protect the Queen!"

    "..."

    "Stop, I''m fine¡­"

    The beautiful woman raised her hand up into the air while her face was still on the ground. She stood up in an instant while having a bloody nose. This was quickly healed without even needing an incantation. The guards were still confused about what was happening and the party of heroes was in the same boat.

    Only Zhang Dong and the elven Queen knew what was going on. After giving the old woman a scare in his soul dimension he let her soul go back into her body. He did not put any soul locks or curses behind like he did with the Vice-Principal.

    He wanted to seem as a magnanimous spirit Emperor and not like a despot. The other elves might choose to attack or not work with them if something like that happened.

    The Queen looked at him without much of a change to her expression. The bloody nose vanished along with the blood after some kind of healing magic was cast. It was more akin to the regenerative arts that his own Zhang clan liked to perform than to holy element healing.

    She advanced forward towards where he, Beatrice, and Isabella were standing. The girls were down on their knees but he was still standing. The guards parted ways for their queen that was slowly walking towards him. The woman was wearing quite the flowy dress similar to cultivator robes. There were even some small forest spirits lifting it up from behind her and keeping it from being scratched up on the floor.

    "My Queen what are you¡­"

    The elves expected the Queen to order an attack or something close to it. Instead, they saw her lowering her head in front of this white-haired man. The man nodded as if this was something natural, the other just stared at the strange sight of the elven queen bowing before an unknown person.

    "Silence! Pay your respect to the Spirit Emperor, you all are being disgraceful."

    Soon everyone was down on the ground and kneeling before him. His face didn''t change as he just waited.

    ''Haven''t had a full throne room kneeling before me ever since I did that one lecture¡­''

    "You may raise your heads."

    Only when he called out did the elven queen listen. Following her example, the other elves did the same. The members of the royal family went googly-eyed at the scene before them. In their eyes kneeling before Zhang Dong was akin to them kneeling before Beatrice, a low Baron''s daughter.

    "I will let this transgression slide this time, now I think we have some things to discuss."

    "Yes, great spirit."

    The members of the royal family could not believe Zhang Dong''s tone. Even less that this powerful elven monarch was fine with it. The moment she called him a spirit emperor the other elves started to shake in their boots as well. This was mostly due to this race being quite close to astral beings due to their roots.

    They came from the world tree, which was also rumored to have been created by some kind of ancient spirit emperor. Now they had one before them, one that could be at the same level as their ancestor.

    ''Good, this speeds up things¡­''

    The rest was history, Zhang Dong asked for their library and then absorbed all of their knowledge. The elven magic was mostly following the nature element and was quite extensive. The knowledge that they had gathered was superior to what the humans had, at least to the one in the magic academy. If the royal family was hiding something in their castle could be a possibility.

    Takeshi and the others were relegated to background characters while Zhang Dong and his two summoners got all the attention. They all were wined and dined by the beautiful elven males and females while he was back doing his thing. After absorbing all of this knowledge from the elven library he needed some time to digest all of it.

    With it, he would probably be able to push his own barriers to the next level. The elves specialized in them, defensive ones and even ones that could lock people up for thousands of years. If he ever needed to seal an evil being that was hard to kill he would be able to.

    "Please Queen you must not!"

    A few days later the hero party and Zhang Dong were back on the flying ship. With the biggest change being that they received a massive ship from the elves. It was apparently made from the trunk of the world tree and would be able to receive hits from a demon lord class monster.

    The two magicians that stood against him were now holding back the elven queen. For some reason, the old woman wanted to come with them. Her people weren''t so keen on this as they needed their monarch that was also the best mage here to stay behind. The queen was the key piece of their protective barrier, without her the demons would be able to slip in unnoticed.

    The two were now holding her back as she wanted to join the party to go against the demon scourge. After Zhang Dong corrected some of the deficiencies in her spell-casting she started acting like a devout disciple. She probably wanted him to fix more of her spells, just like an old cultivator finally finding a good master to follow.

    "Hey, Mr. Leigong the elves really like you¡­ I thought you were a married man?"

    Beatrice and Isabella looked at him with scorn. He had been seen wandering out at night to go teach the elven queen a thing or two. The girls imagination went into overdrive and came to a conclusion that he was having an affair.

    "It''s not like that, you two idiots!"

    He shouted at the two girls while shaking his fist.

    "Great spirit, let us follow you instead of our queen."

    In the end, the two elven women that were the queen''s trusted guards went along for the ride instead. The queen''s reason won out over her desire to learn more. With these two in tow and a full elven team of warriors, they departed from this kingdom.

    ''Next stop the dwarves!''

    Now that he had the elves on his side it was easier to control the situation. The elven ship was many times larger than the human sh.i.p.s that were now trailing behind them. He was also able to banish the royal family members from getting on this particular flying vessel. Though this only made the heroes a bit cranky as they enjoyed the companionship of the others.

    Takeshi even decided to remain on one of the other sh.i.p.s with his princess. Zhang Dong didn''t care enough to play chaperone. He had explained everything to the youths beforehand but their hormones were getting in the way. The only thing he could do was hope that they wouldn''t go too far with their romance.

    The journey continued and they soon arrived at the dwarven kingdom or its entrance that looked like a giant active volcano. Smoke and lava were coming out from it but there were also large statues of dwarven warriors and a large gate.

    This large gate would lead to the land of the dwarves. They were a peculiar race that liked to live underground or burrow into large mountains or in this case a volcano. There they would dig for metals that would then allow them to create their contraptions.

    They were known for being a race of craftsmen that spent most of their lives tinkering away. The flying ship technology was invented by this race, they also created a vast array of golems. The hero party here was in the need of better equipment and repairs. The weapons from the dungeon were nice but they still lacked compelling armor.

    "So, this is the entrance into the Underlands."

    Beatrice commented from the side while bouncing with anticipation. Isabella also looked quite interested in this place they were going to. The two were still only young girls that haven''t really been able to see the outside world for themselves quite yet.

    "So it is, think the dwarves will be as cooperative as the elves? Do they revere spirits perchance?"

    He asked while not being too sure. If the dwarves were like the elves it would help Zhang Dong on his journey quite a bit.

    "Those uncultured dwarves have no respect for that what is holy."

    One of the elven mages chimed in while narrowing her eyes at the large structure below. It seemed that the small drunkards and the tree huggers didn''t get along that much. One race loved nature while the other used it to their advantage no matter the cost. They lived underground where the sun didn''t shine, without it things like plants were rarely seen.

    "Is that so¡­ this might be a problem."

    Besides their outlooks on life, there was another problem with this race, they had no monarch that could rally them together. Zhang Dong was only able to speed things up as he had forced the respected monarchs from the human race and the elven race to act. On the other hand here there were many underground cities and many people trying to be the next Dwarf King.

    "Let''s go to the old capital, probably the most influential people will be there."

    The biggest city down below was right here in this very volcano. This was also the plan that they agreed on. Even if they didn''t have the help of the majority of dwarves they could get some from this city. It was apparently very modern and if they could just get another ship and some golems it would help in the future battles.

    Zhang Dong was hopeful that the others wouldn''t need to act and that he was enough to defeat the enemies. However, in case that there were too many enemies to handle he needed his people to at least be able to defend themselves while he took out the bosses.

    "Let us descend, we will need to switch to the smaller boat to get through that gate."

    Everyone nodded and the giant Elven ship descended downwards. The most important members of the crew would be switching to a smaller boat while going underground. Even though they were going below earth the dwarf craftsmen made enough space for flying contraptions like this boat to maneuver there.

    Soon everyone descended into the cavern below. After showing the guards some credentials their identity as emissaries and heroes was cemented. The large gates started to open, it was as if the two huge statues were opening them up for the party to see.

    ''Hope this is the last stop¡­ I might be running out of time¡­''

 Chapter 311

    "Ugh, what''s that smell?"

    "Think that''s motor oil?"

    "Motor oil?"

    Beatrice asked not knowing what Zhang Dong was talking about. The hero party had ventured into the underground city of the dwarves called Kalburim. This was supposed to be the capital of innovation.

    It looked quite steampunk-inspired. Which made things uncomfortable as placing a city filled with steam and smoke underground wasn''t the best option. There were large vents that funneled all this smoke outside into the volcano above. Apparently, the volcano wasn''t even active but it was this city that was generating all of the heat and smoke to run it.

    Zhang Dong looked at all the strange contraptions that this place had to offer. There was even a tram system going through this huge city, even something that looked like uni rails on the ceiling.

    The thing that stuck out the most were the rock and metal golems that were wandering through the city. They were mostly carrying heavy objects with a dwarf walking in front. When Zhang Dong focused he could feel that these golems were using some kind of internal mana engine to run. The dwarves that were in front of them always had some sort of control item with them that was sending signals into this engine.

    ''Interesting¡­''

    These golems were similar to puppets that cultivators created. He had even fashioned some life-like variants when he was on a crafting spree. The way these golems were constructed was different but also similar in some places. They didn''t seem to be as intelligent as the puppets he used to make and also quite bulky.

    ''I''d need to get my hands on the schematics, they look less advanced but that mana engine looks useful, with a few tweaks it could expand the life of a puppet.''

    "It''s something from the spirit realm"

    He replied to the motor oil question.

    "So, when are we going to meet the council?"

    "They should have the meeting ready for today."

    The one replying this time was Isabella. She had ordered some of the people from the Duke house to go ask around. From The information that they had the dwarves were in the middle of some internal struggles.

    Their king had died of old age and it was time to replace him. In contrast to the monarchs of the humans and elves, the title of dwarven king wasn''t hereditary. Anyone with enough resources and power could try to get this position if they met some prerequisites.

    First of all, they needed to belong to the noble cast. Just as the humans the dwarf kingdom was split into noble houses and common workers.

    It was kind of silly how these dwarves decided on their new monarch. As it wasn''t the individual strength that was important but what they could create. They would actually use the golems to fight in a tournament, the winner would be crowned the dwarven king.

    Zhang Dong wasn''t really interested in this tournament as he just wanted to get the help of the dwarves in attacking the demons. There was a council of the main houses that was still able to make a decision.

    He was hoping that they would lend him some sh.i.p.s, golems, and cannons that this race was famous for. The fight for the throne wasn''t something that he was interested in, there was no reason for him or anyone from the hero party to get involved.

    "Great, let us get this over with then."

    Regretfully the party of young heroes wasn''t as interested in waiting as he was. This was a once in a lifetime fantasy world for these youngsters but for him, it wasn''t anything out of the ordinary. The cities back in his own world were larger and more beautiful than what any of these could offer.

    Thus the party split up where the members from the royal family followed after the four heroes like little ticks. They were continually praising them just as they were ordered to. Anyone from the outside that took a second to think would know this but these youngsters were blinded by the beauty of the royal line.

    "Are you sure we should leave them alone¡­"

    Beatrice said while being concerned. She was glancing at the two sisters that were being led away by the green-haired prince and his older brother.

    "We could try but I''m not sure if that would amount to anything¡­"

    Zhang Dong could try to pry the pink-haired princess or her brothers away from Takeshi and his three friends but he feared that they would hate him for it. He could see that they were already succ.u.mbing to their l.u.s.t by this point. It was as if the higher levels were magnifying their desires and making them more irrational. He was afraid that if he stepped in a fight would break out between them and they would need to put the whole expedition on hold.

    "I''m not sure we should leave those heroes alone for too long..."

    Isabella chimed in from the side while glaring at old moss head. She was the one hit the most by her old fianc¨¦''s infidelity. She was the one that knew him the most here, the young man had a silver tongue and knew how to speak to girls his age. She was afraid that he would charm the heroines in time, making them his puppets that he could control.

    "Well, if it gets out of hand I will act, till then let us give them some space. Sometimes the best way to mature is to make your own mistakes."

    Zhang Dong knew how young people operated as he had a childish personality. He knew that if a young person didn''t go through a given experience they would have a hard time learning. A.d.u.l.ts could warn them as many times as they wanted but not many youths would adhere to that advice. They needed to burn their hands on the stove first before they would believe that it''s hot to the touch.

    "If Mr. Leigong thinks so¡­"

    Isabella nodded and all of them moved further into the city. They need to get the accommodations sorted out as they were diplomatic guests from the other races. They had a certain immunity in this city as no one would want to anger emissaries from two other powerful races. The danger of war was always looming.

    They had a group of well-dressed dwarves take them to a large hotel-like building. They even rode the uni rail through the city that let them behold its glory. It was about the size of the human capital which was also not even close in scope to Zhang Dong''s Spirit Spring City.

    The group ended up in a somewhat lush-looking hotel suite with room for the most important members. The people that weren''t part of the hero party would need to wait in their ship outside. Zhang Dong''s group consisted of Beatrice, Isabella, the two elven ladies that the Queen lent them, and a few bodyguards from the Hohenberg household.

    The people with Takeshi and the others were a few levels above them in this hotel right at the top. With them were various soldiers from the royal guard as the members from the royal family needed to be protected.

    Just like before this part of the party wasn''t taken all that serious. The focus was on the four heroes and the royal family members that were accompanying them.

    "I guess you two can practice your breathing¡­"

    The two girls nodded as they were waiting for word to reach them. The council needed to give them an hour that the meeting would be taking place. At least that is what was supposed to happen but after waiting for many hours no word reached their ears.

    "Did something go wrong?"

    Zhang Dong called out to Isabella who had one of her bodyguards ask for the meeting. The person in question was also in this room. He shook his head and also apologized but he repeated what he knew. The noble dwarfs told them to wait while they organize the meeting and when they did they would come looking for them.

    "Did they lie to us? If so for what reason?"

    Zhang Dong asked Beatrice along with the other people in the room.

    "As expected from dwarves¡­"

    One of the elven women commented from the side while frowning. The other elven mage also nodded, it was clear that these two races didn''t see eye to eye. From what Zhang Dong could tell this was due to elves being in tune with nature while dwarves liked using it without caring for it. Pollution and destruction of forests was the least they were ready to do to create their massive golems and machines.

    "Is the Hero party still here?"

    He asked as he had left towards his own soul dimension and began cultivating his soul again. The idea of the dwarf nobles pulling a fast one on them didn''t cross his mind. He decided to come out next to Beatrice to perform a small scan.

    ''Hm?... most of them are there¡­ but Takeshi is missing along with some of the guards¡­''

    The three girls were there, he could feel their unique mana signature. The most important member from the hero party wasn''t there though.

    ''This feels fishy¡­''

    "Hey Beatrice, Isabella lent me some power."

    The two girls looked at each other and nodded. They weren''t sure what Zhang Dong wanted but they trusted him enough to know better by this point. They held their hands together and started channeling their mana. In just a moment the two were covered by a thin layer of golden light.

    Since having time to train this soul skill they had grown accustomed to it. It didn''t need to produce a large light show anymore and they could use it sparingly.

    Zhang Dong''s eyes glowed in golden light as he sat down in the lotus position. With thee increased energy he would be able to cover most of the city with his spiritual sense. He did so in hopes of finding where Takeshi had gone.

    With his enhanced senses he could really take a good look at this city. It was really mostly built out of rock and steel. Steam and smoke everywhere while the dwarfs were either busy with work or getting drunk at one of the pubs.

    He went a bit further in, finding where Takeshi was wasn''t all that hard as he had a unique mana signature. He found him in a large far away building and he was standing in some open hall with a couple of the royal family members.

    Zhang Dong could feel that there were some old dwarves there in a circle looking down at the group of humans.

    "Why would they¡­"

    "Is something wrong Mr. Leigong?"

    "It would seem that our companions have begun that meeting without us¡­"

    "Oh no!"

    Beatrice replied at this revelation.

    "I bet they wish to strike a deal without us being involved!"

    Isabella added from the side. It seemed that the people from the royalist faction didn''t like that he was gaining so much status. He had the large elven ship and the Duke was also on his side.

    "That might be the case¡­ we should go pay them a visit before it''s too late."

    The group soon departed, if they would make it in time before an unfortunate deal could be struck remained to be seen.

 Chapter 312

    Zhang Dong along with his two golden-haired summoners rushed to where this secret meeting was taking place. Apparently, his side was not informed for some reason or another.

    He was more inclined to believe that the people from the royal family pulled some strings instead of the dwarf side. This race of people didn''t really interact with him in anyway shape or form before this so there shouldn''t be any animosity between them.

    ''They probably want to keep us from gathering any more power.''

    For him, it was a race for time. He wanted to defeat the demon lords, get the cube parts and then go home. For the humans living here, it was different, they probably saw him as someone that could affect the status quo.

    From the perspective of the royal family, he could be someone more dangerous than the demon king. He already showed that he could handle the human monarch and the elven queen.

    What would stop him from taking over the world after they were done with clearing up the demonic beings? What was to stop him from doing it even before he faced the demon king? This was probably what the human King and his children were worried about now. They were on the very top of this world and would without a doubt like to remain in this position.

    "Halt! The council meeting is in session, no one is allowed to enter!"

    A group of heavily armored dwarves cut off their path. They had quite the peculiar-looking exosuits. It looked like they were inside of metallic golems but with tiny heads. This head part belonged to the soldier that was in this mechanical suit of armor.

    "Make way for the Spirit Emperor!"

    The two elven mages saw the group of mechanical golems blocking their path. They had large two-handed halberds in their hands and were blocking the way. The two women found it rude for these people to be addressing Leigong in such a way. The two were instructed to protect and follow the instructions of this Spirit Emperor by their queen. They intended to do that, even if they would need to fight.

    "No wait, let us talk this over¡­"

    Zhang Dong put himself between the battalion of dwarven defenders. They looked like they were riding some primitive mechs which took him a little bit to process. He couldn''t let a fight break out, the royal members would just use this as a pretext to have him removed from this city.

    "If the Spirit Emperor commands, it shall be done."

    The two women bowed their heads at his request and moved to the sides. The group of dwarves didn''t move out of the way which meant that Isabella would need to take care of this. She had one of her men move forward and present their case.

    "You are with the heroes?"

    The commander of these guards stepped forward and they began figuring things out. They had all the paperwork that identified them as part of the hero party.

    "The council meeting is close to being over, was there some kind of mistake? I fear we aren''t allowed to open the doors before the meeting is over..."

    The man gave the papers back to the group but there was a problem. The meeting had already started. Inside were the most influential people from this city and they were all rich and powerful nobles. They couldn''t just barge in at this point, these guards would not let them. Zhang Dong didn''t blame them as they were only doing their job.

    "How could they do this to us?"

    "This is unforgivable!"

    Beatrice and Isabella stomped their feet on the ground while outside the large building. They were mad about the royal members not telling them about the meeting more than about the dwarves not allowing them to venture forward.

    ''It''s fine¡­ I''ll just go take a peek instead¡­''

    He smiled and moved a bit to the side with the girls while sending them a telepathic message.

    There was not much that they could do to get inside without making a big scene. It would not be hard to blast their way inside but then they would probably be banned from the city. He feared that if that happened it could take god knows how long to get everything sorted out inside.

    "Okay, this will be enough girls."

    The plan was easy, he just needed some more juice from his two girl sized magical batteries. The range he could operate in had increased ever since the two had gotten stronger. He had also learned many spells and incantations that would aid him in this task.

    Zhang Dong''s body flickered and soon he was invisible to the n.a.k.e.d eye.

    "Just wait here and I''ll see what those chuckleheads are up to."

    Beatrice and Isabella just waved at the floating voice while holding hands. They and their guards were sitting in a nearby cafe while Zhang Dong floated as a mana cloud towards the building where the meeting was taking place.

    He might have looked like a regular person to the people here but his body was made from mana particles. These particles could take any shape that he wanted, even make themselves invisible.

    While utilizing some of his knowledge he made himself undetectable to any living being or machine. Even with their advanced dwarven technology, he was able to get past the guards. In this shapeless form, he squeezed through the doorway and arrived inside the large building.

    Inside there were even more guards, these weren''t in huge mechanical suits but in more traditional-looking armor. They were patrolling the halls but were unable to see or feel Zhang Dong''s presence.

    ''It''s in there¡­''

    He flew towards Takeshi''s unique mana signature and arrived at the wide-open area. This place was the large room he saw where the dwarven nobles were looking down below at the humans. The sword hero was there along with a couple of members of the royal family.

    "Eight hundred thousand coins? I will offer one million and ten of my best bottles of wine!"

    ''Hm?''

    A loud sound of a hand landing on something rocky was heard by him the moment he slipped into this room. It seemed that the dwarves were shouting at each other and also bidding on something.

    He glanced at who they were looking at and it was Takeshi. He and the others were just there smiling while looking between the dwarven nobles.

    "A million? You are really going all in, you''re not afraid that your house will go under if this so-called hero doesn''t win?"

    Zhang Dong looked at the person that was talking. It was some old fart with a long white beard, he was looking at a slightly younger old fart.

    "You think I''m stupid? You just want the hero as your champion yourself!"

    ''Champion? Oh no, are they really going to do this now?''

    If he was in his human shape his face would be showing a frown now. Previously he did find out that the dwarves had a peculiar way of picking out their king. This would only come into place if they couldn''t come to some kind of agreement.

    They were clearly unable to go through with that. Instead, they would go with option two, getting the king''s position by trial by combat.

    This didn''t mean that the person that was hoping for the king''s position would be battling himself. No, the dwarves didn''t pick their kings by strength alone, they picked them by their resourcefulness.

    The candidates had to use everything to their disposal to get the best possible champion for themselves. These champions would fight in a tournament and the one remaining would be crowned king.

    ''Why does it always have to be a tournament¡­''

    Takeshi was taking center spot, apparently, these people wanted him to be their champion. He was the sword hero and also the strongest from the party if you didn''t look Zhang Dong''s way.

    ''But¡­ can he use one of those things?''

    Zhang Dong was referring to the large mechanical suits that the dwarves used. The champions wouldn''t actually be using their bodies to battle, they would be using huge robot-like suits of armor that the dwarven craftsmen prepared for them.

    These were quite similar to Mechs that he saw in some anime shows back in the day. Just like in the shows the pilots were quite important and could shift the tide of battle. The dwarven mech suits also used their users'' mana to fuel themselves along with the mana engine.

    He was only here in spirit form so he didn''t intend to disturb this hero auction. The whole thing continued until one of the old nobles was able to seal the deal. Having Takeshi as their champion didn''t mean that they had the win in the bag but from the point of view of these dwarves it was very probable. The legends concerning the heroes were widespread so the trust they had in them was immense.

    ''How can I salvage this situation¡­''

    While thinking he continued to glance around the room. He could see the dejected faces that all the other nobles were showing. They truly believed that the person that managed to get this hero as their champion would be the winner.

    "This meeting is over, the Tournament of Kingship will be taking place in a week''s time, everyone please prepare!"

    He floated around while not knowing what to do. Soon the place was being cleared up and he started going back to the girls. Now was the time to make a decision, if Takeshi won the tournament it could become problematic. He was entangled with the pink-haired princess and could grow a big head. It would be possible for the royal faction to start stalling and time was not something that he wanted to waste.

    ''What should I¡­ wait what''s that?''

    While returning he noticed something, this large building was quite old but he felt a peculiar aura close by. He was attracted to it and decided to change directions. After slipping through some guards he arrived at a large area filled with books and scrolls.

    ''Basics of golem creation?''

    ''How to produce the best alloy for your golem.''

    This was apparently a library filled with dwarven knowledge, knowledge that could be used to craft golems or Exo suits. If he wasn''t a transparent cloud of mana he would be grinning now. A plan was formed in his mind with which he would soon go through.

    ''I bet not all of those nobles were able to get good champions¡­ I think some poor sob will be very lucky¡­he he he''

    The mist descended onto the library as he started to absorb all the knowledge that was in here. After combining it with his understanding of making automatons from his previous world he would fashion something that no one could beat.

 Chapter 313

    Thondin looked at the large mechanical contraption that was before him and scratched his head. He started recalling how he ended up in this situation in the first place.

    He was the oldest son from the Hillmane household. His father was already too old to compete for the position of a king and he didn''t really want it either. Their noble house was considered to be on the lower end of the high noble families and no one was really considering them to win or even to participate.

    Out of necessity, he was there during the meeting and his house would be bringing over a champion just so they wouldn''t lose face. Even though he didn''t want the position of the king his father that was on his deathbed pushed him towards it. His plan was to not stand out and just lose during the combat portion.

    At least this was what he intended to do but fate had something different in store for him. After the meeting was over and the hero left with the winners he had stayed to discuss some business with the other noble dwarfs. It was a good opportunity to foster good relations as all the influential families were here.

    Then the strange feeling washed over him, he felt like someone was watching him. Even on the trip back home, it felt like there was something in the air. He asked his bodyguards to check but no one could find anything so they just continued.

    Back at home, he went over to his old father''s bed chambers to disclose some information about his new business ventures. The old man was more interested in the heroes and the tournament where the king candidates would be gathering.

    After a slow conversation and him lying about him taking this tournament seriously, he left the room. Thondin only used the bare minimum on the golem that his side would be using as he didn''t want to get his family into financial problems. From his perspective, the power-hungry idiots could just fight for the position of the king.

    In his eyes the family business was more important, he never thought that they had a chance of winning in the first place which made this the correct way to progress. With that, his family would be out in front while the others would put themselves in debt and overspend on their golems.

    His well-thought-out plan didn''t come to fruition as after leaving his father''s bed chambers they heard a rumble. The guards were alerted to this and everyone rushed inside only to see his sickly father standing upright and filled with energy.

    At first, they thought it was some kind of miracle, with a trembling voice he called out to him.

    "Father¡­ how can this be¡­what is that?"

    While in a confused state he finally noticed that his father wasn''t alone in this room. There was a small creature of about twelve inches floating around and giving off a golden light.

    He wanted to order his men to capture it but was stopped by his father. With him back in the picture Thondin was put in the backseat once more. His father was still the one in the position of power as he had never given it up. Only when the family head died would the position be passed down.

    "Halt, this is my saviour!"

    The old man replied when asked about this being''s origins.

    "Saviour?"

    Thondin asked while fearing that this small being could be a demon in disguise. There were rumors of such beings offering contracts with the people of the races. They would grant magical power, riches and even heal people at some cost. Mostly the person would give up their soul or give information to the demons involved.

    "I know what you are thinking my son, but this is not a demon, it''s a friendly spirit that is a part of the Hero party!"

    "Greetings mortal, you may refer to me as Lightning Emperor, Leigong."

    Right after his father finished speaking the small humanoid gave his name. This was a well-known name in this world by now and was associated with the twin summoners that had defeated many demonic beings. Thondin also knew that they were in this city at this moment along with the party of the heroes.

    "Leigong?"

    "Show some respect boy, he cured your old man!"

    Thondin was hit on the back of the head by his own father that had surprisingly a lot of strength left behind. It was as if he had never been sick, to begin with.

    "Now give me some food!"

    Things went by fast as his father took over. The two golden-haired girls that were the supposed twin priestesses arrived soon after. They were all allowed into the dining room with his father and himself.

    "Thondin, The Lightning Emperor will help us achieve victory in this coming tournament, you will be the Dwarven King!"

    Thondin after hearing this, promptly spit out the red wine that he was drinking.

    "Me? The king?"

    "Yes, I''d do it myself but these old bones don''t have much life left in them. I can at least see this through while I have the chance!"

    The old man''s eyes shone brightly as he talked about putting his son on the throne. This would be a great honor for his own house. His name would be remembered as the father of a dwarven king, immortalized in the history books.

    "H-how would the honorable Emperor help us? The tournament will be starting in less than a week."

    "Don''t worry young one, just show me your machine and I''ll bring you victory!"

    The small appearance of this Leigong had shifted into a tall white-haired man after the party of people arrived. He looked a lot more imposing than he did before and was radiating magical power.

    "Thondin, show him your golem. The costs don''t matter, give them all the resources that our house can offer to make it the strongest golem the world has ever seen!"

    He wanted to cry as he specifically used the least amount of coin to have the golem built. Now his father wanted to bankrupt him by spending all of their money on this venture with no future.

    "Well, what are you waiting¡­ go! There is no time to lose!"

    After being forced to go into the building where the combat golem was stored he was met with stares of disdain. The stare was coming from this Emperor of Lightning. He had gone through the golem that he prepared and had apparently looked through the outer shell.

    "What is this? Who put this nonsense over this last-gen crap? This won''t do at all!"

    Leigong shouted out while rubbing his chin. Thondin knew what he meant as he had gotten a cheap old model of a golem and made it look next-gen. The outer shell made it look modern and strong but the power that it could output would be far behind the competition that spent a fortune on their models.

    "We need to remake the internals¡­ replace these joints¡­ update the mana engine¡­ this could take a while¡­"

    He could hear the spirit mumbling while looking over the large battle golem. After moving around it for a few minutes he arrived at where Thondin was standing.

    "I have looked over the schematics here, I''ll need these, please bring them over within two days."

    When he looked at the list of parts that this Leigong spirit wanted his eyes almost popped out of his eye sockets.

    "Orichalc.u.m and adamantium?... Spirit silver¡­ how many liters of mana fluid?"

    The items and materials that were listed here were all from the top shelf. If he bought this all he would have to expend most of his estate''s reserves. This was not something that he could allow to happen.

    Due to this he hatched a scheme of stalling, if he told them that he couldn''t get the materials they would not be able to go through with the golem renovation. This plan didn''t go into fruition either as the white-haired spirit did something peculiar.

    Leigong started to shine in white before splitting into many round balls of light. These balls of light then turned into miniature versions of himself similar to his previous chibi form. They looked more humanoid in shape and had better proportions than the old versions.

    There were about a hundred of them, they all started moving towards the large golem and taking it apart while also working very fast. It dawned on him that this was how this spirit was hoping to hasten the changes on the machine. He could split into many smaller versions of himself that could customize this battle golem in just a few days.

    "Okay, let us go get those materials then."

    One of the smaller versions appeared next to him while floating. He started sweating while rolling up the scroll with the list of items. It seemed that he would not be able to stall him as one of the small Leigongs would be going with him. A few members from this side of the hero party also stuck close. They all made sure that he got all the expensive stuff that Leigong wanted.

    After two days he was looking at an empty treasure room that only had a couple of golden coins left. It all went into the blasted battle golem that he wasn''t even being allowed to see. His plans had already been ruined by this point and if they lost during the tournament the only thing left would be to sell those golem parts for some profit. He had no trust in this spirit but was forced due to his father recovering from his sickness.

    Time continued to go by and no one was allowed to enter the building where the combat golem was being reconstructed. All that the people could hear were thunderous sounds as Leigong was utilizing his lightning to construct this golem. Only at the crack of dawn before the tournament started was the machine finally completed.

    "This should do it¡­"

    Zhang Dong looked at the ''golem'' that he reconstructed. It was a lot less bulky than what the dwarves liked to build due to him implementing some puppet technology that he was familiar with.

    "Now let us perform a little test girls, fire it up!"

    The thumping sounds of something were heard by the people from this noble house. Thondin and his father awaited outside the closed building while the golem moved towards them. They were shocked by the sleek appearance of this combat golem, it was not a design they were very familiar with.

    Zhang Dong being himself had taken inspiration from the many mech-focused anime he had seen. The golem was mostly white with its feet having a red tint to them. The chest part was blue at the top with red at the abdomen area. This machine had clearly a humanoid shape, the head part looked like a samurai helmet with wide yellow fins coming out of the forehead.

    In one hand the golem had a large shield while in the other he was holding a tube of some sort. When activated this tube would turn into a sword of light akin to Zhang Dong''s thunderlight sword skill.

    "It''s time to have an old-fashioned robot battle¡­"

    Zhang Dong''s voice could be heard from the robot''s head as it moved forward. First, they need to perform some tests and then the time for battle would be upon them.

 Chapter 314

    Zhang Dong performed a grasping motion with his hand. Instead of seeing his own hand form a fist a large one made from metal did it for him.

    ''Good, the response time is far greater than what the dwarven golems can output¡­''

    The large golem that he created was now moving around while he was piloting it. There was no c.o.c.kpit for him though, he was actually spreading his mana molecules through the whole large robot. It was as if this golem was his own body that he could more freely around.

    "How are you two feeling? Is everything okay?"

    "Yes Mr. Leigong, we are fine."

    "Yes, this is actually quite comfortable!"

    Beatrice and Isabella''s voices could be heard from inside the large robot''s chest area. In it, the two girls were sitting together on two comfy seats. They were holding hands while channeling their magic into Zhang Dong. He used this mana to power this golem and to also pilot it at the same time.

    Having both of the girls inside this mecha that he created was also allowed. A golem could have up to five pilots at the same time. Some of them were quite hard to control with just one person inside of them.

    From the outside it would seem that having only two people on the inside would be a bad decision. In reality Zhang Dong could move this robot like an extension of his own body. The size was comparable to his avatar form so he was also used to the higher point of view.

    "Will this be enough?"

    Beatrice asked while looking at a monitor that showed her and Isabella the outside. There they could see Zhang Dong swinging a saber of light around. The lack of time didn''t let them produce many parts so they had to go with this generic sword and shield combination.

    "Has this mighty Leigong ever let you down!"

    Beatrice chuckled while Zhang Dong replied in a haughty voice. The young girl had gotten used to the way that he talked already and knew that he was mostly only being half-serious.

    "I''m sure that we will win, we can''t let them win this!"

    Isabella wasn''t laughing though, her face was showing a frown and her eyes were burning with passion to fight. She really didn''t want her old fianc¨¦ to get the win here. Zhang Dong was glad that he never did make any women mad at him in this way. Sticking to only one was the correct decision. He could not understand his grandfather or Huo Qiang and how they could just have so many wives.

    After some tests, it was finally time to leave. Zhang Dong while in the robot walked over to the transportation vehicle that would transport this golem to the arena. While in it they would conserve their mana.

    Zhang Dong had nothing to do other than meditating. Before that, he thought back to how everything came together to this moment.

    After he went through all of the dwarven books that he came across after the council meeting he noticed Thondin. He had already started contemplating on a plan of action that would force him to win the competition instead of Takeshi.

    He was worried that more bureaucracy would be involved and the expedition could be stalled if the royal members had their way. He needed to enter the competition but he wasn''t sure how to go about it. But at that time Thondin entered the picture.

    From some conversations that he had with the other noble dwarves, he figured out a couple of things. One that he was from a house that would be participating and also that he had a father on a deathbed. This sparked the plan of action that made him create this mecha-like golem. The design was lifted from a popular show that he used to watch and was more or less a carbon copy of it.

    Zhang Dong put his faith in the dying dwarf. He figured that if he managed to heal him that this person would allow them to participate in the tournament. After following Thondin and performing this task they found themselves here.

    The plan was a bit lackl.u.s.ter but there was not much else that he could do besides competing for one of the noble houses. He was also sure to make the old man that was now back to being the head of the estate, to sign a contract. After they won, he would have his son that would be the new king give them support in their venture.

    ''That kid didn''t look too happy about that part¡­ but sometimes those ones that don''t want to be kings make the best ones¡­''

    Zhang Dong looked at Thondin a bit and how he acted. He seemed to prioritize his own family over status and greed. This would be a good quality that a king should have. Being too stuck up while making decisions based on things like noble status and pride could spell disaster.

    The golem was covered in a large thick cloth and strapped to a large trailer that was being pulled by a smaller golem. The dwarves didn''t seem to have made cars yet as they were using various-sized golems for everything instead. This one looked more like a large horse made from metal and was clearly made for pulling heavy objects.

    After a bumpy ride, they finally arrived at their destination. They were allowed to go in from a side entrance while the people gathered. Zhang Dong couldn''t really see the arena from outside but he could clearly hear the dwarves cheering outside. Soon the cloth was removed and through his mech''s eyes, he could finally see again.

    They were in a large underground area and he could hear the sound of tinkering. Other golems were gathered here with them of various shapes and sizes. The one he was inhabiting was ten meters in height. It wasn''t as large as its anime counterpart but this was the limit of this world''s technology.

    If he wanted to make it larger he would need to change its shape. Zhang Dong preferred to make it more mobile and all-around strong than to go to either extreme. This coupled with his current cultivation would give the machine quite a boost in power.

    This underground hangar was huge and he could feel that there was a large number of people right above them. The golems that were gathered here were divided by large walls of metal that didn''t allow others to peek at what the craftsmen were doing. These walls even had strange runes on them that were blocking out magical scanners.

    Luckily they weren''t able to block out Zhang Dong that was above such little tricks. He could clearly see all the golems and their pilots.

    ''Those are some exotic designs¡­''

    He noticed that the machines varied in size, weight, and even in pilot count. It was clear that some of the participants went all in, while others that were similar to Thondin showed up with cheap knockoffs. He could tell that some of these golems were meant to take a few hits before crumbling before their enemies.

    ''Can''t blame them, no use to put yourself in debt if you are convinced that you can''t win.''

    Zhang Dong continued to scan the large hangar to see how many real threats there were. He spotted Takeshi''s golem and could tell that it was quite advanced. It was larger than his own model and a lot bulkier.

    ''I see that this guy went all in¡­ though not sure if putting Takeshi in that machine will be a good idea¡­''

    He felt that due to the fast training that he put the heroes through they wouldn''t be fit to enter this competition. Takeshi might have been strong from a stat point perspective but he lacked combat experience. Even if they gave him the best golem around he could easily fall into a trap.

    ''They even roped in the girls I see¡­''

    "Mr. Leigong, they announced our number, we are going to be in the first match!"

    Zhang Dong was busy scanning the area so he wasn''t paying attention. Beatrice''s voice snapped him out of it as it seemed that they would be showing off their mech right from the start.

    "Is that so? Well, you two just relax and leave everything to me."

    "Sure thing!"

    The two girls didn''t really have to do anything besides acting as human batteries. They had a large screen that showed them what Zhang Dong was seeing through his eyes. The compartment they were in was well protected and could be ejected outside if anything bad happened.

    At first, he thought about placing both of the girls outside this robot just like when he battled the demon lords. But this proved problematic with how this golem devoured mana energy. It was quite inefficient and the two girls had to be placed inside of it to counter the drain.

    He was still there so if anything happened he was ready to eject the girls into safety. Winning this tournament wasn''t worth the lives of Beatrice and Isabella. He would figure out a new plan if they lost but after looking through the golems the only one that could provide a challenge was the one being used by Takeshi.

    ''I guess it''s going to be us against them. I hope they can take a loss as I''m not intending to lose''

    "Okay, you are up."

    One of the mechanics that had helped them reconstruct the old golem called out. Zhang Dong moved his large mechanical foot forward and began walking. After leaving their ''garage'' they were led over to a wide corridor. There was enough space in here to stack three golems on top of each other and five in width.

    He continued walking through the dimly lit corridor while the murmurs got louder. At the end, there was a large metallic door with strange dwarven inscriptions. Before he could look at them carefully the door started to slide into the ground while revealing the light outside. The moment it opened he was greeted by many cheers from the audience members.

    "Let us welcome the candidate from the Hillmane household!"

    The moment he stepped out the dwarves stopped cheering. The shape of his golem was quite unique if he compared it to the bulkier models the other dwarves used.

    His opponent seemed to be one of those golems. They were about the same size but the golem standing on the opposite side was wider. He was mostly brown-gray in coloring, one hand was a claw while the other one had a large spiked ball with a chain attached to it.

    If you compared the two at first glance, Zhang Dong''s mech looked to be the weaker one. It didn''t look like something that could take too many hits or even deal enough damage to get past its enemy''s defenses.

    ''Well, time to show them my seed mode!''

    Zhang Dong cackled on the inside while getting out his laser sword, it was time to show these people how a mech battle looked like.

 Chapter 315

    "That Hillmane household golem looks strange¡­"

    "Yes, it doesn''t seem like they are taking this seriously¡­"

    Two nobles that were sitting in the VIP booth conversed with each other while staring at the two large golems in the even larger arena.

    Zhang Dong''s mecha-inspired golem was not in line with the esthetic perception of the dwarves here. Its design was sleeker and less bulky while also having more radiant colors of blue, red, and white. It made some of the old nobles uncomfortable to look at, some of them were even thinking that the Hillmane household was making a mockery of this serious day.

    "I hope the Blackhelm house makes quick work of those fools, truly a disgrace to the noble dwarves!"

    From everyone''s perspective, the side Zhang Dong was fighting for looked to be not taking things as seriously as the rest. He could clearly hear some of the antagonistic shouts of the masses that were coming his way.

    ''I guess I should have gone with a different design¡­''

    The outer shell didn''t matter to him that much as what was on the inside of this machine was the important part. If he knew that the dwarves reacted like this, he would have made a more grayish golem.

    "Let us begin the first match, Hillmane vs Blackhelm!"

    A large gong resounded throughout the arena and indicated the start of the battle. The golem on the opposite side started swinging that chained spiked ball with its hand and began charging towards Zhang Dong''s direction. Each step it made caused the earth to rumble and the people to cheer out loud.

    Then the opponent''s side that hailed from the Hillmane house did something strange. Instead of using the giant shield to defend themselves, the golem threw it to the side. The light sword remained strapped to the golem''s hip while it took on a strange position.

    The golems palms were moving forward while its legs spread out into a wide stance. The people didn''t know what was happening as the golem looked a bit too light to be a close-range brawler.

    "What are they doing¡­ is the operator an idiot?"

    The noble dwarves asked while scratching their heads. The operator was how they called the main golem pilot and in this case, it would be Zhang Dong. They didn''t need to wait long for a resolution though as the two machines collided with each other.

    While charging forward and gaining momentum the golem from the Blackhelm house swung its weapon. The chained ball flew at its target with force and it looked like it was over for house Hillmane.

    Then it happened, the white golem''s palm started glowing in a blew light and with amazing speed, it collided with the hardened spiked ball. Instead of the hand exploding into tiny chunks of metal the heavy ball was slapped to the side while also losing some of its spikes in the process.

    This wasn''t all as the white golem moved forward and stepped into melee range. The way it stomped its foot created spider web-like cracks in the arena floor. While using the momentum of the step-in, Zhang Dong''s machine delivered a clean palm strike to the other golem''s torso. This was also backed by an energy-filled palm which caused a large amount of damage to the opponent''s machine.

    House Blackhelm''s golem was sent flying while chunks of its armor peeled off. A massive palm print was embedded in the chest while the robot fell backward. The technique that Zhang Dong performed was a basic one but thanks to how this golem was made he was able to utilize the combat techniques from his own world. This golem was like an extension of his body with which he could perform most of his own battle techniques.

    "Impossible!"

    The nobles called out, their eyes bulging at the sight of the larger golem being damaged by just one hit. It didn''t look like the golem from the Hillmane household would be able to produce this much force but somehow it did.

    "You see that you old coots, Hillmane will be victorious!"

    A loud voice was heard by the nobles which caused them to look back. The man that was cheering and happy was the old head of the household that Zhang Dong had healed. He was ecstatic while looking at his side winning over a house that he didn''t like that much.

    The other nobles looked in surprise at how energetic this old man was. They all heard rumors of him being on his deathbed but now he was here. The old dwarf was even throwing punches as he looked at his golem approaching the downed opponent.

    "That''s it, finish him off!"

    Zhang Dong could hear his ''sponsor'' getting into it which made him chuckle inwardly. The golem that he was fighting against didn''t give up quite yet as it started to slowly stand up. It used a last-ditch attack by launching its clawed hand towards him.

    The giant claw connected with his forearm while he pulled it up. The claw was still attached to the rest of the golem''s body. The opponents were now trying to pull him in for a close-range grappling battle while probably thinking that they had the strength advantage.

    ''I will have to disappoint you but this golem I created is a lot stronger than you might think.''

    Everyone outside expected to see Zhang Dong be pulled in and squashed by the larger golem but instead the one being pulled in was the Blackhelm house machine.

    Even when it used its larger frame and legs it slid towards Zhang Dong''s golem. He was just using his hands to pull it in as if he was in a tug of war contest. The golem he was using was glowing in a dark orange light. He was utilizing another technique that increased his strength and allowed his smaller golem to win out over the bulkier model.

    With one last pull, the damaged golem was lifted off the ground. Almost at the same time, Zhang Dong jumped into the air while leaving a hole in the ground. The people were stupefied by this display as jumping at this weight class was almost impossible.

    A swift kick was delivered to the Blackhelm house golem which turned it into scrap metal. He could only do this as the pilots decided to eject themselves to safety. Otherwise, he would have had to lower his kicking power.

    A scrap of parts descended on the ground after Zhang Dong''s perfectly placed burning flying kick. His whole foot looked like it was covered in plasma and the moment it collided with the opponent it exploded.

    "T-the victory goes to¡­ the Hillmane house! Please give a round of applause!"

    The announcer called out and was met with crickets as no one expected a turnabout of this magnitude. The opponent Zhang Dong was facing was even highly rated in this tournament and not someone that was trying to lose.

    The white golem lifted its arm up into the sky while making a fist. The moment it did the people in the audience burst out in cheers.

    "That was a stunning show of power!"

    "What is that golem design, what were those peculiar movements!"

    They cheered him on as he returned to the place he came from. A lot of the craftsmen that were gathered here were already trying to analyze how this golem operated. There was clearly more to it than what met the eye. Its reduced size didn''t make it any weaker than the other machines.

    Due to this, the old man that was proudly holding his hand up in the air and mimicking the golem was now being barraged with questions. All the nobles were interested in the new design and how it operated.

    This was something made by Zhang Dong though and he didn''t leave any crafting schematics behind. Even if he wanted to make a profit from this golem he wouldn''t be able to do it in this way. It would also be impossible for other people to pilot it as it was made for Zhang Dong and his two summoners.

    "I think that went well for a test ride, how are you two feeling?"

    Zhang Dong asked while slowly walking back to their hangar. There wasn''t much damage done to the golem he made but he still needed to check it before the next battle.

    "I feel fine, how about you Isabella"

    "Yes, I feel like we could have continued for a bit more."

    The two girls inside chuckled at each other while Zhang Dong gave them a scan. They were his power source so after this battle he had an idea of how long this golem could operate.

    ''Not that bad, the use of puppet technology and this mana engine is working wonders. I wonder if my sect could utilize this technology when I return¡­''

    He started imagining an army of large mecha golems that were even larger than his model. With the better alloys and materials that his world had to offer he would be able to improve on this design even further.

    "That''s good to hear."

    They managed to return to their garage and only heard the other golems leaving after they closed the door behind them. There weren''t that many fights as there were a limited number of golems.

    This was also the only day that this tournament was taking place. Due to this people needed to take the longevity of their golems into consideration. They needed to last till the very end and if they broke between fights it was over.

    This was also seen as part of the king''s test. Only a wise king would be able to think ahead in this kind of situation. While this was a nice notion in reality the one that had the best technology or most funds won.

    "You two relax while I perform some diagnostics."

    While waiting for the next match Zhang Dong split into many tiny versions of himself. He started performing all kinds of tests while ironing out some battle scars. Even though he wasn''t hit even once he delivered some hard hits with his feet and hands. These spots needed to be rechecked for any breaks and then fixed accordingly.

    "How many opponents will we have to contend with?"

    Asked Beatrice while looking at the small group of Leigongs.

    "Not that many my lady, there are only about thirty contestants in total and the fights never take that long."

    A dwarf from the household answered while the work was being performed on the mech. The two girls had some time to relax but not for long as soon they would need to go into battle again. Thankfully the other fights would be taking a while, there was enough time to rest and even see all the other opponents that they would be facing later.

 Chapter 316

    "Hillmane household takes the win again, let us give a round of applause for the king candidate! With this, only one match remains! Who will be our next king!"

    A large white golem strode back below the arena while the people cheered. This was the semifinals and Zhang Dong''s side had managed to clear them with suffering only minimal damage and tear.

    The combination of cultivator automaton and the technology of the dwarven race proved quite effective here. The only real problem was the limited time of operation due to Isabella''s and Beatrice''s involvement.

    "How are you two doing?"

    "W-we are fine Mr. Leigong."

    Answered Beatrice while sweating a bit.

    "Yes, just one more match, we can handle it!"

    Replied Isabella while also not looking especially rested. The fights started taking longer the more advanced golems they thought and Zhang Dong was also getting the hang of piloting this mech. Due to the long tournament, the two girls that were used as batteries were slowly running out of juice.

    "Conserve your power, only the last match remains."

    He could only cheer them on and have them drink some mana potions. Those helped slightly but prolonged use had diminishing returns. The mana that people used in this world was connected to the soul and the longer you drained it the harder it was to recover.

    Zhang Dong powered down for the time being and returned to his own soul dimension to give the girls more time to rest. While they were doing their breathing exercises outside the golem the earth rumbled above them.

    The last pre-final match was taking place above them. On one side was Takeshi and the hero team, on the other some rich dwarven noble. He had seen the golem that the kids were using and it was quite a beast.

    It was clear to him that the person that built this was banking on the heroes piloting it. This golem was huge and required people with high mana capacity to boost the mana engines that it was running on. While most golems only had one this possessed multiple. Clearly, they used some secrets to construct it as most golems were stuck with one engine. Adding multiple ones was dangerous and could end in an explosion.

    From what he knew the household Takeshi was fighting for was called Runefall. It was the most influential family in this city and even before the heroes arrived they were said to be the favorite.

    Zhang Dong even believed that this family had other backup golems depending on the pilots. Probably if they didn''t get the operators they wanted they would go with a different design. With the heroes on board, they were in the strongest position to win it all.

    "Dang, Is it over already?"

    There was a signal that the fight above them was over in an instant. The other house that was qualified towards the semi-finals didn''t even last a minute against Takeshi and their golem. Now they would have an hour to rest before the main event took place.

    Without much to do, they waited. From the distance, they could hear some kind of large machine lumbering down through the corridor. The tremors that followed the footsteps indicated that this golem was much heavier than the rest.

    The hour passed fast and it was finally time for the last bout. Only one side would be walking out victorious. All the families that had failed to achieve victory would be put through hard times. Without the king title the loss of money could not be regained, they would need to tighten their belt as it would take years for them to recover.

    This was the same for the Hillmane household, but the old head of the family was already glad that his family reached this point. From his perspective being the runner-up was already an honor. Everyone would know his house name from this moment. Gaining new trade partners would become easy as their name became famous.

    "Fellow dwarves, this has been what you have been waiting for. The birth of a new king! Soon we will know who will have the honor of leading our race into the future!"

    The announcer started rattling on while one of the gates opened up. A mostly white humanoid golem walked through it, shield in hand.

    "Let us welcome the Hillmane household, the dark horse of this king tournament! No one expected them to come this far, can they finish the deal and become immortalized in history? Or will they be a stepping stone for the true victors!"

    After Zhang Dong came out on the other side the other slab of rock started sliding down. There stood quite the large metallic contraption. It was barely able to fit through the frame with its multiple legs.

    "It''s no surprise that House Runefall has made it this far! Their golem innovations have been known throughout the lands by all. Will they be cemented as the greatest golem manufacturers in our dwarven history and take the crown?"

    Everyone looked at the marvel of engineering that was before them. This golem''s bottom part looked like a spider. The many legs were a must to support this machine''s large frame. It looked a bit similar to an Arachne-type monster that was wearing heavy dwarven armor.

    The spider-like legs connected to a large abdomen on which some cannons were placed. Then it all stretched into a bulky humanoid torso that also had two sets of arms. This thing dwarfed Zhang Dong''s mecha more than a head''s length in height and was several times longer as well.

    If you looked from the outside there was no possible way for the Hillmane house to win. Their golem looked to be very lightweight and built for mobility. It didn''t look that it would be able to produce enough power to damage it in the first place. That is if it didn''t have a certain cultivator piloting it.

    "Well then, let the finals begin, only one champion can remain!"

    The start gong sounded and the crowd cheered.

    "Go Hillmane, show those pompous Runefall fools that money isn''t everything!"

    "Yeah, go Hillmane!"

    To Zhang Dong''s surprise, his side had garnered praise from most of the dwarves. They seemed to prefer the smaller Hillmane faction over the other to win. It was a classical David vs Goliath scenario, though he wasn''t sure if he would be considered David as he had far more up his sleeve than these people realized.

    ''I should probably end this fast¡­''

    He could tell that his two partners wouldn''t last through a prolonged battle. It wouldn''t be hard to slowly grind away on this monstrous golem. He had seen it fight and it was rather slow, most of its wins were due to how the other golems were designed.

    The dwarves by nature build slow and lumbering creations. Speed was never their forte and it seemed that they fully abandoned that notion. They invested everything in power and defense. He could see a fast machine with ranged potential being able to destroy this thing in a prolonged fight.

    The biggest obstacle with that plan was the limited battle area, there were no places to hide or take cover. The golems had to directly clash with each other, thus the bulkier ones came out victorious. The only one that was going against the grain was him.

    Finally, the battle started off with a bang. The cannons that were on the large golem started firing while Zhang Dong dodged to the side. His shield was used this time around, it was glowing slightly and producing a thin layer of mana that didn''t let the large bullets through.

    This was Takeshi''s tactic in the other fights. Spam massive amounts of bullets at his target while slowly advancing forward. He was clearly forcing a win without caring about damaging the mech in the process.

    The problem was his opponent that was able to dance around the massive golem without suffering any damage. If Zhang Dong had enough energy to burn through he would have preferred to wait out till his opponent was out of ammo. Alas, he needed to charge in as he had limited time. The golem with the many mana engines would surely outlast him and the girls in a battle of attrition so he needed to strike.

    Thus he used his advantage, which was his mobility. The body of the white golem started glowing in blue light. Following this light was an increase in speed which Zhang Dong used to close the gap between him and the golem.

    This time he utilizes his entire kit, the sword was pulled out and activated. The energy beam sprung into life and made quick work of one of the spider legs while Zhang Dong quickly backed off. The spot that he previously occupied became riddled with holes.

    He didn''t stop at only this one leg though, he mercilessly continued to attack. Slicing each leg off while evading all the enemy attacks that came his way. The crowd cheered as they were surprised by the speed advantage that the white golem had. It was as if the defensive capabilities didn''t matter at all. A speed and attack-focused golem was clearly a valid option if you wanted to go with a cheaper variant.

    Due to the large golem''s limited mobility it suffered. Soon it was left on three legs that couldn''t support the increased weight of that abdomen. The cannons kept firing and Zhang Dong had to even evade a spider leg being thrown his way by one of those large golem arms.

    It was clear that Takeshi wasn''t used to tactics like this. He mostly overpowered his opponents with sheer strength but Zhang Dong had used a simple tactic to get under his skin. This was done at a cost, he could already tell that Beatrice and Isabella were running on fumes.

    ''It was all for this moment, time to ignite the engine and finish this.''

    He did this all so that his enemy would be unable to evade his last-ditch attack. He tossed his shield towards his enemy while grasping the light sword with both hands. While Takeshi focused on the incoming bulky projectile he charged forward.

    The white body began to glow in gold color. With the boost of his holy element, the golem looked as if it was made from pure gold. Arcs of lightning traveled towards the energy sword and caused it to become longer and wider while also causing it to produce more light.

    Everyone was blinded in an instant, right after Takeshi''s golem batted the incoming shield to the side his vision became blurry. He could see his opponent coming and quickly reacted by swinging his own weapons forward. The large golem has swords in each of its hands, now was finally the time for Takeshi to use them.

    It happened in an instant, it was as if time had stopped for everyone. Zhang Dong''s mech appeared on the other side of the arena with a missing head while kneeling down. While the large golem on the other side seemed to be undamaged.

    Before the people could gasp and before the cannons could shoot at the damaged white golem a strange sound was heard. It was as if two plates of metal were rubbing against each other.

    "Look!"

    The golem that Takeshi and the heroes were in began to split apart as it was cleaved by Zhang Dong''s laser sword. It was perfectly sliced into two halves that slowly parted to the sides revealing the bewildered pilots inside that were now able to see the outside world.

    No one was injured as Zhang Dong was sure not to aim for any living beings inside the machine. The fight was over and the headless golem stood up again, its fist raised high while the crowd clapped and cheered for the winner and birth of the new king.

 Chapter 317

    "Ugh¡­"

    The sound of coughing was heard while four youths with darkened faces crawled out of a wreck of a golem. They were the party of heroes that were just defeated by something that was very familiar to them. All of them came from the country that the design Zhang Dong used his inspiration for.

    "D-did we really lose?"

    "Using that is cheating!"

    Takeshi cough into his hand while trying to rub out the dark sludge that was on his face. He remembered the surprise when he first saw the mech that Zhang Dong created. Instantly he was regretting joining this side and being stuck in this huge golem that he couldn''t even pilot himself.

    He needed to keep the promise with the princes though which he was unable to do. Now he wouldn''t be receiving that kiss as a reward due to his failure. The girls from his party also seemed distant lately this whole hero experience wasn''t feeling so good lately.

    "The tournament is over, all hail the new dwarven king, Thondin Hillmane!"

    While the youths were crawling out of the wreckage the dwarves had forgotten about them even being there. They were all far too busy cheering for their new king, finally after a long time of arguing there was a new king.

    Even though Thondin was only the oldest son and the father was still alive, he would be taking over. While registering for this competition every side had to fill out the person that would become the new king.

    This was one of the rare occasions where the leader of the household gave away the rights of kingship to a son. This was good for the Hillmane house as the younger Thondin would be able to hold on to the title for a lot longer than his old father.

    "Are you okay?"

    Takeshi looked up to the person that was calling out to him. He could see a rather cute golden-haired girl reaching out her hand towards him. The arena lights that were directly behind her made her look a bit otherworldly.

    "An angel?"

    "Heh, look at this sweet talker."

    A voice that he knew called out from the side. When glancing at it he noticed it was Zhang Dong in his smaller form looking at him. After further inspection, he also noticed that the girl that was reaching out to him was Beatrice.

    "Sweet talker? I d-didn''t¡­"

    He blushed a bit after noticing that he was staring at the girl for a prolonged time. Due to the pink-haired princess hanging around him for so long he wasn''t able to notice the other girls around him. Now after getting a good look at Beatrice he could see that she was quite charming. She didn''t have the assets that the princess had but her face was somewhat gentler.

    "Let me clean you up lover boy¡­"

    Zhang Dong called out in a mocking tone. After this Takeshi and the three girls found themselves being submerged in large bubbles of water. These bubbles quickly absorbed all the dirt from their bodies. The water then flowed back while having a dark color, surprisingly Takeshi felt rather dry after this strange spell was finished.

    "Takeshi, next time you should discuss things with us before doing something like this¡­"

    Zhang Dong said while floating back towards Beatrice.

    "Otherwise Beatrice here will be very sad."

    He quickly pointed to the girl that had appeared. At first, he wanted to shout back that he didn''t need to listen to Zhang Dong, but after his attention was brought back to Beatrice again he held his mouth shut.

    "Interesting¡­"

    Zhang Dong mumbled.

    "What''s interesting?"

    Another golden-haired beauty appeared from the side while everyone gathered.

    "Oh nothing, we should head back these dwarves will be holding a big feast for a few days after the new king is chosen. We must discuss the side of our contract and get ready to depart. I bet the demons won''t just sit on their asses and let us attack them without putting up some defenses."

    "Also you four¡­ you need to stop trusting those royals¡­"

    This was the last thing that Zhang Dong said before the group from the royal family showed up. The pink-haired princess was there with her three brothers that moved between Zhang Dong''s side and the Hero party.

    "Oh no, Lord Takeshi are you alright?"

    The girl was clearly acting all cutesy while rubbing all up into Takeshi. This was painfully obvious to Zhang Dong and the two girls that were standing next to him. Both of them had a look of disgust on their faces as this transpired.

    For one reason or another Takeshi was quick to straighten up. He even gently pushed the pink hair ditz to the side while glancing between her and Beatrice.

    "Oh no, I''m fine!"

    Zhang Dong on the other hand just chuckled while sending a telepathic message to his summoner.

    ''I think you have a new fan. Maybe you can talk some sense into him while using your womanly charm?''

    The blond girl was confused and also started looking at this hero while also glancing at Zhang Dong. She also went red in the face the moment the womanly charms were mentioned. She was still someone that never even had a boyfriend before in her life.

    ''Hey, what are you two doing?''

    Isabella jumped into the conversation. Due to the telepathic transmission, she couldn''t hear them talking but she knew that something was fishy. What she did was hug Beatrice while pulling her away from the situation.

    ''Leave her out of this!''

    Zhang Dong started rubbing his head at the scene. Everything was getting pushed back into the rom-com genre. It seemed like some strange love square was being formed. With two of the girls, Takeshi and the pink-haired princess being involved. If it expanded further due to the three girls from Takeshi''s world was also a possibility. All of them were glancing here and one girl, in particular, wasn''t amused.

    "Hey, what are you doing Takeshi!"

    This girl was Ami who now abandoned her prince and started pulling Takeshi by the arm. The pink-haired princess did the same but from the other side. The youth in question on the other hand was still sneaking glances at Beatrice that was getting pulled away by Isabella.

    ''So Beatrice really is the true main character? Is it the main character aura that is attracting so many people towards her?''

    Zhang Dong thought while also being okay with Isabella winning Beatrice over. The rest of her suitors seemed to mostly have underhanded motives while this girl was a bit purer.

    "Okay, I think we should go back, let us return to the hotel!"

    There was a lot of talking as Zhang Dong surrounded almost everyone with a thin layer of his spiritual energy. He carried exactly six people out towards where the father of Thondin was celebrating. The four members of the human royal family didn''t seem amused as he yanked the hero party with him.

    "Didn''t I tell you, my son is going to be the king!"

    The old man looked quite chipper, it was hard to believe that he was someone that was on death''s door just a week ago. He had his hand locked around some other old noble and the two were in beard rubbing proximity. The person he was holding hostage didn''t seem that happy about this but also unable to push away someone that was now the father of the new dwarven king.

    "It''s time for you to keep your end of the bargain, dwarf."

    Zhang Dong didn''t really want to wait for too long. He got right to the point as he approached the merry man that was also quite drunk.

    "It''s the spirit! I''ll be sure to make my boy build a big statue for you! Whoever said that spirits can''t be trusted should be hanged!"

    The man seemed quite grateful which would probably speed things up. Surprisingly the man of the hour Thondin was spaced out. He was also here in this VIP booth. He was stuck looking down at the golem parts in the arena with his mouth wide open. It was clear that he never expected something like this to ever happen. Now he had to be king even if he didn''t like it.

    "Don''t mind him, the boy will come around."

    The old man grinned while moving over to where Zhang Dong was. He gave Thondin a hard smack to the back which sent the new king tumbling forward.

    "Get a grip of yourself, you are the new king, start acting like one!"

    After the hit, Thondin seemed to snap back to reality. He looked at his old man and instantly straightened out. Even though he wasn''t ecstatic about this turn of events he also knew that this was a great honor. With this, his family''s future was secured. Even though the king''s title wasn''t hereditary there were certain things a royal house would receive even when he died.

    There was not much that Zhang Dong and his companions could do for now. They needed to wait a bit more for Thondin''s coronation. This also never went down as seeming less as people might think.

    Jealousy was still there, the houses that spend all of their money now had someone they could point their hate at. Before this dwarf actually was presented his crown he was not the king. It wasn''t odd for the king candidate to be killed before they went through with the ceremony and it was also a part of the test. Only a person that survived till the end would be seen as the proper ruler.

    With this, the next few days Zhang Dong and the Heroes were placed on guard duty. Now with a winner that was on their side they had something in common. Surprisingly now Takeshi was all for spending more time with their side. Beatrice was probably the main reason for it.

    Due to the kids being preoccupied with each other it was on him to guard Thondin. Luckily he had vast detection skills and the dwarves didn''t make for good assassins. A few incidents happened but they were all quickly resolved by him. During this time Isabella was mostly trying to peel Takeshi off her friend.

    After a few days the festivities were ramping up and the date for the coronation came. Thondin was now all dressed up and ready to take the plunge. When he was walking down towards the throne a strange sound was heard. When he looked to the side he noticed Zhang Dong holding a poison arrow that was a few inches away from his head.

    The perpetrator was apprehended and this signaled the last assassination attempt that would befall this house. After the coronation was through any further acts would be seen as treason. The houses involved would be burned down and all its members down to the relatives killed without mercy. This was the law of the land and the other houses would keep to it.

    ''Finally¡­ we can finish this damn quest¡­''

    Zhang Dong gave out a sigh while looking at the crown touching Thondin''s head. With this, his task was over and he would finally be able to leave this underground city.

 Chapter 318

    "Uh, finally we are leaving¡­ I need to get new clothes¡­"

    A rather annoyed Isabella was looking at the entrance of the seemingly active volcano. After Zhang Dong''s victory, a week had already passed. The dwarves were celebrating for a few days and everyone was drinking themselves stupid.

    The young members from the royal family nor the hero party were safe from this. Everyone got drunk with the exclusion of Zhang Dong, Beatrice, and Isabella that were safe thanks to their scary lightning chaperone.

    Neither the dwarves nor the humans were willing to cross his path as he had proven himself in being a great wall that could not be breached. Some of them tried, like Takeshi that for some reason or another had changed his target from the pink-haired princess and was now trying to court Beatrice.

    This resulted in some strange encounters that mostly ended with Isabella shouting at everyone. With him backing her up even the royals couldn''t do anything. Their side had now both the elves and the dwarves, the golems had been brought on the large elven ship and were now part of the crew.

    ''This actually looks like a competent fighting force¡­''

    Zhang Dong thought to himself while looking through the people that were on the current ship. They were given a large battalion of golems with experienced operators. They also had many flying sh.i.p.s with the super large one in the middle.

    This flying ship on its own possessed magic power that could rival a demon lord. It could even deliver a more devastating strike similar to the Argonaut that he made back home. Just like with his own model it needed some time to charge.

    "I wish victory upon you all!"

    "Thank you, my king!"

    An old-looking dwarf with many battle scars on his face was saluting to his new king, Thondin Hillmane. The new monarch looked like a proper king with his crown. It looked like he had made peace with his new position and was willing to take this task on.

    The old dwarf was the commanding officer that the kingdom was lending him. This man was supposedly the best man for the job. With him around, there would be no problem in organizing some strategies.

    "Great Spirit Emperor, we are ready to depart."

    "Let us depart then, let us go to the dark lands, time for the final battle to commence!"

    The dark lands were a dark place covered by a gloomy forest. It was a spot on this continent where the barrier between the lands of demons and the other races was thin. Through it, lesser demons were able to slip in.

    It was not something that anyone was willing to venture towards. The armies of the three main races remained outside the danger zone and could only observe. Any expeditions that they attempted were unfruitful.

    The expeditions were never a combined venture, this was the first time that a large force of this size would be attempting it. Together with the heroes and the famous Lightning Emperor things were looking well. Three of the five demon lords were dead and now it looked like humanity would regain its footing at the top of the food chain once more.

    "Will we really be able to defeat the demon lord?"

    Beatrice asked while looking out through a window that was in the large ship''s interior. They were now flying through the air on the course towards the lands that were still occupied by the demons.

    "Of course we will and we must."

    Replied Zhang Dong that was awaiting this day with desperation. Some months had passed by and he was still here. Even though he didn''t want to put these people in danger there was no other way of getting the rest of the cubes.

    He also wasn''t willing to use the one that was used to bring Takeshi and the three girls over. Without it, the three would be stuck here as he took it away and the teleportation array that brought them over here was not in a working condition.

    "Don''t worry, just leave it to me. Takeshi might not look that reliable but he isn''t weak either."

    The heroes were also at a high level compared to the people in this world. If they worked together they should be able to take out a demon lord. What they lacked was experience but gaining it would prolong everything.

    Thus he didn''t put much faith into them instead, he used the time to improve on the golem designs and also shared some magical knowledge with the elves. By strengthening his own forces he hoped to mitigate the weakened state of the heroes.

    ''But still¡­ I think it might be bad to let these kids take out a demon lord instead of me...''

    Zhang Dong had a little theory that he couldn''t test out. He had taken all the corrupt cubes for himself but he believed that they might have been intended to fall into the heroes hands. Maybe by absorbing their power, the hero party would gain enough strength to be able to take on the last boss.

    He feared that if they killed one or two of the remaining lords that he would lose the nuclei in the process. The question was if it was better to increase the strength of the hero party or to believe in his own power. He had stayed busy and cultivated his own soul constantly.

    Its size had increased which would translate well if he ever reached his old cultivation level. He even felt that he could use it to battle against masters at the great circle level.

    "Great Spirit, we are approaching the dark lands, what are your instructions."

    With him now having both dwarves, elves, and a chunk of the human faction on his side he was turned into the commander of this expedition. It seemed like things were coming together but he knew that this was just the time when something usually went wrong.

    "Tell everyone to stop, I will head out and examine the situation."

    After giving the standby order everyone was instructed to wait for further instructions. The dwarves quickly entered their golems and the elven wizards prepared for battle. The other sh.i.p.s stood a bit behind the main elven one while they waited.

    Zhang Dong in his a.d.u.l.t form floated forward towards the dark lands. Just as they were described it was an area covered by grayish fog and darkened forest. This reminded him of the thick fog that the Cthulhu-like monster was occupying.

    ''Is this fog blocking my perception as then?''

    Even while he focused with all his might the fog was somehow blocking his spiritual sense. It was similar to that one time back in his own world, he was unable to peek too far. His range was at about three hundred meters in all directions. The only things that he could feel were some animals and insects.

    ''These life forms¡­ they have been altered by the demonic energies of this place¡­''

    He could feel that the animals were twisted by the evil energy that resided in these lands. They had grotesque demonized appearances that were ghoulish in nature. Even the insects were corrupt, any stings by them would result in poisoning.

    ''I guess we''ll have to venture into the unknown¡­''

    Zhang Dong returned to the ship, the party of heroes was here along with his two summoners.

    "How was it, did you see anything."

    Takeshi asked with some concern in his voice.

    "Yes but not much, the corruption runs deep. The fog that covers this place is filled with demonic energy; it will slowly deteriorate a person''s psyche if they breathe in the fumes. I believe that any regular person would start changing into a grotesque creature after a few hours."

    "Grotesque creatures?"

    Ami flinched at that notion along with the other girls that were here.

    "So, we will become like one of the royal family members?"

    Isabella slid in a little joke while the other people gathered here chuckled. Lucky for them the people in question were on their own sh.i.p.s and not very willing to lend their men.

    "Don''t worry, this ship has a protective shield that can block out this miasma. You four will be okay, something like that will be unable to harm your bodies. It will only affect untrained people anyone versed in magic should be fine."

    Zhang Dong reassured everyone that this fog would not affect them. They also had the elven flying ship that possessed a giant barrier that would not let anything through.

    "Let us move in but remain vigilant, it''s still some time before we reach the edge of the barrier."

    The order to move forward was given, every ship that was here possessed some kind of magical barrier. With it out the dark fog would be unable to move in and claim any victims.

    Magical barriers in various colors started to appear and the hero party entered the demonic territory. Every magical device that could detect demons was activated but due to the fog, the readings were all a jumbled mess.

    Zhang Dong stood at the front of the ship while looking forward. This demonic forest spread for a couple of kilometers and at the end would be the point that they would need to strike. The plan was quite straight forward but if it came to fruition no one knew.

    Most of it relied on Zhang Dong''s capabilities. Some people still had the misconception of the heroes being the ones that they needed to rely on. The ones that could see the bigger picture knew that Leigong was the pivotal point of this operation. He had already proved himself to being stronger than a demonic lord.

    "Mr. Leigong¡­"

    "What is it, you both should return to the protective cabin."

    While slowly gliding through the thick fog a worried Beatrice arrived. She was alone but he could tell that Isabella would probably be arriving soon. The two had become inseparable since becoming a good team.

    "I''ve been meaning to ask you¡­"

    "Hm, yes?"

    "A-are you going to be leaving after the demon king is destroyed?"

    "Huh?"

    Zhang Dong almost tripped over his feet as he was asked this question. Somehow Beatrice had figured out that he was not here to stay. He had never mentioned this fact to this girl or to anyone else. Somehow she must have come to this conclusion herself.

    "What makes you think that?"

    "You seem awfully set on battling the demon king¡­ as if you don''t have enough time¡­"

    "Ah¡­ was it that obvious?"

    He was indeed rushing it, this was a half-assed plan brought on by him worrying about his family. For all that he knew they could be getting attacked by some other sect at this very moment.

    "I¡­ I was right? You are really leaving?"

    Beatrice flinched back as Zhang Dong didn''t even try to hide it. He felt like at this point he owed his summoner an explanation. He felt that if she stuck to Isabella her future would be assured.

    But before he could give her a proper explanation he noticed something.

    "Damn, Beatrice, return to Isabella, I need you both to lend me your power¡­ a demon lord has appeared!"

    He turned to the fog while squinting with his eyes, there he felt a surge of demonic energy coming his way and there was more than one.

    "Everyone prepare for battle!"

 Chapter 319

    "Line up the cannons¡­ Fire!"

    Explosions filled the air as many bat-like creatures filled the sky. They all came from the fog and were now trying to bring down the shields from the flying sh.i.p.s.

    "Ghouls and Vampires, it must be the Lord of Blood!"

    Someone from the elven race called out while defending the ship. Most of the members from the elven race that were here were proficient barrier mages. They were placed in certain strategic locations on the ship and fueling the mana shields with their magic.

    The Ghouls looked somewhat like giant bats while the Vampires had a more humanoid shape and could float without the use of wings. The so-called Lord of Blood was slowly hovering in the background.

    He looked like a cross between the two. His all-around shape was humanoid with giant bat-like wings attached to his back. His arms were elongated and his hands looked like giant claws. His skin was grayish-white which made him look like a living corpse.

    His face was a mix of human and batlike features, when he opened his mouth a clear view of dagger-like teeth greeted anyone dumb enough to fight this being.

    This was not the only monster that the heroes needed to face off against. The demon Lord of Blood wasn''t the only archdemon that was here. Below him, a massive being was slowly treading towards the group of flying sh.i.p.s.

    It was the Lord of Destruction and the last archdemon that still remained. Somehow two of the mighty demons had gathered here and were waiting for them all along.

    This being was truly humongous, each time one of its large elongated appendages descended on the ground, massive tremors spread throughout this dark forest. It trampled everything that blocked its way.

    Its appearance was more grotesque than that of the vampire-like being. The shape that this monster took was similar to that of a spider. The biggest difference were the eight legs that instead of being fully arachnid-like had large humanoid hands.

    The creature looked like three massive humans fused with each other. The front consisted of just the chest part with its arms extended. It had three heads that consisted of only mouths and no eyes. The eyes were instead embedded in its strange fused torso and were constantly blinking while looking for new enemies to attack.

    Above this massive creature and the Lord of Blood Leigong the Lightning Emperor was floating. He was now glaring at the vampiric lord before him, his body already covered in golden radiant holy energies that caused the lesser vampires to flee.

    "I don''t think you will let me through?"

    "You shall not pass filthy astral being, this will be your grave. I will absorb your might and the king will descend to cover these lands in the blood of the filthy mortals!"

    The demonic lord entered the monologue stage. Zhang Dong was familiar with this defect that these demons had. Thanks to this he had ample time to power up and think about a good plan of attack.

    While this monster that he was facing looked to be the more speedy arial type, the one below was clearly a slow tank. With it being stuck on the ground it was safe to leave his flying army to take care of it. He had already passed on the order to engage it from afar with a kiting strategy. If everything failed the dwarves were to utilize their golems and try to stall it till he was done with this monster. The heroes were also going to help but only with range support.

    After being cooped up in the elven and dwarven countries Zhang Dong hadn''t had the opportunity to let loose. This overgrown vampire lord looked like the perfect sparring partner to release his frustrations and stress.

    Even then he waited, the moment the monologue was over the monster charged up and attacked. It was very similar to the one the lord of pain fired off. The monster''s mouth opened up and a beam of crimson energy flew forward.

    Zhang Dong didn''t dodge but instead extended his hand forward. His finger started glowing in blue light. A set of pentagram-like magic circles extended from the spot his finger was pointing at. There were ten circles and each one was larger than the previous.

    The red beam of dark light collided with the outermost ring and shattered it into many tiny lights. It continued forward while causing all of the rings to evaporate into nothingness. When it passed the sixth one it stopped, unable to travel further before blinking out of existence.

    ''These magic spells are the real thing.''

    This was actually one of the spells that he learned from this world. Together with his own cultivation knowledge, he was now able to utilize some of the magical skills the elves used. Due to being in this magical world, using mana attacks was more efficient than sticking to his spiritual energy-based attacks.

    ''They also lower the strain on the girls¡­''

    He pointed out with his finger once again. Behind him, magical circles of similar shapes and sizes started to appear. To non-mages this wouldn''t look like anything special but to the experts, this was something mind-boggling.

    "Take this, mass elemental arrows!"

    With a twitch of the same finger, a surge of arrows made from various elements descended on the large vampire monster. There were thousands of them, their colorful lights filled the sky and rained down on the flying archdemon.

    The demonic lord covered his whole body in its giant webbed wings and surrounded himself in dark red energy. He was quick to notice that he would be unable to dodge this attack, instead, he decided to enforce his defenses and block it.

    With a more stationary target, the many magic arrows had a point of focus. From rain, they turned into a flood of magical energy that descended on the encased demon. The black sphere that formed around the demon became bathed in rainbow-like light and vanished within.

    ''I don''t think it will be that easy?''

    Zhang Dong thought while his attack continued and finally subsided. He was greeted by the Demon Lord of Blood, or at least half of him. His wings were damaged and half of his body seemed to have melted away during the magical downpour.

    It might have looked like he was done for but in a matter of seconds, his whole body started glowing red. From the damaged parts of his body blood started gushing out. This blood quickly reformed into his lost body parts and formed a complete form again.

    ''He is a bit stronger than the other demon lords¡­''

    It was clear after the exchange that this monster''s main forte was the regenerative ability. The other demon lords could regenerate fast but not this fast. He didn''t worry though as he didn''t quite use his usual trump card against the demon. This trump card made going against these beings easy from the start.

    "Foolish Astral being, my body can not be seriously damaged by the likes of you! Now die!"

    "Is that so? How about this though?"

    Zhang Dong clutched his fist together and a bolt of golden lightning appeared in his hand. Without giving the monster much time to feel this new spell out he threw it at him. The attack produced a thunderclap while descending on its foe.

    This time around the monster''s black pearl-like eyes bulged out in fright and he quickly propelled itself to the side as it attempted to evade this attack. This bolt of energy was not something easily dodged and it connected with the demon''s leg.

    This appendage was then quickly sliced off by the monster itself. It knew that this attack carried holy energies in itself, the cut of leg crumbled into dust almost instantly while the cut of wound regenerated into a fresh leg.

    "You''re a bit smarter than the other demons¡­ but also less resistant¡­"

    Zhang Dong was a bit surprised at how quickly that leg disintegrated into dust after taking the hit. The other demon lords didn''t succ.u.mb to the holy energies as fast as this one. He wasn''t sure but this monster was a vampire. Vampires seemed to be quite weak against flames and holy energies alike. It seemed that this monster had high regenerative abilities but was also super susceptible to the type of energy that he exudes.

    "Well then¡­ try to evade this¡­"

    The same massive amount of magical circles was produced, this time around instead of the various colors of the rainbow the magical arrows were golden.

    "You¡­ lower being!"

    The Demonic lord of Blood looked to be panicking after seeing the magical arrows again. He didn''t bunker up this time but instead spread his wings widely apart. Many dark crimson magical circles of heresy magic appeared behind him. It was a very similar spell to his own with the difference of the different dark coloring.

    In a flash, a battle of holy vs evil commenced. The many magical arrows of Zhang Dong connected with the multitude of bolts of crimson. The demon was over his head though as the golden arrows continued on their trajectory even after bumping into the demonic crimson bolts.

    Soon the overgrown bat found itself running away from the holy arrow attack. Whenever it got hit it would slice off its body part that was affected. Even with the continued rain of energy, this tactic seemed to be working for it as it was able to survive right till the end. Its body sliced up and regenerating even now.

    "I will bathe in your blood, you damn astral creature!"

    "Yeah... yeah¡­"

    The demon lord glared at Zhang Dong but was only greeted by his after image. The Lightning Emperor on the other hand appeared behind this creature while holding a massive sword of light in both his hands.

    With a practiced swing, he cleaved the monster into two perfectly symmetrical halves. From the spot that he had sliced it the creature''s body started cramping and burning apart. He was sure to inject as much holy energy as he could but even then he knew that this might not be enough.

    Before the body crumbled into dust a part of it escaped. It looked like a pitch-back heart that was slowly beating and spitting out some dark fumes to mask its trajectory.

    "Do you think I was born yesterday?"

    He was waiting for this to happen and he pointed down with this finger. A bolt of energy that was hovering above the clouds and out of sight descended onto this very heart. It collided with it while causing a massive explosion.

    Zhang Dong had already faced a multitude of demonic beings in this and in other worlds. They always had some underhanded way of playing dead and escaping. So he made a backup plan to strike it down when it was most vulnerable.

    ''One down one to go¡­''

    After grabbing the cube fragment he turned to the massive demon lord that was to the side. It was in the process of being pelted by the ship''s magical cannons and also the people that were inside.

    ''But maybe I won''t even need to act this time around¡­''

    It didn''t seem like this demon lord had anything going for itself besides its huge size. It was like a sitting duck against the many flying sh.i.p.s that kept their distance. It could only throw trees and massive boulders while also firing beams of dark energy from its three mouths.

    Which were mostly deflected by the elven barrier technology and also with a little aid of the heroes that were using their own ranged spells as support. It seemed like the path forward would be open and they would soon be facing what was on the other side...

 Chapter 320

    "Hey."

    "Hey¡­"

    "Is something wrong, you look a bit down?"

    Isabella called out to Beatrice that was leaning against the railing of the large elven flying ship. The battle with the two remaining demon lords was now over. They were resting right outside the barrier to the demonic continent.

    After Zhang Dong had taken care of the Demon Lord of Blood, the larger Demon Lord of Destruction went down with ease. There was no need for Zhang Dong to get involved as Takeshi and the rest of the heroes were enough.

    The large monster only had size but was clearly not very intelligent. It was unable to contend with all the firepower that the people of the races threw at it. Takeshi only needed to utilize his magical sword to slice off the monster''s head after it had been weakened. The whole battle took a while but it wasn''t that dangerous thanks to the flight advantage that they had. Zhang Dong was sure to snatch the last cube fragment before it was absorbed by the group of heroes instead.

    Now the elves were making preparations to get this barrier out of the way. The dwarves and humans slowly set up the perimeter around here to block out any demonic monsters that might want to disturb them. The fog was still there and it was thick. Even though the demon lords were dead, that didn''t mean that the lesser demons wouldn''t try their luck.

    "Oh it''s nothing, just thinking about the future, everything is going so fast. It feels like the summoning ritual was just yesterday, then Mr. Leigong appeared..."

    Beatrice lowered her head and slumped against the ship''s railing, it was clear to Isabella that was right next to her that something was wrong. The girl decided to place her hand on Beatrice''s shoulder as she moved right next to her.

    "It''s going to be fine, we''ll be fine. I''m sure that Demon King will have no chance against your great spirit!"

    "I know that¡­ it''s just¡­"

    Beatrice gave out a sigh while looking out in a random direction, there she saw the dwarven golems moving some magical equipment closer to the barrier. This barrier looked like a giant mirror, it reflected whatever was on their side. Due to this, it was impossible to know what was on the other side. The possibility of monsters being there was quite high.

    "It''s going to be fine, we are going to make it through this together!"

    Isabella placed her hand on Beatrice''s while moving closer, she could clearly tell that her friend was getting emotional but she wasn''t sure why. Beatrice looked at Isabella''s hand that was placed on her own and then up which caused the girls eyes to meet.

    "You know, I used to hate you¡­"

    "Oh...."

    Isabella didn''t pull her hand away and Beatrice didn''t seem like she had anything against this treatment either.

    "I wasn''t the nicest person before, this journey opened my eyes up to many things. I used to think that people were below me, that nothing else mattered than noble status."

    "I remember how angry you looked whenever Prince Ludwig gave me attention."

    Beatrice replied while chuckling a bit. The two girls thought back to their old relationship, if it wasn''t for their common dislike for what the prince did they might not have been friends now.

    "Well, that idiot did one thing right."

    "Oh, and what would that be?"

    "He opened up my eyes¡­"

    Isabella started leaning up towards Beatrice, the two girls were looking into each other''s eyes. Time seemed to slow down for the two, it was as if all the noise disappeared and only the two remained in place.

    "Beatrice?..."

    "Huh?"

    The two finally snapped back to reality and looked to the side. There, a Takeshi with a confused expression on his face was standing.

    "What were you two¡­"

    He asked as Isabella jumped back as her face was really close to Beatrice''s.

    "Oh, she had some dirt on the shoulder¡­"

    Isabella coughed into her hand once before moving to the side. Beatrice just nodded while laughing nervously.

    "Is there something you wanted, Lord Takeshi?"

    "Oh, The elves were asking for Leigong''s help. He seemed to go away after the battle between the demon lords."

    Zhang Dong returned to his soul dimension to conserve energy. He was taking his time to cultivate so he didn''t really notice what the two girls were doing. Beatrice knew this as well, whenever Zhang Dong cultivated he needed to be called out several times before he noticed.

    "Ah, I''ll call him over now."

    With a little crackle of thunder Leigong the Spirit Emperor was out and about.

    "Hm¡­ what''s with this mood? Did something happen?"

    Zhang Dong was greeted with uncomfortable silence. Beatrice and Isabella were blushing for some reason, their heart rates were also through the roof. After a quick checkup, it didn''t seem that they were affected by any kind of illness.

    "N-nothing happened, the Hero just wanted to have a word with you Mr. Leigong."

    "Alright¡­"

    He removed himself from the scene, him being there seemed to make everyone even more uncomfortable. His thoughts were more on the mission before him as this was almost the end of the journey.

    "Great spirit, we have made the preparations, we can open up a gap in the barrier but it won''t be enough to get our sh.i.p.s through¡­"

    "Oh, is that so? Let me take a look."

    He floated over to where the magical devices were placed. Many dwarven golems were stationed outside with their cannons pointed at this very spot. This was the section of the barrier where all of the known demonic beings came from.

    Now with the eradication of the five archdemons, the people of the races could take a knee and relax. Even if the demon king wasn''t destroyed they future was assured as the demonic armies could not advance into their lands.

    Some felt that invading the demonic continent wasn''t a smart idea. No one knew if any more powerful demons resided on the other side of this barrier. It was unwise to poke the hornet''s nest but Zhang Dong needed to go forward. The last cube had to be there where the last boss was. He was now in control of this expedition so even when the princess protested they were quickly silenced by the others.

    "It does seem that the entrance size will be limited¡­"

    After scanning the mirror-like barrier he could see that the elven assessment was true. It seemed that even if he was in his most powerful state he wouldn''t be able to destroy this barrier.

    The entrance was about two meters in height and one meter in width. It wouldn''t even allow any of the golems to pass through just regular human beings.

    ''It looks like this was purposely made like this¡­ Probably to have a small team of heroes enter. I wouldn''t be surprised if the barrier closes instantly after Takeshi and the others go through it¡­''

    He didn''t like the looks of this. There was a big possibility of not being able to turn back if something went wrong. It didn''t look all bad though, all of the demon lords were slain and he had recovered the cube fragments himself.

    Sometimes in situations like this, the old boss monsters would return for another fight. He had their power sources though so this was an unlikely scenario. Due to him being here things had changed, the possibility of the demon king on the inside being weaker than he would normally be was also high.

    He was banking on this being true, nothing in this world had really been a challenge to him. The girls were constantly pushing their own mana capacities up and he was also getting stronger.

    ''I think I should go in there alone¡­''

    Even with that, he didn''t feel like he should endanger the girls or anyone that came with him. He would not risk other people''s lives to get what he wanted. He would rather try getting home with the current number of cubes than have Beatrice or Isabella pay the ultimate price.

    "Okay listen up, I need you to do something¡­"

    With this, he called out to the elven magicians that came along with him. Now was the time to use all of the extensive knowledge from both of his worlds.

    "I came to serve, great spirit!"

    "Good, get everyone, I will announce the plan. Have all the sh.i.p.s come together, we will need to take them apart for this to work. Also, get me some paper to write on."

    He rubbed his chin while thinking about how they would be progressing. Within an hour he had all the people of the races gathered. Beatrice, Isabella and the party of heroes were here. The members of the royal family were also here but they kept their distance.

    "The entrance to the demon continent is far too small for a large force to enter. Thus I have decided on¡­"

    "Yes, we will gladly go in!"

    Before Zhang Dong could proclaim his plan Takeshi jumped forward with his sword raised. Zhang Dong could see the youth sneaking glances at Beatrice while trying to seem gallant and heroic.

    "Be quiet you idiot."

    Before this could get out of hand he received a smack to the head.

    "None of you will be entering the demonic continent, I alone will face the demons."

    "You alone? We know that you are strong, but how will you face the demon king alone and without the help of your summoner?"

    The one asking the question was one of the older princes. The other people gathered here also started mumbling with each other. Everyone knew his strength but they knew that he required Beatrice and Isabella to power him constantly.

    "Don''t worry about that, even you will be able to help out, we will do it like this¡­"

    With that said Zhang Dong took out a large piece of parchment that had a strange spell formation with many magical runes on it. This was of course a greater version of the spell formation he utilized during the fight with the first Archdemon that he faced. He expanded on the design which would allow him to draw his power from even the ship''s mana engines.

    "That is?"

    "This is how I will defeat the Demon King, now listen up..."

    He quickly explained the gist of his plan. Just like before Beatrice and Isabella would need to sit in the middle of the formation while everyone else was used as sub energy sources. This time around though there were proper powerful mages and machines he could draw his power from.

    For some, the plan seemed too good to be true. Sending in a summoned spirit to take out the demon king while everyone stayed behind and was safe sounded outlandish. Most of the people and soldiers here were ready to give up their life for the cause but it seemed that they wouldn''t get a chance for that.

    "W-why were we even summoned here if it ends like this¡­"

    Takeshi grumbled while sitting down, he was still hoping to show off his fighting form in front of the ladies.

    "Isn''t this fine? We''ll be able to go home if this is over."

    Ami commented while trying to calm down Takeshi. The people from this world were already working. The sh.i.p.s were being taken apart for their mana engines and the golems as well. Zhang Dong had the last say here so the plan would be going through.

    "Playing hero isn''t all fun and games Takeshi, leave it up to me. Sometimes you should rely on the a.d.u.l.ts."

    Takeshi looked a bit down, probably not finding that he wouldn''t get to be the big hero this time around.

    "With that, I''ll be leaving the girls up to you. I bet the demons will figure out this plan sooner or later and send a strike force over. Protect them with your life while I''m gone."

    He gave Takeshi a small smack to the chest which seemed to reinvigorate the youth.

    "Leave it to me!"

    "Okay, let''s get this over with!"

 Chapter 321

    "So this is the demon continent?"

    A man radiating golden light entered through what looked to be a crack in the mirror-like barrier. This rift in the demonic barrier quickly mended itself as if it was never there before.

    ''Good¡­ I can still feel the connection even with this barrier here.''

    He had examined it beforehand, it seemed to only bounce the energies that were from this world. His soul energies were something slightly different, thanks to this and his connection to Beatrice he could be powered remotely.

    On the other side were the whole group of dwarves, elves, and humans. They were all gathered together in the grand formation that he created. This formation was even absorbing the demonic fog that surrounded the forest along with any mana that came in contact with it. It then routed this energy towards Beatrice and Isabella that powered him.

    ''They aren''t using their whole power now¡­ but I''m already in the nascent soul stage¡­''

    Zhang Dong picked up a larger rock and crushed it with his hand. He felt a lot stronger than he ever felt before since coming to this world. This was much closer to his original power level but was still somewhat behind.

    ''Nascent soul early-stage¡­ maybe slightly less.''

    After stepping forward he felt that something was off with this place. The demonic energies weren''t all that strong. He expected to be attacked by armies of monsters that were waiting for his arrival but instead he was greeted with silence. When he spread his senses he could feel some monsters hiding but they wouldn''t even pose a serious threat to anyone above the core formation level.

    ''Hm, what''s that?''

    He suddenly felt the demonic energy spike higher when he examined further into this demonic continent. It seemed that the dark mana was gathering in one certain location. With this in mind, he headed forward, taking his time while going on foot. It didn''t seem that anyone had seen him entering this place, the demons might have actually not been as prepared as he might have thought.

    After taking some quick strides forward he started examining his surroundings. He was in a dark forest, all of the light was coming from a large purple moon that was handing in the sky. There were no old texts describing the demonic continent, this barrier had been here for quite a bit and what was on the inside was long forgotten.

    ''I guess that''s the spot?''

    After taking out some kind of flesh-eating plant with a little lightning bolt he came out to a clearing. There in the distance, he saw it, a massive dark castle that stretched all the way up into the clouds.

    It was dimly lit and there was only one path heading towards it. It wasn''t much of a castle beside a few towers here and there. The rest looked like it was carved out of the mountain it was on. Everything was spiked and there were some window openings that were glowing in purple.

    When he focused on the path leading up to it he could see some monsters patrolling around. All of them had three eyes and their skin was dark crimson like the demons he met on the other side. These demons were much larger and clearly stronger though, none of them were there to hide their presence.

    ''If I take the long path I''ll have to fight my way through all these demons¡­''

    He felt that this was the way this place was structured. The heroes would probably need to fight their way up to the summit. From down below he could even see a large open balcony at the very top. It seemed to be the last level and probably where the demon king resided.

    There were many aerial monsters flapping their wings around this castle. They were there to probably keep the hero party from using any flying artifacts to hasten the journey. Regretfully for the demons, they weren''t dealing with the hero party but a cultivator that had long since mastered the art of flight. A creature that required wigs to maneuver would be quite inferior to something like the flight technique that a nascent soul cultivator used.

    ''I guess I''ll be skipping the tutorial¡­''

    Before moving forward he used his connection to Beatrice to look at what was happening on the human side. There he could see the formation that they build working nicely. There didn''t seem that the demons had taken notice of any of this.

    ''Beatrice, I will be advancing towards the Demon King''s fortress.''

    ''Mr. Leigong¡­ please be careful.''

    ''Don''t worry, you just sit tight and don''t worry about anything. Leave this to this Grand Lightning Emperor!''

    He could feel that Beatrice was acting strange lately. The closer they got to the endpoint the more gloomy she became. There had to be a proper reason for this but he wasn''t sure. His focus was on the task at hand, after the demon king was defeated they could always have a conversation about it.

    ''Okay¡­ let me try this the slow way this time around¡­''

    While ducking behind one of the trees he activated his old disguise technique. His body got larger and lankier and his face and demeanor changed. In a matter of moments, he turned into a certain large vampire that he fought not so long ago. He chose this form as it did possess flight capabilities.

    With his new disguise now on he took up into the air and headed towards the large gates. Thanks to it he was able to recreate the original demon''s blood energies. When the lesser demons looked his way they didn''t see anything out of the ordinary, they even bowed after realizing that he was an Archdemon.

    He used his flight to get over the massive gate that led towards this giant mountain-high castle. This wasn''t as much of an outlandish sight to him as he came from a world with much larger structures.

    Behind this gate, he saw more red demons. Some of them were patrolling around but it didn''t seem that the defenses were taken that seriously. The protective walls didn''t have any lookouts nor any siege weapons. It didn''t seem that these demons were afraid of any counterattacks from the humans.

    ''Strange¡­ I expected a welcoming party. Do they not see the people of the races as any kind of threat? or is there something else going on here...''

    It felt strange, all of the demon lords have been bested in battle by him but it didn''t look like the devils here cared that much. Most of these monsters looked bored out of their mind, most were even leaning up against walls and sleeping.

    ''Does this have something to do with this world being similar to a game?''

    If he looked at it from the perspective of this being a game-like world then it did make some sense. Unless the heroes entered the designated area the demons wouldn''t be ''triggered'' to act. He was perfectly disguised as one of them so they weren''t reacting to him much.

    He looked up to the large balcony at the very top of this mountain-like castle. While floating up he was again ignored by the flying creatures that were here.

    ''If this world is a game¡­ what does that make my own¡­''

    Zhang Dong started to slow mid-flight. The world he was inhabiting had similar issues to this one with the biggest difference being the genre. The people there mostly did act like their counterparts in the novels that he used to read.

    Young Masters with no thought for others, their parents not even worried if their offspring offended some old monster that could flatten their whole clan with one snort. A strict power-based structure where the one on top was revered as a god.

    While his thoughts were wandering towards these questions the face of his daughter and son appeared before him. His strange stressful feeling washed over his chest and took him over.

    ''No¡­ I must focus.''

    He shook his head and pushed his concerns to the side. There was no time to have an existential crisis right before attacking the last boss. It was time to end this and go home, his family was waiting for him.

    With a burst of speed, he propelled himself up. The other demons still didn''t pay attention so he was able to arrive right at the top. His foot touched the edge of the balcony and he was finally able to see what was behind it.

    This balcony took out quite a bit of space, more than a football field. To the side, there seemed to be a staircase that headed down. This was probably how the heroes were supposed to climb up here without the ability to fly.

    The ground was made from uniquely shaped slabs of obsidian. There was a certain path laid out before him from slightly lighter slabs pointing him forward. Many huge pillars of hard rock guided his gaze towards the throne composed of bones at the end.

    ''Is that the Demon King?''

    On this throne composed of human skulls and various other bones sat a man. His legs were spread apart and he had a bored look as he rested his head on his fist. The person sitting on it was fully hidden behind a dark and spiky set of armor. The only thing that made him look alive where the two purple glowing flames coming out of the helmet''s eye sockets.

    When Zhang Dong''s eyes met with this man he could feel a small amount of pressure but for just a moment. It was similar to his spiritual sense.

    "Why have you come here, being from the astral realm?"

    A strong demonic voice escaped from this being''s mouth which sent slight shivers down Zhang Dong''s spine. He had hoped his ruse would work for a bit longer until he was able to get closer for a fatal strike.

    "I see, it won''t be that easy then¡­"

    He didn''t stop while turning back into his original form. Bright light filled this dark world as his form was revealed. The Demon King that he was seeing before him that seemed bored straightened himself out while also covering his head.

    "Wretched light¡­"

    The demon stomped his foot on the ground which caused a strange dark barrier to appear around him. This barrier absorbed all of the holy light that Zhang Dong was giving off and somehow contained it.

    "Begone from this world!"

    The King let out a burst of demonic energy that headed his way. In retaliation, he did the same with his holy energies. The two opposing forces clashed with each other and canceled themselves out.

    ''Beatrice get ready.''

    Zhang Dong called out while charging forward, it seemed that this monster was indeed stronger than the Demon Lords he had battled. He knew that his opponent was still hiding some of his capabilities before he got serious he would go straight for the kill.

    The Demon King reacted rather quickly. He grasped a large obsidian mace from the side and quickly delivered an attack. Zhang Dong''s sword collided with this mace, golden light washed over the darkness which tried to extinguish it. The two combatants found themselves being forced backward by the ensuing shockwave without a victor.

    ''This might actually take a while¡­''

    Zhang Dong looked at his hand that was slightly shaking. Some of the dark energies were wrapping around his sword of light even now.

 Chapter 322

    "So that''s the Demon King? He looks strong¡­"

    A small group of people were looking at a slightly blurry crystal ball. In it, they could see the Demon King dressed in black armor clashing against Zhang Dong''s light sword. They could see the battle from his point of view thanks to this magical device that was created by him.

    These people were the group of four heroes that were sitting outside the large formation that was created to fuel Zhang Dong during this fight. The four were left outside in the case that the demons attacked them. Only if Zhang Dong sent a message that he needed more juice would they enter into the formation to give him more.

    "He looks like one of those dark knights, but much bigger."

    They could tell that Zhang Dong was much smaller than the person that he was fighting. The mace the monster was holding looked at least two meters in length and the Demon King was easily swinging it around with one hand. Each strike caused the platform the two were fighting to tremble and also caused the video to be quite shaky.

    "I hate shaky cam footage¡­"

    One of the girls commented while squinting a bit, it was quite hard to make anything out.

    "Sakura please take it more seriously."

    Ami scolded the youngest girl while trying to get her to pay attention.

    "Yes, Mr. Matthew is just trying to get us home, thanks to him we were able to get this far."

    Yua the older sister petted Sakura while keeping an eye out for any demons that could have attacked from outside. She was all for leaving this place, the strange people from the royal family were quite pushy and she stopped enjoying their presence after a while.

    "Home huh?"

    Takeshi placed the crystal ball down while looking out into the fog. He on the other hand was not so sure about going back. Like most young men in his position, he was hesitant to give all this power up. He was finally getting attention from beautiful girls and respect from others that many young men dreamed of.

    "You don''t want to go back to your family?"

    "Well¡­ I¡­. I don''t know¡­"

    He replied truthfully as he was not sure what the right choice was. Matthew had disclosed his real name with the group as they all came from a similar or maybe even the same world. He had promised to get them back home but also that he would give them a choice. He told them that he had no right to make the decision for them and that he could see why someone would like to remain in a world like this.

    "Wait¡­ what''s that¡­"

    Before a proper conversation could happen Ami saw something.

    "There is something coming from the fog¡­ get ready guys!"

    The party got their weapons ready. They weren''t the only ones on defensive duty as the sh.i.p.s had been positioned to act as walls. On them, the cannons were all manned by the minimal number of people required.

    Soon they saw them, a small army of demonic beasts emerged from the fog and charged in a blind rage towards their encampment. They were greeted by cannon fire and by various magical spells.

    "It''s just as he predicted, luckily for us we are prepared!"

    Takeshi smirked a bit as he saw one of the monsters stepping in a certain spot. The moment it did its body was engulfed in a large fireball. Zhang Dong had ordered the dwarven craftsmen to place all of their mines around the sh.i.p.s.

    "I don''t think they will hold them off for long¡­"

    Ami replied while looking at all of the explosions that were happening everywhere. That was the problem, the monsters didn''t seem to halt their advance. When one of them exploded two others took their place and charged as if they were in a berserked state.

    "Damn how many are there¡­"

    Takeshi flinched a bit as due to the thick fog that was still there they couldn''t really tell how many of these demons there were. They could only wait and try to last through this wave while not allowing them to touch the magic formation.

    The four heroes jumped into the fray themselves soon after. The monster hordes seemed endless but it was their task to defend the people fueling Zhang Dong. If the monsters were allowed inside they would easily massacre the people that were put in a trance-like state.

    "Wretched cur, tremble before my might!"

    "You guys sure like to stick to your script, don''t you?"

    Zhang Dong dodged to the side as the Demon King swung his mace. The mace that connected with the obsidian slabs on the balcony trembled but somehow resisted it.

    The two had been fighting for a few minutes and Zhang Dong was trying to feel out his opponent. He was glad that he decided to leave the girls out of this as this monster was far stronger than he anticipated, quite close to the nascent soul level of power.

    ''Close¡­ but not close enough that is¡­''

    After his evasive maneuver was successful he saw his chance to strike. His body turned into a streak of golden lightning that appeared to the side of this armor-wearing monster.

    Zhang Dong''s fist was surrounded by an aura of golden plasma and it lodged itself into the Demon King''s side. A sound of bent metal was heard by him as his fist connected with his opponent.

    The Demon King was sent flying to the side after the well-placed liver shot. His armor in the spot started to crumble apart while the holy energies invaded the unprotected insides. Like many times before his holy energies proved the bane of any demonic being. Even this Demon King wasn''t immune to this Dao that he had enhanced with the soul cultivation.

    "Arghhhh."

    The monster cried out in pain as it slammed into one of the giant pillars that were placed on this very balcony. This wasn''t the end for it though as this seemed to anger this monster more than cause damage.

    The dark armor began rearranging itself into place as a dark aura covered Zhang Dong''s opponent. It looked like no damage had been done to the monster but he knew otherwise.

    His holy energies were now causing widespread chaos inside of his opponent''s body. The only way to get rid of them was using up a lot of saved up mana. This was the real truth when fighting opponents with regenerative capabilities.

    These types of powers always put a strain on the body and would not last forever. The biggest problem was just how much reserve mana this Demon Lord had. He himself was running on borrowed time, the longer this battle lasted the less energy Beatrice and her helpers would send to him. Thus each hit had to count.

    Head, heart, solar plexus, the liver, and even the genitals. He aimed for all the critical locations that a humanoid body would have. Punch after punch rained down on his opponent that sent him crashing into more of those large pillars. After a certain point, he could tell that the monster was having a hard time healing its wounds.

    With each hit, its four-meter large demon body started to shrink. It looked to not be able to sustain its full-powered form anymore, shrinking as it conserved energy.

    Zhang Dong didn''t really use any flashy moves this time around. It was a slow grind and methodical beat down that caused slow long-lasting damage that piled up on top of each other. Only when the chance presented itself did he go for the last hit.

    "Let us end this, hand over that cube."

    He put both of his hands together while producing a blade of light. This blade of light was quite condensed and had an actual sharp edge to it. With the help of his swordsmanship that was backed by his sword heart, he sliced forward.

    The hit came almost instantaneous without giving the Demon King much time to react. The whole place rumbled as along with the demon''s head the tip of the castle-like mountain was cleaved.

    ''Was that really it?''

    As the tip of the castle was sliding down to the ground and making a lot of noise, he approached the monster''s body. He had severed this being''s clean off and the moment he did he could feel its demonic soul start to dissipate. While approaching he could still feel it trying to heal itself but soon even the body started to turn into dust.

    As he got closer he could see the demon''s body shrinking in size. Its armor was the first to crumble away into particles of dust. He was aware of how these things worked out, thus he kept a fighting stance while looking around. Mostly at this time, the demon would go into his second more powerful form or the actual real last boss popped out from the side.

    But even though he waited and waited nothing seemed to change. The whole body of the demon crumbled into dust while leaving his armored helmet behind. It was a bit strange that the body withered away before this head but soon it was its turn to disintegrate.

    ''Is the cube in the head?''

    A certain energy signature started coming off from the head. He could feel that the last nuclei was there and it was indeed resting in the demon king''s severed head. Zhang Dong had also checked his map previously and he couldn''t see any dark spots that were hiding anything away. This seemed to be it, the last part of the puzzle that would allow him to return home.

    "Huh¡­ why does he have that guy''s face."

    The metallic helmet finally evaporated into dust and revealed the face under it. It was of a three-eyed monster with a tint of red to its skin. This wasn''t the odd part, its face was similar to a person that he had met before. It was someone from the human side who caused Zhang Dong to space out for a moment.

    Due to this little blunder, he was unable to react in time to what happened next. The head exploded revealing a large crimson crystal that was a lot larger than the ones that the demon lords had. This crystal shot off into the distance almost instantly when it was revealed and headed towards the barrier between the two continents.

    "Shit¡­"

    He snapped out of it and gave chase, the crystal went right through the thick obsidian plates of that balcony it was on. Almost instantly after this the whole castle began to shake and crumble as if this crystal was keeping it together.

    ''It''s going towards the opening I came from¡­''

    The flying monsters reacted to him wheezing by in his human form and gave chase. Luckily they were limited in their speed and started trailing behind. He wasn''t really able to contact the people outside as Beatrice and Isabella that he was connected with were still in the soul resonance trance.

    "Get back here!"

    While inserting more energy into his flight technique he bolted forward. The monsters behind him started to trail behind even more and he wasn''t even looking at the demon''s castle crumbling away into nothingness.

    Almost instantly he and the crimson gem collided with the thin exit to the other side. The crystal stopped for a moment but in a matter of seconds, it managed to pierce its way to the other side. He as well collided with this opening and had to force his way to the other side yet he did it much faster than this gem.

    When outside he reached his hand out, the red demonic crystal was right there. After going through the opening it lost some of its momentum. This was the best time to grab it so he propelled himself forward.

    His fingertips touched the crystal and he was quick to start the absorption process but then it happened. He felt some kind of sharp pain. It was as if a thousand tiny needles were being pierced into his heart at the same time. This caused him to flinch while the partially absorbed crystal sped away into the distance.

    "W-what¡­"

    He instantly clenched his chest while looking to the side, there he saw it. A large man, his face covered in scars and wearing the Duke of Hohenberg crest. His hand was holding a long sword, this sword pierced through the chest of a golden haired girl...

 Chapter 323

    An older man with a somewhat gray beard and scars all over his face was glancing over to a pillar of light. He could see two young girls holding hands together with their eyes closed.

    He turned to the other side, there explosions and sounds of monsters being killed greeted him. The whole place was a warzone with many lesser demons trying to get to them. Everyone was busy with the fight so he was sure that no one would block his way towards his mission.

    The man''s armor had the crest of the Hohenberg of Dragonridge noble house. He continued advancing while thinking about what he was about to do. His feet stopped directly before the golden light that signaled the beginning of this magical formation.

    The man had observed other people entering this circle and after a short time, they would succ.u.mb to it, becoming nothing more than batteries. He knew that he didn''t have much time but with his skills, he knew that it was possible.

    "Please forgive me but this is all for the house''s future!"

    From his side, he pulled out a somewhat strange-looking lacerated dagger. Its shape was unusually bent and it gave off an eerie light. The spirit was on the inside, battling with the demons and that is where it would remain.

    His instructions were clear, kill the girl when the possibility presented itself. The old man didn''t believe that this demon king hunting plan had any merit. Leigong would be trapped in the demonic realm and the five demon lords were gone, there was no reason to fight anymore. The only thing important was that the kingdom remains peaceful and that his noble house survives.

    He took a step towards the magical circle that was not made to repel humans. After the first step forward he began his charge. This was all done while being unaware of the red crystal that flew through the previously closed opening to the demonic continent.

    The familiar feeling of flesh being pierced filled his hands as he delivered the killing blow. The girl before him didn''t even know what had happened. Her body slowly slumped forward against the lady that this man was sworn to protect.

    "It is done¡­"

    "What did you do!?"

    The old man turned to the voice, there a maddened Leigong was seen charging. Before he could react two hands grasped his head and lifted him up. He could feel massive amounts of energy getting injected into his body that instantly went limp.

    His body lit up like a Christmas tree and his screams filled the air. His hands and legs promptly exploded into chunks of charred meat before he was tossed to the side like a puppet with its strings being cut.

    "Beatrice¡­No..."

    Zhang Dong acted fast, after taking care of the old man he started injecting his healing energies into Beatrice''s body. The dagger was pushed outside while he was able to mend her heart back into shape. His advanced cultivation level at this moment allowed for him to use more advanced techniques but even then there was something off.

    "Something is wrong¡­ her body is healed¡­ but her soul is crumbling apart¡­"

    It was a bizarre thing, normally a soul would not receive direct damage or crumble before the body fully gave out. He reacted fast so the damage was minimized, the blood flow returned to normal but for some reason, the girl was not waking up.

    "B-beatrice? W-what''s going on?"

    Due to Beatrice being taken out of the grand formation, Isabella also found herself regaining her senses.

    "I don''t know¡­ we were betrayed by one of your men¡­"

    Zhang Dong glanced to the side, the man that he roasted was close to being dead. His body was almost all black.

    "Why would you do such a thing¡­"

    "I¡­. I did it for the¡­ l-long live house Hohenberg of D-dragonrige¡­"

    Zhang Dong gritted his teeth. While pointing with his finger at the dying man.

    "What did you do to her, what is this dagger! Answer me!"

    "It''s too late¡­ it''s the soul slaying dagger¡­ p-please forgive me lady Isabella¡­"

    Isabella looked down at the bloody dagger on the ground and picked it up before speaking out herself.

    "N-no¡­ this dagger belongs to my father¡­ it can kill a summoner and cut their connection to their summoned beast instantly¡­ it was purposely made to kill summoners¡­"

    "Cut the connection?... is that why¡­"

    Zhang Dong could feel it, he was being pulled away into his soul dimension. He was losing his connection to this world and even Bob his AI was raising an alarm.

    There was also the problem of the demonic beings surrounding the whole encampment from all sides. He was somehow maintaining his form thanks to this formation but his power was being diminished. If he didn''t mend Beatrice''s soul before it faded away, he would be forced to leave this realm. He would be fine in his soul dimension that was between the worlds.

    ''I need to mend her soul but¡­''

    Zhang Dong had a lot more knowledge of how souls worked now but it might not be enough in this situation.

    "Bob¡­ can I mend Beatrice''s soul with my own¡­"

    His first idea was to lend her a part of his own overground nascent soul. His cultivation level would regress slightly but this would be something that he was willing to do.

    "The probability is¡­ 0%... the user''s soul is not compatible with the souls of the residents of this world. "

    This was something that he was aware of, even if he wanted his soul that was being rejected by this world was no good. Souls were also different, even close family members would mostly not be compatible with each other.

    ''There is only one person here with a comparable soul to Beatrice''s but¡­''

    He looked to Isabella who was crying. Beatrice was surrounded by a thin layer of golden light that was slowing down the decaying process of the soul slaying dagger. There was a possibility of healing when he used Isabella but there were also huge risks. He would be risking her life in the process that would probably shorten both of their life spans.

    "Please Lord Leigong, save Beatrice! There must be a way!"

    "I¡­"

    Zhang Dong hesitated, he knew that these two were close friends, maybe even more than that. He knew that if he proposed the healing procedure that the young girl would instantly agree.

    Before any decisions could be made, something else occurred.

    "Bravo¡­"

    A sound of clapping echoed through the whole battlefield. The group of defenders and heroes that were fighting the swarms of monsters was surprised by a strange occurrence.

    The monsters stopped in their tracks and started backing off while the fog dissipated. The loud sound of clapping then intensified and brought all eyes to a certain man. He was floating up in the sky, this was someone that a lot of people here knew well while others to a lesser extent.

    "You..."

    Zhang Dong looked up to the man that was floating their way. He had met this man before and even then he never liked him.

    "Father came to save us all!"

    Ludwig the prince cheered while holding a bloody sword up that was covered with black monster blood.

    "The king? What is he doing here?"

    Takeshi and the others weren''t as ecstatic to see this person arrive. There was something strange going on, the man was just slowly floating forward with a strange crimson gem right next to him. The monsters were also parting to allow this man to land on a spot in front of the makeshift base that was created for the defense.

    "Father? Ah yes, I guess this shell is your father."

    "Get away from him, that''s not the human king, it''s the true Demon King."

    Zhang Dong called out from the distance while glaring at the person from afar. He knew this fact after battling the Demon King on the demonic continent side. The face that the monster had was strangely similar to the one that this king was wearing. It was clear to him that the Demon King that he faced was some kind of clone and the real one had already been living among the humans.

    This was clearly some farce, all of the demon lords could have easily invaded the human lands and taken them over. There was no way that the people of the races would be able to resist them. Not when the supposed strongest person in the lands was actually the Demon King in disguise.

    "The Demon King? How is that possible?"

    "Demon King? No, the Demon King died by the traveler''s hand already, I''m something else entirely."

    While saying this the ''King'' looked to the crimson gem that was floating next to him. The stone started moving towards his hand and slowly entered his body through it.

    "Stay with Beatrice, I''ll handle this."

    Zhang Dong floated up into the sky and towards this new foe that he was not familiar with. The man that was supposed to be the king was acting off-script.

    "Did you call me the traveler?"

    "Ah yes you, why are you still here? You got what you wanted, you don''t need to be here, no?"

    The two looked at each other from afar. Zhang Dong was taken aback by the words that were spoken.

    "The traveler?"

    "Yes, traveler. Why are you still here, there is nothing more for you to gain. Do you wish to receive the last nucleus? You don''t need it to leave this world, you should have enough."

    The king continued to speak as if he knew who Zhang Dong was and what his main purpose was. He wasn''t wrong, with the current cubes that he had absorbed he would be able to go home. This would only be possible if he didn''t send Takeshi and the three girls home though. Without the last nuclei that this fake king had absorbed he would need to utilize the one that he received after the dungeon collapsed.

    "You look surprised. I thought you knew more but it seems that you don''t¡­"

    "Shut it! We don''t have time for this, call back those demons. We don''t have time for this."

    He looked from the corner of his eye to where Beatrice was. Isabella was still crying and holding her hand while he was slowly losing his connection to this world. His power wasn''t decreasing as much but if Beatrice''s soul faded away he would just disappear from this planet altogether.

    "Oh? So it wasn''t an act? Do you really care for these creations? Why would someone that managed to escape the system have feelings for these things? Are you still not aware?"

    "Shut up, what are you even talking about? Call back those monsters and give me the nucleus! I don''t have time for this"

    Zhang Dong''s face contorted into rage as he approached the true Demon King. There was no time, he needed to act. If he defeated this person then surely he would receive the cube.

    "This won''t do, you have broken the cycle. The world needs to be reset, I am unable to go against the system, everything must return to zero..."

    The king proclaimed while his body began to turn crimson. His body started expanding and he revealed his true form, one battle was over but the next one was upon him...

 Chapter 324

    The human was no more, it was replaced by a shadowy figure that was ever-expanding. Ten...twenty...fifty¡­ the ground rumbled as the many monstrous creatures flew towards the darkness within.

    The mirror-like barrier that protected people from the demonic continent started to break. Many thin spider-like web cracks appeared before everything shattered into pieces.

    People gathered here gasped out of fright but instead of an army of demons attacking them a massive surge of demonic energy flew towards the growing demon king. In this dark light, Zhang Dong could see many of the creatures that he had seen before.

    ''He is absorbing all of the demons from the demon side?''

    Everyone backed away, stunned by what they were seeing. The human king that was the strongest man alive was the actual Demon King and now he was revealing his true form.

    His children were here, they all dropped down to their knees with their eyes looking at the creature that was their father. Was he a demon from the beginning or did he replace him through the years? While the royal family members were having an identity crisis their father''s form started taking shape.

    Before Zhang Dong and everyone else stood a giant being. It was similar looking to some of the previous archdemons. Its body was darkish red and he had quite a bulky humanoid-shaped demonic body.

    Around the forehead area, there were many protruding horns that surrounded a crown made of flames. Its face was truly demonic and the usual three eyes that the demons from this world had were there. From its spine and shoulders, massive spikes were expanding, and where its abdomen should be there was a secondary face with quite the toothy mouth.

    It was quite gigantic with hooved legs and a long spikey tail. The moment its transformation was complete a certain lack of any other demonic being could be seen. This monster somehow absorbed all of the demonic energies from this place along with any demons that were here.

    "The cycle was broken but the cycle must continue!"

    The demon roared while everyone grasped their heads. Everyone was forced to the ground with the exception of Zhang Dong. He could tell that this was some kind of strange attack that only affected the people from this world which he was not a part of.

    "Damn, what is that bastard even talking about¡­ what cycle?"

    Zhang Dong grasped the air with his hand and a golden bolt of lightning appeared in it. After a short charge-up he chucked it towards this demonic being. The spear of light made a beautiful arc and headed right towards the massive creature''s head. Before it could connect it collided with some kind of dark barrier of flames which it couldn''t pass through.

    "What?"

    Zhang Dong saw the holy energies being erased by this barrier and the demon not suffering any kind of damage. He could still feel that this was a demon being like all the rest of them before it. It was just many times stronger than them, even than the early stage of nascent soul that he was in at the moment.

    The monster didn''t even flinch but before it advanced forward a large amount of magical energy headed its way.

    "Don''t forget about us!"

    Takeshi shouted out while all the other people with ranged capabilities throughout various of their attacks at the large monster. The golems used large cannons, the elven mages combined their mana to form a large lance of pure magical energy, and even the people that were in the taken apart sh.i.p.s used their weapons to fire away.

    The large monster''s whole frame became bathed in fire and explosions. Even though it was so huge its whole body became covered by all of this magical and technological energy.

    Zhang Dong didn''t just remain in place either. He noticed that this monster wasn''t taking a step forward but neither was it backing off. It was clearly showing off like every evil enemy that thought that they were superior. This critical lapse in judgment was something that these boss-like monsters had and he would use it to his advantage.

    "Takeshi, lend me your sword!"

    In a flash of lightning, he appeared next to the hero that was performing some ranged slashes with his sword. Even before the young man could reply his sword was snatched away by Zhang Dong that quickly flew towards his enemy.

    This was the strongest weapon that he could use and even though it wasn''t quite of the heaven grade it would have to do. Zhang Dong''s strongest attacks applied to swordsmanship, with his power fading fast this would need to do.

    Together with his sword heart, he put everything he had into his swordsmanship skills. He grasped this longsword with both his hands and pushed all of his soul into it. He needed to destroy this demon down to his very being, damaging its body would not be enough.

    Zhang Dong''s body glowed once more but the glow soon faded as the golden light shifted towards the hero''s sword in his hand. He pushed it up, holding it above his head. The light that he produced pierced the clouds above and revealed the shining star that lit up this planet.

    "Sever¡­"

    The demonic being suddenly moved its hand but it was too late at that point. Zhang Dong cleaved forward, both his hands moved down in a clean slicing movement. The moment the sword was pointing down the attack had gone through and it shattered into many tiny pieces, unable to last through the massive amounts of energy he was pushing into it.

    The explosions that were covering the creature''s body were pushed to the side. It was a clean cleave through the middle of the monster''s body. It was a clean hit that managed to pierce through the demon''s defenses and even its large hand that he threw forward to defend itself.

    Earth parted beneath the monster and a giant fissure that went on for kilometers was created in the wake of this attack that Zhang Dong put all of his power behind. A massive shockwave tossed everything to the side of this parting earth as the ground rumbled. The earthquake could be felt by anyone on this continent and even reached up to the elven island.

    Silence ensued as the monster''s body started parting. It was a clean-cut that produced two symmetrical parts that were now opening up. While these two sides continued to part, Zhang Dong could see a large crystal inside, it was even bigger than the one that he received from the fake demon king.

    "I...is it over?"

    People stared at the monster and as it continued to part. It seemed that the monster had been dealt a critical blow but it wasn''t so.

    "The crystal¡­"

    Zhang Dong eyed that corrupt gem and quickly flew towards it. There was something wrong, even though the monster was falling apart before his eyes this gem had not been sliced by his attack.

    "I have to commend you on your perseverance, traveler."

    "Alas, you don''t belong to this world anymore. Your connection to it has been cut, you can not harm this body!"

    The red gem began giving out dark red light. Many strange dark tentacle-like wh.i.p.s shoot out from all directions. They embedded themselves into the large red demon''s body and quickly started pulling it back together.

    At this time Zhang Dong''s body collided with the ground and he started bouncing like a ball. When the dust was cleared he found himself in the middle of the encampment, almost at the same spot from where he took off.

    ''What the hell, that should have been enough to kill it...do I need to be connected to a summoner to harm it?''

    He wasn''t sure what this was about but for some reason, this world would not allow him to kill this being. It seemed that only a person that was directly born in it would be able to achieve this feat.

    ''Is this some countermeasure about people from other worlds?''

    If this theory was true, then even if the Hero party got strong enough they would not be able to kill this monster. Maybe that''s how this whole thing worked, the demon king would just play dead and regenerate itself later to play this game once more.

    It would lie dormant in the background allowing the heroes to win only to return later to do the same. For what reason this cycle of demons vs heroes continued was still unknown to him. One thing was clear, this demon here was not playing around anymore. The farce was up so now it needed to eliminate everyone that saw through its scheme.

    While the red gem was pulling back the body together everyone else resumed their attacks. Even though they were connected no damage was being done. This was obvious as the monster was clearly something that was at the nascent soul level and close to its maximum.

    ''What should I do¡­ what can I do?''

    Zhang Dong looked tired standing up but the moment his foot had to support some weight it crumbled into tiny mana particles. He fell forward on his face and he finally noticed it, his body was fading away. The energy that he was left with had run out, soon he would fade away and be forced back into the soul dimension.

    There was no real danger that he himself was in. He had enough energy to flee this world and this demon here would probably be unable to follow him to the space between worlds that he resided in.

    He needed to make a decision as well, due to him losing his connection to Beatrice he would need to leave immediately. That would mean that he would need to leave everyone here to die. There was no time to send the four kids back to Earth, nor could he save anyone here with no energy left. Making another contract with someone else would also not give him enough power to defeat this demon.

    "Leigong¡­ please...I''ll do anything¡­ just bring her back¡­"

    Zhang Dong snapped out of it and looked up. There Isabella was holding Beatrice in her hands and still crying. The girl had not moved from the spot at all and remained by the side of her close friend.

    "Bring her back?..."

    There was a way to do this, but it was a gamble. He was not sure what would happen if he fused these girls souls together but at this point, there might have been no other choice.

    While crawling towards Isabella with his upper torso still in place he thought back to how things played themselves out. He had made many mistakes, he was hasty, he didn''t think things through and how they would affect these youths. There were several things he could have done to prepare but he chose his family over the people in this world and now these two girls would have to pay for it.

    "There is a way Isabella but¡­"

    "I don''t care, just bring her back!"

    Zhang Dong nodded while giving out a sigh, the reply came fast and without any hesitation. He could only answer this resolution by reaching out with his hand towards Beatrie''s forehead and touching it with his index finger...

 Chapter 325

    "Cold...everything...so...cold¡­"

    A n.a.k.e.d girl was floating around in a dark place. She was curled up in a ball as she tried to conserve the warmth but the more time passed the colder it became.

    "D-did we do it? Are Isabella and Mr. Leigong okay?"

    ¡­.

    Beatrice remembered a haughty spirit that she met. He was sometimes overbearing while other times quite peculiar and hard to get along with. There was a certain light radiating from him, she knew this as their souls were connected with each other.

    Then there was her new friend, a girl that she used to envy. Somehow the two were connected thanks to this odd spirit. Along their travels, the dislike turned into a friendship that she thought could last forever.

    This only increased her anxiety, she knew that this wouldn''t last. Her spirit was pushing them forward and she knew why he wanted to leave. At the end of this journey, the only thing that was connecting her to the new friend would go away. She would lose two of the people that could be relied on.

    She didn''t make it seem obvious and the spirit never asked about it. The world was relying on them so she pushed her selfish thoughts to the back of her mind. If everyone else was happy that would be enough, she was used to it.

    "Leigong? Isabella? Who are they? I don''t remember¡­ I just want to sleep¡­ It''s cold¡­"

    Soon the old memories started fading away, even when she tried to remember they weren''t coming back. The bright light that was brought into her life started fading away and she started losing herself in this void.

    ¡­.

    ¡­.

    "There you are¡­"

    A voice called out to her, it belonged to a man but who was he. She felt like this was someone that was close to her but she couldn''t recall. The girl could barely open up her eyes but when she did a radiant golden light filled her blurry vision.

    "I''m sorry that I''ve made you wait... "

    She could feel sadness coming from this voice. The light continued to get closer and soon she felt warmth returning to her body once more.

    "Are you ready?"

    "Yes."

    She could hear another voice that belonged to a girl. This voice was also very familiar even more than the one that belonged to the man.

    Then she felt it, someone was right next to her. The girl opened up her eyes and saw a bright smile before her. A smile that she was very familiar with, it was her friend that was dear to her.

    "Isabella?"

    "Yes, don''t worry, you''re not alone¡­"

    Zhang Dong looked at the two young souls before him. They were floating between his palms, he could feel that Beatrice was regaining her lost memories thanks to being in close proximity to someone that she resonated with. This wouldn''t last for long so he needed to act fast.

    "I need to start¡­ please forgive me."

    "It''s okay Mr. Leigong."

    Isabella replied while looking up to the giant made of lightning energy before her. The giant hands that were hovering between them moved together. Soon a strange feeling washed over both of the girls as everything faded to white.

    Zhang Dong looked down at his hands, in his left he was holding a small wisp of light that was slowly fading away. In his right, he could see a much larger orb that was radiating warmth.

    He slowly brought these two lights together while focusing. The larger ball of light that constituted Isabella in soul form slowly made contact with Beatrice''s fading one. Soon the two light sources started to intertwine while the corruption subsided.

    The darkness that was dimming Beatrice''s soul started fusing itself with Isabella''s. It looked like a yin and yang symbol that was battling for supremacy. The darkness was trying to push its way towards the light that was defending itself from the corruption.

    This was the time to act, he used his own energies to attack this corruption by strengthening Isabella''s soul. He couldn''t overcharge it as too much would burst poor Beatrice''s soul like a soap bubble. The corruption needed to be slowly filtered out while the other soul mended itself back.

    The process was working but it was slow. On the outside things looked bleak. Zhang Dong''s body had mostly evaporated into mana particles and only part of his arm remained. It hovered with its finger outstretched and still poking Isabella''s forehead.

    In the background, the bombardment continued but the first casualties of this expedition started to arise. The true Demon King had reformed itself and with a swipe of its large hand, it destroyed one of the flying sh.i.p.s that was used as a barricade. The soldiers that were manning the cannons and flinging the spells at this creature didn''t even have time to react before they were engulfed in dark-colored hellfire.

    "There is nowhere to run, the cycle has been broken, all of you have to perish."

    The monster proclaimed while the large toothy mouth that was at his abdomen area opened up. Dark flames and heretic energies along with miasma were discharged into the surroundings burning everything to ash. No one was safe, human, beast, or even insects; they would all need to be cleansed in this demonic fire so that the cycle could begin anew.

    The survivors gathered looked up to the behemoth. This really seemed like it was the end but before the dark flames could singe the remaining people a pillar of light shot up into the sky. Dark demonic flames collided with this light, the two forces surprisingly repelled each other with the light managing to hold its own.

    This didn''t stop the demon from charging up a second attack, it leaned back and opened up both of its mouths. While holding its hands outstretched a mass of demonic energy formed in front of its body. It was spherical in shape and looked like a miniaturized sun made from dark flames.

    "Perish within the cleansing flames, let everything return to the beginning."

    As the demon lord was speaking he moved this dark sun up and over his head. It continued to expand into massive proportions and ready to singe this world into nothing but ash. The people of the races could only go down to their knees while looking at the massive ball of energy.

    Then from within the small pillar of light that had blocked the previous attack a man in a white robe emerged. His form was familiar to everyone here yet in his eyes there was a certain sadness.

    He pointed with his finger towards the large dark ball of flames. Right in front of him, a large magic circle appeared on it, with many runic symbols and strange writing. This magical circle expanded into a certain size before it split up into another one in front of it.

    These magical spheres continued to pop up right in front of each other while pointing at the demon and the miniature star it was holding. It didn''t look like the demon was agitated in any shape or form by this display of magic as it continued with its own technique.

    It was the size of a marble and moved rather sluggish towards the large descending ball of energy. Then when it seemed that Zhang Dong''s spell was a fluke it touched the large magic circle in front of it. In a flash of light, this circle churned with power as it activated its effect.

    The tiny bead of light shot forward and dramatically expanded in size. It turned into a beam of white light that continued to increase in thickness each time it passed through another of the previously produced magic circles.

    In a fraction of a second, it matched the gigantic demonic sphere of energy and collided with it. To everyone''s surprise, the Demon King''s attack halted in its descent. A battle of two repelling energies commenced once again as the earth rumbled down below.

    "Grab my hand!"

    Takeshi called out to Ami as he held up a shield to protect the survivors. The party of heroes gave it all along with the elven ladies they produced the best shielding magics that they could.

    Darkness and Light collided with each other and for a moment it looked like the dark sun would engulf the earth. But with a burst of energy, the magical circles began to turn. They span around while crackling with golden lightning energy.

    The beam of white light expanded in size and into a cone shape outwardly. It engulfed the star of doom that was descending onto the survivors and started to push it back.

    "How could this be¡­ you should not have this much power¡­"

    The demonic voice of the Demon King sounded out as it tried adding more of its black flames to his powerful attack. It didn''t seem like it was much use as he was pushed back. The golden beam of light shot up into the stratosphere while also erasing this demon''s most powerful attack.

    "You had your fun, but this is the end¡­"

    Zhang Dong appeared next to the large monster that only noticed that he was hovering in front of it the moment he got there. He was now directly looking at the massive jaws of the demon''s second mouth.

    The Demon King opened his gullet wide and quickly chomped towards the small being in front of it. The sword-length teeth descended onto its prey as the mouth closed around Zhang Dong''s body.

    "Foolish traveler you could have left this place but now¡­. ugh?"

    While being assured of its victory the Demon King grinned but suddenly a strange feeling washed over his body. He could feel something moving inside of him.

    A large opening in the back of this demon was created as Zhang Dong shot out. He was surrounded by his holy energies and looked slightly injured with clothes cut up.

    "W-what did you¡­"

    "Nothing, I just took your power source..."

    In Zhang Dong''s hand was a large darkened gem. It was radiating strange energies but soon it started to diminish in size while revealing its true form, a cube.

    "I-impossible¡­"

    Still alive the Demon King attempted to flee but before he could even flinch a torrent of golden light descended onto his body. It singed him to ashes rather quickly while Zhang Dong watched on with vacant eyes.

    ''It''s finally over¡­ but at what cost¡­''

    Zhang Dong looked to the cube in his hand and then glanced behind him. There, Beatrice and Isabella were on the ground, both collapsed while holding hands.

 Chapter 326

    "Ahh¡­.huh?"

    The young girl opened up her eyes only to see the white ceiling above her. She still felt a bit drowsy and had trouble keeping her eyes open. She tried to move but her body was quite stiff and weak.

    "Ugh¡­ what is this?"

    After managing to raise her top half from the bed she noticed something. She felt that something was tugging on her left arm. When she saw a strange golden chain of some sorts was there and it was attached to someone.

    "Isabella?"

    Beatrice moved her hand up slowly, the chain was only a meter long so Isabella''s hand was pulled up as well.

    "Mmm?"

    The other blond girl gave out a little grunt before she started to wake up.

    "B-beatrice?"

    Isabella felt almost exactly the same as her friend that was to her right side. Both of them were now in some kind of large and expensive-looking room. Both of them were wearing white pajamas that looked the same.

    "Beatrice!"

    Before the young girl could ask Isabella about what had happened she found herself being hugged. Both of them almost tumbled down the bed together after the quick attack.

    Isabella started crying while Beatrice just continued to pet her head without really knowing what was going on. It seemed that the battle was over but she couldn''t recall how. The last thing she remembered was Zhang Dong fighting the Demon Lord, then everything went blank and she woke up here.

    "Isabella¡­ you''re choking me¡­"

    "Ah excuse me¡­"

    "What happened¡­ what is this chain?"

    Beatrice looked at her friend that''s face was all red. But when she mentioned the chain that was attached to their wrists Isabella didn''t really have an answer for it. Luckily for them, a certain person quickly appeared to answer this question.

    "Good, you two are finally awake."

    A normal-sized Zhang Dong materialized out of thin air and appeared before the two girls.

    "Mr. Leigong! Did we win?"

    "Beatrice!?"

    Isabella called out worried.

    "Try not to move, your body isn''t fully healed¡­ I''ll need to explain a couple of things to you two¡­"

    Just like Beatrice, Isabella was knocked out during the process of soul merging that Zhang Dong performed on the two. After he managed to fuse both of their souls together his power level skyrocketed, it even reached a new height. Thanks to this he could take out that presence which was later given the name ''watcher'' by Bob his AI assistant.

    This was achieved after absorbing the last nucleus. The name was a dead giveaway, this person was here to watch over this world. If the people called Overseers were more akin to admins then this watcher could be something like a moderator. His power was above what the people were capable of.

    From the conversation, it looked like this watcher was not supposed to act. Zhang Dong forced his hand after beating the false Demon Lord and doing it himself instead of the heroes. The balance was broken and he even absorbed all of the nuclei himself to gain more energy and information.

    He did pose Bob this question, it seemed strange that the Overseers didn''t become suspicious. His AI reassured him that the signal was blocked due to his system being severed from the source. He was a person that was now outside of it while also being able to use some of its features to his advantage.

    "So I died?"

    "I''m sorry Beatrice it was due to my father¡­"

    Zhang Dong started off by informing Beatrice about the initial stabbing. The wound from it wasn''t fully healed and it would take some time for the girl to make a full recovery.

    "It''s not Isabella''s fault, it was probably just a ruse! Right, Mr. Leigong?"

    Beatrice wasn''t mad at her friend, it looked that from her standpoint the one at fault was the man and not the noble house he was attached to.

    "... Regretfully, it was something ordered by Isabella''s father¡­ but the real culprit was the king¡­"

    Zhang Dong looked mad when talking about the man that almost killed Beatrice. In his eyes, both he and the Duke were equally guilty of this deed. He knew that the king had given the order and also that there was more at stake than one girl''s life if he refused the order. Even then, he felt disgusted even thinking about it.

    "Father¡­where"

    "Your father? For now, he is in the dungeon, I''ve put him there, he already confessed. About this and other things..."

    Zhang Dong looked to the shocked girls that probably didn''t know what to think. The Duke had also been responsible for killing Beatrice''s grandfather and with the things being like this he could be sentenced to death.

    "Dungeon? W-what happened?"

    "First let me talk about the condition you two are in, I''m sure that you''ve noticed the chain and armbands¡­"

    The two nodded while pulling on the chain gently. It looked to have been made with some precious metals and there was a small lock on each armband. The chains radiated some magical power while also being covered in strange runic symbols that the girls weren''t very knowledgeable about.

    "I had to merge your souls together¡­ The soul slaying dagger''s effect proved too much for my healing capabilities. The merging process was successful but there were certain drawbacks."

    "What kind of drawbacks? Will we be okay?"

    Zhang Dong gave out a sigh while also moving over to the large king-sized bed.

    "I won''t lie to you, I''m not certain myself. I fear that your lifespans have been lowered, by how much I don''t know¡­"

    This was somewhat a lie as Zhang Dong knew that their lives were halved. Due to the corruption, Beatrice''s soul had to be strengthened by Isabella''s. The drawback was that the other girl''s own soul was diminished and shrunk down in size.

    What was left were two souls that could not function correctly if they weren''t in close proximity. He wasn''t sure if the process was reversible, there was a small chance that with time the souls could return to their previous size. There were no cases like this recorded in any books and he also lacked the knowledge himself.

    "Ah¡­"

    The two girls reacted in silence at the mention of their lives being shortened.

    "It''s all because of me¡­ if not for me Isabella''s life wouldn''t have been shortened¡­"

    "What are you talking about?"

    "But¡­"

    "Don''t be an idiot, it''s natural for a friend to help their friend! I would have gladly done it again!"

    Isabella smiled at Beatrice but then the two were brought back to reality due to the uncomfortable chain.

    "This chain though¡­"

    "Yes, you''ll have to wear it for now. Your souls have shrunk down and normally they would have ceased to be. Luckily for you, your souls are very similar so they compliment each other. As long as you remain close, you will be fine."

    This was the reason for the chain being there. With time the distance would increase but Zhang Dong didn''t know if the two would ever be able to live apart from each other.

    "I''m sorry if I didn''t rush this¡­"

    He dropped his head down while looking at the two girls. The blame was on him, at least that is what he felt. Due to his situation, he was more concerned about returning to his own world than with his new partners. They were all forced to hastily push through all the dangers with a half-assed plan.

    If he thought things through more, waited for the heroes to get stronger this might have never happened in the first place. At least the assassination could have been averted but now the two would be stuck together and live shorter lives.

    "What are you talking about Mr. Leigong?"

    "Huh?"

    Zhang Dong looked at Beatrice that was shaking her head and actually smiling.

    "You saved us all, didn''t you? No one else will have to get hurt now and the demon lords are no more. Isn''t that right?"

    Beatrice proclaimed while looking at Isabella.

    "That''s right, it''s unbecoming of a Great Lightning Emperor to sulk! Everyone knew that there would be consequences, we can''t ask for more of you!"

    He expected the two to cry, he even expected them to blame him or plea for help. Instead, they acted like m.a.t.u.r.e a.d.u.l.ts and could see the bigger picture.

    If you looked at it from the outside the expedition was a big success. All of the demonic lords had been killed and the true demon king was also dead. The king that controlled the lands from the shadows was revealed and the barrier to a whole new continent was also open.

    For the common people, this was the time to rejoice. For thousands of years, they lived in fear of the demon invasion, never knowing if the barrier would fall one day. Now on the other hand they were finally free, it was time for them to reclaim this world for themselves.

    "Is that so¡­ think you two might have m.a.t.u.r.ed more than me¡­"

    Zhang Dong raised his head while moving over and placing his hand on Beatrice''s head. His connection to this world was now even stronger than before. The unification of these two souls was boosting his powers.

    "You should rest now, I''ll have the servants prepare some food, then we will have to talk about the future¡­"

    After some pleasantries he left the room, leaving the two girls alone to talk things out. They didn''t seem that depressed by the fact that they would need to remain close to each other. He could even feel Isabella''s joy the moment he explained what the chain was for.

    "Bob, how are those calculations going?"

    "94%..."

    "Good¡­"

    The time was almost here, Bob was doing the last bit of calculations for his world travel. What was left to do was to create the magical formation through which he could send the heroes home. The same portal would also be used by him to leave this place but before that, there were some loose ends to tie up.

    One of them was rotting in the dungeon below the castle they were in now. After the battle was done they returned to the human kingdom with the remaining forces. Without the king and with Zhang Dong being powered up there was no resistance and they established a somewhat new order.

    Now came the real question, what would happen to this world if he left. Without him, there would come trouble. He felt that a civil war would take place now after the ruling monarch was gone. His children were there and they were not part of the system but could he leave it up to them to be good rulers?

    "Well then, did you decide?"

    "Ah, welcome Mr. Matthew."

    He arrived in a certain room where three girls and one young man were sitting. They were the party of heroes that weren''t able to shine much due to his involvement. After the battle, he managed to sever their connection to the system thanks to Bob and now they needed to decide.

    "Will you be staying, or will you return?"

 Chapter 327

    "Well then¡­ are you really sure about this?"

    "Yes Mr.Matthew, we have all talked this through."

    Zhang Dong was in the human kingdom and in the capital city where he first met the King. He was standing with the group of four heroes. Takeshi and Ami were standing on one side while the two sisters were on the other side.

    "I left you the knowledge required for crossing over worlds but without a nucleus, it''s not usable¡­"

    "Yes we know but you won''t change our minds."

    Zhang Dong gave out a sigh while rubbing his head. Takeshi and Ami had decided to remain in this world while the two sisters Sakura and Yua would be going back home.

    He knew why Takeshi wanted to stay, a lot of young men would have done the same. The youth was now one of the most powerful people in this land and would soon become the Hero-King of this country.

    With the death of their previous monarch, the country was destabilized. The other races might hold it against them that the human king turned out to be a demon. Thus the only person that could take his place would be the hero who defeated it.

    Everyone agreed to falsify the information slightly. Beatrice and Isabella''s contribution would still count but the hero party would be shown to have taken a more active part as well.

    After everything was settled Zhang Dong with the help of Bob tweaked Takeshi''s system. It would not be connected to the main one but he was able to keep his leveling system.

    There was also the danger of the Overseers and lack of magical cubes. Luckily Bob had some answers this time around. What they left was an empty shell that would send a signal showing that this world was working as intended.

    Zhang Dong wasn''t sure if it would work but not like he had any other choice. He had already absorbed all the cubes that this world had to offer.

    Normally he would smack Takeshi over the head and toss him back home but there was also Beatrice. He felt it would be better if the young hero remained here to protect everyone. Even though the five demon lords were gone that didn''t mean that the entire demonic race had perished.

    They weren''t as strong as before but would be more or less equal to the other people living in this world. With the barrier being gone more conflict would arise, the people would need someone as strong as the heroes.

    Ami was staying mostly due to having a crush on Takeshi. The two somewhat came together at the end of the journey and the members of the royal family were forced out of the picture. Due to their father being the demon king they had lost all of their political power.

    They were still just regular humans as he had checked. No one would trust them to lead the country, without Takeshi taking the king''s place there would be no peace. For now, all of them were thrown into the dungeon, at least the ones that they could find.

    Some of the people from the royalist faction had already fled the capital before they even arrived to bring the news of their victory. It was clear that they would attempt some moves to regain their standing. Thus he was all for having someone like Takeshi remain here and protect Beatrice. The youth needed to work on himself but his heart seemed to be in the right place.

    He only hoped that the romance geometrical figure that was created wouldn''t get out of hand. It looked like Takeshi was still interested in Beatrice while Ami was gunning for her childhood friend. Then there was Isabella that was really close to her as well, while Beatrice remained a bit oblivious to everyone''s approaches.

    "Okay, everything is ready. Are you prepared?"

    "Ah wait a moment¡­"

    The two sisters moved over to Ami and the three girls started hugging it out. All of them were crying as they knew that they wouldn''t be able to see their friend anymore. Some of the people that went on the journey with them were also here. The two female elven mages, some dwarves, and also Beatrice and Isabella.

    Zhang Dong opened up his palm and a little holographic cube appeared there. It started shifting directions as if it was made from liquid metal before settling on some symbols. The moment it did the grand magic circle activated around the two girls.

    They were surrounded by a large pillar of light that pierced the heavens just like the time they arrived here. This beam connected with something in the sky and a fissure opened up, through it a city appeared. It was the same one that the girls came through and soon they were blasting off into the air.

    "Are you sure they will be okay¡­"

    "Yes, if they happen to appear in the air they have the parachutes."

    Due to the way the fissure looked, always showing a large city from far away in the sky Zhang Dong was a bit worried. For this reason, he had some of the craftsmen make two parachutes for the girls. After some studious testing and training, it was safe to place the two back home. Even though Bob assured him that the probability of this happening was really low, it was better to be safe than sorry.

    The hole in the sky soon mended itself back and the two were gone back home. This was the only thing that he could do for them as going there himself would be impossible without another world tether. Even if that could have been his world of origin, his body could be long dead.

    "They are really gone¡­"

    Ami said while grasping onto Takeshi''s arm, the girl continued to look up into the sky along with her childhood friend. Zhang Dong on the other hand walked over to the two blond girls that were now strong enough to walk around.

    "Are you leaving as well Mr. Leigong¡­ no is it Mr. Matthew¡­ or was it, Zhang Dong?"

    He laughed as he had disclosed to the two that he wasn''t a real summoned spirit but a person from another world. The two didn''t really get it as even there he went by a different name.

    "Call me however you please."

    "Think Leigong suits you better, the other two sound strange¡­"

    He could only laugh about his original name sounding weirdly to these two.

    "It''s a very popular name where I come from!"

    They all laughed but soon the girls looked sad once more. It was time to say their farewells to him as well. He had already prolonged his stay here and waited for the two to somewhat recover. His family was still waiting for him and he had no way of knowing where and when he would arrive if he made it back to his world.

    The formation here had the coordinates for the homeworld that the hero party came from but not for his. They would limit the search though but he needed to leave this world before Bob could triangulate his destination.

    "Do you really need to go¡­"

    "Yes, my wife and children are waiting for their father¡­"

    "Father¡­"

    Isabella dropped her head down after the word father was mentioned. Her own dad was now trapped in the dungeons. Even though it was the king''s order he organized the assassination. The only reason that Zhang Dong didn''t punish him more thoroughly was that he was Isabella''s dad. Beatrice had forgiven him as she knew that he only did it to save his own daughter but it was not something that could be easily downplayed.

    Zhang Dong placed his hand on Isabella''s and Beatrice''s shoulders each. He felt their souls one last time before stepping away.

    "You''re getting better, but continue to stay close to each other. Before I go there is one last thing¡­"

    He concentrated on his own soul. It was many times larger and denser than it was before he entered this world. Even though he was trapped here he would be taking new knowledge and power back to his own world. Before he left there was another gift that he wanted to give to the two girls, now after resting they would be able to receive it.

    While concentrating on his soul he started yanking. He felt the strain and horrendous pain but he continued, in a moment a tiny fragment from his oversized soul started to loosen up.

    "Here, take this."

    "What is¡­"

    The girls saw a small white bubble of energy escape from Zhang Dong''s hand and float towards them. It started out slowly but soon the bubble split into two and each of them shot towards the girls and their dantian.

    "What was that energy¡­ it feels warm¡­"

    "You''ll see¡­ try summoning me¡­ both of you¡­"

    "Summoning you, but you are right here?"

    Asked Beatrice while confused.

    "Just do it."

    The two nodded and concentrated on the summoning spell. They could feel Zhang Dong still there but each of them could also feel something else, there was another smaller Zhang Dong there.

    "Guohhh¡­"

    "Gao¡­"

    Soon two small creatures appeared. One was mostly black while the other was white. The two creatures seemed the same with the coloring being the only thing that was different. They both looked like miniaturized versions of his soul beast and now they would be tied to their souls.

    "You didn''t think I''d leave you without one last gift, now did you? Grow them well and they will become your greatest strength."

    The two small dragons looked at the blond girls. The white one started floating around Beatrice and dropped on her shoulder while the black one did the same on Isabella''s side.

    "Dragons?"

    Soon it was time to return, Zhang Dong walked over to the spot that the two sisters occupied and took one last look at the new friends that he made. He wasn''t here long but he would remember this place and the people he met here.

    "Beatrice, Isabella. This is not a farewell more of a see you later. I will find a way to cure you and return, until then, stay in good health you two!"

    He gave the two girls a smile while waving. The last thing he saw before the pillar of light appeared was their sobbing and snot-covered faces.

    ''Bob get ready, we are leaving, next stop¡­ my world!"

    "Please wait, gathering data for the interworld jump¡­"

    The teleportation formation connected to his soul world and through it, the opening to the tunnel that went between all the multiple worlds started opening. The gap opened up and after taking one last glance at the planet he was leaving he jumped, it was time to return home!

 Chapter 328

    "Hey! Come back here!"

    A young woman was seen running through a forest. Her hair was messy and her clothes didn''t seem like they had been washed in weeks. Calluses had formed on her bloodied feet as she was bolting into the distance. She kept looking back while hearing angered shouts that were getting closer with each moment.

    "Damn slave!"

    "What?"

    The girl was preoccupied with looking behind her while escaping but suddenly she heard a voice from the front. The moment she turned her face she saw a fist coming her way.

    "UGhhh¡­"

    She was struck down during her attempt to flee and crumbled like a deflated balloon onto the ground. Soon another man that was following her came out from the bushes.

    "Stupid s.l.u.t, making me run!"

    "Hey, be careful. The Lord wanted her alive for the big event."

    "Tsk¡­"

    The angry man clicked his tongue while going over to where the woman tumbled towards.

    "Come here¡­ hm?"

    The young woman was barely moving at this point and the man grasped her arm. He leaned down to do this but while there he also noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

    "Hey, what''s that?"

    "Where¡­"

    He pointed to the shrubs, there he could see a foot sticking out. The other person that was there pulled out a large saber and slowly approached.

    "Huh? Did another slave escape?"

    "No¡­ is he still alive? Was this bastard attacked by some beasts?"

    The man with the saber moved closer and gave a poke to this man''s foot with his weapon. The moment he did he could see it twitch slightly.

    "Still alive? Must be a tough bastard but he doesn''t feel special¡­"

    The two men looked at each other. One of them grabbed the girl and slung her over his shoulder.

    "Take him, the more stock we have for the event the better."

    The other slaver looked to the half-dead man and grinned.

    "This is your lucky day, you''ll help us please the clan lords."

    The man that was covered in a mix of soil, blood, and leaves was grabbed by the other man and dragged back to where they came from.

    "Took you long enough, who is that?"

    "We found this one in the bushes, he is half dead but should prove as a nice addition to the ''event'', Boss."

    The two large burly men returned to what looked to be a caravan of people. There was a row of slaves all tied up in shackles with a couple of muscular men surrounding them. They were holding wh.i.p.s and when anyone got out of line or slowed down they would deliver punishment.

    "For the event?"

    An old man in a robe moved his hand over to the passed-out man. He yanked his hair up to look at his face, his eyebrow was raised instantly after examining.

    "Not bad¡­ if we cleaned him up he could go for some spirit crystals."

    This man was wearing an expensive-looking robe. His long skeleton-like fingers were adorned with many rings and gemstones. He was quite lanky and tall and was clearly the owner of this slave caravan.

    "Alas there is no time, toss him in the cage with the others, we will use him. Don''t let the girl escape, if we lose her the lord will have our heads, is that understood!"

    "Yes, boss."

    The half-dead man and the young woman were then promptly tossed into a large carriage. This carriage was just a big cage with a lot of shackled people in it. All of them were wearing metal collars around their necks and the same collar found its way onto this man''s neck as well.

    "Young lady..."

    "I''m sorry¡­ I wasn''t fast enough¡­ I just didn''t have enough strength and this slave collar."

    Most of the people from this cage gathered around the girl that was caught. They were all wearing similar robes with the same emblem. They all had seen better days, everyone was beaten and bruised. The food and water rations were minimal and everyone was barely holding up.

    "Save your strength Lady Yanmei, there is still hope¡­ if we can survive through that..."

    An old man commented from the side while looking out through the cage bars.

    "Do you really think that if we survive they will keep their promise?"

    "The White Tiger Clan isn''t known for their mercy¡­ but if they go back on their word then they will lose face... They will let us go but I''m sure their assassins will be sent soon after, that will be our chance to escape¡­"

    "I''m sorry¡­ if I just accepted the White Tiger Clan''s young master''s proposal this wouldn''t be happening¡­"

    "It''s fine young lady¡­ no one expected them to poison the lord so swiftly¡­"

    "But we need to look towards the future¡­"

    "Who is that?"

    "I don''t know¡­ they picked him up from the forest, I think he was attacked by some beast¡­ an unlucky bystander¡­"

    "Truly unlucky¡­ he would have a bigger chance surviving in the forest than here¡­"

    Some weak chuckling escaped from the people in this cage. They all knew that they were more than likely heading towards their demise. This person that had barely lived through the beast attack would soon meet his end as he wasn''t in any condition to survive through what was coming next.

    "We should help him..."

    Lady Yanmei called out while moving over and having trouble turning the man around. The man''s face was covered with dirt, blood, and grass even with that it was clear that he was quite handsome. There was no water that they could use to clean it. At most what the slaves could do was bandage up the wounds with ripped cloth parts.

    Soon the trip continued and lasted a day till they arrived at a large city. The carriage with the slaves was covered up by a thick cloth so they couldn''t really see what was happening outside.

    Xia Yanmei was a young lady from the Snapping Turtle clan. A month ago her life looked bright, her clan was prospering and everyone was living their lives to the fullest. Then she met him, the young master from the White Tiger Clan.

    He demanded that she became his concubine but she refused. Their clan wasn''t much weaker than the White Tiger Clan but their parents told her to reconsider as they all knew how vicious those people were.

    No one would come to help out. This was a fight between two small clans that didn''t account for much. Even this city was at the sidelines of the empire. Not many bigger factions showed up here and even if they did no one was counting on any help.

    "All of you get in!"

    The sound of a rusty metal door closing was heard by the captured clan members. They were all forced into one cell that clearly didn''t have enough for everyone.

    "Is this the end¡­"

    "Are they really going to do this to us?"

    "Calm down everyone, there is still hope!"

    "What hope? We are all doomed¡­ we will all die tomorrow!"

    The people from the Snapping Turtle Clan lamented while pushing against the metal bars. They would learn the hard way about why they shouldn''t be doing that. After a few seconds, the person that was yanking on the metal bars found himself being shocked. He dropped down to his knees with his hair standing up, not dead yet unconscious.

    "Idiots, don''t touch the bars if you know what is good for you!"

    The guard that was on duty laughed after seeing the first person being shocked. This wasn''t the first time a slave did this, he could never get enough of seeing people get electrocuted.

    Xia Yanmei slumped against the cell wall and slid down onto her posterior. She curled her knees up all the way to her c.h.e.s.t while hugging them. Everyone was dead tired, the lamenting and cursing stopped as no one had enough stamina to keep up.

    "Is this really the end¡­ father¡­ mother¡­"

    Tears started pouring out of her eyes while she tried not to sob. If she knew that this would be the outcome she would have accepted the proposition. Even then there was no guarantee that her clan would be left alone. In this cruel world, only strength prevailed and the weak were snuffed out like candles in the wind.

    "Ugh¡­"

    She heard a grunt to the side, the man that was dragged along with them was still here. She placed her hand on his forehead and could feel that he had a fever. There was not much that she could do for him though. No medicine herbs, no water, and no food. The only thing she could do for him is to place him in a comfortable sleeping position with her l.a.p as a pillow.

    "This is the real world huh..."

    The girl lived a sheltered life so this was a first. The man before her looked weak but he was still struggling to survive. She wished that he would manage but even if he recovered, tomorrow his death would be assured.

    During the night she couldn''t really sleep. The man continued to mumble strange things while tossing and turning. He mentioned a few unknown names of people and families that she had no idea about.

    "I¡­ I need to go b-back¡­"

    He continued to mention these words while stretching out his hand as if he wanted to grasp something. She could only grasp it instead, the man''s grip was quite weak and she couldn''t feel an ounce of cultivation in him. The only thing she could think of, was him being crippled or just being one of the unlucky mortals that walked this world.

    "Get your asses in gear, it''s time for the big show!"

    An obese man with yellowy teeth greeted them in the morning along with many guards. It was time to go towards their demise, still a little bit of hope remained as they were led through a corridor. The man that she spend the night nursing was pulled along, it seemed that he was close to waking up but not like the slavers would give him much time to recover.

    When outside she was blinded by the bright sunlight and cheering people. All of them were led up to the outside, their shackles were quickly removed and the doors they came from closed behind them as they found themselves in a large arena, the people around them calling out for a good show and blood.

 Chapter 329

    ''Ugh... what''s going on¡­''

    ''Where am I?''

    Zhang Dong slowly opened up his eyes, his vision was blurry and he could feel himself getting dragged by someone. His arms were spread and two people were supporting him from each side while treading towards some destination.

    He tried to remember what happened after he crossed into that interworld tunnel once more. Slowly it started to come back to him. The moment he jumped through that fissure he was flung into it once more. Not much had changed since the first time he came there with one tiny difference, this time he knew of Bob''s existence.

    During his stay in the previous world, he gathered up many cubes which he used as energy sources. These he used to triangulate his home world''s location. His Ai activated and the search started while he tumbled through the tunnel.

    This place was bright and from time to time he could see flashes of other worlds. Some were similar to the one he came from with knights and wizards, others on the other hand seemed bizarre with strange creatures living in them.

    Bob finally came through and was able to find the way back home. This would use up all of the conserved energy that he had stored behind. The moment he gave Bob he okay he felt a strange pulling sensation yanking him in one direction.

    It wasn''t anything pleasant as he was flung through this tunnel just in the opposite direction than before. The speed kept increasing and the worlds that he was able to see before became just a blurry mess.

    He could barely stay awake as he slammed into some kind of wall. Instead of another fissure opening up, he felt like a piece of meat getting pushed through the grinder. It seemed he was forced here by Bob''s triangulation, the rest was just a flash. He felt his flesh and soul being ripped apart and he was unable to keep himself awake as he passed out.

    ''Did I make it back? ¡­ Why do I feel so weak¡­''

    While trying to ascertain his location he felt a cool breeze and some light hitting his face. There was a sound of a gate sliding open before the walk forward continued. He was soon let down to the ground by the people that were carrying him. Soon shouts of many people made his hurting ears ring.

    ''Bob¡­ what''s happening¡­''

    ''System rebooting please wait¡­''

    His inquiry was ignored and when focusing on his system screen he only saw a small pixelated hourglass slowly moving around. It seemed that while passing through the world''s barrier the system used up almost all of its energy. It might have even saved his life from the way he felt. He was barely alive and there was another big problem, he couldn''t feel his cultivation.

    ''It''s gone¡­ it''s all gone?''

    Nascent soul, core formation, foundation establishment, and then Qi condensation were the realms he was familiar with. Now on the other hand he could not feel an inkling of Qi in his body, it was totally dry as if it was used up during his journey back here.

    "Uff¡­"

    He felt his face hitting some dirt, the people that were helping him previously moved away. Zhang Dong could feel that there was a small group around him. They were standing close to each other while the shouts of the audience continued.

    ''Is this some kind of arena?... why would they carry me here¡­''

    Not knowing where he was and why he was here he started to panic. Without his cultivation, he wouldn''t be able to handle even a teenager that had some Qi in him. The only thing bringing him back to reality was the small hourglass on his system window.

    ''Wait¡­ maybe it''s not fully gone¡­''

    He realized that his system was still there, it was just rebooting. When it came back on he might be able to recover all of his cultivation or at least some. With a plan in mind, he stopped squirming and tried to assess the situation.

    His body was in a world of hurt, it was burning up due to many small cuts that have not yet healed. Someone had clearly mended him somewhat back to health. There were cloth bandages around his c.h.e.s.t, arms, and legs.

    Soon he could also see that they were all quite dirty and dark from his blood. When his vision became less blurry he could finally see his surroundings. He was indeed in some sort of large arena, there were many people looking at them.

    ''... the clothes¡­ they are similar¡­''

    The first thing that he noticed is that the people were wearing robes. The dress sense was identical to what he was used to in his old world. He was also not getting any warning signs about not being tethered to this world so it was probable that he had returned.

    "Xia Yanmei, you should have taken my proposal, now you will die like a dog!"

    He heard a haughty voice from the distance, it was backed by cultivation so he could hear it clearly. This tone, this way of speaking, it was something that he was familiar with. When glancing up at the person that was speaking out, one thing sprung to his mind.

    ''A young master¡­ I did make it back! Now I just need to make it out of here alive¡­ what is this about anyway...''

    It was time to listen in, maybe he was even in his own territory. I this was one of his subservient clans they would surely help him out. The biggest problem was his cultivation level though, if he said that he was the United Element Sect''s Patriarch while having no power to back it up they could just slice his head off.

    "Please young master Dai Rong, show mercy, my clan members have not done anything wrong¡­"

    "They have done nothing wrong, you say? They are related to your Snapping Turtle Clan, that''s enough to make them guilty!"

    ''Snapping Turtle Clan?''

    "Please, the White Tiger Clan and us can still coexist with each other it''s not too late¡­"

    ''White Tiger Clan?''

    While the young girl named Xia Yanmei pleaded for the lives of her people Zhang Dong noticed something strange. The clan names were not what he was used to. Normally they were run by families, so the clan named White Tiger Clan should have been the Dai clan instead. The Snapping Turtle would have normally been the Xia clan.

    ''Did I end up in another cultivation world¡­ or is it just some far away province¡­''

    There were a few possibilities. One was that he was in a similar world to his old one but it wasn''t quite the same. Another option was that he just ended up in some faraway land where the naming sense was just different.

    "Enough, you had your chance, now someone else has taken your spot!"

    The young man named Dai Rong was hugged from the side by a jade-like beauty while laughing. The girl called Xia Yanmei just dropped her shoulders as it seemed that there was no way of talking her way out of this.

    "But, I''m a magnanimous lord, you will have your chance of surviving. You just need to stay alive and you may live as a slave for the rest of your life!"

    The young master laughed while dropping back onto a large chair. The girl that was with him landed in his l.a.p and also started laughing. The two were in some VIP booth with other people in it, some were old and some were young and no one felt familiar in any way.

    "Begin!"

    The signal was given but Zhang Dong still felt terrible. A large gate opened up in the distance and something walked out. It looked like a silverback gorilla with strange white stripes running over its dark fur. There were three of these beasts there while the group that Zhang Dong was part of consisted of about twenty people.

    "Thunder apes? Aren''t those as strong as a middle stage Inner Aura practitioner?"

    ''Inner Aura realm?''

    A big question mark appeared above Zhang Dong''s head. He had never heard about a cultivation realm like this one before. The notion that he was pushed into another world altogether was a possibility and without his system going online he could not ask Bob to confirm this either.

    "What will we do¡­"

    "W-we must fight, it''s the only way¡­ look there are weapons there!"

    The young lady called out to her people and pointed to a pile of weapons that was in the middle of the arena. It seemed that these people had left them some items to protect themselves with. Soon everyone from this clan rushed to the middle to pick up those items while also leaving him behind to his own devices.

    He finally decided to get up as this was no time to play dead. Even then he felt like he was about to cross to the other side as standing up was already hard enough.

    With all his strength that he could muster he forced himself to stand up. Now he was finally able to get a good look at everything and everyone. The group of twenty people was holding onto some rusty swords and spears. It was clear that these items would not do much to their opponents.

    The trio of monsters beat their c.h.e.s.ts loudly while releasing small amounts of electricity. Soon a small skirmish between the cultivators and the beasts broke out. The people from the Snapping Turtle Clan used the old weapons but they snapped apart or didn''t have enough sharpness to do much damage to the monster apes.

    "I''m scared¡­"

    "Huh?"

    Zhang Dong looked behind him. There he saw another group of people right up against the wall. It was composed of children, the elderly, and women. The group of twenty people that was fighting the monsters was clearly protecting this equally large group of non-combatants.

    Then it happened one of the monsters spotted the people in the distance, him included. It broke out of the fight and started charging towards the people that could not protect themselves.

    Without thinking much he took up a battle stance, the monster charged quite fast and swung its large fist towards his position.

    He knew that if he got hit, he would die. Even though his body was beaten up and tired, his eyes were still working. He predicted the trajectory of this hit and slipped to the side before it arrived there.

    While the creature was confused about missing the weakling before him a fist descended towards its face. It burrowed itself into its cheek and did absolutely no damage. The monster didn''t even flinch while Zhang Dong felt his knuckles almost breaking apart.

    The maddened monster raised its thick arms up into the air and started beating its c.h.e.s.t like a drum. Electricity started shooting in all directions while hitting Zhang Dong straight on. He was sent flying by this small shockwave to the side, the monster snorting as if it just took care of some bug.

    ''...External energy source detected¡­ absorbing energy¡­ system reboot complete¡­''

 Chapter 330

    Name: Zhang Dong

    Affiliation: Zhang Clan, United Element Sect

    Spirit Points : 0

    Cultivation Base Qi : Qi Condensation [ 4 ] [ True Divine Golden Lightning Qi Scripture ]

    Cultivation Base Body : Qi Condensation [Early Stage 0%] ( Bronze Body)

    Techniques: True Divine Lightning Path Cultivation Art, Golden Body Arts, Thunderlight Sword, Thunder Movement Art...

    Dao: Dao of Heavenly Lightning, Dao of Smithing and Crafting...

    Other: Senior Aura, Impartation of Knowledge, Mentor''s Eyes...

    ''W-what is this¡­''

    Zhang Dong staggered forward and onto his knees. He was now looking at his status screen that he stopped using after achieving the nascent soul level.

    ''System has been rebooted.''

    After getting jolted by the large gorilla he heard that his system was finally restarting. The moment it did he felt power rushing back into his body. He thought that this meant that his nascent soul cultivation would be restored but it wasn''t so.

    The feeling subsided quite fast while the system gave him a new red alarm. There was a big prompt with ''insufficient spirit points to restore cultivation'' before him.

    ''Bob, what is the meaning of this? What happened with my cultivation? Is this even my old world?''

    While rubbing his forehead and trying to get past the headache he consulted his AI.

    ''This is the user''s homeworld. An error occurred while passing through the world barrier. To protect the user more energy was required.''

    ''More energy? Did you use my cultivation as the power source?''

    ''That is correct.''

    ''Great¡­''

    He finally stood up and looked at the situation before him. This was apparently the world that he came from, it was also giving off the usual cultivator vibes but there was something strange. Zhang Dong felt that the spiritual energy was very similar but somehow different.

    The monster gorilla that was moving towards him was also a bit peculiar. After the exchange, he could tell that the way this beast cultivated differed from the beasts back home. Before this question could be answered, he needed to get out of here.

    He was weaker than ever, even when he popped up in the world of summoners he wasn''t this weak. He did have superior cultivation methods so that did put him on a higher tier than anyone at his own level. Even with this, he would not be able to defeat a foundation establishment cultivator at the early stage.

    "GUAHHHhh."

    ''Damn it''s coming¡­ middle stage Inner Aura, was it?''

    He focused on the creature that knocked him to the side with an electric shock. Luckily for him, he cultivated lightning. This left him immune to all lightning-based attacks that were weaker than his own DAO. He could even absorb the energy and use it to cultivate, which put an idea into his head.

    "Hey ugly...what are you looking at?"

    With a swift kick, he sent a fist-sized rock flying towards the Thunder Ape. The beast was hit right on the nose but didn''t flinch, the rock was unable to cause any damage to this strong monster.

    It did make the monster mad though, its eyes homed in on him and it started beating its c.h.e.s.t once more. Small arcs of electricity started appearing on its large frame and it charged forward.

    This was just what he was aiming for but he also needed to figure out how well he could handle this ape.

    His opponent was quite fast all things considered. It jumped into the air when it was about ten meters away from him and raised its massive muscular hands up. Zhang Dong jumped back almost instantly while covering his face.

    When the creature connected with the spot that he was previously on those two massive fists struck the ground. The earth cracked and small bursts of electricity were discharged into the surroundings.

    Even though he was successful at reading his opponent he could feel that he was weaker than this creature. If he got hit by those two fists, he would have been critically injured. Then this monster even had passive attacks in the form of electricity bursts.

    ''I''ll need more than this¡­''

    The little jolt of energy got his body pumping, it felt slightly revitalized but he needed more. Even though this beast was stronger than him in almost everything there were two things that it was lagging behind.

    Zhang Dong jumped into the fray, which was also noticed by some of the people in the audience.

    "Hey, what is that madman doing? He is trying to fight the Thunder Ape at close range?"

    "That idiot, he is going to be turned to meat paste!"

    A few of them cheered while looking, they wanted to see some blood but instead were surprised. The monster continued to attack but the strange man that was covered in dirt and blood kept avoiding each deathly strike. It was as if he knew where the monster would throw its massive fist and at the exact time dodged to the side.

    This was Zhang Dong''s big advantage. He had already gone through many fights where his life was on the line. His mastery of predicting where his opponent would strike was something that he focused his time on. Even if the creature could take him out with one hit, it wouldn''t matter if it couldn''t actually deliver a blow in the first place.

    "Hm¡­ that movement¡­ interesting¡­"

    Up in the VIP booth where the young master was sitting there were other people. One of them was an old-looking cultivator with a long red beard. He was an elder that was tasked with keeping the White Tiger Clan young master safe.

    Even though he found this whole event in poor taste he was unfit to comment on it. His job was to watch this young lord, if he stepped out of line he would surely be punished by the young master''s scary father.

    He thought that this would be a quick slaughter, not much to watch. Now on the other hand he was looking at a peculiar young man. This man looked like he was one step in the grave but for some reason, he wasn''t giving up.

    He continued to evade the ape beast''s strikes with grace while sometimes throwing in some of his own attacks. These strikes were hardly effective as they didn''t seem to be able to get through the monster''s thick hide nor were he able to inject any spiritual energy to damage the insides either.

    ''He is getting faster and stronger¡­He isn''t from the Snapping Turtle Clan¡­ where could someone like this be from''

    The old man started to get worried, from what he knew a few people in this arena were just tossed in together with those Snapping Turtle Clan members. What if there was someone from a more influential clan or even sect pushed into a death game? What if that clan or sect found out about the whole predicament.

    ''Am I worrying too much? What would a powerful sect member be doing here in the first place? Can he even defeat that Ape with his meager strength?''

    The old man moved his head to the other side, there the group of twenty or so combatants had shrunk down to fifteen. The two remaining Thunder Apes had crushed them easily while also suffering minimal damage.

    This senior had seen the low graded trash that those slaves called weapons. None of them would be able to help them through this battle. They were all useless and just bounced off the monster''s skin.

    Then in the other corner was a smaller group of about ten people. It was composed of children and women. These women were all in front of their offsprings while looking terrified. They were focused on the stranger that was battling the Ape beast.

    The old man leaned back in his chair and continued to look. The young master that he was tasked to protect wasn''t even looking to this side. His gaze was on the young missus from the Snapping Turtle Clan.

    Even though the girl was fighting well it wouldn''t matter, they were facing off against a beast stronger than them and with low quality weapons. Then there were the slave collars that were ready to deliver a shock whenever the young master wanted. This old man didn''t believe that this young master would keep his promise of letting these people go.

    Cultivation Base Qi :

    Qi Condensation [ 5 ] [ True Divine Golden Lightning Qi Scripture ]

    ''I''m getting stronger¡­''

    Zhang Dong lodged his fist in the Silverback Gorilla-looking creature''s abdomen. It felt like he was punching a hard wall. He was then shocked by the beast''s residual electrical aura once again.

    The people that looked at his fight were quite baffled. It made it seem that he was someone that didn''t want to give up. He always jumped in to attack the beast but was constantly knocked back by the small lightning bolts. They didn''t realize that this was his plan as with every shock that he took, he was gaining more power.

    ''Is there a way to get more energy out of this thing at once¡­''

    He was getting a bit tired of the goose chase. This monster didn''t use the lightning attack unless he closed in. It also had no range to speak of so he needed to constantly risk his life by getting closer to its massive arms.

    It might have looked like the punches that he was delivering were useless but there was something that he was doing. With each punch, he injected a tiny amount of his spiritual energy to weaken the beast and also to find the source of its lightning.

    After a few exchanges, he discovered the place where this organ was. It was somewhere around the lung area which might have explained why the Ape always beat its c.h.e.s.t to release these shocks.

    ''I should not dwindle too long¡­''

    Out of the corner of his eye, he could see two other large Ape beasts. They already took the lives of many and the longer he fought the one here the more people would die.

    The monster charged after him once more. Its eyes were filled with berserked rage due to Zhang Dong''s constant evasions. This time though he didn''t wait for the monster to charge, instead he closed the distance himself.

    His hand opened up, his fingers together. Zhang Dong began gathering Qi onto his fingertips, there weren''t that many Qi condensation techniques that he could utilize. This one would change his hand into a spear that could pierce through things like hard metal.

    The monster swung its fist in a blind rage again but with a small side movement, this face only grazed Zhang Dong''s cheek. He took a step forward and was now in range to perform his attack. His fingers looked like they were covered in golden plasma energy. They were quickly shoved into the monster''s c.h.e.s.t piercing it in one go as he aimed for the electrical organ.

    The monster screamed in agony while also producing a massive electrical charge. Its organ was pierced and went out of control just as Zhang Dong had planned. The energy flowed into him and he took it all in.

    Soon the arena went quiet as one of the ape beasts fell. The other two that were about to deliver a killing blow to one of the warriors there turned to the shouts of their kin. There they saw him falling down, dead and without movement.

    ''One down two to go¡­''

 Chapter 331

    Zhang Dong felt the lightning energy rushing into his body. Thanks to his superior cultivation technique he was purifying this energy into its most potent form before absorbing it. With this gorilla-like monster now dead he had reached the 6th level of Qi condensation which put him at the halfway point towards the foundation establishment level.

    With having lost most of his cultivation level he was weak and susceptible. However, there was one good thing that came out of this. With the added knowledge and the increased soul power that he achieved from the other world, he would only get stronger.

    He would be now able to recreate his foundation with his own two hands. It wouldn''t be based on the system but on his own knowledge of the DAO that was more advanced than it ever was. When he recovered all of his lost power he would be many times stronger than he was before his loss.

    ''It is good to think about the future but I should survive this first¡­''

    After Zhang Dong took care of his enemy the other two Thunder Ape''s turned his way. Their friend gave out quite the cry for help after he pierced his c.h.e.s.t.

    "He killed it?"

    Xia Yanmei looked at the damaged sword in her hand. Even when successfully hitting the two beasts this blade only left scratches behind. The girl might have been the young lady from a clan but she wasn''t that strong. The people that were left here were only servants that gave up the way of the cultivator a long time ago.

    Now some hope had appeared, the strange man that she helped nurse to health had awoken. Previously she couldn''t feel much spiritual energy from him but now it seems that he was her equal.

    She was somewhat happy while also surprised. The man didn''t seem that much stronger than her but he managed to kill one of the Thunder Apes alone. She on the other hand even when getting help wasn''t able to deliver a damaging blow that would turn the tide.

    "E-everyone¡­ let us help that stranger, he looks capable!"

    The people here jumped to the side after the two remaining beasts charged at this man. They nodded at the order as this did seem like a good opportunity to turn this around. But as they started running towards this man, he turned to them and shouted.

    "You should stay back, you''ll just get in the way!"

    Everyone stopped at Zhang Dong''s words. Xia Yanmei in particular was shocked at the response. The man looked half dead but for some reason, he wanted to fight the beats on his own. He shouted loudly so even the people in the audience heard it.

    "Is he mad?"

    "He did kill that one Thunder Ape but isn''t he getting ahead of himself?"

    "Another Calf that does not fear the tiger!"

    The people that were previously cheering for him changed their tune. He would get his chance to prove himself though. While everyone watched from the sidelines Zhang Dong waited for the gorillas to engage in the fight.

    His cultivation was still slightly below these giants but with his purified cultivation arts he would make up for it.

    This time around both of the apes jumped up in the air, similar to what the first monster did. After tussling with the other Ape, Zhang Dong was now used to their attack pattern. He waited for the right moment and slid to the side while evading the large descending fist.

    Even though the ground was cracked from the impact he didn''t lose his balance. A swift knee with some Qi gathered on it collided with one of the beasts sending it tumbling back. The other one was quick to discharge some electricity but it was ineffective.

    The Thunder Ape that was hit was surprised by how much pain it was feeling from that flying knee it took. With the increase in cultivation, Zhang Dong was now able to deliver painful punches that would make even those Ape second guess themselves.

    While the one that was hit backed away slightly the other one charged. It swung its large hands around at a fast rate while trying to hit its target. Zhang Dong could feel the wind pressure from each attack passing his body as he evaded.

    Even though he leveled the playing fields he still would suffer greatly if he got hit even once. His body had lost all of its refinement and he would need to reabsorb more items. This was not something he could do now so his Qi cultivation would have to suffice.

    The way that he was fighting also told a tale of its own. He was very strategic with his movements the Thunder Apes even if stronger were just dumb beasts, they could not comprehend what was happening.

    They constantly bumped into each other and got in the way of their own attacks. The young man was clearly playing with them while recovering his strength. The old man started to get worried, this man was an enigma that could belong to some strong force from somewhere. He was just too good at fighting, this was not something that could be learned at a third-rate clan.

    "GUOOOhhh¡­"

    Another Thunder Ape fell to the man''s attack. A large explosion of lightning energy was discharged by the silver-haired man didn''t seem to care. It was as if he was immune to pain and only looking at the leftover opponent.

    It turned to a one-on-one once more. It seemed that the man was done with running as his strength increased again. He met the gorilla''s fist with his own and to the surprise of everyone the exchange was equal.

    Previously he was evading blows and slipping small jabs to weaken this monster, now on the other hand the two started slogging it out. The Ape monster could not last long as it succ.u.mbed to the many blows, the last one ending up in its c.h.e.s.t before it died.

    ''This could be bad¡­''

    The old man thought while rubbing his beard. How strong would this man be when he fully recovered, would he be able to go against him. If so would he spare him and the young master that trapped him in this arena?

    He then looked at the man again and gave out a sigh of relief. There was still one thing that would protect him and the young master. The man was still wearing a slave collar around his neck, unless he reached the realm above the Inner Aura realm, he wouldn''t be able to remove that item.

    "Y-you¡­"

    His attention was brought to the side. The young lord he was tasked to protect slammed his fist into the rocky bal.u.s.trade while looking at the arena. All of the apes were dead and not that many people had died.

    "Who put that man in this event? I''ll have his head! He isn''t even part of the Snapping Turtle Clan, who is responsible for this?"

    It seemed that the young master was sure that this was some kind of ploy. This also made this old man think, maybe someone was trying to make the young master look bad or maybe even to besmirch the Clan''s good name.

    "Young master Dai Rong, you promised to let us go if we survived."

    While everyone was stupified Xia Yanmei saw this as a chance to escape. There was a promise given and with so many people present it would be a hit to the Clan''s face if they didn''t follow up on it.

    "Promised? Yes, the promise still stands but you are not done yet, more beasts await! If you manage to survive I will be true to my word!"

    The young master laughed while sitting down again. The gates where the apes walked through started rumbling once again as more beasts awaited.

    "Lightning White Tigers! I heard they are a special breed that the White Tiger Clan has managed to produce! The Snapping Turtle Clan is finished!"

    "They even have an alpha that is at the late stage of the Inner Aura Realm!"

    ''Lightning White Tigers huh?''

    He walked forward while the large group of people backed away while holding their rusted weapons. While passing next to what looked to be the leader in Xia Yanmei he spoke out to her.

    "Young lady, please move back and just protect yourselves, you can leave them to me."

    "W-what? B-but there are so many we should work together¡­"

    "It''s fine, leave this to the a.d.u.l.t."

    He replied while charging forward, his legs started exuding static electricity of the golden coloring and to some, it looked as if he was skating on the ground.

    While Zhang Dong moved towards he was thinking that he could not be any luckier. All of these beasts had electricity in them, through it he could quickly recover his power. The people here probably didn''t realize this yet and he would capitalize on this fact.

    "RAWERrrr¡­"

    The tigers growled and charged at the sole person stupid enough to engage them in an open battle. These white tigers had a small horn on their forehead, through it they could discharge concentrated electricity at their enemies, which they did.

    Even when this blue energy connected with the man he didn''t falter. He looked even more ecstatic whenever one of them connected with him directly.

    "Common give me more, that''s not enough!"

    What followed was a strange battle indeed. The man seemed to just dance around these monsters. It was as if he was trying to force them into a long-range battle but whenever a bolt of lightning came he didn''t evade it. He continued to laugh and cackle like a madman while everyone watched, baffled more and more by this display.

    Lightning White Tigers, Thunderous Green Tipped Snake, and even the Red-Bolt Devilhound was not his match.

    "More give me more¡­ this is not nearly enough!"

    Zhang Dong turned to the VIP booth where a certain scared young master was looking at him.

    "What are you? How could you kill all of those beasts yourself! Did the other clans send you?"

    "Young master Dai Rong, we need to end this. That man is dangerous, activate his slave collar, I will get rid of him personally after he is moved back to the dungeon. We can also kill the remnants of the Snapping Turtle clan after they are gone from the city and still retain our face!"

    The old man to Dai Rong''s side sent a hidden message to the young master that only the two could hear. Dai Rong''s face that had a frown on it quickly recovered as he stepped forward and started talking.

    "Well done, you have won this event, as promised you will be set free!"

    "Huh, it''s over?"

    Zhang Dong looked to this Dai Rong with a raised brow, the people that were huddling in the back were quite surprised as well.

    "But you there, you have been impudent so you need to be punished!"

    Dai Rong pointed to Zhang Dong while activating a treasure that looked like a wristband. The moment he did Zhang Dong could feel the collar around his neck activating. It didn''t explode but instead started delivering large amounts of electricity directly to his neck.

    "Bwahaha, you serious?"

    A strange laughing sound escaped from Zhang Dong''s mouth as he lit up like a Christmas tree and then collapsed on the ground.

    "Take him away!"

 Chapter 332

    "Hey, aren''t we free to go? Didn''t the young master promise?"

    "Be quiet slave, the young master gave the order for you to remain here, be glad that you are still alive!"

    The slightly rusted-over dungeon doors were closed by the guards that quickly went on their way. This was the exact same cell that the people from the Snapping Turtle Clan occupied before the arena event. Now the survivors were back in it, along with the man that saved them all, Zhang Dong.

    Everyone saw him being electrocuted to a crisp by the slave collar. They suspected that the young master just wanted to kill the man out of spite but after they investigated they could hear his heart beating.

    "Will they really let us go?"

    Xia Yanmei asked one of the elders from the Snapping Turtle Clan.

    "They might¡­ but their assassins will be not far behind."

    "Yes young missus, that Dai Rong can not be trusted, you must flee the first chance you have, some of the Clan members were able to flee! It is still possible to rebuild our clan!"

    "Yes, what the old lady is talking about makes sense."

    "Huh?"

    The group of people that were talking turned to an unfamiliar voice and could see the unknown man there. They all jumped back after seeing him standing up as if the heavy electrocution never happened.

    "Is something wrong? Is there something on my face?"

    "The honorable senior is fine? But the slave collar?"

    The people quickly backed away from Zhang Dong. He had left a lasting impression on these people after massacring all those lightning beasts that the White Tiger Clan was known for.

    "Ah, this?"

    Zhang Dong grasped the collar around his neck and started to pull on it from both sides. The item activated once more and started delivering electric shocks. The people quickly jumped back while not knowing what this senior was doing.

    "S-senior what?"

    "It''s fine, this has no effect on me."

    Even when he was getting electrocuted he was still able to talk as if it was normal. After a couple of seconds, the slave collar started losing its charge and was promptly ripped open from his neck.

    "White Tiger Clan you say¡­ could you tell me where I am? I don''t recall such a clan existing..."

    The young master that was sitting in that VIP booth wasn''t all that strong. After a quick scan with his system, he came out at around the Qi condensation 7th level. Zhang Dong had reached the 12th level now and was already close to going beyond.

    "This is the city of Xuanhai."

    "Xuanhai? In which part of the Azure Dragon Empire is this?"

    First were the clan names, now the city names had a different naming scheme than what he was used to.

    "Azure Dragon Empire? Doesn''t Senior mean the Emerald Phoenix Empire?"

    The people in the room looked at Zhang Dong as if he was being silly. He on the other hand started sweating as he had never heard of this Emerald Phoenix Empire.

    "Ah, I know!"

    An old man called out from the side as if he remembered something.

    "In one of the old scriptures there was an old map, If I''m not mistaken, this Azure Dragon Empire is to the far west of our Emerald Phoenix Empire."

    "To the west?... how far is it!"

    "Ahhh...I-I''m not sure¡­ It was an old map, it is forbidden to talk about what is outside the borders¡­S-senior please."

    "Ah sorry¡­"

    He quickly let the man go while trying to get out some more information. From what he got was that there was some vague information about the Empire that he came from but it was something that was hidden away from the masses.

    "The old map showed some kind of blockade between our empires but that''s all I know senior."

    "Is that so¡­"

    Zhang Dong tried to remember if there were any mentions of this other Empire here. The maps that he had access to didn''t show anything to the east. There could very well be some kind of wall or natural phenomenon that divided these two empires. There were some rumors about other tribes or countries existing but nothing too explicit. The Azure Emperor kept everything under wraps and only he and the top two sects had that information.

    ''This at least confirms that I''m on the right planet¡­ now I must get home¡­''

    A weight was dropped down from his shoulders as he now knew that he was in the right place. What he needed to do now was to return home while recovering his cultivation.

    The biggest problem as always was time. He had no idea how long he had been away as he already saw that time between the worlds worked differently. For all he knew, hundreds of years could have passed or maybe just minutes since his departure.

    ''This empire will have a different calendar¡­"

    There was no way for him to calculate the right time. The stars that surrounded this huge planet moved around as if they had a life of their own. This made it impossible to use astrology to determine anything. What he was left with was a general direction, he needed to go west.

    "Good, there is one last thing I''ll have you do for me¡­"

    "Y-yes Senior?"

    The old man asked while he saw a hand moving towards his neck. In a matter of seconds, Zhang Dong was grasping the man''s slave collar. The old man screamed out in shock as he knew that such acts would only activate this collar of death.

    "N-noooo!!.....huh?"

    Even when the collar activated and he could see the sparks fly around, he didn''t feel any pain. Instead, he saw the senior before him absorb the electricity. Then when the slave collar was out of juice he just ripped it to pieces.

    "Can you all line-up, I''ll remove your collars¡­"

    After fifteen minutes or so, Zhang Dong was sitting next to a pile of broken slave collars and a bunch of prostrating cultivators. Even Xia Yanmei, their mistress, was down and asking for help.

    "I don''t really have time to help you regain your clan, at most I can help you escape from this dungeon but then you will be on your own¡­"

    "You will help us escape? T-that will be more than enough honorable senior!"

    Xia Yanmei replied while bobbing her head up and down out of gratitude. Zhang Dong on the other hand grasped one of the damaged slave collars and examined it.

    Slave Collar [ Broken ]

    Common [ High Grade ]

    ''This thing had enough power to contend with a Qi condensation practitioner up to the 12th level...It might be enough¡­''

    "Could you tell me about this Empire of yours and also inform me if any trouble is coming, I must regain some of my lost strength."

    After absorbing all of that electricity he was almost ready to re-create his foundation pillar. This process was unknown to him as he arrived in this world as a core formation expert. Now before he did attempt a breakthrough he wanted to do something about his body refining.

    The people followed his instructions, it was clear that he was home. In this world, if someone was considered a senior the juniors would follow his instructions the best they could.

    Zhang Dong believed that the old fart that was with the young master would come for him. He would probably arrive here to either question him about his origins or just to kill him and to hide the body.

    He was too much of an anomaly to be without backing. Which wasn''t wrong but his backing was in an empire on the other side of the planet. It was better to dispose of someone like him as they did already cross the line. Normally a senior in his position would not forgive such a transgression. Thus it was best to get rid of him while he was weak and defenseless.

    While thinking he grasped one of the slave collars. He injected some of his spiritual energy into it which changed its color to red. Soon the people here saw the broken slave collar being absorbed into this man''s body.

    ''80% in one go? not bad!''

    His bronze body shot up quite fast and almost reached the middle stage after absorbing this one collar. There were many more, he hoped to attain his silver body which would really be helpful against the enemies from this Clan here.

    "Don''t mind me, tell me about this city, empire and even about your cultivation...Inner Aura Realm was it?"

    Xia Yanmei nodded while sitting before Zhang Dong, who was in the process of absorbing all of the collars. There were close to thirty people in this cell so he had a bit to go through.

    An explanation of the current world affairs, or at least of what this small clan members knew of, started. This empire was very similar with it being divided between other powers but it was slightly different.

    There were sects but they didn''t really focus as much on controlling the lands as the Azure Empire counterparts. This was mostly due to a smaller number of cultivators on this side, this being due to the way they cultivated.

    While in the Azure Dragon Empire it was easy for anyone to gather Qi up to the 3rd level of Qi condensation, here it wasn''t. The Inner Aura Realm was the first one but was a lot more difficult to achieve. After examining the people here and asking about how they would be ranked he came to a conclusion.

    The Inner Aura Realm at the early stage put someone at around the 4th level of Qi condensation right off the bat. This was probably why it was so much more difficult to achieve. It also only went up to about the 9th or 10th level of Qi condensation when it entered the late stage.

    There was no grand circle small realm as all of the smaller realms here ranged from early to late. What they lacked in small realms they made up in larger realms. After the Inner Aura Realm, there was the Martial Master realm, which when fully mastered was at about the strength level of an early foundation establishment cultivator.

    After it came the Martial Grandmaster realm followed by the Martial Saint realm. There were six in total with the Supreme Saint cultivation realm trading blows with the Nascent Soul level realm from his empire. It was a bit confusing but he believed that the power cap was the same in both empires. If not, then he might have some trouble in going back to his own side.

    With less cultivator power the sects established giant secret grounds where they took disciples in. They left the ''mortals'' to their own devices and didn''t care about anything else than cultivation. Some of them sometimes visited the cities but most of the time clans like this here only remained. Someone like a Martial Saint level cultivator would be hard to find as they were off cultivating somewhere and part of a larger sect.

    The geographical and historical lessons continued for some more as he cultivated. Time was of the essence he needed to get out, luck wasn''t on his side though. He already imagined what would be happening after he left that door¡­

 Chapter 333

    A man with a bag over his head was being dragged through a narrow corridor. On the sides, there were steel doors with malnourished prisoners peeking out. Barely anyone was even looking through the small openings in the door, the will to live had long faded from their eyes.

    The man was being dragged by two soldiers, their faces somewhat covered by pointy helmets. Both of them arrived at the end of this prison in a certain room.

    "Senior, we have brought him over as you instructed¡­"

    One of the men spoke out while he and his partner threw the passed-out person onto the floor.

    "Good, is he still unconscious?"

    "Yes senior."

    The old man with a red beard nodded while moving closer. In his hand, there was a sword and it looked like he was about to use it.

    "I don''t know who you are, but for the prosperity of my White Tiger Clan you have to disappear."

    The man said in a monotone way while plunging his sword into the man''s c.h.e.s.t. The man that the sword went through twitched slightly before he could feel the life leave his body.

    "Hm¡­?"

    This White Tiger Clan elder noticed that something was off. The way his sword went into the man''s body was strange. He saw him fight during the event, someone that was on the brink of the Martial Master realm should not be this soft.

    He quickly sliced open the sack that was covering this man''s face. The first thing he noticed was the lack of white hair that the man at the arena was known for.

    "What¡­ isn''t this¡­"

    The face that this now dead body had was something he recognized, it belonged to one of the guards that brought it in. The man quickly looked to the guards but only spotted one of them.

    "Not showing any remorse¡­"

    Before he could react a person grabbed him from behind. This person had a hellishly strong grip and put him in a chokehold almost instantly.

    "I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, but you killed him instantly¡­"

    An unfamiliar voice and a strength that went above anyone that should have been staying in this prison.

    "Who are you? Do you really want to make enemies of the White Tiger Clan?"

    The old man could feel the grip on his neck getting harder. He tried to activate his own Martial Master cultivation level that was at the late stage. Even when he did, he could not make the man budge the slightest.

    "Enemies? Think we are long past that point¡­"

    "Guhh...N-nooo...y-you¡­"

    A peculiar crunching sound could be heard by the second ''guardsman'' in this room. The strong senior before him stopped his struggles and his hands started flopping around without any strength in them.

    The man that had killed this elder let go and removed his helmet. His appearance was the spitting image of the dead guard on the floor but soon it started to shift into this old man''s.

    "I guess we will have to do it this way..."

    Zhang Dong spoke out while now having the appearance of this White Tiger Elder. While going through the dead man''s clothes he thought to a few minutes before.

    He had absorbed all of the slave collars that were in the room, this was enough to push his body refining into the silver body stage. The silver body put him on equal footing with a foundation establishment cultivator.

    In these lands, a Martial Grandmaster would at most reach the power level of a foundation establishment cultivator at the great circle. This was also probably the level of the patriarch of this clan. He wasn''t that sure but it would align with how the smaller clans in his world worked.

    A Martial Saint was equal to a core formation practitioner and the step into that realm would be a big bottleneck. This Clan was on the lower end of the totem pole. Thus he assumed that the enemy he would be going up against was a late stage Martial Grandmaster.

    His plans weren''t to fight it out with the whole clan. They could have magical items that boosted their levels, maybe more of those beasts. It was nice to absorb all that electric energy but he could not fight a whole army, at least not yet.

    Zhang Dong removed the old man''s clothes and put them on. Luckily he was wearing the more baggy robes which allowed him to fit his larger frame into them. The technique he was using only allowed him to shift his face for now.

    Due to his low cultivation level, shifting his body shape was impossible. He was a bit taller than the man he replaced as well as packed on more meat. The baggy robe hid this fact slightly so he hoped he would be able to make his escape.

    Spirit Steel Jian

    Mortal low grade

    The sword was your regular double-bladed design and the quality wasn''t all that great but it would have to do for now.

    "H-how can I help, senior?"

    While he was rummaging through this man''s belonging the other guardsman called out to him. This man belonged to the Snapping Turtle Clan. A few moments ago the two guards arrived to take him here. They were quickly knocked out and this man had the closest appearance to one of the other guards so he took him along.

    The young lady that apparently came from the main family was now in charge. It seemed that she was putting her hopes on him now. Left with no way out he did look like the best option. They probably hoped that he would be enraged at the lack of respect and then the assassination attempt.

    Zhang Dong didn''t fault his attackers for much. They were just trying to protect their own clan and thought this was the only way. He would not show mercy to people like this anymore though. He did not have enough strength to be lenient here, the man showed no mercy so he would not either.

    "For now keep watch¡­"

    He needed to think, the most troublesome part was now over. The elder that seemed to be the strongest person around was now gone and he defeated him without alerting the others. This gave him now the option of sneaking out of this dungeon.

    Then there were the Snapping Turtle Clan members left in the cell. It would be easy to abandon them here and just sneak out by himself. Him getting out of the city would be almost assured if he just ignored them.

    This was not how he lived his life though. This group of people aided him, they put bandages on his injured body. He might have died if they weren''t there so now he owed them.

    "Hm¡­"

    There was not much in this room, it looked to be an office where probably one of the guard captains resided in. For now, he stashed the body in a closet that had some weapons in it. He also found more keys, probably to the other cells and to the exit.

    "Is there nothing else...what is that¡­"

    There was a desk in this room, in it he found a map. It depicted this very dungeon along with some areas around it. He was versed in reading maps so he instantly spotted a few interesting things.

    "There was an old sewer system that connected to this prison¡­"

    Luck was on the side of the Snapping Turtle Clan as he found them a perfect escape route. This dungeon was built upon another structure that connected to some underground tunnels. It was time for a prison break.

    What followed was a silent escape, after gaining the looks of an elite senior from the White Tiger Clan Zhang Dong could walk freely through this dungeon. Thanks to how it was built he was able to disable the guards without the others being able to notice them.

    "Great Senior please tell us your name!"

    Xia Yanmei was now looking at the disguised Zhang Dong. The slaves that had their collars removed were now moving through a narrow hole in the wall that he made with a well-placed charged punch. It would lead them to a series of tunnels that ended at the edge of the city.

    "Does Zhang Dong and United Element Sect ring a bell?"

    He asked but the girl didn''t seem to know this name.

    "Senior Dong from the United Element Sect? The Snapping Turtle Clan will remember this favor!"

    Soon everyone had gone through the hole opening but Zhang Dong remained outside. Xia Yanmei and a few of their clansmen remained while looking at their savior. It seemed odd to them that he was not moving forward, it was as if he had other plans.

    "Senior, you aren''t coming?"

    "No¡­ I need to figure out some things, this will be a good opportunity to gather some information."

    He replied while delivering a punch to the walls above this hole. The rubble covered up the escape route and would make it hard for anyone to follow after.

    ''Well then, it''s you and me Bob.''

    After giving out a sigh he headed up, he needed more information and that information could have been gotten in the White Tiger Clan. With his current incomplete disguise, he would have trouble moving freely. Thus before leaving there was one thing that he needed to do, reach the foundation establishment level!

    He had noticed that this clan was versed in the dao of electricity. Even the doors here were electrified and would deliver small shocks to whoever touched them. With this in mind, he headed into a certain spot that he noticed on the prison schematics.

    "It should be here¡­"

    He pushed the large door open and inside he found the item in question.

    Thunder Crystal

    Mortal middle grade

    This yellow crystal was in the middle of this room. It was floating around in a glass container to which many thick cables were connected to. This was this prison''s power source and the perfect item to further his cultivation.

    During the breakout, he had already absorbed quite a lot of energy from the slave collars of all the prisoners that were here. This Thunder Crystal here was just the item he needed to complete his transformation.

    "I''ve seen my disciples do this¡­ it should not be that hard¡­"

 Chapter 334

    "I don''t have much time¡­ they will notice that something is off soon¡­"

    Zhang Dong looked to the pile of disabled slave collars that he absorbed previously. Along with the Thunder Stone before him, it would need to be enough.

    He was a bit surprised about how much of a bottomless pit his own cultivation had become. Ever since returning it felt deeper like he needed more to retrace his old steps. This was all due to his increased understanding of the Dao he studied and also because his soul had expanded.

    With all of the energy that he absorbed from these common higher quality common grade items, he should have normally been able to create his perfect foundation pillar. That wasn''t so, he needed to go further beyond and absorb all of the energy that this prison facility had to offer.

    Zhang Dong had already fiddled around with his system. There were some problems related to his cultivation. Due to it being so low most of his system functions were turned off or limited.

    The map''s range had shrunk to about a hundred meters and he could not access things like his crafting abode. For that, he would need to wait till he achieved the core formation level. The teleportation function was also offline and so was his clan building window.

    Without it, he could not check for his family members nor his disciples. He had no idea if they were alive, how much time had passed, and even where he was. After cultivating he needed to gather more information before deciding on his next destination.

    ''I need to focus¡­ the system is not helping me with this anymore¡­''

    In the beginning, he mostly relied on the system, he could even spend spirit points directly to achieve breakthroughs. Now on the other hand it was all up to him but he wasn''t afraid. His Dao was supreme and he had all the knowledge that he needed. The only problem were the cultivation resources and time.

    Before sitting down in front of the Thunder Stone he took out the sword that he got from the White Tiger elder. He started slicing the ground in front of the crystal, soon it took the shape of a combination of a magic circle and a formation.

    Thanks to his time in the world of magic he had learned a few tricks. With this specialized formation, he would be able to hasten the process while also making it much easier. With it, there would be no wasted energy and he would be able to absorb it to its fullest.

    It started to materialize as if it had always been there. A large pillar started to form inside of him. It was longer and thicker than it ever had been before, pure gold and radiating holy lightning energies.

    The whole place rumbled as he opened up his eyes. Yellow light and electricity escaped from them and lit up the darkened room. The people outside heard a strange thunderclap below ground which was followed by an earthquake.

    Thanks to Zhang Dong''s special formation the spiritual energy was contained to this room. The people outside would not notice that he was breaking through but he could not do much about the quaking.

    ''Be formed¡­ my prime pillar!''

    He willed it into place and it formed inside of him. It stood tall like a monolith and it was just the first one of many. Around it, he would fashion even more pillars which would then be used to create his golden lightning core. Its might would eclipse the previous one just as this prime pillar overshadowed the old one.

    "Whew¡­"

    He gave out a sigh of relief after successfully going through his first major change. Due to the purity of the way he cultivated there were no impurities in his body.

    After standing up he started checking if he made any mistakes and how much power he really had.

    ''This¡­ I''m much stronger¡­ about the level of a great circle foundation establishment cultivator¡­''

    ''I''ll absorb these later, I should go¡­''

    After stashing the broken slave collars he left this room. They had no lightning energy in them anymore but could be used to bolster his silver body further.

    "Elder, what has happened¡­"

    Zhang Dong was quick to return above ground. Before the guards could look into the dungeon prison below he was there to block the path.

    "It''s nothing, the prisoner was a bit tougher than I expected, I had to use some strength to get rid of him¡­"

    The dungeon below was reached by elevator which led to a checkpoint. They were now at this point, this room had been previously cleared out by him which raised some concern with these men.

    "Elder, where are the other guards¡­"

    "Don''t worry about them, they need to do some cleaning, now let us depart."

    He gave the older while giving the two men here a stern look. They quickly clasped their hands and headed towards the elevator. The good part about being in this world was how the seniors were treated with reverence.

    They all headed up and before leaving he gave the order to not let anyone descend into the dungeon for the day. With this, he would have some time to go through this clan''s library and gather some information.

    "You."

    "Yes, Elder?"

    Outside he found some White Tiger Clan members lazing about.

    "I need to visit the clan''s library, guide me to it, junior."

    "Ah¡­ of course elder, follow me."

    The young man looked a bit surprised at the order. Zhang Dong knew that the person he was impersonating probably knew where the library was. Luckily for him, a junior would not ask any questions even if he acted a bit out of character.

    "You may leave."

    The young man clasped his hands and was on his way. The building that he was led to was quite large and inside he found quite a number of scriptures.

    ''They sure like to keep a lot of texts in this world¡­''

    Even though this clan wasn''t really that big, they owned large buildings like this one. The city was also highly populated which in the magical land would be seen as gigantic. This structure had the usual oriental feel to it, with lots of dragons and qilin ornaments all over the place.

    Zhang Dong''s system at least kept its knowledge gathering function but he needed to give each book a poke before it could be started. So he got to work, tracing his finger along with the book covers while moving next to the bookcases.

    Most of it were just cultivation methods for the younger generation. Inner Aura techniques and a few Martial Master scripts. This was more of an open library, it made sense that the quality would be lower than what the inner circles had access to.

    This didn''t matter much to him, he was mostly interested in the lay of the land. Where he was and where the Azure Dragon Empire was located from his location. After wondering for about thirty minutes he finally found what he wanted, a large world map.

    ''This is different than the maps that I remember¡­''

    He rubbed his chin while bringing up the image of the Azure Dragon Empire. It was a holographic image that only he could see. After moving it around a couple of times he was able to connect it to this map.

    This Emerald Phoenix Empire''s west border somewhat aligned with the Azure Dragon Empire''s east border.

    ''By the looks of it¡­ I''m all the way here¡­''

    It didn''t look too good, he was all the way on the other side of this country. The United Element''s Sect location was also on the edges. The traveling distance was immense and he wasn''t even a core formation cultivator so flight was not a possibility.

    ''How am I going to get all the way there¡­''

    He knew that the journey would be dangerous. This world was filled with many demonic beasts, evil cultist organizations, and people just waiting to stab a person in the back. The lack of his original cultivation was a problem, it seemed that getting it back would be the best option.

    The new calendars that this empire offered also didn''t answer his question about time. His system window''s clock had also been reset along with the reboot so he had no idea about how long he was missing.

    From his standpoint, some months had passed which in this world didn''t mean much. His sect still had some nascent soul elders to protect it. Unless the news of his disappearing was announced he didn''t see other sects attacking, not after he easily defeated those nascent soul elders on the sect meeting and also crushed that sword sect Patriarch.

    ''I''m no use to anyone if I die¡­ I need to at least reach the core formation level and gain access to my crafting abode.''

    A plan formed in his mind, there was no helping it, he wasn''t strong enough. There were many Martial Saints that were about as strong as Core Formation cultivators from his empire. They would pose a large threat to him so he needed to be careful.

    He needed to find a good place to cultivate, a place with lots of lightning energy. Then the other option was to gather items like those Thunder Stones. Luck was a bit on his side with that part as he was in a clan that studied the Dao of lightning.

    It was clear to him that somewhere in the deeper regions of this clan there were cultivation resources that he could use. They had already crossed the line with him so he would not feel bad if he stole them all.

    The only problem would be their strength, he felt like he should be on par with someone at the great circle of foundation establishment but that was only in theory. Was this Martial Grandmaster a bit stronger than what he believed? Only after clashing with someone like that would he know.

    "There you are Elder, I''ve been looking for you, did you take care of that slave?"

    "Mmm, it is done¡­ Young master¡­"

 Chapter 335

    "Good work, I knew I could count on Elder Zhuao!"

    Zhang Dong might have looked like this White Tiger Clan elder but he was unsure about his mannerisms. He only saw the man for a few minutes before snapping his neck so there was not much to go off of.

    "How about that Xia Yanmei?"

    "Don''t worry young master, everything has been arranged, they will be disposed of by my men¡­"

    This seemed to have been the plan. This elder Zhuao feared Zhang Dong the most so he wanted to deliver the killing blow himself. The rest of the Snapping Turtle Clan weren''t as important, none of them had the strength to go against anyone close to a Martial Master''s level.

    "Splendid! I''ll be sure to mention Elder''s name to my father!"

    "To the lord?"

    He answered while trying to sound ecstatic. Thanks to going through this library he had an idea about the power dynamics of this clan. The name of this young master was mentioned in one of the newer scripts.

    His father was in line to be the next Patriarch while at the current moment the grandfather was still in this position. He was a Martial Grandmaster but was already close to 150 years old. His time was slowly coming to an end as these cultivators could reach about the age of 200.

    This Dai Rong was the first son of the next in line to be the Patriarch. Due to this, it seemed that he liked to throw his weight around just like the other young masters from this world. The ''event'' that Zhang Dong was in proved how little he thought about other people. In his eyes, this young master was already too rotten to be redeemed. Already many people had died because of him and if Zhang Dong didn''t step in there would be more carnage.

    "Yes, we will return now Elder, my father has called for me, grandfather has called for a meeting! Maybe he will announce father as the new Patriarch!"

    "Ah, of course, young master."

    He nodded at the young man that started laughing maniacally. The girl next to him didn''t look very taken back, she clung even more as if this young man was a meal ticket to a better life.

    For now, he followed after this young master, he knew that this elder was the main bodyguard but there were also a few other weaker clan members around for the ride. As they went through the city he watched as the people bowed their heads at this young man.

    No one dared to meet his gaze and even the children were kept away. Dai Rong seemed to enjoy how much everyone was afraid of him. His cultivation wasn''t even that great, he was an Inner Aura middle realm cultivator. Even those apes that he fought against would be more than a match for this haughty youth.

    While exploring the city with him Zhang Dong''s mind started to wonder. He remembered the world that he visited before. The people there seemed to have free will but some of them acted like a personification of tropes.

    Was it the same here? Were these young men and women forced to act like this due to the world''s system? Or was this just the result of their upbringing? It could have also been a mix of the two and only more mindful individuals would be able to break free of the imposed programming.

    His wife and the people around him did change somewhat after he appeared. They did become less bloodthirsty at least when around him. What would they do in a remote city? Would they revert to some pre imposed haughty programming if they met someone below them that was seeking trouble?

    There was also another bigger problem on his mind. He remembered the king from that world. He was some kind of watcher left behind by whoever created these worlds. If that world had someone like that, then one could have been left behind here as well.

    There was one person that fit that bill, the Azure Dragon Emperor that towered over everyone. There was also the monarch of this Emerald Phoenix Empire, it could be him instead, maybe even both he had no idea of knowing.

    In that world, he was lucky enough to be much stronger than whatever the heroes were capable of. Thanks to that he could defeat that watcher in battle. In this world on the other hand he expected these watchers to be above the nascent soul great circle realm.

    ''Maybe with my current soul level I could¡­''

    "Welcome young master Rong!"

    He snapped back to reality after hearing the young master''s name being raised. They had finally arrived at the meeting place. There were other young masters with their own bodyguards and retainers gathered.

    ''I should focus on the problem at hand¡­''

    He straightened out and started looking around. They were on the outside in some kind of garden, there was quite a large fountain in the middle. Around it, many youths gathered and were talking about some current events.

    ''There are a lot of youngsters here, looks like this announcement will concern the younger generation¡­''

    He didn''t think that Dai Rong would be getting the announcement that his father was becoming a Patriarch. Maybe instead he would have to contend with the other young masters for some special cultivation technique or cultivation resources.

    The cultivators loved to put their younger generation against each other to thin out the herd. Only the few that remained at the end would be given proper management to advance further in life.

    ''Hm¡­ those people seem a bit different¡­''

    In the distance, he spotted an old man with a long gray beard. He was wearing the White Tiger colors and he was walking with two other people. All of them were at the Martial Grandmaster level. The peculiar thing about this was that the two were much younger than this man.

    "It''s the Patriarch, who is he with¡­ those robes¡­ The Thunderbolt Hall?"

    ''Thunderbolt Hall?''

    Even without knowing who this faction was, he had an idea. It suddenly became apparent what this was all about.

    ''So¡­ they are here to recruit the young masters and mistresses to their faction¡­''

    This wasn''t anything new, larger sects sometimes sent out elders to recruit promising young people to their factions. The White Tiger Clan and this Thunderbolt Hall seemed to have a similar cultivation path, which made things even more obvious.

    "The Thunderbolt Hall!"

    The young master next to him looked at the two people that were walking with his grandfather with hungry eyes. It seemed that he also realized what this was about.

    "All of you, pay your respect to the honorable seniors!"

    The Patriarch shouted out after he arrived at the scene with the two Thunderball Hall Elders. One of them was a handsome man that looked to be in his mid-30s while the other was a woman of jade-like beauty. Both of them were wearing white robes, with the characteristic flowy long sleeves.

    "I have gathered you all for this occasion to pay your respects to the great Thunderbolt Hall!"

    Everyone including Zhang Dong bowed their heads while their old Patriarch talked. He was then promptly interrupted by one of the members from this sect.

    "You don''t need to bow your heads, we can''t stay here for long and we came to do business."

    Normally it would be considered very rude to cut off the Patriarch from this Clan that ruled this city. No one could go against this powerful sect though so everyone had to keep their mouths shut.

    "We will conduct an aptitude test for all the middle stage Inner Aura practitioners under the age of 19. If they manage to pass it you may join the next test for the outer Hall disciples!"

    The youths eyes opened up wide as they started to sparkle. This was a great opportunity for their Clan but even more for themselves. Being part of a larger sect meant more cultivation materials, better techniques, and a possibility of reaching the higher realms of strength.

    Everyone from this clan knew that they were just frogs inside of a well. Only if they were accepted by one of the larger sects like this Thunderbolt Hall would they be able to join the cultivation giants.

    These sects liked to create trials for young members with high aptitude. They would go around picking them out from the local cities and clans. There was always an age limit as the older a person got the less they could achieve.

    Zhang Dong was not interested in this test nor this sect. He did not have the time to dwindle here. The prison he left was empty and all the slaves were gone. He didn''t think that anyone would rush to this gathering as they did not have the prestige for it. It was safe for now but he needed to be careful.

    ''I should avoid the sects for now¡­ they probably have core formation level people in it¡­''

    While Dai Rong was busy drooling at the jade-like beauty that was next to the man from that sect he started thinking. They would be testing all the youths and all of the big shot clan members were probably gathered in this very room.

    Just as in any clan there were many people in it. He was looking at at least fifty youths that could be picked up by these two sect members. While they were busy with their tests, he was planning to slip away. He knew a lot of stealth techniques which would come in handy now.

    "You will spar with each other, the winners will have the chance of coming with us¡­"

    ''Great¡­ they are going to host a tournament, I should have enough time to ransack this place¡­''

    Zhang Dong smirked a bit while the White Tiger Clansmen started moving outside this area. They were probably heading to a place where they could spar. Dai Rong had long forgotten about his bodyguard that most of the time was hidden in the background. Thanks to this he was able to slip away into the shadows.

    The technique he used allowed him to blur his body slightly. People that were below his cultivation level would not be able to notice him. Even the people on the higher realms would have trouble to discern him from the scenery. His hiding techniques worked even better if he remained perfectly still.

    ''I should probably start with that one¡­''

    In the distance, he saw a large pagoda building. It looked like the most important structure and was also in an elevated position. It was from the way that the Patriarch came along with the two sect members. It was probably his own house and would have the best cultivation resources.

    ''I''ll get what I can and then I should leave¡­''

    Zhang Dong''s body disappeared unnoticed by the masses, it was time to regain some cultivation resources that he had lost.

 Chapter 336

    Elder Zhuao or at least a person that looked like him was in the process of rummaging through the White Tiger Clan main building. While everyone else was busy cheering for the young masters and young mistresses he was busy trying to find things that had electric energy in them.

    "Elder Zhuao? Why aren''t you with young master Dai Rong?"

    "Um¡­"

    Zhang Dong in his disguise was now looking at two guards. They were standing in front of a large door that led into the clan treasury. The men here were at the lower end of the Martial Master realm which was quite high for simple guards.

    "Oh¡­actually the young master had tasked me to take one of his weapons from the clan''s treasury¡­"

    "From the treasury?... but the young master doesn''t keep his weapons here...huh?"

    Before the man could finish the sentence he felt a palm hitting his c.h.e.s.t. The air was instantly knocked out of his lungs and he crumbled like a piece of paper on the ground.

    "Elder Zhuao what are you¡­"

    The other man pointed his spear at this elder that delivered a devastating blow to the other guardsman. Before he knew it, the same palm was descending onto his own c.h.e.s.t. After the moment of impact, he flew towards the wall and left a human-shaped hole on it before also passing out on the ground.

    ''It''s not very well guarded¡­ they probably don''t expect anyone to do anything while the people from a powerful sect are visiting¡­''

    He smiled a bit, this was the perfect chance to rob this place and make a clean getaway. Zhang Dong was aware of what happened during such occasions. All the big shot elders from the clan would be there and they would all watch.

    They all had some promising youngsters in their own camp. All of them wanted to have ties to a larger sect, it would allow them to toss their weight around even more.

    If a clan of similar strength went against them, they could scare them into capitulation by just having one of their family members be an outer sect disciple. Everyone knew that such a position was trifling but a large sect to save face, would not allow such a person to be looked down upon.

    "Hm¡­easy¡­"

    He moved over to the large gate and gave it a poke with his index finger. The door lit up in blue light but quickly dimmed before it opened itself uo. It had a simple low grade lock along with a protective formation. It was quite rudimentary for someone of his expertise.

    Spirit stones, weapons, armor, and even books were all in here. It was more of a large hall with closed windows than a treasury. Even before making a step forward, he could see that there were more formations to keep unforeseen guests away.

    ''Illusory formation? Alarm formation? They even have a slaughter formation by that large pile of spirit stones¡­''

    While slowly moving forward he started to disable every formation. The large pile of spirit stones was clearly a trap. Normally no one kept them out in the open as they were stored in spatial rings like the one that he had now.

    If someone tried getting close they would be affected by the defensive formation. Even someone at the foundation establishment level late stage would not come out in one piece. While defending himself the alarm would also go off, this would bring all the elders from the clan here.

    ''That''s all¡­''

    It was time to clear this space out, the spirit stones made their way into his spatial ring. There were other storage devices here, all of them were locked but he could disable those later. All the scriptures, weapons and herbs were taken away. He had no time to cultivate or go through them just yet,

    Just as he had thought this clan had a lot of cultivation resources related to Lightning DAO cultivation. None of them exceeded the mortal grade though, at most he could hope to get to the great circle of foundation establishment before reaching a bigger bottleneck. Even that was far-fetched as his new cultivation required far more to get up than it previously did.

    After about ten minutes he had everything inside of his spatial rings. The one that he borrowed from the real Elder Zhuao had reached its limit. Luckily there were some more spacious spatial rings in this very treasure room.

    He now had a couple of those Thunder Crystals as well as some Lightning herbs. With them as a base, he could actually prepare some pills that would produce better effects. There was even a nice pill cauldron here that he could use, it would be enough till he gained access to his crafting abode that needed him to be at the core formation level.

    ''Now to get out of here¡­ I should be in the clear¡­''

    The two guards were left in the room with the treasures. He activated one of the formations that would force them into a long-lasting dream. With it active, they would not wake up unless someone entered this room.

    On the outside, he slowly closed the door and reactivated all of the locks. He added a flair of his own, even with the person who had the key came, they would not be able to enter. They would need to either be more knowledgeable with formations than him or force their way in.

    He heard some shouting in the distance, it seemed that the people were cheering out loudly. The young masters were probably giving their all in crushing each other''s dreams for the future. It would not surprise him if some had prepared underhanded methods to achieve victory.

    ''Would this be the place where the hero came out on top and got accepted into the prestigious virtuous sect?''

    While trying to act naturaly he moved back through the corridor. The whole experience in the other world was still bugging him. If that world was made to work as a novel or game, was this one exactly the same?

    The most bothersome point in this was the people here. In the beginning, he felt that it was just their upbringing. If he showed them the correct path they would see it and switch their mindset. What if he was wrong? What if these people were just cogs in a large clock and their ways could not be altered.

    "Elder Zhuao? There you are, why did you leave? I need you to give me my good sword for my next battle! I''ll be facing that lowly bastard Dai Reng, he thinks he can take my spot in the Thunderball Hall!"

    During his contemplation, he spaced out slightly, the young master that his persona was tasked to defend was now next to him. He was alone and looked quite annoyed, he could also spot some injuries here and there it was clear that he fought in some of the battles with the other youngsters.

    "Your sword young master?"

    "Yes, the Jian¡­"

    Before the young master continued he stopped and pulled out a communication jade. Zhang Dong had one of them as well, this one was also lifted from the original Elder.

    ''To everyone of the White Tiger Clan, Elder Zhuao has betrayed us, all of the slaves have been freed from the lower dungeon¡­''

    It was a mass message to everyone from the clan. It looked like they had found him out a lot sooner than he anticipated.

    "Elder Zhuao betrayed us but he is¡­"

    Before Dai Rong could speak out he found his mouth being grasped by the person impersonating Elder Zhuao. Dai Rong started to squirm around while trying to signal for help but before he could he felt an invading force entering his body.

    Zhang Dong infused the young master with his superior spiritual energy which made the young man unable to move. He quickly ducked into one of the many side rooms while still holding the youth by his face.

    ''Damn, they know who I am¡­ should I change into one of those guards¡­''

    He started to panic a bit, changing into the treasury guards was one option but he did not take their clothes. He did not get a good look at them either and impersonating people he did not get a good look at would be problematic.

    "I guess you will have to do for now¡­"

    The young master on the other hand would be less suspicious. While everyone was looking for Zhuao, he would temporarily use this youth''s appearance and quickly leave. He could also try to overpower the elders that were gathered here.

    This was a bit problematic as he could not move fast. He did not have any transportation treasures nor a flying sword that he could even utilize. How many Martial Grandmasters were here was also unknown to him. Then if a Martial Saint appeared he would be doomed.

    "Don''t worry I won''t kill you¡­ but your days as a young master are over¡­"

    Zhang Dong had no pity for this youth. He was already over the age of eighteen. His behavior and character seemed to be cemented. Already people have died due to his actions so there would be no mercy.

    Without being able to move, Dai Rong succ.u.mbed to what Zhang Dong had planned. The youth''s cultivation level was erased as his dantian was obliterated. This wasn''t quite the end as his face was next.

    With other techniques that he had read about, he started to change the young master''s appearance. Dai Rong was considered a handsome young man but after a minute his facial features were average at best.

    Zhang Dong did this as he couldn''t have them discovering the young man''s body while he was still here. The vocal cords were also damaged so he would not be able to explain himself to his elders. He would be seen as a commoner, nothing more than a mortal. What he could do now was live his life as a servant.

    "You won''t be able to speak for a few weeks but not like anyone will believe you¡­ Live your life as the thing you hate the most¡­"

    With one last jolt of spiritual energy, he made the young man pass out. When he woke up his life would be over. No one would be able to recognize him, he would probably be reduced to being a slave or a servant. After being the reason for the downfall of the whole Snapping Turtle Clan this would be just the right punishment.

    The robes were switched out once more and he let the passed out Dai Rong with some old clothes that had not much worth. For a final touch, he doused the youth with some alcohol. With some luck, the people that found him here would think he was some random drunkard.

    "Ah, there you are, Rong''er!"

    "Uh...?"

    He replied while looking at a certain man that approached him. His appearance looked familiar as it was the spitting image of Dai Rong''s face just somewhat aged.

    ''Oh, brother¡­''

 Chapter 337

    "Is something wrong Rong''er, you look a bit pale¡­"

    "Ah no¡­ I''m fine."

    "That''s good, I''m counting on you to win the position at the Thunderball Hall. With that, your old man''s position as the next Clan Patriarch will be secured!"

    Zhang Dong in his young master disguise was about to jump out of the window while this man approached him. His true son was out cold in one of the away rooms. From what he knew, this man that was Dai Rong''s father was close to becoming the next Patriarch.

    "Also, have you seen that treacherous Zhuao? He has betrayed us!"

    "Elder Zhuao? No¡­ he vanished from my side when the seniors from the Thunderball Hall arrived."

    "Don''t worry, we will find him, for now return to the central courtyard, we can''t have the seniors wait!"

    "Yes, father¡­"

    While looking for an escape route he saw more people coming. His ''father'' ordered them to escort him to the place the test was taking place. There were two of them, all at the lower end of the Martial Master level.

    Without being able to make his escape he was forced back into the large space where the ''test'' was taking place. There he saw two youths fighting against each other, they were both holding swords that were giving out small sparks into the air. Their robes were all cut up and it seemed that everyone was taking things very seriously.

    At center stage were the two Thunderball Hall elders. They seemed bored out of their mind while looking at the youths fumbling around. Zhang Dong could tell that these prospects would have not made it into his own sect even if they tried. Their form was bad and they were slow at reacting, it looked like two kids with sticks were just randomly hitting each other.

    ''It would be better to just lose instantly and then run away¡­or should I...''

    Getting involved any further than this was problematic. His disguising technique had been upgraded to an immortal level technique back when he had the points to spend for it. It would allow a person to hide their appearance even from elders two large realms above them. Only someone at the nascent soul realm would be able to see that something was off.

    From what he could tell this Thunderball Hall was a sect that was similar to the old Huo Clan. Their strongest member would be someone at the Supreme Saint realm. These masters were slightly above the core formation great circle realm but not quite in the nascent soul level. If that sect even had someone at this realm was also up to debate.

    ''No, I have enough items¡­ can''t be too greedy.''

    This sect probably had lightning element resources as well. If he wasn''t strapped for time he could very well pretend to be a young disciple. After gaining some trust and cultivating more he could ''borrow'' some resources and finally head home when he gained the ability to fly on a sword.

    ''I''ll just lose on purpose, can''t keep pushing my luck.''

    Zhang Dong had already taken a lot from this clan. That treasury was probably not everything that they had but it probably amounted to a big chunk of their savings. The rest would probably be some trashy techniques that the Patriarch''s attained which he didn''t need.

    "I...yield¡­"

    The fight was over and one of the young masters was victorious over the other. The fight lasted for a while and was kind of a slogfest.

    "Good¡­ with this only sixteen candidates remain, continue."

    The Thunderball Hall elder waved his hand while still looking bored. He was not giving the youths any time to take a break. It was obvious to Zhang Dong that he just wanted to get this over with.

    "Of course seniors¡­ start the next match! Dai Rong, Dai Reng!"

    He would be the first to begin this round, his opponent was the young master that Dai Rong was previously complaining about. By the naming sense, this was either a brother or some close cousin.

    "Finally, I will be able to crush you while all of the elders watch!"

    His opponent was also quite handsome with similar facial features to this Dai Rong. The biggest difference was the lack of long hair which was just at neck length. His opponent was holding a two-edged sword, similar to what he found in Elder Zhuao''s spatial ring. He had replaced it for Dai Rong''s ring for now but he did not intend to use a weapon.

    "You''ve been awfully quiet, already shaking in your boots before your tragic loss?"

    Zhang Dong didn''t reply much as he was trying to lower his cultivation level. If his fist connected with this kid at full strength he would just explode into chunks of meat paste. With his silver body, he could not be harmed by this youth at all, even the elders from his clan would have a hard time even giving him a scratch.

    "Don''t listen to him Rong''er, show him what I taught you!"

    "Be victorious Reng''er!"

    His father cheered him on from the side while another man did the same for the other youth. He could feel that the two old men had similar strengths and were close in age. They might have been brothers by the similar appearance, maybe even fighting for the position of Patriarch.

    "Take out your sword!"

    "I don''t need it for someone like you¡­"

    Zhang Dong replied while in Dai Rong''s form. He feared that his superior swordsmanship would be a dead giveaway. There was also the problem of containing it as he feared killing the youth by mistake.

    "You dare?"

    It seemed that his reply was taken as a taunt instead. His opponent''s face went red and he charged forward while Zhang Dong waited in one spot. After absorbing some of the technique books here he knew what these youths would mostly be using.

    He took on a battle stance, his hands in front of him in the form of flaws. This was one of the more basic techniques that was called ''White Tiger Palm''. It had a few forms that would not give him trouble when being performed.

    "White Tiger Palm?"

    Some of the elders rubbed their beards at the strange approach that Dai Rong was taking. This technique was quite rudimentary and mostly just a set of clawing and palm techniques with nothing much to them. It wasn''t very flashy nor was it good or bad in any way shape or form. It seemed to them that Dai Rong was not taking his opponent seriously.

    ''I need to make it believable¡­ I''ll dodge his charge and hit him a few times to not look totally incompetent¡­''

    This was a good chance to lose, his opponent was some kind of rival. This meant that it would not be seen as strange if he lost to him. It was also one of the beginning matches so he could pretend to be injured and then escape.

    "Take this Thunder sword!"

    Dai Reng''s sword started giving off faint sparks of electricity while he performed a vertical slash towards him. He wanted to laugh at the technique''s name, as the sword was far removed from being coated in lightning energy.

    First, he needed to show off his own skills so at the right moment he dodged the blade''s attack. Then his palm descended towards Dai Reng''s c.h.e.s.t. He added the minimal amount of Qi into it as the people here would be able to tell if he didn''t try at all.

    ''Just a little tap should be enough¡­''

    Regretfully the technique that he was performing was created with this Empire''s cultivators in mind. Even the slightest infusion of his superior lightning Qi into it produced a different result than he expected.

    What the elders saw was a bright flash of light followed by a loud thunderous roar that mimicked that of a tiger''s. The palm connected with Dai Reng''s c.h.e.s.t, sending him flying. The robes on his back exploded while showing some burns in the form of a tiger claw on the youth''s back.

    "Reng''er¡­ NO!"

    The young master''s father quickly jumped in to save his son. He grabbed him mid-flight and started doing his utmost to remove the invading electric energy from his body. Even he, someone that was a lower level Martial Grandmaster was having trouble in doing so.

    ''What the hell¡­''

    Zhang Dong stood shocked while looking at his palm. He didn''t think that this low-level technique would react in this kind of way. His aim was to have his opponent retreat slightly before the fight continued in Dai Reng''s favor.

    "Was that really our White Tiger Palm?... could it be¡­ the Secret Thunderous White Tiger Palm?... how did the boy learn it¡­ The technique has been lost to us for centuries now¡­"

    The elders mumbled with each other while the people from the Thunderbolt Hall''s finally showed some life in those bored eyes.

    "Rong''er¡­ how¡­ you didn''t even tell your old man that you mastered the Secret Thunderous White Tiger Palm! Well done!"

    His ''father'' looked quite pleased by the turn of events. Everyone was looking at his son as if he was some kind of prodigy. It looked like he had figured out the proper way of restoring an old lost technique.

    ''Shit¡­''

    Zhang Dong started to sweat and also remember that time when Beatrice was going through her tests. It seemed that unless he played dead without even grazing his opponent he could risk winning. Due to this, he decided to play it up, they thought he performed some kind of secret art so he would stick to it and retire early.

    He clutched his c.h.e.s.t as if he was in pain and went down to his knees. His face started to go pale, sweat dripping from his chin onto the ground while everyone watched in fright.

    "Rong''er? What''s wrong?"

    The father was quick to appear to support his collapsed son that was in the moment of faking to pass out. The plan was to now make it seem that he used too much Qi for that one attack and would not be able to continue on with the tests.

    "F-father, I''ve used up all of my spiritual energy¡­ I¡­ I don''t think I''ll be able to continue¡­"

    It was easy for him to fool these low-level cultivators. He was able to lower his own cultivation and his father after examining would see his son''s cultivation be minuscule.

    "I''m sorry, I think someone else will go with the Seniors¡­"

    He started to close his eyes and pretend to pass out. If he wasn''t able to continue then the Thunderball Hall would not take him.

    "Rong''er?"

    He could feel his ''father'' picking him up from the ground. Now he only needed to be carried away to a more secluded room to make his escape.

    "Wait!"

    "Senior?"

    ''Hm?''

    With eyes closed, he could hear one of the Seniors from the sect approach Dai Rong''s father.

    "This trial is over, we will take this youth with us!"

    ''Eh???''

    He wanted to open his eyes and ask what was going on. Luckily for him, the Senior from the Thunderball hall continued with an explanation.

    "We have seen all of your juniors fight, none of them have the talent of this youth, it doesn''t matter that he can''t continue with the test, he is clearly the most promising of them all!"

    With that, he had earned the prestigious position of Thunderball Hall disciple, his escape plans were put on hold for now...

 Chapter 338

    Lin Qiao and Zhou Dongmei were the names of the seniors that hailed from the Thunderball Hall. After he showed them a glimpse of his aptitude they were eager to add him to the juniors of their sect.

    "Take care Rong''er!"

    "Ah¡­ yes, goodbye father¡­"

    They were now ready to leave. Luckily the two didn''t want to stay for even a day longer in this small city. Thanks to this he would be able to finally leave. The bad part about this was that he was now stuck with these two Martial Grandmasters. He felt that he could take them in a fight but not like he wanted to start one here.

    ''The journey to their sect will probably take a bit.''

    He believed that these two were probably traveling on foot or in some kind of caravan. With this in mind, he could sneak away during the night. With his techniques that could hide him in the shadows, it would be easy to just leave.

    Zhang Dong also did not have any malice towards these two here. They were just doing their job of picking up new recruits from the smaller clans. There was no reason for him to cause them harm.

    ''If I vanish during the night, they might just think that some beast took me away while they slept and not look into it too much¡­''

    Dai Rong was still someone from a smaller clan. Even though he was like a prince here, outside the city he would be nothing special. If he vanished and his body was not found, no one would really bother to look into it. It was just how this world was set up, danger lurked everywhere and junior members were prone to disappearing.

    "Junior, let us depart, we will instruct you on the way there."

    "Yes, Senior."

    It felt strange to bow his head to this random lower sect elder but he needed to do it for now. The group of three left the White Tiger Clan main house. The original young master''s body had not been discovered and they were in the process of going into the treasure room. He was in the clear as now with the sect members around, no one would bother him in the slightest.

    This didn''t stop the White Tiger Clan members from following them all the way through the city. They also made a loud scene as they wanted to know that a member of their family had made it into a prestigious sect. With this their reign over this area was secured, no clan would be able to do anything about it out of fear of retaliation.

    ''Wish this ends fast¡­ also where are we going¡­ this isn''t the exit gate from the city¡­''

    He expected to go towards an area where there were caravans, maybe there was another group of junior sect members outside waiting for them. These two also weren''t at the core formation level so the ability of flight should have not been something they were capable of.

    Instead of the gate that led out of the city, they climbed up some kind of building. It was quite high and reached up to a hundred meters. On the top he found something interesting, it was a boat that was anchored to the building. Why was it anchored? Because it was floating around and even the wind here made it move from side to side.

    "Junior you look surprised, this flying treasure is one of the many wonders you will learn to accept at your new home!"

    Lin Qiao proclaimed while acting quite proud. Zhang Dong was more surprised by the fact that this item was given to these low ranking elders than the flying boat itself. It was quite small, the size of a bass boat with only four seats.

    He could feel some kind of item inside of it, probably making it float. Compared to the Argonaut 1 that he created, this looked more like a toy. The man looked to be quite proud of this little thing as if it was a great treasure.

    "Surprised? Ah yes, Senior¡­"

    The woman didn''t say much, she just quickly jumped up onto this boat and took a seat. She took out a large umbrella to cover up from the sun and it seemed that she was ready to go. Zhou Dongmei gave off the vibes of that unapproachable jade beauty, even this man that was here with her was continuously glancing at the good parts.

    "Get on junior, we must hurry back to the sect!"

    Zhang Dong looked behind him, some White Tiger Clan members were there. Dai Rong''s father looked quite proud. He even started feeling bad about stashing his son in a room without a cultivation base.

    When he left this spot this man would never see his son ever again. Though he knew that it was also this man''s fault for bringing him up like this. Even if this world was affected by some sort of programming there were ways to change it.

    His own family members from the Zhang Clan changed their ways. The two disciples that he brought up could have ended up as haughty young masters but instead, they treated people as equals. The only one that he couldn''t really change was his grandfather that continued to ''grow'' the family even if he told him not to, many times.

    He hopped onto the small boat that looked more like it was meant for fishing trips and they blasted off into the sunset. The boat was not as fast as a flying sword would be, but still much faster than walking. He could tell that Lin Qiao was inserting his Qi through his legs into this boat to move it around. The rest was done by the item itself.

    ''It''s more similar to the flying boats from the magic world than from here¡­''

    In his empire, it was hard for anyone below the core formation level to use such a thing. Most sects didn''t even bother to create small flying vessels like this one. It was better to just use all the resources to create a large one that could transport more people. Here on the other hand it seemed that the resources to make the boats float were easier to come by.

    Now, this was a problem, he hoped that they would be traveling by something else. Maybe even camp out in the woods at night where he could remove himself from the equation. Now he was sitting next to the haughty-looking jade beauty. She did not talk and the man called Lin Qiao was quite the reverse.

    He continued to babble on, explaining how lucky Dai Rong was for being accepted as a trial disciple. Yes, he was only a trial disciple; it was possible to get kicked out. From the explanation given, the young prospects would need to go through some kind of boot camp. Their physical capabilities would be tested, the ones that gave up or couldn''t keep up would be thrown out.

    ''Should I just go there and quit mid way¡­''

    The idea to remain with these two all the way till they got to the sect was tossed away rather quickly. He had already taken too long, he was afraid that the more he hesitated the more problems would spring out along the way.

    ''I bet that when I get there, it will be even harder to leave¡­''

    There were probably elders that were at the core formation level of power there. Escaping would become hard and the days could continue until finally, a chance was there. He knew that new disciples were looked down upon and not trusted. It wouldn''t be far-fetched if they all were forbidden from leaving the sect for many years as a test of loyalty.

    ''The guy is slightly stronger than this girl¡­ I should take him out first¡­''

    They continued flying and they were now far away for him to act. Previously he thought that he needed to reach the core formation level for him to be able to travel. Now, on the other hand, these two gave him the item that he d.e.s.i.r.ed.

    Even though he didn''t want to steal from people that didn''t cross him, this was a dire time. If he returned home and regained his might, he would reward this small sect with some treasures.

    ''If I knock them both down, they won''t be able to follow me¡­''

    The plan was easy, he would just toss the two down from this flying boat. They were strong enough to survive the fall and then could return to the White Tiger Clan city for help. He would also need to take away their communication jades to be on the safe side. If they contacted their sect he might have found himself getting chased before he could change his appearance.

    They didn''t seem to suspect anything, a good palm strike to the man''s back should put him out of commission. Then only the woman would remain, if he acted fast they should not be able to react in time.

    He leaned forward while bracing himself, his muscles contracted as he was about to deliver the first hit¡­

    ''Huh¡­ what now?''

    "Lin Qiao¡­ Fairy Dongmei, Are you returning as well?"

    A boat with two more Thunderball Hall elders moved closer to them. Instead of one trial disciple on that boat there were two. The two boats moved next to each other and Lin Qiao started talking to the man that called out to them.

    ''F.u.c.k¡­ can I take four of them?''

    He was sure that he could knock these two down that were close to him. The other two would be a problem though. At this moment in time, he didn''t really have any aerial capabilities. They would sourly give chase the only thing he could do was to destroy the other boat.

    Then another problem arose, they would notify their sect members. All of them would swarm to this place. There was nothing but open fields and nowhere to hide. If this pair of elders was so close by, there could be more of them.

    ''Does this mean¡­''

    Unless he defeated them in an instant it was very likely that he would involve himself in some silly chase. Then if they fetched a cultivator that was at a similar strength as a core formation elder, he might be done for.

    Before he could make a decision he felt another power source approaching. Soon one, two, and three more flying boats appeared. Each one carried a Martial Grandmaster level of cultivator; it didn''t seem like stealing the boat was an option anymore.

    They traveled for about a day, in the end, there were fifty of those small flying boats. Some were larger and carried more trial disciples while most were the same size as the one he came on.

    ''I guess¡­ I''ll have to rethink my strategy again¡­''

 Chapter 339

    Boats, many boats riddled the sky like flies around the fireplace they circled around a large stormy mountain. On one of these small vessels was Zhang Dong, his eyes glued to the strange structure in the middle.

    The tower that he saw from afar stretched all the way up into the clouds and pierced them. There were many lightning bolts connecting with this tower. The stormy clouds circled around it while this tower absorbed these energies with what looked to be many lightning rods.

    These rods were sticking out from this tower and glowing red each time the electricity made contact with them. This long tower went down and connected to a castle-like structure right on top of a snowy mountain.

    Even from here, he could tell that this storm would be a good power source. If he was allowed to enter it and cultivate, he felt like he could be able to jump right into the core formation level. For this, he would have to make his way up to the very top.

    ''Is it worth the trouble¡­''

    Was the thought on his mind. He felt like he already overstayed his welcome here. The best thing to do was to just remove himself from the equation. He could already feel that there were some people above his cultivation level and he had to hope that his disguising technique would not be seen through. It was theoretically core formation proof but that didn''t account for special detection devices or skills that the people in this empire had developed.

    "Is this the last batch of disciples?"

    "Yes, elder Jingyi!"

    While Zhang Dong was on the little dinghy that they called a flying ship he took a note of this Elder Jingyi. He was an older gentleman with long red hair and a well kept beard that was somewhat trimmed to pronounce his jawline.

    He was clearly above the Martial Grandmaster realm, somewhere on the onset of the next Martial Saint realm. Zhang Dong did not feel comfortable facing somewhat of that caliber, at least not yet.

    His spatial ring was filled with all sorts of treasures that he needed to absorb. Would he have a quiet spot to take in all the weapons to advance his body refinement to the next level? The spirit stones would grant him some system points that he could also directly spend on his cultivation.

    "You have all been chosen to be trial disciples for our Thunderball Hall. This does not mean that you are part of our Hall just yet!"

    This old red-haired man started talking. He gave the disciple candidates the rundown while they listened.

    "You all will be tested on your potential, if you can successfully persevere through the coming weeks, you will be able to join the other outer disciples! If you show talent, you might even be able to join the inner disciples and be invited directly into the hall building!"

    At the finish of the sentence, the thunderstorm in the background started to rumble. It was clear that the inner disciples were allowed to go into that tower and cultivate with that lightning energy.

    Zhang Dong theorized that those lightning rods were some kind of filtering treasures. They probably contained the chaotic electric energy and pushed them into the tower. There the cultivators could use it to cultivate the lightning that was now more controllable.

    There was a long-winded speech about how everyone needed to behave and how they were not allowed to leave the sect grounds for now. This is what he had feared, that leaving this sect at this moment would become hard.

    Without any means of fast transportation, if one of those Martial Saint''s decided to go after him he would not be able to outrun them. There were not many places to hide around here, they were high in the mountains with only snow and rocks. On foot, he might not be able to make it down this mountain top before someone noticed his escape.

    ''I should relax¡­ It''s only been a day since I''ve come here. No one knows that I''m not this young master and don''t think anyone will care unless I start sticking out.''

    For now, he decided to reorganize and keep himself hidden. Maybe during the coming days, an opportunity to flee would show itself. There was also the possibility of becoming an inner disciple. Which he would probably not have much of a problem with.

    He had lost his old spatial ring but there were some leftover items in his crafting abode that might still be there. Though he was not sure about his old items still being stored in his crafting abode. When the system got rebooted they might have been destroyed or used up to help him pass the barrier between the worlds.

    "Show the trial disciples their new quarters, then tomorrow we will start the training!"

    The long-winded speech was finally over and the red-haired elder flew away on his sword. The rest of them started descending down to the ground.

    The main sect building was composed of that large tower with the castle-like structure in the middle. There were also many other smaller structures and houses around it going down from the mountain top. It made it look like there was a city on this large mountain but all the people living here were cultivators.

    "You will remain here! An outer hall elder will come and instruct you at sunrise, rest well as you might not have an opportunity later!"

    Lin Qiao and Zhou Dongmei were quick to leave after they dumped him onto the ground. Some other elder gave everyone an announcement while pointing to a large wooden shack. It seemed that this would be the place where these trial disciples would be staying.

    While paying close attention to the surroundings he slowly followed after the youths. The doors to this large shack were quite squeaky and the inside looked quite minimalistic.

    "What is this? Do they expect us to live here?"

    There it was, the first complaint. One of the young masters that was brought up with a silver spoon started complaining. This was only natural, after spending years and being treated like little emperors they now had to live like servants.

    This was one of the tactics that the sects liked to put their disciples through. They wanted to show them that they were nothing special and only the strong survived in the end. If the young potential disciples couldn''t follow orders, they would be quickly reprimanded and punished.

    This looked more like a barracks for guardsmen than something that you would expect to find at a high-class sect. It was apparent that this youth here thought that he would get something like a cultivation cave for himself. These were reserved for inner sect disciples while the outer sect disciples had to always prove their worth.

    It was a similar thing in his own United Element''s sect, but the dorms that they created for them would be considered rather lavish. The prospects had to share rooms but they were only in twos and could trade in their points for better housing and cultivation resources if they worked for it.

    "Be quiet, the elders have ordered us to go to sleep and prepare for tomorrow!"

    Another young master called out after hearing this one complain and quickly a shouting match between the two youths was started.

    ''Ah¡­ didn''t think I''d be part of one of these¡­''

    Zhang Dong knew what was about to happen, the establishment of the pack leader. The ones that thought that they deserved the spot would soon show themselves. This was quite natural when a large group of young men gathered. They were quick to establish a hierarchy between each other but this meant that there would be bloodshed.

    "You dare!?"

    "Why wouldn''t I dare! This young master will teach you the error of your ways!"

    A fight began and it didn''t look like the senior Hall members were interested in stopping them. He could feel some elders in the Martial Master realm looking from afar but they weren''t doing anything. This was probably seen as part of the course and if someone got injured during it, it would be their fault.

    It appeared that this young man was part of a group of three. And the two others jumped into the fray to attack the winner. He was not alone though and soon more bodies hit the floor.

    The fight was even taken outside, this was a good moment for him to look at the skills that these youths had. They were all past the Inner Aura middle stage with the strongest being at the late stage. Dai Rong would be considered quite weak and at the bottom of the totem pole if he was here.

    Within an hour of fighting, there was finally a winner. It was one young master with a larger frame than the others. He was clearly a dual cultivator with both body refining techniques as well as regular Qi ones.

    He was part of a larger group of five that all made it into this outer disciple training ground. By being more coordinated than the rest they achieved victory over the youngsters that were mostly without any help. Some of the more crafty ones accepted this as normal and joined this group.

    Some of the more stubborn ones were in the process of forming factions of their own. There were about forty people here. Twenty of them had joined this youth group while a few smaller groups that was probably going to try to get their revenge also formed.

    They needed to bite their tongues for now but they knew that in the future an opportunity could arise. With that thought in mind Zhang Dong could see the various expressions of the young plotters. Some looked quite pissed off while some others just gave up right at this very moment.

    ''Is it over? Great¡­ I think I should try to sleep¡­''

    Zhang Dong and a couple of youths remained in the barracks without going out. After this nonsense was over he moved to one of the beds and decided to meditate. He had just created his foundation pillar the day before and he needed to be sure that it was consolidated.

    "Hey, what do you think you are doing? Who said you could take that bed, that belongs to me now!"

    "You want the bed? Sure go ahead."

    He did not care about the bed though, he could just meditate on the ground if he wanted. There was no reason for him to stick out just yet and on the first day of getting here.

    "Wait! Not so fast¡­ you have a nice ring there¡­ Give it to me!"

    Zhang Dong looked at his hand that was now being grasped by this unknown young master. This spatial ring had quite the amount of treasure inside of it and he would not be willing to just give it away.

    ''Oh, boy¡­here we go again.''

 Chapter 340

    Zhang Dong found himself in a bit of a predicament. He had hoped to avoid confronting the other young testosterone-filled youths. They were all just done pumping their c.h.e.s.ts out and now ready to collect on the winnings.

    The Thunderball Hall did not care about any old possessions that they brought here from their old clans. Thus a lot of the young lords here were still in possession of their spatial rings. He knew of a little technique that could mask the insides of the ring but only when it was close to his body.

    If someone decided to take it away then they would see that he had quite the large pile of lower grade spirit stones in there. It didn''t seem that this youth was the type that backed down though but he would try to resolve it without too much fighting.

    "Are you ignoring this Zhong Yahui? I saw you cower in fear while all of us sect brothers fought, a coward like you does not deserve any cultivation resources!"

    The young man named Zhong Yahui reached out with his hand. He was clearly trying to grab Zhang Dong''s wrist to relinquish him of his ring.

    Even before Zhang Dong could use his superior diplomacy skills it seemed that it was over. This young man had a certain shit-eating grin plastered all over his face. It was clear that he was itching to fight some more, he was probably one of those types.

    Some youths that had been beaten up by this young master looked on from the side. It seemed to them that another one would succ.u.mb to this bullies'' strength.

    For some odd reason though they all felt a small gust of wind. A little bit later they saw the smirking Zhong Yahui falling down onto his face while Dai Rong moved to the side.

    "Oh¡­ he must have tired himself out during the fights¡­ how regrettable¡­"

    Zhang Dong whistled to himself while pushing the passed-out youth away with his foot. While Zhong Yahui was focusing on his spatial ring he delivered a strike to his neck. He was a cultivator of a big realm above these youths, doing so without being spotted was possible. His arm moved so fast that at most the others could see a blur and feel the wind pressure.

    ''No one should have been able to see what I did¡­''

    He thought to himself while trying to avoid the curious gazes. It did look suspicious that one of the stronger trial disciples had passed out just like that.

    ''I don''t think they are buying it¡­''

    The youths continued to stare at him and the passed out Zhong Yahui. They were probably not so dumb to believe that a cultivator like that would just go down without a fight. He knew what they were thinking but not like he could do anything about it now.

    "What happened to brother Yahui¡­"

    The number two from the group of victorious youths appeared out of the crowd. He was just in time to look at the passed out Yahui who he now called a brother. This was Bai Tu who along with Yahui and Wang Yating who was the strongest had taken over this group of disciples.

    "Someone explain this!"

    He was quick to grab someone from the peanut gallery. Now after showing his strength he was not afraid to enforce the rules around here.

    "He just fell over¡­ I don''t know"

    "How does he just fall over, did you gang up on him? I guess we didn''t crush you lot thoroughly!"

    The young man he was holding on was already covered in wounds. He and most of the people here had taken part in the fight for the top spot and were now covering before the might of the top cultivators here.

    "Senior brother I''m not lying, he walked over to that brother there and just fell over."

    "Oh?"

    The number two from the trio of young masters homed in on Zhang Dong. He had sat down on the bed now and was sitting on it with his legs crossed. Even though he just wanted everyone to go away and leave him alone, trouble was heading his way.

    "You! Did you do this to my junior brother?"

    For someone like Zhang Dong that was now used to being looked up to, it was hard to get used to getting talked down to. This young man showed no respect, luckily he was talking with someone that didn''t take such things to heart.

    "Your junior brother? I don''t know who you are talking about, I''m just trying to meditate, the elders told us to sleep, we should listen to their wise words."

    "The elders? Now listen here you¡­"

    This youth was apparently not having it either. While talking he reached his hand out towards the sitting Zhang Dong. Then, just like before the people in the room could feel a strange gust of wind. Bai Tu was then seen falling backward with his eyes rolling back into his eye sockets.

    "They really must be tired, all that fighting must have taken a toll on their spiritual energy¡­"

    He smiled while talking to the rest of the people in this room. Even though he was trying to hide it, it didn''t seem like this group of youths believed any of his bullshit. They started inching away from the spot that he was sitting in. One might have been a coincidence but not two of the stronger trial disciples were down on the ground.

    "Junior brother Tu? Junior brother Yahui?"

    It was time for the third stooge to appear. Wang Yating was his name and he did not look like someone below the age of twenty. He already had a full-grown beard and was at least two meters in height. There was a certain scowl on his face as he looked at the two young masters that Zhang Dong had knocked out.

    "What happened here, you better explain everything to this Wang Yating!"

    "So it was you? How did a scrawny-looking bastard like you manage to defeat my junior brothers? Do you dare face me?"

    Zhang Dong started to wonder why his infiltration schemes always seemed to backfire. The less he tried to stand out, the more people looked his way. Now, this bear-looking person was trying to start a fight with him and he was slowly starting to lose his composure.

    "You want to face me?"

    "Who else is there, are you scared?"

    "Hah¡­"

    He knew that he should not let himself get yanked down to this person''s level. The young man was half his age, as a proper a.d.u.l.t, he should refrain from being too violent. However, this didn''t mean that he wasn''t willing to show the rowdy youths a thing or two.

    Slowly he stood up from his spot and took a step forward. Where his foot met was where he dropped one of the juniors of this senior brother. He just used him as a stepping stone to get closer to Wang Yating.

    The large man at the sight of that became enraged. This was not due to Zhang Dong hurting his junior brothers in front of him, no. By stepping on them in front of their Senior Brother he was showing disrespect to him, it was a blatant hit to his face.

    "You dare step on my brother?"

    "Oh, I didn''t see him there, my apologies, Ya-bing was it?"

    The large youth started getting red in the face, he was clearly not used to people making fun of him. Zhang Dong knew those types well, if someone stepped on his shoe he would have them beaten to an inch of their life.

    "How brazen¡­"

    "Do you think he stands a chance against senior brother Yating?"

    "I don''t know¡­ maybe those two really were just tired¡­"

    The other trial sect members started whispering amongst each other while Zhang Dong and Wang Yating headed outside this shack. This time around he was not planning to end it with just a quick hit but there was no reason to destroy the barracks in the process.

    ''Those elders could probably feel me do something anyway, I guess I can show them some of my strength ¡­''

    Zhang Dong was slowly abandoning the notion of leaving this place too quickly. From what he could tell there were protective formations as well as Martial Masters spread out everywhere.

    The formation that was protecting this sect was at the core formation level, about the later stage. With his current cultivation, he would not be able to disable it even with the help of his knowledge. He would at least need to prepare some items beforehand and for that he needed something and that something was privacy.

    His plans have shifted in attaining that, if he was seen as a genius he would probably be given his own private spot as an inner sect disciple. Even some of the outer sect disciples had their own cultivation caves or houses.

    "I''ll beat some respect into you!"

    They were now outside and everyone was eager to see what Zhang Dong was capable of. The ones that lost previously were hoping that he would win, while also trying to see if they could witness some faults in Yating''s technique that they could later exploit.

    Zhang Dong was wearing one of those flowy robes that he disliked. He didn''t reply to the taunts and Yating finally lost it and charged towards him with a mad rush. His muscles expanded and his fingers turned into blackened claws.

    He was using some strange body refining technique that changed his hands into deadly weapons. He did a number on his previous opponents which were full of deep scratch wounds.

    Regretfully he was fighting someone much more experienced than him. Zhang Dong was sure to drop his cultivation level to appear as someone at the late inner aura stage.

    Yating went in like a savage beast but he was unable to connect with any of his attacks. For his size, he was quite nimble but each time he thought he would draw blood his opponent managed to slip away at the last second.

    This was all a show, Zhang Dong was playing it up to the elders that were looking. He wanted to appear as someone versed in fighting by managing to evade each deadly blow after deadly blow.

    "Stop running and fight like a man!"

    "As you wish."

    "A battle of strength, would that satisfy you?"

    "Damn conceited idiot!"

    Yating went red in the face but quickly took Zhang Dong up on the offer. He grasped his opponent''s smaller hand and began to squeeze while trying to break the fingers. To his surprise no matter how hard he tried, he could not hear any sound of bones cracking. Instead, he felt like he was stuck in some kind of vice, unable to pull his hand away.

    "Did you really think you are the only one that studies body refining techniques?"

    Zhang Dong''s hand turned into a silvery color and everyone could see it appear metallic in nature. The bear-looking young man''s digits were promptly snapped and the crunching sounds could be heard by everyone here.

    Yating started screaming while going down to his knees, then with a well-placed smack to the neck he was knocked out cold by Zhang Dong. The other young members looked on with horror at Yating''s demise. The monster that defeated them was easily dispatched by this unknown young man, putting him at the very top of their group.

    "What is this, fighting between junior members is forbidden!"

    Suddenly the Martial Masters that were hiding in the bushes appeared at the scene. There were three of them and they quickly dispersed everyone. The injured Yating was carried out into the infirmary while the rest were ordered to go to sleep. Finally, the first night at the new sect was over, what the next day would bring remained to be seen.

 Chapter 341

    "What do you think of the new batch of trial disciples?"

    "Hm¡­ there were a few promising prospects, like that youth with the large frame."

    "Ah, the elder has a good eye, his name is Wang Yating, he is already in the late inner aura stage even at such a young age."

    "Yes, yes. He might be able to make it as an inner sect disciple if he gets the right mentor. Is the elder thinking about making him his disciple?"

    Two men were walking together. One was a somewhat older-looking old man, while the second was a taller-looking middle-aged man. It was clear that the older man was a more important member of the Thunderball Hall.

    "Perhaps, if he shows me that he is worth it¡­"

    The old man rubbed his beard while hoping to snag a promising youth for himself to guide. He was only an outer sect elder and was far too old to progress into the inner sect. The only hope of getting his foot in there was to shepherd a promising disciple.

    It would be quite the honor to produce a powerful member of the sect. Even if he wasn''t able to make it, he would always be his master.

    He wasn''t the only outer sect elder that was eyeing the young prospects here. The sect recruitment drive happened rarely and there was a limited number of seats in the outer sect for them. Each elder could take on multiple disciples and even if one made it into the inner sect it would be enough.

    "Greetings Elder Yusheng."

    There were about five hundred new recruits and he was responsible for a third of them. There were two other elders with the same status as him. The three would need to somewhat contend with each other.

    From these five hundred youths, maybe one or two would be selected into the inner sect. If one of these outer sect elders would be able to guide such a disciple it was seen as someone that they could brag about.

    Thus most of the time, these elders would pit their trial disciples against the other ones. It was seen as a game between the elder generation, the side that had the better disciples would be praised. The losers would in turn have to contend with being laughed at and seen as failures.

    "How did the trial disciples fair during the night?"

    "There was a fight as usual¡­ one of the disciples showed promise, he managed to defeat multiple opponents in his own realm."

    "Oh, is that so?"

    Yusheng asked while chuckling. The first day at the sect was always like this and the sect seniors allowed the disciples to take care of things with their fists. It was a good way to see which of the prospects were fierce enough to come out on top.

    The life of a cultivator was a harsh one. The masters of this sect did not want anyone that was unwilling to fight. In the future, they might need these youths to help them in combat. Keeping cowards around would only weaken the sect.

    Things were slightly different for the women cultivators though. They had a separate section at the Hall and were managed by their own female elders. The men did not intrude in their affairs too much but this did not mean that they would not be asked to fight when the time came.

    "Good, have the disciples line up!"

    The old man nodded and the junior that he was talking with entered the barracks. He began shouting and soon the trial disciples started appearing outside. There were supposed to be about forty new prospects here but the number had dwindled by some. This was acceptable as during the night fight some of the youths would be carried away to the infirmary to mend their injuries.

    Even with some of them missing there were quite a few, they would all need to meet up with all the other young prospects. They all stood at attention with one youth, in particular, standing out. It was clear that this one was the winner of the nightly rumble, he stood in the front and the other young men were afraid to look him in the eye.

    "Hoh, that must be that Wang Yating that you spoke about?"

    "I¡­ That''s not him¡­ that young man was much larger and sturdier-looking¡­ I don''t recall anyone like this being here. Don''t worry elder Yusheng, I''ll go ask right away!"

    The elder looked to the junior and was now confused. The person that was rounding up the disciples was one of the Martial Masters that was here yesterday, thus a question was posed to him. Yusheng waited for the junior to go ask while the disciples waited without speaking.

    "Big news Elder! Something unfathomable happened last night!"

    The junior returned and started making a fuss about the previous night. Yusheng was informed about the big turnaround and how the best prospect was now getting his broken fingers mended.

    It seemed that there was a hidden gem in the rough here who could easily beat a dual cultivator at the late inner aura level. This of course made this elder''s eyes shine with hope, there could actually be a genius in his batch of trial disciples that could help him raise his status.

    "Yes, his name is Dai Rong, he comes from a smaller clan from the south¡­ brother Lin Qiao was the one that brought him over¡­ not much is known about him or his clan¡­"

    "Dai Rong¡­ good¡­ keep a close eye on him, report to me later."

    The elder rubbed his chin while also skillfully handing a spirit stone into this junior member''s hand. Time would only tell if this Dai Rong was truly worth investing in. The young members would be taken through some physical tests first.

    While this elder was thinking about what the future had in store for him, Zhang Dong was trying to avoid his gaze. He could feel the old man scanning him from head to toe which felt uncomfortable.

    The previous night he had lost his cool slightly and beaten up three youths. He felt a bit bad for them but thanks to that the others were evading him now. Some of them were even trying to kiss his a.s.s, calling his senior brother Rong.

    The funny thing about this was, that the two from the trio that he fought were kissing up to him as well. They seemed to change their tune rather quickly after getting one-shot by him. He even expected them to want a rematch or say that he was lucky by sucker-punching them. Instead, he was now the top young master.

    "Is that it? They just see me as another young master¡­ so they are fine if someone from their group takes over¡­"

    If he was seen as some kind of commoner not even coming from a clan, then maybe they would be playing a different tune. On the other hand, he did have some status, these lesser clans were at similar levels with Martial Grandmasters being a limit. It looked like this would make things easier, at least till the next youth came along to try to steal the crown.

    "We will be running today, follow me, whoever can''t keep up will not receive any rations for today!"

    Finally, the physical training portion of this boot camp was on the way. The person leading them was a Martial Master. With most of these disciples being in the middle inner aura realm, they would have a hard time following after the instructor. For Zhang Dong, this was nothing but a light jog.

    Some beasts roamed those parts and isolated this sect from the outside. It was a peculiar decision to surround the sect building by untamed beasts but it did keep the lower level cultivators and mortals away. The only way to get it was to be either a strong cultivator or have some kind of flying treasure like those boats.

    ''I''d need to get closer to this formation¡­ but I don''t think that I can disable it with my current cultivation, at least not fast enough for them not to notice me¡­''

    He possessed a lot of knowledge in disabling and creating formations. There were certain ways of opening in backdoors to them. They would require a certain password that he would have a limited time to deduce during an attempt.

    This was an invasive process and required him to use his spiritual energy. It was similar to hacking as he had a limited window and power. This protective formation was your usual shield formation at the core formation level.

    Luckily for him, this training jog took him through a large chunk of this sect. He was not impressed, this place was lacking in many places.

    The buildings here were shabby and the servants seemed malnourished. It didn''t seem that the sect cared about these mortals that were probably taken here by force. These people took care of things like cooking and cleaning. They were also responsible for repairing things and keeping the whole place somewhat presentable.

    The group of youngsters even passed by a couple of repairs in progress. These mortals instinctively bowed their heads the moment they saw the outer sect instructor.

    When he compared this place to his United Element''s sect it was night and day. In his city, most of the people were smiling while working for the future in mind. With the merit system in place they had a clear goal ahead of them and were always rewarded for their troubles.

    Here on the other hand the future was unknown. Even if they gave their all they would not be thanked. The Thunderball Hall owners probably thought that it was an honor for mere mortals to work for them.

    ''I hope my sect hasn''t changed since I left¡­''

    He was a bit concerned about what trajectory his faction would go towards. There were some people that he didn''t see eye to eye with. He also kept to himself not really tying himself down by sect politics. Only when the elders could not come to a consensus would he give his opinion.

    ''I need to gain access to a cultivation cave¡­ I can''t cultivate like this¡­''

    While everyone was trailing behind he remained about ten meters behind the Martial Master. He was clearly showing off his skills while quite a few young masters had to give up while trekking through these snowy paths.

    It didn''t seem that Zhang Dong would be able to get away from here at a short notice. One problem was the protective formation and the second one was the beast-riddled forest. He needed to weigh his options before making his decision.

    For now, it seemed that the Thunderball Hall had gained a genius new disciple that at the inner aura level was able to keep up with a Martial Master. This, of course, brought along some problems of their own...

 Chapter 342

    ''Just as I thought¡­''

    "Trial disciple¡­ what are you doing?"

    "Sorry senior, I just needed to pass the spiritual water¡­"

    Zhang Dong stepped out from behind a tree while fixing his robe to seem as if he was peeing behind it. In reality, this was an area where the defensive formation reached up.

    This was only the third day of the disciple training and he was smoking the competition. He was the only one keeping up with the instructor. With some time left before the others arrived, he moved over to see if he could pass through the protective barrier without anyone noticing him.

    As he feared this was a dome-shaped translucent barrier. When he poked it with his finger it would look like rippling water and he could see its outline in the empty space before him.

    This type of protective formation needed some sort of key to open up. Probably the elders and trusted sect members possessed some kind of item that let them pass through it. There was also one main gate where it could be opened by the guards stationed there.

    The easiest way to get out would be to get this key from one of the elders. The two that brought him over here didn''t seem to possess one of those keys as the Martial Saint that showed up was the one to guide them all in.

    Taking the key from that core formation like elder would be a difficult task with his current cultivation. Even if he managed to swipe it, he didn''t think he would be able to flee fast enough.

    "I know that you surpass the other prospects but you can''t make your seniors look bad!"

    "I understand, senior."

    Zhang Dong performed a little bow while feeling a bit silly. The man before him was an early stage Martial Master, even with his lowered cultivation he could take him out with a slap. He needed to act as a proper junior for the time being.

    "Senior¡­ how does one become an inner sect disciple?"

    "Inner sect disciple? You should stop thinking about such things and first get past the trial period and become an outer sect disciple! You should stay grounded before looking at the heavens. "

    "You really think I''m being unreasonable, senior?"

    Zhang Dong asked while moving a step forward and glancing down. There he saw a steep cliff that was at exactly a ninety-degree angle. The rocks were flat and there were not many places that you could place your hands or feet in.

    When he focused on his eyes he could see some young cultivators slowly climbing up while trying not to fall. They needed to push through the ice-cold winds, shards of ice and debris falling onto their faces while they ascended this treacherous cliff.

    Zhang Dong and the rest of the trial disciples were mountain climbing today. This was a good way for the young men to show off their physical capabilities. Just like the previous days, he was the first one to finish and the next best person would probably need another half an hour to get there.

    The Martial Master instructor covered his mouth while coughing. He knew what Zhang Dong was getting at as he was smoking the competition. From Zhang Dong''s standpoint, it was strange if he would not be picked up by some elder after showing what he could do.

    "I¡­"

    Zhang Dong with Dai Rong''s appearance looked with narrowed eyes at the Martial Master before him. The man might have been saying the right words but he was saying them to the wrong person.

    "The junior does make some sense¡­ you show more promise than the rest. Fine, this senior will tell you the ways of attaining high status in the Hall!"

    The man was above the age of thirty, getting close to forty. He was still only a Martial Master and being an outer sect disciple was the most he could attain with his current disposition. This didn''t mean that he didn''t know the ins and outs of this sect.

    "The easiest way to achieve the inner sect disciple status would be to do well at the disciple contest!"

    "Trial disciple contest?"

    "Yes, for this you junior would need to first be taken as a disciple of one of the elders. Each year this contest is held and the top three get elevated to inner sect disciple status!"

    The explanation continued, it seemed that this was a multi-purpose contest. From the way it sounded, he wondered if it would have been another tournament. It was similar but not quite, there were various ways of attaining the favor of an inner sect elder.

    First was the usual way of just being a strong fighter. There was no tournament but more of a challenger type of process. Every disciple that attended could force a higher status disciple to fight them. If they won, they would take their spot.

    There was a certain ranking of all the outer sect disciples. If you managed to get in the top three of those, even top ten there was a chance of garnering favor with an elder.

    The decision-making process was kind of vague. An elder might not have chosen one of the top three disciples if they were a bad fit for their particular techniques.

    Then there was the pill forging competition. There would be one recipe presented to the disciples and they would have to create a pill. The sect would provide all of the resources and cauldrons. If the disciples failed they would have to pay for these resources.

    There was even some kind of strange competition of combative dancing for the women cultivators. It was called Terpsichore arts, by moving in certain rhythmical ways these women could enthrall their opponents. It was some kind of strange dancing art that affected the opponent''s mind and left them open for attacks.

    Beast taming, formation creation, and even blacksmithing were all the ways that they could show off their skills. The more a disciple stood out the better the chance was for them to advance further.

    This sect was quite similar in this as his United Element''s sect. They didn''t see combat as being the only important talent. Making pills and forging weapons was just as important. A powerful treasure or a pill that raised your cultivation faster might have been even more important than combat strength.

    "Can a trial disciple take part in this contest?"

    "There is no rule against it, but you''d have to get permission from the trial elders. Also, the disciples need to be at least half step into the Martial Master realm, that''s why I advise this junior to stay grounded!"

    This made sense as adding untrained youths to the batch would just make the whole contest longer. No one here was at the Martial Master level with the exclusion of him that was hiding his power level. It seemed that he would need to make a breakthrough before this contest started.

    "That makes sense¡­ when will this contest be held?"

    "In three days, that why it''s better to give up junior. Just complete your training and be accepted as an inner sect disciple, then after a year has passed you can try to achieve the inner disciple status, with your talent you might have a chance! Even if you can''t do it through the contest there are other ways, just cultivate slowly."

    The Martial Master chuckled a bit while giving Zhang Dong''s back a pat. Zhang Dong on the other hand felt like he needed to get into this contest. The other option was to continue the training which would last two more months.

    After being chosen as an outer sect disciple he would still not be given his own cultivation abode. Instead, he would be shoved into an even larger barracks building and everything would repeat itself. He would probably need to beat up other sect members and then actually do tasks for the sect.

    The new outer sect disciples would be hired by the mortals and the lesser clans. They would be tasked with clearing out beasts or crafting pills to sell at auction houses. It was somewhat similar to the merit system at his own guild but a bit less proficient.

    In the way that even when they did great in their tasks they would not be promoted to inner sect disciples unless they did well in the next contest. No one was keeping the disciples to use underhanded tactics either.

    He did not have the time to be part of any of this. The slowest way to get out of this sect would be to wait till he was an outer sect disciple. Then he could take one of those tasks of killing beasts that were outside the sect. This would probably take from two to three months.

    The faster way was to get the attention of an outer sect elder. An elder like that could take him under his wing. Thus he could skip the trial period, he knew that some of those outer sect elders were already salivating over him. This would probably lower the waiting time by a month or maybe two.

    This was still quite the lengthy option, the fastest way was to achieve the top of the next disciple contest.To be allowed to get into it, he would probably need to reach the Martial Master stage. The minimum was the half-step realm but he feared that being a trial disciple, he would have a hard time getting into it with just that.

    "Junior what are you¡­"

    "Senior, I think our talk has given me important insight, I must cultivate now and create my crystal mountain!"

    "Insight? Crystal Mountain? How could you enter the Martial Master realm with that talk¡­"

    The senior member continued talking but he quickly went quiet as he felt this Dai Rong''s aura spiking. It was clearly going over the later stage of inner aura.

    "C-could he really be doing it? How can he create his crystal mountain with so little preparations?... It took me ten years¡­"

    The crystal mountain that they were speaking of was something similar to a foundation pillar. The cultivator would gather all of his spiritual energy that he prepared during the inner aura stage and crystallize it. This would take the form of a giant mountain in their dantian. The larger it bevame the better the prospects of the disciple would be.

    This was all knowledge that he lifted from the White Tiger Clan''s library. He had already examined other Martial Grandmasters and Martial Masters. With his own knowledge and his superior hiding skill he just needed to mask his cultivation to look like the one from this empire.

    ''I need to play it up¡­''

    While in the lotus position he cultivated. The trial disciples that arrived at the top of the mountain looked in horror as one of their own reached the next level so easily. Other elders gathered as well to see the rise of the next genius, Dai Rong''s name was now slowly being spread through the whole Thunderball Hall, his meteoric rise was about to start...

 Chapter 343

    "How can this be¡­ Is that the sacred lightning aurora and that color¡­ golden?"

    A group of Martial Grandmasters was looking up to the sky. From a certain side peak of this Thunderball Hall, something magnificent was happening. They could feel it, someone was taking their first real step into becoming a true cultivator.

    People in this empire were only really considered full-fledged cultivators when they achieved the Martial Master realm. The Inner Aura realm was considered a baby step in the right direction but going further would cement them as a real master.

    They were all looking at a particular phenomenon. The heavens were dancing, the clouds gathered and lightning energy crackled as a new Martial Master was born. This was truly a cheerful day for this sect as it was one of their own.

    "Who could it be¡­ was there someone from the outer sect disciples that was this exceptional or perhaps it was one of the new recruits?"

    While some senior members and elders started discussing, some of them headed for that mountain peak. The direction this spiritual energy was coming from was where the trial disciples went through their training, it had to be one of them.

    Elder Yusheng was one of the first ones to arrive. He was responsible for this batch of trial disciples and was quite ecstatic to see who was advancing their cultivation. Two other elders arrived soon after but were halted by Yusheng.

    All three of them were standing on flying boats as none of them had achieved the Martial Saint realm.

    "Stop, we must not disturb the junior disciple from advancing into the next realm!"

    The two elders looked at this Yusheng and then at the person that was radiating the strange Qi. These two elders just like this one were responsible for different batches of trial disciples. The three depending on how the trial disciples did would receive better cultivation resources from the sect as well as more prestige.

    Yusheng knew this, he had to protect the trial disciple while he was the most vulnerable. Even though they were all from the same sect, this didn''t mean that others would use underhanded methods to gain more power for themselves.

    If these two were left along with his disciple he knew that they would try to make him join their sides. Then if he refused they might act rashly, even doing something that would be otherwise forbidden.

    "Who is that young man?"

    "Did you give some forbidden techniques to people from outside the sect before they joined?"

    Another hooked-nosed elder commented while looking at the youth that was transcending into the Martial Master realm.

    "What are you babbling about you old fart? You did that a few years ago and got caught by the sect, now you are trying to accuse me with no evidence!"

    Yusheng furrowed his eyebrows. The elders here were highly competitive, they did sometimes sponsor some good prospects in hopes of them achieving higher status later in life.

    The sect mostly frowned upon such things as most of those youths grew up with a shaky foundation. Their rise was fast but they quickly found themselves at a bottleneck that they could not easily break.

    When one used secret items and many pills to quickly reach new heights without any restraint it would mostly backfire. Thus these two were suspecting foul play and the youth before them just being another tiger with rotting teeth.

    To them, it seemed that this elder Yusheng gave the youth some treasure or pill. With this cultivation phenomenon now being out in the open, the boy would garner attention. If he advanced further and became an inner disciple, Yusheng would garner more rewards.

    "You want evidence? Do you really think we were born yesterday, how could this youth without a name produce the secret aurora without any help?"

    "Yes, hand him over, we will check if he achieved this feat by his own merit!"

    Yusheng''s face contorted from bewilderment into a rage. He knew that if he handed the youth over he could end up crippled or even worse, he might get bought out by one of these two idiots.

    "You think I was born yesterday? The disciple stays here, if you don''t like that he is under my watch, go discuss it with the high elders!"

    The high elders in question were people at the very top of the Martial Grandmaster level and ones even above them. The disciples could not be handpicked by these elders, they were all assigned by higher parts of the sect and these two knew it as well.

    "The high elders¡­"

    The two flinched a bit as they knew that they would achieve nothing when talking with the top members of the sect. The two stared glaring at Yusheng while down below the glow started to fade.

    "He is done¡­ he truly achieved the Martial Master level and he is not even twenty years of age!"

    Yusheng turned around to make his way down to the youth that just achieved the breakthrough. He knew that the two idiots behind him were up to no good but they would not do something stupid while so many people were watching.

    "Make way."

    He swished his sleeve as people looked up. The Trial disciples and the instructor were standing around this youth that achieved the breakthrough.

    The youths parted to the sides while clasping their hands. By the robe that Yusheng was wearing all of them knew that he was an elder from the sect.

    "Young man¡­ state your name."

    The young man before him looked up, there was a small pause but soon a very soft-spoken voice followed suit.

    "Dai Rong, Elder."

    He slowly rose from his spot and performed the usual small bow while clasping his hands. Yusheng felt that something was off, he was the superior here but for some reason, he felt that this person before him outranked him.

    "Ahh¡­ disciple Dai Rong, I must congratulate you on your breakthrough, may I check for any faults?"

    "Elder wants to check this disciples'' disposition?"

    Yusheng nodded. This was slightly intrusive but the young man before him did not have the right to refuse. He was not a disciple of any elder in particular. In a world where might made right, he needed to go along with the elder''s wishes.

    "Yes, I must examine your crystal palace for flaws¡­"

    Dai Rong nodded and Yusheng moved over. He grasped the young man by the shoulder and started to concentrate. The first moment he felt a little jolt that was a bit odd but the feeling subsided within a fraction of a second.

    "Magnificent¡­ such talent and potential."

    What he saw was a giant golden mountain of crystals. Each person had a unique-looking mountain, some were more pointy while others were wider. The more jagged and covered with cracks it was the tougher it would be to produce a good crystal palace afterward.

    This one on the other hand looked smooth and pristine. The crystals were nicely packed and without flaws, what kind of palace would be made from this he could only speculate.

    ''I must make him my disciple¡­ even if for a while¡­ if he has the time to grow he could even become a high elder¡­ maybe even a star elder!''

    The man thought while spacing out, he was snapped back to reality only after Dai Rong spoke out.

    "Is everything fine, Elder?"

    "Uhh¡­ yes disciple, everything is fine."

    The man coughed into his hand and straightened up his clothes. He then struck a gallant pose and was about to give the youth the master and disciple speech.

    "Young man, there comes a time in the life of a cultivator when they have to make a decision¡­"

    "Halt! Not so fast you rat!"

    "Who are you calling a rat, you oversized pig!"

    Yusheng turned around, he had characteristic buck teeth and everyone knew that he hated to be reminded of it. The fat elder and the one with the hooked nose gathered around Dai Rong and didn''t even ask before examining his desposition.

    "By the Patriarch¡­ what is this¡­ you must become my disciple!"

    "Don''t listen to him young man, become my disciple instead!"

    The two were quick to start arguing about who would be getting Dai Rong as their disciple. A person was allowed to have more than one master but there was a special meaning behind the first one.

    Even if the disciple attained more in their cultivation than their master they were supposed to offer them respect till they died. This was also why these three foxes were salivating about the opportunity of getting this genius to be their disciple.

    The other trial disciples looked on with envy as the three old men fought for one no-name disciple. They knew that he was stronger than they were but were still hoping to nab themselves a good master and advance above Dai Rong.

    "Elders please calm down, I''m just trying to focus on my cultivation, I''m not sure If I''m worthy of being accepted as a disciple of any of you prestigious elders¡­"

    "But¡­ it''s hard to focus on my cultivation with all these other trial disciples around¡­"

    "You have a hard time focusing on your cultivation?"

    Yusheng asked while eying the other two elders.

    "Yes, it would be really nice to have a secluded place to cultivate¡­ but I''m just a trial disciple, I''m not worthy enough of such a place..."

    The three old masters looked at themselves before each one started shouting.

    "The disciple wants a place to cultivate? You can have access to my personal cultivation cave!"

    "You can use mine instead, it''s much better!"

    "No, you can use mine, I''ll even lend a maidservant to the disciple to tend to his needs!"

    The three started to argue once more, at this time Zhang Dong was rather glad that he dropped the facade. He was not getting anywhere by hiding his strength, thus he now decided to show it off instead.

    His roots were unknown so he could just tell everyone that he was holding back this whole time. He was now a Martial Master so he wouldn''t need to hide his cultivation as much.

    ''Great¡­ I should be able to get a personal cultivation abode thanks to these greedy old farts¡­''

    He was not planning to accept any one of them as his master. For now, he would lead them on and take part in that competition in a few days.

    "Great elders please calm down, I''m really not worthy of your time. How about we do this, I''ll come to take a look at all those cultivation caves and decide on one then?"

    The elders looked to themselves and nodded. If they continued like this a fight would probably break out.

    Soon the trial disciples saw Dai Rong leaving on one of the boats. Their mouths were wide open as they couldn''t believe what just happened. The respectful elders fighting like ten-year-old children and the birth of a new genius. It seemed that the name Dai Rong would be spreading far and wide...

 Chapter 344

    "Hm¡­ I think this one will be fine¡­"

    "I knew the junior disciple has a good eye for quality!"

    "Junior disciple Dai¡­ why don''t you reconsider, I''m sure I could¡­"

    "Enough with your babbling, the young one has made his decision!"

    The three elders that were responsible for the trial disciples were arguing once more. Zhang Dong was now inside a cultivation cave. It was a somewhat spacious cavern drilled into the side of the mountain.

    There were several others like this one scattered all over the place where elders and seniors could cultivate in peace. On the ground, there was a guard building that would watch over the cultivators and not let anyone disturb them while they cultivated.

    He didn''t really care much about which one it was but this elder Yusheng seemed desperate in grooming him into a personal disciple. He felt that he could talk him into lending him this place temporarily.

    The other cultivation abodes didn''t look much different than this one. The three were quite equal in all regards, this was also probably why they were so serious about nabbing him as a disciple. Not like he would go through the master-disciple ceremony with any of them.

    Zhang Dong''s plan was to stay here for a few days before the competition started without even mentioning that he would be participating. If he mentioned his plan he feared that the elders would try to block him from entering it.

    They would either fear him getting injured during it, thus they would lose the golden ticket out of the outer sect. Then if he achieved greatness he would just be pulled away by one of the higher ranking elders instead.

    "Yes Elder Yusheng, I must thank you for letting me stay here, I think I must consolidate my cultivation for at least a week. I also must thank the other elders for keeping up with my selfishness."

    He clasped his hands and bowed before the two. It was best to at least let them have some face even when he was refusing their proposal.

    "Tsk¡­"

    Both of them clicked their tongues before turning away and leaving. Yusheng just watched at the backs of these two long-time rivals while cackling.

    "Young disciple, take your time, stay in there for a month if you have to, reaching the Martial Master realm is not an easy feat! You must slowly reinforce your crystal mountain so it doesn''t show any cracks. After it is fortified you may begin the process of condensation."

    This process of condensation or compression was a part of going further beyond the Martial Master realm. In this empire instead of producing more and more foundation pillars, the cultivators would compress their crystal mountain into a smaller size.

    It was a forceful process that required a lot of spiritual energy. The mountain would go through two stages of condensation, then at the third stage it would be shattered and the crystal palace would be created in its place.

    This was quite a unique construction, it was similar to a core formation expert''s core. If he was cultivating in this empire he would probably fashion a giant golden castle that exuded lightning energies.

    Even when the Martial Grandmaster created their crystal palace successfully, they would not be able to enter it. They would need to shatter its gates before being able to fully utilize it. The further they could get into this castle the closer they would get to the Martial Saint''s level.

    That was all of the knowledge that he was able to gather from the clan libraries. What would be created to enter the Supreme Saint and the Saint Emperor realm was unclear to him. If it was easier to reach those levels instead of core formation and nascent soul was unknown to him.

    Saint Emperor''s started out at the level above an early stage nascent soul cultivator so it probably wasn''t. But the Supreme Saint level late stage might have been easier on the other hand which was interesting.

    "I will then consolidate my cultivation Elder."

    "Yes, take your time, when you are done meet me at my private home. I will lend you some of my personal cultivation methods so you can soar above the competition!"

    "Thank you Elder, I will Elder."

    Taking personal techniques from anyone, was already a sign of accepting them as a half-master. Then afterward there was also a ceremony of kowtowing before him, this his own disciples had done a long time ago.

    ''Finally, I''m alone¡­''

    The cultivation cave had a large thick wooden door made from some kind of spirit wood. It was sturdy and would not break even if a Martial Master kicked it with all of their might.

    This door slammed behind him while he inserted some spiritual energy into a little crystal above. It started glowing in a somewhat dim light that could be adjusted.

    There was a bamboo mat on the floor and some shelves here and there., not really much to help him cultivate. The only thing that was here was space for when he needed to practice some techniques.

    Next to a wall was a thick metal plate with some cracks in it. It was clear that someone was practicing some palming and punching techniques on it. If he compared this to the vast facilities of his own sect, it was rather shabby.

    "Well¡­ better than nothing¡­"

    He finally had some time to sit down and remove the contents of those spatial rings. After making sure that Yusheng went away he started taking everything out.

    One pile had all the spirit stones he ''borrowed'', another one had all the weapons and metallic treasures he could use for absorption. Then he tossed the cultivation books to the side as he didn''t have much use for them.

    Now he could safely inject his own slightly different spiritual energy into the new techniques and not have them kill the lower realm cultivators. Though now on the other hand he wanted to stand out, he would need to show off some flashy moves during the competition.

    He deliberated on trying to get the second or third spot instead of going for the top. This would be the safer option, all things considered, he would get one of the side''s high-ranking elder''s attention while not being taken as the top prospect.

    ''Yeah, that''s probably not going to work¡­''

    Another sigh escaped his mouth as he grasped one of the weapons and started to absorb it into his body. After trying so many times not to stand out, he realized that it might be impossible.

    During the fights, he feared that he would fail to control his might once more and still end up the one on top. It would save him some time to just go for the number one spot right from the start. He would just prepare himself for that and not be surprised when his big plan of not standing out crumbled into dust as many times before.

    The weapons he was taking in didn''t add that much to his body refining skill. It had also evolved and required more. Still, there was a large pile of them, he at least hoped to enter the late stage of his silver body after taking them all in. If he was able to get into the great circle, then that would be even better.

    With that amount of body refining, he would be immune to all Martial Grandmaster attacks. Even when facing a Martial Saint he would still be hard to kill in a close-ranged brawl. His body refining didn''t only offer him more resistance, it also raised his all-around strength and agility during hand-to-hand combat.

    Most fights between high-level cultivators didn''t happen at close range though. Most of them produced some grand techniques that clashed against each other. Body refinement was mostly seen as a side technique, that was used by mostly stupid brutes.

    While he absorbed the metallic objects with one hand he touched the pile of spirit stones with the other.

    The system message popped up as it used to. Even back in his sect days, he didn''t use this option as much after his system changed. Without the old shop, he had lost the use for most of these points.

    For now, he took in a chunk of the spirit stone hill till he had enough points to fiddle around with.

    ''The conversion rate is abysmal as always¡­''

    The first thing he did was try to raise his cultivation with the spirit points. Even while being at this lower realm the requirement was huge. The whole pile that he had here would probably at most push him into the middle foundation establishment realm.

    ''Not that great with cultivation¡­ how about¡­''

    He picked up a pill from the side that he took from the White Tiger Clan. It was a thunder Qi pill that gave a cultivator a small amount of energy to cultivate their techniques.

    While grasping it in his hand he looked at his system screen. He was pleasantly surprised that even without the crafting abode he could somewhat use his spirit stones to upgrade this pill. This would also be better than directly absorbing the points into his cultivation.

    Thunder Qi pill [ Common, Middle Grade ] Do you wish to upgrade it? [ 100 spirit points ]

    ''Nice¡­''

    After popping it into his mouth he felt the electrical energies being injected and giving him some energy. It was not nearly enough for him to create a second perfect grade foundation pillar but if he upgraded some pills to a high enough mortal grade, then that could change.

    ''I''ll cultivate for a day, then I must see when that competition is taking place.''

    With resources in hand, he started to prepare. It would take him some time to stomach all these pills and weapons. After this was done, he needed to see how to join the competition.

    From what the instructor told him, he already met the requirements as he had become a Martial Master. Now he just needed to see if there were some other requirements that he needed to meet. The competition was supposed to take place at the end of the week, which gave him a few days to prepare.

 Chapter 345

    Name : Zhang Dong

    Affiliation : Zhang Clan, United Element Sect

    Spirit Points : 450

    Cultivation Base Qi :

    Foundation Establishment [ Middle Stage 2 %] [ True Divine Golden Lightning Foundation]

    Cultivation Base Body :

    Foundation Establishment [ Middle Stage 87%] ( Silver Body+ )

    Techniques :

    True Divine Lightning Path Cultivation Art, Golden Body Arts, Thunderlight Sword, Thunder Movement Art...

    Dao :

    Dao of Heavenly Lightning, Dao of Smithing and Crafting...

    Other :

    Senior Aura, Impartation of Knowledge, Mentor''s Eyes...

    Zhang Dong glanced at his system screen which showed him his status. He felt like he was back to the beginning where this screen actually mattered a lot. Through the years his progress had slowed down and he focused more on understanding the Dao himself instead of blindly using this system.

    It was still a great tool to be equipped with. The system was able to scan his body and the bodies of others. Thus it allowed him to prepare strategies to counter some opponents even on the fly.

    If he was an average cultivator and with all these improved materials he would easily reach the great circle level, maybe even achieve the core formation-level if he really wanted to force it.

    His cultivation technique had improved and paired with his increased soul power he was barely able to push it into the middle stage.

    His foundation pillars expanded in number and each one was as large and girthy as the first one. With them giving him power he felt like no one below the Martial Grandmaster really would be able to contend with him.

    There was nothing left in the spatial rings that was worthwhile besides the less valuable white tiger clan fighting techniques. The only use that he could have for them would be selling them at an auction house after he got out of this sect. There was not much that the disciples could trade in here and cultivation techniques were not one of them.

    This sect mostly forced their disciples to abandon their old ways and be reforged in the dao of lightning. This was also why they only took in people below the Martial Master realm. Before this realm, the young disciples were more flexible.

    They would look down on the ones that somehow used more unique techniques that were not approved by the sect. This was only a limit for the Qi cultivation, the one concerning the body was laxer.

    His own body refining technique that made his body similar to metal was actually quite beneficial towards his lightning cultivation. It transferred and absorbed electricity quite well with the help of his Lightning Dao; he was almost virtually immune to these energies.

    The only way for him to receive damage from lightning attacks would be if a cultivator''s Dao of Lightning was above his own. This was not something that was very feasible as he had upgraded it past this world''s set limits.

    Even with the help of his system, he was unable to push past the Immortal great circle level. Was this something set up by the creator of the system on purpose or was it the actual limit of the person that made it?

    ''No use worrying about it, for now, I need to focus on one thing at a time, I need more information about that contest and to sign up.''

    The small mountain of spirit stones had decreased as he had used some of them to push his cultivation further. He had left some for payment, if there was a competition like this, the people that did not have any backing would probably need to give something up to participate.

    He had spent one whole day in this cultivation cave and only after a week would his new ''master'' come to bother him. Before he could be asked to become some old fart''s disciple he needed to win that competition. Only then would he be allowed to enter the inner sect and try his luck at that large lightning rod of a tower.

    The entrance to this cultivation cave had a large round door. He gave it a push and he could already feel that anyone below the Martial Master level would have a hard time opening this thing.

    After the door swung open he was greeted by a cold breeze. The air around here was cold and rather thin, this made it a harsh environment to live for the mortals working here.

    With a little step, he descended from this cultivation abode. It was quite high up as well, reaching it without good climbing skills or a flying boat would be hard for the average disciple.

    On the ground, he was seen by some of the sect elders. There were a few Martial Master''s keeping watch. They were all mostly composed of older outer sect disciples that didn''t have luck in reaching the Martial Grandmaster realm.

    The youngsters with more skills didn''t bother with earning coins or spirit stones this way. This was just one of the many jobs that the sect offered to their disciples. It was a meager-paying job but for the ones, with not much skill it was a way to get by.

    "Greetings senior."

    Zhang Dong did a little bow before the middle-aged man before him. The man looked up to the cultivation cave that Zhang Dong left and then back to the young man.

    "Greetings junior¡­ Elder Yusheng''s new disciple?"

    The man asked while looking at a piece of parchment. On it, he had all the cultivation caves written down and to whom they belonged to.

    "Did Elder Yusheng call me that? I''m not his disciple quite yet but maybe in the near future¡­"

    Zhang Dong chuckled a bit while trying to play it off. It was clear that the old man had probably told everyone that he was his new star pupil by now.

    "Is that so, are you stepping out?"

    "Yes, I''ve gotten a bit hungry, I also need to see some things within the sect, I''ve heard that a competition will be taking place at the end of the week¡­"

    "Ah, Is the junior interested in seeing this year''s contest?"

    The man nodded, he probably thought that Zhang Dong here was just interested in seeing the other senior brothers and sisters compete.

    "Yes, I''m not sure where it will be taking place¡­"

    "It''s not hard to miss, it''s going to take place at the outer sect. Some competitions will take place in the outer courtyard, while the main bouts will take place in the inner courtyard¡­ Then the competitions for lesser professions will take place indoors¡­"

    Zhang Dong could recall seeing some of such places at the lower parts of the mountain. It looked like a small city there with all the sect buildings and places where the servants lived.

    Apparently, the whole outer sect had about thirty thousand people living in it, while the inner sect had a quarter of that. Even with this disparity in numbers, the inner sect disciples would mop the floor with the outer sect ones in any way shape, or form. Quality trumped quantity here, a person even one small stage above the competition could win against a whole group.

    After the long speech, Zhang Dong bowed once and headed out into this sect. These cultivation caves were drilled into the mountain so he had to walk down to enter the thirty thousand large city.

    About a third of the population of this sect city consisted of servants, slaves, and even mortals. They were tasked to keep everything clean while the sect members only focused on their cultivation.

    The buildings in this outer sect weren''t all that great. They were mostly made from unevenly cut rocks or something similar to cinder blocks. The weather here was rather cold so each of the houses had some kind of chimney.

    The peculiar thing about those chimneys was that they were not producing any smoke. Even when the houses lit up in a light that came from firewood, there was no smoke. As he investigated further he could feel that each of those chimneys had some kind of smoke filtering treasure in it.

    Thanks to this no smoke was formed which didn''t affect the already thin air. The higher-tier cultivators didn''t actually need to be heated up. He was the same, with his foundation established he would be even able to run around n.a.k.e.d without catching a cold.

    ''Doesn''t look that bad but neither is it that good¡­''

    He would have to give this place an average score. It looked similar to his old clan before he took over but there were fewer members and lacked a whole city with millions to manage.

    ''This should be it¡­''

    After asking for some directions he arrived at one of the outer sect buildings. It looked like an upside-down pyramid with half of it sliced up and balancing on four columns. When entering inside he found a person at a reception area.

    There was a small line in front of it and some young men and women were standing in it. This from what he could tell was the place where you registered for this competition.

    ''Hm¡­''

    To the side, he spotted a little stand with some parchments. Some of the youngsters were picking them up and moving to the side to write in them. After approaching the servant greeted him with a little bow.

    "Good day sir, did you also come to register for the competition?"

    "Mhm."

    Zhang Dong nodded while taking the piece of paper into his hand. The person also informed him about this being the last day for registrations.

    To the side, there were some quills and ink. On these papers, a person needed to select which competitions they would be competing in.

    He wanted to stick out but there wasn''t enough time for him to go through all of the competitions. By looking at the curriculum he would have enough time to go through each one of these competitions and build up his fame.

    Everything would culminate on the battle stage, he wanted to garner the attention of all the high-standing elders. With him never having luck with not standing out, he would try the opposite, hiding in the open.

    ''Well¡­ I hope this doesn''t totally backfire¡­''

    After a sigh, he headed over to the line, in his pocket some spirit stones to pay for the entrance fee.

 Chapter 346

    "Good day brother Yong."

    "Greetings brother Ma, you''re in a good mood today."

    "Why wouldn''t I be? The first spot is as good as mine."

    "Hah, not if I have something to say about it!"

    The young men with fans looked at each other while chuckling. There were in a large room with many strange items on small display podiums. There were large and small weapons, armor stands, pills, and even herbs.

    Around these items many people stood, young disciples, while also some older men with white beards.

    "Who do you think will win this competition, Elder?"

    "I feel like little Yong might be victorious this time, he did study up on all those pills, it was his weak point in the last year''s contest¡­"

    "Yes, there are many various pills on this day but not that many weapons, what a keen observation!"

    Two other people were dressed in more ceremonial robes and talking. They had armbands with the words ''Judges'' written on them.

    This was one of the first competitions of this year''s outer disciple contest. Apprising was done here, the young men and women would be given pen and paper. They would then be able to wander around the large hall and look at the items presented there.

    It was already hard to precisely gauge the true nature of the weapon from the outer appearance. Getting the correct price would require putting the items against other ones and decide where they stood on their own.

    There were also dummy items placed to fool some of the young appraisers. Pills that looked and smelled almost exactly like their more pricey counterparts. Dull-looking blades made from precious metals and even gems that weren''t actually what they seemed.

    "I am Elder Hu, I will be the main judge for this competition. Remember juniors, you may not touch any of the items on display, use your eyes and other senses to ascertain the true nature of these treasures!"

    The elder listed all the rules for this competition which forbade anyone from touching the items. There was not enough time for everyone to look at the items separately so if anyone was spotted looking at the answers of the others by the judges they would be instantly disqualified.

    The main judge here was a Martial Grandmaster level of expert. With this much no junior would be foolish enough to peek, everyone was too afraid to get kicked out. Cheating in a competition like this could even get you banned from the sect. It was not worth the risk.

    "With this, the competition starts now, remember you have limited time!"

    The elder said while lighting up a somewhat longer incense stick, this would make the competition last about an hour.

    The young sect disciples rushed into the open hall and started taking notes. While they were busy with the competition the elders decided to have some tea. They didn''t expect anyone to return for a while as the time needed was quite short.

    "Don''t you think that we should extend the time slightly? We have never had anyone fully finish the appraisal before."

    "Then we would have to be stuck in here for even longer, they must also learn how to save time and choose their battles wisely."

    The other elder sat down while taking the cup into his hand and giving it a sip.

    "That is true."

    From this elder''s perspective, the winner would be the one that could fully utilize their gift. Some of the appraisers were quite stubborn, they would keep examining one item for long periods of time before coming to a conclusion. There was no time for such a thing, they needed to be swift and also know how to focus their expertise.

    "Oh¡­ who is that?"

    The main judge narrowed his eyes while looking to the hall where the disciples were looking at the items. It seemed that he was even scoffing and frowning.

    "Who do you mean elder?"

    "That young man¡­ is he wearing the trial disciple robes? Who allowed a trial disciple to take part in this competition?"

    The man spotted a certain youth with long hair scribbling on the paper. He was going from one display case to another and quickly writing something down as if he instantly knew the answer to the question.

    "That young man¡­ I have no idea¡­ he must have paid to participate¡­ probably still an inexperienced youth that doesn''t know his place, should I go and take him away, Elder?"

    The side judge asked while standing up, if the main judge wished for it he would remove the impudent trial disciple. There was no rule against not allowing them in, but they would really have to be from some prestigious clan for that to happen.

    "No wait, let us see him make a fool of himself, we can scold him after the event is finished."

    The main judge waved his hand around while going back to sipping the tea. From his standpoint, this would be a good learning opportunity for the other young appraisers. He could show how inexperienced this young fool was and make the other youths take it more seriously.

    The minutes continued to pass but the main judge''s eyes were drawn to this young man. He was a strange one, he went from one stand to another and quickly started writing. It was as if he knew the answer instantly and there was no chance of being wrong.

    This annoyed this old man quite a bit. He might have not been the greatest when it came to cultivation but appraisal was his main profession. To him, it seemed that the youth before him had no respect for this sacred occupation.

    It looked like the youth just wrote whatever came to his mind and continued to the next one without examining it further. Even the other participants started to notice him as his feet were shuffling on the wooden floor quite loudly.

    Before the incense stick could burn to the half mark the youth was at the last item. The young disciple stopped for a prolonged moment before scribbling down something. The item he was looking at was a somewhat useless pendant.

    "Is he really done?"

    The side judge commented while looking at the young man. It didn''t take him long to spot the side where the judges were. The next thing seemed a bit disrespectful as the young man spotted the elders and started strutting towards them as if he owned the place.

    "Greetings elders, I would like to present my answers."

    The young man held out the piece of paper in front of the side judge while the main elder''s eyebrows were quivering.

    "You have finished?"

    "Yes, Elder."

    The young man bowed his head while clasping his hands. The main judge didn''t speak out yet but it was clear that he was a bit maddened by the fact.

    "Are you taking the Appraisal occupation lightly?"

    "I would never do such a thing¡­"

    "You wouldn''t? What is this then?"

    The side judge quickly grabbed the piece of paper and was almost ready to throw this rascal out. Before that, he gave the parchment a quick glance and he was shocked at his realization.

    "Huh?"

    "What''s wrong? Did he get everything wrong?"

    The main judge asked after the co-judge started acting strangely. He expected his junior to berate this impudent disciple and make more of a scene. This would show the other disciples that the Appraisal profession was not to be trifled with. For some reason, he went quiet instead.

    "Wrong...n-no¡­ These are all¡­ correct Elder¡­"

    "Correct? Let me see that!"

    The side judge quickly gave the piece of paper to the main judge that started going through the list. He was familiar with the items so he didn''t need to consult any writing.

    "Physical enhancement pill, common grade¡­ 24% saturation...price two low grade spirit stones¡­"

    "Azure Wood branch, not yet m.a.t.u.r.e¡­ three spirit stones¡­"

    "Mirage Dragon Cauldron, mortal middle grade¡­"

    The judge went through everything one by one and it was all correct. The youth before him seems to have marked everything and even got the market prices right as well. With one exclusion, he had achieved an almost perfect score.

    "Who gave you the answers?"

    "The answers Elder?"

    "Yes! Do you think that I''ll believe that some trial disciple finished this competition with an almost perfect score?"

    "Almost perfect score? I''m sure I''ve gotten everything right¡­ could you check again?"

    "The audacity! Who is your master?"

    "My master? I don''t have one, I''ve joined the Hall a week ago."

    The young man smiled while standing straight as if he was in the right while the elder running this competition grew angry.

    "No master? And you claim that you answered everything right? The useless trinket is a three-star phoenix pendant? You want me to believe that an item at the Martial Saint level made it to this competition unbeknownst to me?"

    "Oh¡­ Elder doesn''t know about the hidden mechanism in the back?"

    "What hidden mechanism?"

    The man shouted loudly and also released some of his killing intent. This caused all of the people in this large hall to look in this direction. It looked like the old man was berating a junior that was just standing there with his head not even lowered.

    "I can show the elder, if you don''t believe me¡­"

    "You can show me?"

    The people here started inching away, it looked like this young man would end up as a corpse soon. The Appraisal Guild leader who was this main judge was known for having quite a temper if he was disrespected.

    "Haha¡­ he can show me, fine¡­ show me¡­ but be ready for the consequences¡­"

    The old man seemed to have made up his mind and the two were seen walking to the last display where a silvery pendant was placed. Some of the disciples had already gone past it as it was one of the easier parts.

    "That idiot is a goner¡­ why did he have to go and offend that elder¡­"

    The youths moved out of the way while waiting for this scene to be over. It was still the middle of the competition so they wanted this strange disciple to just go away. He had already annoyed most of the people that were here so they were all in agreement for his punishment.

    "Well, this item might look like a regular common grade pendant made from plain silver but when you insert your Qi in the correct places then¡­"

    "Hah, then wha¡­."

    The main judge wanted to laugh but his mouth became tongue twisted. After the young man picked up the pendant it started radiating a massive amount of energy. The pale silver exterior switched to bright red in an instant.

    "T-this¡­ it really is a phoenix pendant¡­ and a three star one¡­"

    "Some people might not know this, but some blacksmiths like to lock their items behind a special locking mechanism. I have dabbled a bit in blacksmithing so it wasn''t hard to notice¡­"

    The youth smiled while handing the now ruby pendant that had turned from a common grade treasure to an earth grade treasure. This was not something that an elder like this could hope to have in his possession normally but it found itself into his hand now.

    "So elder¡­ Did I have everything correct?"

    "Huh? Everything correct?..."

    The judge started laughing maniacally before stuffing the red pendant into his spatial ring.

    "Yes, you did my boy! I knew a talent when I saw one!"

    The elder started patting the young man on his back repeatedly while laughing while the other people in the room looked with wide opened mouths.

    "Could you give this Elder your name, disciple?"

    "Ah yes, my name is Dai Rong¡­"

    The apprising competition was said to have ended early. Its victor had set a new sect record and went down in history as a new apprising prodigy¡­

 Chapter 347

    "That''s one¡­ four to go¡­"

    Zhang Dong was looking at a little white bead that he received after being first at the Appraisal competition. Thanks to his system he was able to instantly know what the items on display were, even the ones that had a hidden function.

    After he had filled out the participation form he had to pay quite a hefty sum to take part in all of the competitions. The person he gave his paper to looked at him in bewilderment and he had to convince him to let him participate.

    After taking care of the formalities he had two days of free time. This he used to locate the outer sect library. Even though he was confident in winning everything, this didn''t mean that he wouldn''t do any research.

    As a trial disciple, he had no way of entering this large building. This did not pose a problem for someone with an immortal level disguising technique. He just needed to find one of the elders and shadow him back to his home. Taking out a late stage Martial Master wasn''t hard for him.

    The old man was put to sleep before he could even realize what was happening. He had enough time to raid the library and gather even more knowledge by tapping the scriptures. The techniques were really mostly following the lightning Dao but they were all inferior to even the basic ones that he came to this world in.

    If he had his old cultivation level, this Thunderball hall would probably salivate over making him their grand elder.

    Now armed with more knowledge he took part in the Appraisal competition which he won. The main judge after being given that pendant was quick to give him this bead while he himself left the rest of the competition up to the side judge.

    ''They sure are greedy in this empire¡­ but not like that''s any different than my own.''

    While thinking about how that elder was trying to hide the core formation level item he moved towards the next competition. This one would be about formations.

    Being a formation master was a sought-after position. Together with Pill makers and blacksmiths they made up the three most important crafting professions. Without possessing a large protective formation a sect could not function correctly.

    Formations were very similar to magic circles. A formation master needed to draw them out in specific locations while also placing some formation flags at the focal points. Their Qi would also be utilized to somewhat etch the symbols into the earth. After it was done, the formation circles would become hidden.

    ''I guess I''m already gaining some notoriety¡­''

    Zhang Dong didn''t turn around but he could feel that some people were following him. After he won the appraisal competition some of the elders and disciples decided to shadow him.

    There weren''t that many behind him as the competition that he took place in wasn''t that popular. Appraisal was mostly a side profession for people that liked to identify items than to make them by themselves.

    "I welcome you to the yearly outer sect formation guild competition."

    Zhang Dong moved together with a large group of disciples while another elder in a white robe showed up. He started discussing how this trial would go down.

    It looked to be some type of course that everyone would have to go through. There would be several challenges that the young formation disciples would need to pass.

    There would be illusion formations, imprisoning formations, and even slaughtering formations. The contestants would move in groups and the one that arrived at the end with the best time would win.

    Zhang Dong being a trial disciple that had to actually pay to get in here, would need to wait. He was dead last with all of the inner sect disciples that had less than stellar backing. This also meant that probably no one would be paying attention to his run.

    ''I guess this will give me an opportunity to see how the competition was doing.''

    There was one entrance through which the participants would go in and also one exit. That was right next to the entrance, the many corridors would lead them here and the first one to come out would be treated as the victor.

    There were about three hundred participants here and they would be assigned to groups of thirty people. This smaller group would then compete.

    He already knew that with rules like this, it meant that on the inside some young masters would probably use some underhanded methods to get ahead. Deaths and injuries did happen from time to time but everyone could always attribute it to the slaughtering formations.

    After a set time, if not all of the disciples made it out an elder would go through the labyrinth to fetch them. At that time they would sometimes find bloodied bodies, or youngsters with broken legs or trapped in an illusion they can''t break.

    This was also the first time Zhang Dong could see female cultivators. The formation master profession didn''t require a tough exterior so it was suited for women with high amounts of Qi. Women in this world tended to be less brash and also better at concentrating. They also showed more promise at learning tough formation diagrams than their more rowdy male counterparts.

    Thus about a third of the competitors here were young girls between the ages of thirty and twenty. The sect still had a lot more male cultivators so they had the number advantage.

    With the genders mixed it brought some more drama to the table. The young men started showing off while using this as a chance. The world of cultivation was mostly one of seclusion which caused the relationsh.i.p.s between the two genders to be somewhat rare.

    Thus, most of the young men had no idea how to approach the fairy-like jade-like beauties that only got more beautiful as their cultivation increased. Cultivation was a process of bettering oneself and the women of this world focused on the external appearance over pure power.

    "This Lai Zhenya will win this contest, beautiful fairy please join me for some tea after the competition is over!"

    The woman just looked at him without replying but Zhang Dong could spot a little smile hidden under that pale face. Another youth joined in on the conversations soon after."

    "No, I will be the one to take the fairy out for some tea!"

    Soon the two started fighting and only did they stop when an elder appeared. Zhang Dong gave out a sigh while standing up against the wall. He would need to wait till these idiots were done with their runs. He was unable to do anything besides waiting.

    Time continued to fly and as he had thought there were some injuries. Sometimes some of the kids had to be carried out by the elders with many bruises on their bodies. The competition was harsh and there was minimal help even from the a.d.u.l.ts. Unless they could gain something in return, it was hard to find a carrying one around.

    This all reminded him of the cultivators before he took over. Luckily with him in the driving seat, his sect had stared into a more gentle direction. There was some infighting but not this bad, or at least this was what he hoped.

    He mostly took on a hands-off approach, Zhang Dong was not really aware of what was happening in the outer sect area. He only created the merit system that would allow everyone to get into the inner sect. If they worked hard if they used underhanded tactics was unknown to him.

    There was the part where the sect scanners didn''t allow any evil people in but there were certain ones that would try to gain the system. They were not outright evil but looking out for yourself wasn''t really considered evil.

    "Okay, you are the last ones left, please go in."

    ''Finally¡­''

    With the group of thirty he entered through the corridor while staying a bit to the side of everyone else. After going through the threshold of the passage he could already feel it, he found himself in a large illusory formation.

    This was quite the basic one, it kept the people that were affected from seeing the correct path. What the young participants saw was a cavern with three paths but there was a fourth one. It didn''t seem that any one of them could tell as they all headed into one of the other three while he waited and took the correct one.

    Little did he know that this was not actually an easy nut to crack. His actions were spotted by the elders outside. They could tell that someone was able to get through one of the more difficult formations that kept all the hidden paths away from the disciples.

    These paths were there so that the elders could use them as shortcuts. Only when having a specially crafted item and previous knowledge would they be able to tell the way. Zhang Dong was a special case as he was fully immune to something like mind control due to his oversized soul.

    This was also why he found himself at the exit after about only five minutes of walking. He successfully managed to use all the hidden corridors.

    "How could this be¡­"

    The main judge called out in surprise after he saw a slightly confused Zhang Dong reach the exit.

    ''Did I make myself look a bit too competent with this one¡­''

    He could only shrug while looking at the previous winners, not being able to comprehend how an unknown person like him had managed to beat everyone else. The record set by some formation ancestors from many millennia ago was not this fast.

    "Oh, greetings elders, is there a problem?"

    He asked while smiling, now all he had to do was beat the other young masters that were resting from their previous run. They all started to whisper, all looked at him and they all couldn''t believe it. It was time to play it up and become the number one prospect that this sect had ever had.

 Chapter 348

    "Why is everyone making such a commotion?"

    An angry-looking short old man with a stocky physique looked at a group of disciples shouting. The place they were in was below ground and many strange-looking furnaces filled with smoldering metal were seen everywhere.

    "Elder! You came at the right moment, please look at that disciple there!"

    "Junior elder¡­ why are you like this?"

    The old man raised his eyebrow while looking at the person he left in charge. This was one of the competitions for the outer sect disciples. This old man here was the most prominent blacksmith in the outer sect. His cultivation wasn''t great but he made up for it with his knowledge about metals and crafting techniques.

    This was also the main reason that he was not allowed to venture into the inner sect part. His cultivation journey was cut short by a certain event. Without any prospects to gain further strength he was confined to the other sect even though he was more talented at the craft than some inner sect elders.

    He was required to stay at this competition even though he thought that his skills could be better used elsewhere. Nothing ever happened here and the bad form that all of the blacksmithing disciples had just made him more cranky.

    Thus most of the time he left at the start of the competition and returned later when it was mostly over. This year was the same, no one really showed promise and there was even some strange trial disciple buying their way in. Maddened by this fact he decided to get something to eat while the youths competed.

    To his surprise when he returned there was some kind of uproar. The usually quiet peanut gallery was talking with each other while glancing in a direction of someone.

    "You''ll have to excuse the disciples and other seniors but we think that the Hall might have found a prodigy?"

    "A prodigy? Where?"

    "That young man over there, look Elder!"

    The old man looked to where this so-called prodigy was supposed to be and spotted the trial disciple that he previously saw. At first, he thought that he might be looking at the wrong person and the real genius was somewhere behind this youth but then he noticed it.

    "That sword¡­ that''s some good craftsmanship¡­ Did that young man really make it?"

    "Yes Elder, I''ve seen it with my very own two eyes! You couldn''t make a finer sword for a Martial Master even if you tried! A Martial Grandmaster wouldn''t feel ashamed when using one either!"

    This experienced elder here could hardly believe it. Almost all of these young smiths here had trouble making a mortal grade item. The youth before him was able to fashion a higher grade one than some of the blacksmiths that were already working for years.

    "You there¡­"

    "Me, Elder?"

    "Yes you, what''s your name, disciple?"

    "It''s Dai Rong, Elder."

    The old dwarf-looking man walked up to this youth and grabbed the sword that he was making. After looking over the item it was hard for him to believe that it was a weapon made by a disciple, it was just too perfect.

    It was as if someone maximized a weapon to be just a millimeter from reaching the Martial Grandmaster level. It was as if this young man was just half a step from reaching a point of a grandmaster-level blacksmith.

    "Disciple¡­ show me your crafting process!"

    "You want me to craft another sword, was this one not good enough?"

    "Not good? It''s more than good, it''s great! This old man just wishes to see how this disciple crafts, if you show me this I will announce you the winner!"

    "Can it be something smaller¡­ like a dagger?"

    "A dagger? That will be enough!"

    The old man just wanted to see the young man''s hammering techniques. He missed the show and he would not have a chance to see this young man''s talent if he let him go now.

    "You there, being over enough spirit metals for a dagger. It will be enough if you just make the blade young man."

    Dai Rong just nodded while grabbing the provided metal. The theme of this crafting competition was making swords and there was a limited amount of resources provided. With the metal in hand, Dai Rong got to work.

    The old man started watching, from the process of heating up the metal all the way to the precise blows and till the sharp knife blade started taking shape, he didn''t miss a thing. Even some of the other elders and disciples that were taking part in this competition looked.

    "T-this¡­ how can one be so precise¡­ the hammer blows¡­ the Qi control¡­ not even one wasted movement¡­"

    The old man looked baffled, where did this young man come from, I must make him my disciple were the thoughts running through his head.

    "Young man¡­ where do you come from¡­"

    "I''m a member of the White Tiger clan¡­ will this be enough Elder?"

    Dai Rong stood with a short blade that only needed a proper handle. Even without the handle, it was clear that this weapon would be deadly and could be sold for a big profit.

    "Enough¡­ yes¡­ Listen here disciple would you like to become my¡­"

    Before the man could finish Dai Rong spoke up.

    "That''s great elder, does that make me the winner of the competition?"

    The old man looked around and to the other blacksmiths that were keeping watch over the other disciples. They all shook their heads around to indicate that there was no one even close to this young man''s skill level. The old elder here also could not feel any strong Qi from all the other weapons.

    "It does seem that you are the winner young disciple but wouldn''t you want to become my dis¡­"

    "That''s great Elder! Now if you''ll excuse me, I need to go to the Pill Forging Hall!"

    "Pill Forging Hall? What do you want with those old coots"

    "I''m going to participate in their pill-making competition, Elder."

    "Pill-making competition? Disciple knows how to create pills?"

    "Yes Elder, I don''t have much time so I should be leaving, could I take the bead as the winner?"

    The old man was shocked that this smithing prodigy was on the way to the pill making elders. The blacksmiths and apothecaries didn''t like each other here. They were in a constant battle for more donations from the main sect. Each one wanted to prove themselves as the one that was more worthy than the other.

    "Ah yes here you go¡­"

    The old man took out a round bead with a character on it that proved that he was the winner of this competition. The other disciples after seeing how well this young man could craft could not even complain.

    "Is that man also this good at crafting pills?"

    Another elder asked while talking to this dwarfish-looking man that glanced towards his way.

    "It can''t be, maybe the young man just wants to give it a try? It would be better if such a talented smith focused on one main craft!"

    The elder started rambling a bit before turning back to the young man.

    "Now then, young man, would you like to become my disciple?"

    "Ah, he left already, Elder¡­"

    "Huh?"

    The old man''s eyes went wide as the young man slipped away while he was busy talking to one of the other elders. He didn''t even notice him leaving; it was as if the young man was able to hide his presence.

    "Blast it, I must make him my disciple! What if he is good at pill-making as well! One of those old bastards could snatch him away! Everyone from the Blacksmithing Hall follow me, we must get that young man into our Hall!"

    ¡­

    Zhang Dong slipped away from the third competition with now three beads in his spatial ring. He snatched the sword and the dagger he made as well, these items would aid his body refining later.

    He made sure to produce an item that was at the limits of his recognized cultivation level. He could have easily made something a Martial Grandmaster could use but that would make it look a bit more suspicious.

    The old elder made him somewhat mad as he left the spot, then he even had the gall to ask him for another item. Now there were two competitions left, the pill making one and then the battle.

    Already he could tell that he was gaining attention. During his third competition, he noticed some people mentioning his previous wins at the appraisal competition and the formation competition.

    Even now he could tell that some people were following him. He didn''t blame them, he was an unknown person that was showing a lot of promise. Now with a small crowd with him in tow he made his way towards the fourth competition, there he would try to stick out like a sore thumb.

    Even as he moved through the sect, he could hear people whispering. People were surely using their communication jades to give others information. A young genius was spotted in the sect and all of the elders probably wanted to have him.

    ''Good, the more popular I become the better chance of getting a good spot at the inner sect¡­''

    The inner sect was locked away behind a separate formation and required a key to pass through. His chances of cracking this key and sneaking in were high but why would he put himself in danger? He could just walk in there as a proper inner sect disciple.

    The plan was easy: get attention, make it inside the inner sect, and then find a way to access one of those lightning rods. After that, he would drain the whole mountain of its power.

    From what he could tell, the stormy clouds above were formed due to this place''s special location. Even if he s.u.c.k.e.d away all of the current lightning it had, the energy would reform itself later.

    He was planning on offering some treasures to the sect elders in the form of pills or weapons that he crafted as an apology. After achieving core formation he didn''t feel like he would need to fear any of them. He felt bad about draining this place of its resources but he also needed to get home.

    ''This is the place¡­ wonder what pill they will want me to make¡­''

    The pill hall was before him, even before entering he could already smell the herbs. With long steps, he entered with a large crowd following his footsteps. With now many people interested in his true abilities they were hoping to see a fourth win of this unknown prodigy.

 Chapter 349

    "What are all of these people doing here? Did a star elder grace us with their presence?"

    A person asked after arriving at the pill-making competition. This sect member was just interested in seeing the disciples compete.

    For some reason, there were a lot more people here this year. The pill hall had a large building and the competition would be taking place inside.

    There were two parts to this competition. One would be picking out the right materials while the second one would be pill creation. Both were important processes that a pill maker needed to know. They had to have the ability to distinguish the materials while also knowing how to put them together.

    "You don''t know brother?"

    "No, what happened?"

    "Well listen well, a new genius has appeared."

    "A genius?"

    The person nodded while explaining about the new rising star called Dai Rong.

    "Won three competitions already? Even the blacksmithing one?"

    "Yes, everyone is taking bets if he can win the fourth one!"

    While the two were talking a chime sounded which caused everyone to quiet down.

    "The pill-making competition will commence now, we from the pill hall wish for everyone to be silent."

    Zhang Dong found himself being stared at. The place they were doing this competition was another large hall building.

    It was quite spacious but also somewhat stuffy. There were about a hundred participants. There were many tables in this hall, on them large piles of dried herbs. He instantly knew what this was about. Even before being given the pill to make, they would be tested on their knowledge of materials.

    "Welcome to this year''s pill-making competition, this year we will be making the Crystal mountain establishment pill!"

    The people around started whispering while the young alchemists looked down. This pill was quite hard to make as it allowed a person to push through a large realm. It was a mortal grade pill but a tricky one to make for these new pill masters.

    "When the chime sounds, you will have an incense stick time to pick the herbs. If you don''t know the recipe you will be asked to leave!"

    Even before it started a few people let themselves out with heads lowered. This was quite shameful so they were greeted with laughs and smirks.

    Zhang Dong was well aware of the crafting process and what herbs he needed to get. This was all thanks to raiding the two libraries.

    ''This pill requires a small lesser mortal grade beast core and then various herbs...''

    He looked at the piled-up herbs and other materials. For a normal person, it would be hard to pick up the right item. Even an experienced master could make a blunder.

    Not every herb increased in quality over time. Some m.a.t.u.r.ed early while other ones could take millennia to m.a.t.u.r.e for a few minutes before withering away. A master would need to then be ready to fashion something out of this material before it was wasted.

    Zhang Dong on the other hand could just scan the items with his system''s identification skill that he bought all these years before. He was sure to level it up to the maximum, with this he would be able to find any hidden gems in this pile of greenery.

    ''After I get the materials I need a pill furnace¡­''

    In this competition to keep it fair, the pill furnaces were provided by the sect. Due to the number of participants, the pill furnaces were rather lacking in quality. This meant that if the pill maker made too many blunders they risked the furnace exploding or ruining the pill.

    An important part of these furnaces was the fire. It was a treasure in itself and depending on the rarity the heat varied. These flame tongues could be kept in special spatial rings that kept them suspended in time. Depending on the rarity they could even burn for centuries.

    There were various pill forging techniques that worked like magic. The pill maker would push their spiritual energy into this pill furnace and mix the ingredients inside. The special flames would also need to be controlled by their Qi. Infusing more would cause these flames to burn faster but also use up its limited usage.

    Just as the furnaces the flames would be provided by the sect. These flames were quite lacking in quality and would not last for long. With this, the pill makers needed to create a pill while the time ticked against them.

    While waiting for the elder to finish making his speech Zhang Dong continued looking around. He could tell that there were some Martial Grandmaster realm elders around watching him. This was a bit disheartening as he hoped to get a Martial Saint interested.

    With someone of that caliber, it would be guaranteed that he would make it into the inner sect as a disciple. Regretfully there weren''t any Martial Saints in the outer sect. All of those elders were experts that didn''t need to attend such events. From what he knew only at the battle competition one of them would be forced to attend.

    "You are getting ahead of yourself."

    While waiting he heard someone''s voice next to him. It was a thin youth in a pure white robe and long dark hair. He looked quite handsome but a bit thin.

    "Are you talking to me?"

    "Yes you, I don''t know who you are but don''t think an amateur like you can win over this Jin Ming!?"

    Zhang Dong didn''t answer, instead, he just turned around. He had trouble remembering the names of these young masters he had already met that they just blended with each other. This guy was probably some pill-making prodigy that somehow heard about Dai Rong''s rise. No proper young master would be able to tolerate competition, they always needed to stay in the limelight.

    "You dare ignore me? Who do you think you are!"

    The elder stopped talking and walked back towards his seat, soon the chime would be sounded. The young lord here continued to berate him while Zhang Dong could only try to ignore him.

    The lanky man''s face went red while others looked from the side. Some chuckled while others were surprised that the trial disciple wasn''t showing any respect to his seniors.

    The chime sounded and the competition began. It was quite chaotic and every young man and woman was pushing towards the tables with resources. With one exception of the trial disciple that moved to the side and leaned against one of the columns.

    This didn''t go unnoticed as the people that had followed him from the other competitions pointed with their fingers. Even the pill-making judges were furrowing their brows, it looked like he had given up.

    "What an imbecile, did you already give up before it started?"

    The lanky youth passed him with a whole tray of ingredients while scoffing. Only when most of the contestants were finished with picking up their resources did he move to them.

    Now with no one here to bother him he reached with both his hands towards the pile of the herbs. He held up a large pile of them before throwing them high into the air. While the herbs were at the apex of their ascension he started to quickly scan them with his eyes.

    "This one¡­ and that one¡­ also this one¡­"

    While making a strange scene he started plucking the falling herbs onto his own tray. The people looking from the side were shocked by his picking process. It seemed as if he was just taking out random items but if someone looked closely they would see that he was going for the highest quality parts each time.

    Even though he started after everyone else, his tray was full of items within a minute''s time. Some of the other contestants that weren''t so sure about their choices looked at him in shock as he headed towards a free pill furnace.

    "Huh?"

    The young master that previously egged him on found himself to his left. He was clearly surprised to spot his nemesis with a full tray of herbs.

    "You think you can win with those randomly picked herbs? Are you taking the pill-making profession lightly?"

    Some of the judges in the distance nodded their heads as they agreed. Zhang Dong could see that he came off as a haughty young master himself now. This was all fine as he was about to shatter these people''s worldview.

    "Watch and learn!"

    He replied while trying to sound somewhat condescending. Without a reason to hide he could play up a young master''s persona.

    With a smack to the side of the furnace, the lid flew up into the air. He then gathered spiritual energy into his hand and gave it a twirl. A mini-tornado was created that circled around all the ingredients. The material started sticking to each other while the mini cyclone rumbled with lightning energy.

    "Is that the Tempest pill forging technique? How could a young disciple like that be so proficient in it!"

    The judges started staring after hearing the sounds of thunder coming from a particular spot. Zhang Dong had many such techniques but this one was one of the more eye-catching and also studied at this sect.

    The mini twister started combining the ingredients even before they entered the pill furnace. Within the massive gust of air, the almost finished pill entered the container which he then closed.

    With this technique, he could save on time while also conserving the pill furnace''s durability as part of the pill creation was done outside of it.

    Now with another tap of his finger, the fire to the pill furnace was released. It was normally red in coloring but after coming in contact with Zhang Dong''s Qi it turned blue and started radiating electrical energies.

    "What is this¡­ I''ve never seen a forging technique like this...will that low-grade pill furnace be able to take all that spiritual energy?"

    The lid started rumbling and more sounds of thunder escaped. The whole furnace started glowing brightly and soon the whole large hall was consumed by a flash of light.

    As the furnace opened an illusory dragon shot up into the air and coiled itself around the furnace it came from. It gave out a menacing roar before its body started to fade away.

    "T-the thunderous roar of a lightning pill dragon¡­ a-a Master!"

    ''Well¡­ that got their attention alright¡­''

    The finished product landed in the palm of his hand. The pill was radiating quite the strong energy, whoever ate this would surely reach the Martial Master level without any problems.

 Chapter 350

    "Join my family and marry my daughter!"

    "No, marry my daughter instead! Also, become my disciple!"

    "Stop it you lot, this disciple is mine! I can offer you a thousand low grade spirit stones!"

    Zhang Dong stood surrounded by a group of old men that were involved in a shouting match. After he made a miraculous pill from the ingredients that the sect provided the old fogies went wild.

    Not only were the elders from the Pill Hall here but also from the Blacksmithing Hall, the Formation Hall, and even from the Appraisal Guild. The last one didn''t really have that much pull here so they had to make way for the top three halls.

    He had to commend them on how much a good disciple was worth. They even started offering him their daughters, more than one at a time. If he was looking to maximize his profits he would probably end up with a large harem and a house of his own here.

    Still, these people were only outer sect elders and seniors. None of them could guarantee him entrance to the inner sect. Before a fight between these old farts could break out, he needed to stop it.

    He wouldn''t be surprised if they made some kind of competition between each other. One where he could not refuse after the victor was chosen.

    "Please Seniors and Elders, this Dai Rong is truly not worth your time. I''m but a trial disciple, I just wished to pit myself against the other seniors from the sect to see how far I could go. I will not decide on a master before finishing the competition!"

    He needed to state his terms, the oldies knew what he was implying and they clearly didn''t like it. From their perspective the young man was foolhardy, the last competition was not a cakewalk and a person could get injured.

    There were many young masters that fell during the last competition. Anything could happen during a fight, even a maddened elder could jump in to deliver a critical blow to a disciple that was not taken yet. Without the proper protection, this youngster was putting himself in a heap of trouble while not having proper backing. After speaking his mind, it would be a loss to their face to beg and make more offers.

    "Is the sect junior resolute in his decision?"

    One of the high ranking pill masters asked.

    "The junior is, I wish to compete with the other seniors in the last competition."

    The old man shook his head before throwing a bead towards Zhang Dong.

    "Is that so, I wish you luck. I hope you can be victorious and hope that junior''s greed doesn''t get the best of him."

    Zhang Dong was a bit surprised by this elder who was this pill hall''s master. He did not even try to offer him anything to be his disciple. It seemed that even this sect had some people with character. The rest after noticing this old man''s speech started clearing out.

    The disciples that were in the process of making pills mostly gave up as there was no way of winning this anymore. The lanky youth that made him his rival shrunk back after being blown away by his pill-making technique.

    Four down and only one left to go. It was time to take a break as the battling competition would be taking place in the morning of the next day. Even then he had quite the hard time slipping away.

    The pill-making elders started asking him about some insights. The same thing happened with the blacksmiths and the formation masters. All of them wished to know how such a youth was this knowledgeable in their arts that they spent their whole life in.

    It was strange to see all these old men and women asking him for tips. He looked like a youth that was not even at the age of twenty. Knowledge was power in this world, even the old seniors threw away dignity and asked a junior for help. Advancing in their given skill was more important to some, even more than face.

    For some, it was the other way around. Part of the seniors and elders were looking at him with rage. It was clear that Zhang Dong needed to get out of here otherwise, some of them could do something drastic.

    ''I''ll go back to the cultivation cave for now¡­''

    "Excuse me, elders. I need to go to the little cultivator''s room¡­"

    He excused himself while some of them had questions. Some of the elders and seniors tried to stop him but he used an evasive technique that made his body move like paper in the wind.

    "Please wait disciple¡­!"

    They chased after him but when they got outside he was nowhere to be seen. Zhang Dong lowered his presence and faded into the shadows and made his way back to the cultivation cave. He greeted the person that was stuck looking over the cultivation caves and returned inside.

    While trying to prepare a strategy for the coming battles he heard a knock on the large door to this cave.

    "Disciple Dai¡­ are you there?"

    "Elder Yusheng? Yes, I''m here."

    Zhang Dong replied while wondering what the guy wanted. He was not supposed to come back this early.

    "Did you leave the cultivation cave? I''ve been hearing rumors of a particular disciple winning some competitions¡­"

    ''I guess he knows¡­''

    "Ah yes, I was a bit hungry so I decided to visit the sect and would you know it, there was a competition taking place so I just had to sign up!"

    "Junior had enough spirit stones to sign up on his own?"

    The sum of spirit stones required for taking part in the competitions as a trial disciple was quite steep. A hundred low grade spirit stones for each competition and two hundred for the main one, this was not something a trial disciple like him should have been able to afford.

    "Ah yes, my clan had left me quite a sum but now I''ve spent it¡­"

    This was a half-truth as most of the spirit stones were absorbed by him to push his cultivation forward.

    "Are you planning to take part in tomorrow''s competition?"

    "Yes I am elder, I wish to see how I will fare against the sect seniors!"

    "Is that so¡­"

    After mumbling some words Elder Yusheng went quiet. This was followed by some strange cl.i.c.k.i.n.g sounds and the use of some kind of Qi technique.

    "I think that would be a bad idea, you should rest for a few days disciple, I''ll come to pick you up in a couple of days¡­"

    With that message, he could feel the elder moving away from this location. When Zhang Dong approached the door he knew that the man had locked him inside. With a little knock on the hardwood, he knew that it was reinforced with a formation.

    ''A late stage Martial Master would probably not be able to leave this place now¡­''

    It was clear that this elder wanted to keep him here. He was probably thinking that if the prodigy vanishes then he could force him to be his disciple.

    ''The inner sect elders are probably too lazy to look into some rumors about a trial disciple winning outer sect competitions¡­''

    High-ranking elders and seniors tended to not care for what happened in the outer sect. Even if they got the information that there was a promising disciple they would not care. They were in a position that didn''t require them to care, it was the disciples that were supposed to fight for their attention and not the other way around.

    "I guess this would work on a regular disciple¡­"

    Zhang Dong could easily remove this formation lock that was placed here. It was quite rudimentary and even accessible from this side. He would even be able to force his way out as his true strength was above that of a Martial Master.

    ''Let me reorganize my thoughts till then.''

    While his escape was already assured he moved to the middle of the cultivation cave. He sat down and started doing some breathing exercises to calm himself.

    This all depended on him being able to absorb all that lightning energy. With it, he would be probably able to access the core formation realm. All those years ago he entered this world at that stage and already then he was able to compete with late-stage core formation cultivators.

    Now he was many times more experienced and also his cultivation technique was far superior. With that in mind, he hoped on achieving the strength level of someone around the great circle of core formation.

    "That magical world did give me quite the boost to my cultivation, maybe with this I will be able to contend with one of those watchers if they appear¡­"

    This was the biggest bump in the road. He feared that if he was found by one of the people that were part of the system, they might see him as an anomaly and attack. The demon lord was far stronger than the hero party and anyone that lived in that world. Here that could mean that they could even be on the immortal stage or somewhere between it and the nascent soul realm.

    ''Well, It doesn''t seem like these watchers will care if I don''t overstep the boundaries¡­''

    The watcher that was disguised as the human king only came out when he started causing imbalances in that world. Probably unless he started going out of his way to cause havoc these watchers would not show themselves.

    This also posed the question of what the endgame in this world was. There was no obvious demon lord to defeat, only sects and the emperors at the top. Was he supposed to become the new emperor of one of the empires? Or maybe he was supposed to reach the immortal realm and ascend to some other realm?

    The immortal realm was quite illusory here. There were secret grounds built by long-dead immortals but there was not really any information about how a person could push into it. With the original version of the system, he would probably be able to achieve it by combat.

    After eradicating the top sects and clans he might have had enough points to unlock that level of power. Then after reaching that level a new questline would be unlocked.

    ''Or¡­ it could be the end of the line¡­''

    There was also the possibility that after achieving the immortal realm something life-threatening could happen. A fight with the watcher? Moving to another realm and meeting the person that created this all? Maybe even a return to his original world?

    Zhang Dong gave out a sigh as he didn''t really care. He would not even be inclined to reach the immortal realm to check. His family was more important, if it meant to remain at the nascent soul level and to never ascend past it, then it was fine with him.

    ''If everything goes well tomorrow, I''ll be at the inner sect¡­ just wait a bit longer, daddy will return soon...''

 Chapter 351

    With a little click, the lock on the cultivation cave came undone. The large door swung open while a certain someone escaped outside.

    "Huh?"

    The person responsible for watching these cultivation caves turned his head up but he could not see anything there. The door seemed to be closed but he could spot a bit of snow falling down.

    "Must have been my imagination¡­"

    The man shrugged and turned back to the other side. A certain elder had given him some spirit stones to watch one cultivation cave in particular. It seemed that he was interested in keeping a certain disciple locked inside. The man agreed as it was easy money and he just needed to contact the elder if he saw the youth leaving.

    ''Those days as the demon hunter sure came in handy¡­''

    Zhang Dong''s figure was coated in a translucent filament which allowed him to blend with the scenery. If he held his breath and didn''t move a muscle it was impossible to be spotted. This and a few other techniques he picked up for when he was out adventuring. It was much easier to go around as a sword for hire than a sect leader so he had to brush up on the assassination skills.

    After the guard turned his head some more snow started falling but this time around there really would be no one for him to look at. Zhang Dong descended from the mountain while keeping to the shadows, he arrived at the outer sect just as the sun started to go up which turned the scenery red.

    The scenery was quite breathtaking but Zhang Dong was preoccupied with the mission before him. He had already been noticed by many outer sect elders, he could join the outer sect at any moment. The problem was the inner sect elders which he needed to prove his worth to.

    ''Will those other old farts try to stop me as well?''

    He stopped before a large outer sect building. Inside of this one the last competition would take place. While being a trial disciple he would not be able to refuse any of the outer sect elders. If one decided to walk up to him, they could even take him by force to wherever they wanted.

    Some of the pill makers and blacksmiths after seeing his crafting techniques had that look in their eyes. Each one of these old fogies was focused on face and status. Making him not be noticed by any inner sect elders was a silly plan but when face was involved, rationality went out the window.

    Thus why he decided to hide his presence and watch for the time being. Even though it was four hours away from the start of the competition the disciples were already gathering.

    Just as he had predicted he saw people that followed him from the other four competitions. He didn''t even need to remember their faces as their behavior was a giveaway.

    There was only one star disciple but many hungry elders. They all started glaring at each other, it seemed that a brawl could happen at any moment.

    The first checkpoint consisted of some guards but they weren''t checking the permits for taking part in the competition. After sleeping through this part he turned back into Dai Rong once again.

    With his infiltration now being successful, he blended in with the crowd of other disciples. Along with them, he made it through the second checkpoint which would allow them to go into the side of the competitors. Time continued to pass and finally, everyone had gathered.

    ''So that''s the inner sect elder?''

    Even though this was not an arena building there were many people looking in from an elevated point. There was one large tower in which all of the important elders were sitting in. They could overlook the disciples that could battle on many solid rock-slab-covered platforms.

    "Let us get this over with..."

    Zhang Dong looked up to the large tower and he could hear a bored voice calling out to everyone. From his vantage point he could barely make out his features, it seemed to be the same elder that greeted the new disciples by the name of Jingyi. The characteristic well-kept red beard and hair made this clear.

    If someone looked at the ground from the vantage point of Elder Jingyi, they would see a checkerboard pattern down below. These were actually battle stages on which the disciples would be fighting on.

    Each mini stage was quite large with thirty meters in diameter. Without the disciples having the capability to fly there was no need to make them any bigger.

    The rules were easy, each of the disciples would be given several tokens. Everyone had three challenge tokens with which they could challenge anyone with a higher number in the ranking.

    There were a thousand people here, each one with three tokens but this wouldn''t translate to three thousand fights. Anything above the top hundred didn''t matter to anyone and the bottom 900 would be only challenging the top 100.

    This competition was good for the challengers but not so good for the ones being challenged. Some people strategically waited till the competition was almost done before they used their token.

    The disciples were only given five minutes to rest before being forced to fight again. There weren''t that many that could last through the continued battles before retiring. If a disciple was crafty enough they would be able to get rid of their competition and do it while everyone watched.

    The young masters would use their goons to repeatedly attack their target until this target either lost or was tired. Then they would swoop in for the win while also causing harm to this person.

    If the other person didn''t have enough backing to use the same tactic it was seen as a weakness. Having other people to help them was seen as just another tool from their toolbox.

    ''Hm¡­ should just go for it?''

    Zhang Dong rubbed his chin while hesitating. His old way of thinking was still ingrained in his very being. He was not a person that liked to stand out but he was forced into a leadership position by the people around him.

    If he challenged the number one disciple and beat him it would cause an uproar among the others. He would probably have to go through many more to prove that he was truly strong.

    On the other hand, if he waited for too long he could be accused of battling a weakened opponent. This competition wasn''t really here to remain in the best spot but to show off to the elders.

    "I challenge you Xuan Fen! Face me."

    The first challenger appeared, he pointed at quite the brutish-looking disciple. Thanks to the comments of the people around him, Zhang Dong was able to figure out that Xuan Fen was ranked number three.

    "Mo Huang is really daring, he is only ranked twenty and he already wants into the top three, so insolent!"

    "He has no chance!"

    Xuan Fen ranked three, Meng Meixiu ranked second and Feng Shi ranked first. These were the top three disciples but only one of them was being challenged for now. This didn''t mean that other people in the top 100 weren''t being asked for a spar.

    ''Let''s see what these youths have to offer.''

    The disciples started to throw their tokens and everyone moved to the stages to do battle. Zhang Dong was greeted to a nice bout of the youthful generation. If he compared them to his own sect members then these Thunderbolt hall disciples weren''t anything special. But if he compared them to the old Zhang Clan then they would be slightly superior.

    It was clear to him that due to the variation in their cultivation the people here edged out the common cultivator from his own empire. There were fewer in numbers but made up with the quality of their foundation and combate skills.

    The sect here also didn''t get involved with the common people. None of the sects built their forces inside of large cities like they did in the Azure Dragon Empire. This saved a lot of time on politics and managing.

    ''Well then¡­ I should probably make my appearance, best to make a splash from the beginning.''

    The top disciples didn''t take long to win their fights. The youth that was ranked 20th fell to the one ranked 3rd just in five blows which showed how much of a gap there was between the two.

    Even with those five blows that he managed to utilize the people were surprised that he lasted that long. It seemed that if this youth was smart, he might have been able to raise his rank.

    Regretfully he was beaten to a pulp and had to retire fast. Not being able to judge your own strength was also a skill that some people did not have. This young man reminded him of his old friend Huo Qiang, if this worked out he hoped to see the big idiot soon.

    "Pathetic, does someone with skill dare to face this Xuan Fen? If not then maybe I should ask you for a bout, Feng Shi!"

    Xuan Fen was quite the large young man, he looked like a hairy bear and his body was covered with many scars. Feng Shi on the other hand looked more like your scholar type, it was clear that one trained his body refining skill to the maximum while the other focused mostly on Qi refining.

    "You can try but I would rather compete with junior sister Meixiu instead."

    The scholar replied while looking at the second-ranked woman cultivator. She was your typical jade-like beauty that just scoffed at the proposition.

    "Xuan Fen? Sure, I''ll challenge you."

    "Hey isn''t that¡­ It is!"

    But, soon Dai Rong''s name was spread through the whispers as people recognized him as the winner of four competitions. Everyone suddenly leaned forward to see if the new prodigy was a capable fighter.

    If he managed to beat the number three disciple then his legend would be cemented. If he failed, on the other hand, his wings could be cut as Xuan Fen was known for crippling his opponents before they had the chance to blossom.

 Chapter 352

    "You wish to face me?"

    The bear-looking youth laughed while nodding.

    "Come then, I''ll show everyone what happens to nobodies that challenge me!"

    Zhang Dong advanced towards the stage while looking at the smug-looking youth. His opponent was puffing out his c.h.e.s.t while smirking. It was clear that the Xuan Fen that he was facing wasn''t taking him seriously at all.

    The young man was quite large, even if he was in his original form he would be dwarfed by this muscle brain.

    "Whose lackey is this?"

    Xuan Fen asked while Zhang Dong hopped onto the stage. The young man was thinking that this Dai Rong here was someone''s follower. It was more believable that he was one of the many people sent to tire him out.

    "I didn''t think there would be idiots like you around, whoever put you up to this must have offered you a lot of spirit stones!"

    Xuan Fen continued to talk while Zhang Dong just stood there with his hands behind his back. His face was neutral and he didn''t look like he had a care in the world.

    "Are those trial disciple robes?"

    "Is that junior crazy? Doesn''t he know of senior Xuan Fen''s bad temper?"

    From the conversations that the people were having here, Zhang Dong came to a conclusion. Probably the tactic of sending waves of foot soldiers for the top disciples didn''t always pan out. Not when people like this Xuan Fen crippled them or beat them down to a pulp.

    The young man that battled him was taken away on a stretcher and his arms and legs were in awkward positions. It was clear that no one here was stupid enough to give away their future to offend this monster.

    ''I guess word hasn''t spread yet¡­ maybe the people from the other professions are still looking for me outside.''

    This was a large open area but it was set up in such a way that only the elders in those lookout towers could see the fights. The disciples were on the ground, shoulder to shoulder, and looking at the checkerboard combat platforms for a worse angle.

    "Begin!"

    A judge sounded a large gong which indicated that the battles would start.

    "I''ll end this quick, if you don''t resist I''ll be merciful and only break your arms!"

    Xuan Fen charged forward with large strides, each time he took a step the ground beneath his feet cracked. His cultivation level was at the middle stage of the Martial Master level and he clearly specialized in body refinement.

    Zhang Dong saw it all in slow motion, the young man''s body started being surrounded by small arcs of grayish lightning. His body hair began to be charged as he raised his fist and motioned it forward while still being about two meters away from his target.

    "Thunder wave fist!"

    The moment he swung this large fist a shockwave with tiny lightning bolts was sent Zhang Dong''s way. While everyone expected him to either get hit or try to dodge he did the exact opposite.

    He took a small step forward while also moving his palm to meet this electrical attack. The moment the shockwave collided with this hand it was pushed back by an even greater force. Another shockwave appeared with a more bluish hue to its lightning element.

    "What!?"

    Xuan Fen''s eyes shot open as his attack was deflected right back. There was no time to evade it so he moved his forearms up to protect his head. The electrical attack collided with his body and pushed him back. He remained standing while blocking, his legs formed skid marks on the hard ground.

    "What was that¡­ he managed to push senior Xuan Fen back!"

    "Yeah¡­ his clothes are also ruined¡­"

    Xuan Fen''s upper body was revealed to the public as his robes burst from this palm strike. Even now Zhang Dong could see Fen''s body contending with the invading lightning Qi.

    ''Great, he didn''t blow up¡­ I''m getting the hang of holding back!''

    Zhang Dong wanted to pat himself on the back as he managed to analyze the strike that came his way. He then used that to measure his opponent''s strength accurately.

    With this knowledge, he just needed to use a technique with a little bit more power to cause some damage while also not killing the poor youth in one shot. This left his opponent with some residual damage but allowed the battle to continue further.

    "You¡­ you''re not all talk."

    Xuan Fen roared in a beastly fashion and with a burst of his own Qi managed to remove Zhang Dong''s attack in its entirety. Soon the young man''s body started to change, it expanded in size along with a coat of fur. At the end of this transformation, he looked like a cross between a bear and a werewolf.

    "Senior Xuan Fen is having trouble, who is that junior?"

    Soon the fight continued, Zhang Dong made sure to dodge each claw swipe and bite that Xuan Fen sent his way. While exchanging blows he chipped away at his opponent''s stamina and health. With this approach, he seemed to be just slightly stronger than his opponent.

    "Stop moving around and face me like a man!"

    Xuan Fen panted with blood streaming out of his bear-like nose.

    "You wish to put body against body? Are you sure about that?"

    Xuan Fen didn''t respond but just charged forward, Zhang Dong did the same and the two used their fists. A strange ''peng'' sound was heard by the disciples that sounded like a fist hitting solid metal. This was followed by Xuan Fen''s knuckle being broken after the exchange.

    "ARGHhhh"

    The large youth cried out in pain before another fist descended towards his face. He flew in an arc out of the battle stage that he and Zhang Dong were fighting. Out cold he flopped on the ground and the match was over.

    "Don''t you have to announce the winner?"

    Silence washed over the people and even the judge that needed to be reminded of his duties.

    "Ah yes, the winner and new holder of the number 3 ranking spot is¡­ uh¡­"

    "Dai Rong, Elder."

    "Dai Rong!"

    His name was announced and the people burst out in cheers. He could even see some people pointing and laughing at Xuan Fen that was down for the count. It was clear that a person that lived his life breaking peoples limbs was not liked.

    "Well then¡­ the next one would be Meng Meixiu? Is Meng Meixiu here?"

    Zhang Dong shouted out loud to bring everyone''s attention to him. He previously saw the jade-like beauty moving around but it didn''t seem that she had been challenged yet.

    "This Dai Rong is too ferocious, he wants to challenge senior sister Meng Meixiu even before he has time to recover?"

    Previously the disciples were clapping but it changed to booing soon. This time around it seemed that the woman he was facing had a sort of following. Luckily she heard his loud shouting and decided to show her face.

    "Brazen, you might have defeated that idiot but don''t get ahead of yourself, junior!"

    The crowd of simps cheered out loudly the moment this beauty descended onto the stage. At the same time, they started with a vengeance at him.

    It was clear who the favorite here was. It would be strange that when he was victorious that he would be spammed by many challengers that wanted to show off in front of this beauty.

    "I''m getting ahead of myself?"

    That is if he allowed this to happen, this was no time to hide his power. With a burst of energy, his body started radiating electrical energies. Small arcs of bluish lightning started shooting from his body in random directions before turning into a more golden coloring in the end.

    "Hoh¡­ who is that young man¡­"

    "Elder Jingyi¡­ that is the second-ranked Meng Meixiu, she will probably be moving to the inner sect of Yin-hall¡­"

    "Not her, the other one¡­"

    "The other? That young man is¡­ I don''t know¡­ I have never seen him before¡­"

    Elder Jingyi stretched out while leaning forward in his chair. He was jolted awake by a strange energy signature in this young man''s electric Qi. It felt somewhat pure and even above his own and even though it was just for a moment it seemed like the young man had a lot of potential.

    "Well, what are you waiting for? Find me his name!"

    "Ah, of course elder!"

    The man panicked and quickly moved to the side while Elder Jingyi continued to watch. Little did he know that he was playing along to Zhang Dong''s little game. He made sure to release some of his true Qi into the surroundings.

    These cultivators were easy to read, if they thought that they could gain something they would act on it. While posting as a still unrefined disciple he could not just show off his superior lightning Dao. That would be too suspicious and just a ticket to getting thrown into a dungeon.

    Instead, he started off with the regular version that was in a more pale blue color. It was the lightning that he came into this world with. This was already enough to make all of the peoples mouths water here.

    ''I see that the old fart is finally looking at me now, I guess I should give him a good show¡­''

    Meng Meixiu went quiet after the outburst of his Qi. It was clear that she started to take him very seriously.

    "Shall we then?"

    The young woman was holding a weapon that he was very familiar with. It was a weapon that his wife also used, a set of battle fans. It was also a bit surprising how similar this girl was to Zhang Liena.

    The moment she utilized the fans a torrent of green energy gathered in front of her. She created a miniaturized twister filled with arcs of green lightning energy.

    "Wind energy with lightning¡­ not bad¡­"

    Zhang Dong had to make this a bit more flashy this time around. He clasped his palms together in one strong move which also produced the sound of a thunderclap. His hands started glowing in a pale blue light that quickly turned into electrical energy.

    "That technique¡­ isn''t that the lesser thunder dragon palm?"

    The lightning energy that looked chaotic at the start started taking shape. It looked like two small eastern dragons coiled themselves around Zhang Dong''s forearms. They remained floating around while clinging to them tightly while sometimes giving out thunderous shouts.

    "Well then, shall we?"

    He plunged himself into the battle, one of his palms stretched forward while the other was closer to his body in a defensive position. Some people burst out in cheers while others remained silent, it seemed that this would be a battle that they would remember for ages to come.

 Chapter 353

    The young disciples cheered as they surrounded the stage where the new trial disciple appeared. They even forgot about offering their challenge tokens for their own contest while gawking at the display of skill.

    Everyone was more interested in gaining some insight into the battle techniques this young man was using. With one glance they could see that he had trained them to a very high level. He moved thunder and delivered devastating blows that his opponent had trouble defending.

    "Junior sister is losing? How can this be?"

    The fans of Meng Meixiu both male and female were looking with eyes wide open. Her opponent was quite brazen but he had a lot of skill to back up that claim.

    ''Getting the hang of this¡­''

    Zhang Dong thought to himself while moving his palm forward. A dragon made from lightning shot forward and bit into Meng Meixiu''s battle fan. The girl in panic had to let her weapon go while jumping as far away as she could.

    The dragon made from electric energy chomped down on this weapon and made quick work of it. With this, the young lady cultivator was disarmed and would need to use her body to defend herself.

    "Senior sister, you may surrender if you wish."

    Zhang Dong smiled while standing upright. This young woman seemed a bit stuck up but this didn''t mean that she needed a good beatdown. She also reminded him of his wife slightly so he was willing to let her quit if she wished for.

    "You want this Meixiu to surrender? You must be taking me for a fool!"

    It didn''t seem that she was willing to, the only thing he could do was to shrug. While the woman continued to gather her Qi into her body he advanced slowly.

    Green energy with a bit of lightning mixed into it started circling around that voluptuous body. Zhang Dong had to wonder if it was something in the food or if it was caused by cultivation. For some reason, the women in this world tended to be on the bouncier side. This one was nothing compared to his own wife but she wasn''t a slouch either.

    ''Damn¡­ I should stop thinking like this or I''ll end up as that perverted gramps.''

    While remembering his lecherous grandfather he took a step forward. The woman''s attack activated as she swung her hands forward. A gust of wind flew his way, this looked like a ranged attack that turned the wind into blades with an added shocking effect.

    Even if the wind blades missed the target, the electricity would shock the target. This is if someone didn''t have some kind of lightning resistance or a helpful skill.

    Zhang Dong held his palm out while making a grasping motion. The moment he did the lightning dragon that was coiling around his forearm shot forward while opening its mouth. The wind blades that were approaching him were promptly absorbed along with that meager amount of lightning energy that they carried.

    "Impossible how could you¡­"

    Before the young woman could finish the sentence Zhang Dong''s body blurred. He activated his old moving technique that produced an electric afterimage in his old spot.

    "Ugh¡­"

    A foot collided with Meixiu''s abdomen before she had time to react. At the exact moment as Zhang Dong''s kick connected with the girl''s stomach a tremendous thunderclap filled the stage. The girl flew far and wide and finally ended up outside of the ring.

    She didn''t collide with the rough ground though as she was caught by an old woman with light gray hair. This old lady looked at the person that sent this woman flying.

    ''Hm?''

    Zhang Dong could feel killing intent pressing down on him. The old woman was clearly trying to suppress.

    ''Bullying juniors with no backing is it?''

    It was clear that this old woman was either this Meng Meixiu''s master, family member, or maybe even a bodyguard. She was at the level of a Martial Grandmaster so it wasn''t something that he couldn''t handle. The problem was that his persona that he was using couldn''t.

    ''This calls for some acting¡­''

    The old woman continued to glare at the young man while other disciples looked. They all knew what was happening but they couldn''t offend an elder. What was surprising is that the person that was getting his cultivation suppressed was still standing upright.

    "That''s enough!"

    The booming voice of Elder Jingyi filled the whole competition area and the old woman was forced to back away. The woman looked up to this Elder Jingyi while bowing in apology, soon she moved to the side with the jade-like beauty that had the wind knocked out of her.

    ''That guy took his time, it''s not that easy to fake bleed.''

    This was of course just an act, he did force his body to bleed for a moment but it was nothing but a scratch. There were no internal injuries or cultivation damage that mostly came with Qi attacks like that.

    To play it up he stumbled forward after the pressure attack was removed. He was sure to look like a thick-headed disciple that didn''t know his place yet. Even though most people didn''t like when the juniors were impolite to the elder generation, they also had to commend them for their high pride. It was a sign of willpower that could not be easily broken.

    "Junior sister lost¡­ this can''t be happening¡­"

    "This only leaves brother Feng Shi, will he also challenge him?"

    "Not possible, after the elder intervened this Dai Rong must be in a world of pain, he is probably on his last breath."

    "Yeah, isn''t this a chance?"

    Meng Meixiu might have been able to return later but Xuan Fen was out for the whole competition. The second spot that Dai Rong was occupying might have been temporary but the third was a possibility.

    "You think that I am weakened?"

    Like thunder, Dai Rong''s voice spread through the area. Even though the voice only carried the might of a Martial Master there was something in it. The elders that were in their tower overlooking the competition even flinched after the thunderclap sounded.

    "Be my guest, come and challenge me and see if you return in one piece!"

    Zhang Dong played it up by making his eyes crackle with lightning energy to make him appear like a wounded tiger. Everyone knew that injured beasts were very dangerous and they all quickly shrunk back.

    "Feng Shi, you are last and I have only one challenge token left, face me!"

    It was time for the climax of this storyline, the number one student was a Martial Master that had already reached the late stage. No one was seriously trying to get his spot as it was not theirs to take.

    Feng Shi was apparently someone that took his time to build up his foundation. When he came out of seclusion this year he soared towards the very top. His age was close to the other top disciples which made him an obvious choice to enter the inner sect.

    Everyone here knew that even if this senior brother didn''t participate he would be taken under the wing of some inner sect master. This was more something he did out of tradition.

    "You wish to challenge me, junior brother? Won''t you reconsider, you''ve already achieved so much, you need to learn some piety in this long life that we live."

    "Senior Feng Shi is so composed!"

    "He is right, this Dai Rong is too childish, he needs a few more years before challenging senior brother Shi!"

    The people laughed while Feng Shi ignored Zhang Dong''s hollering. He on the other hand just smiled while remaining up on the stage.

    "It''s fine to be scared, senior brother, you can just give me your number one spot if you don''t think that you can keep it."

    Feng Shi stopped sipping his green tea while hearing Zhang Dong''s taunts. His facial expression that was previously relaxed changed into one of rage. He was quick to hide this moment of emotion before putting the teacup to the side.

    "Afraid? This Feng Shi would be afraid of a junior disciple?"

    "This Dai Rong has no shame, he is barely standing and wants to challenge brother Shi."

    "Brother Shi, show that junior that the seniors deserve respect!"

    "Ah, if I must, then I shall teach you some respect."

    Feng Shi finally raised his posterior from his spot and made his way towards Zhang Dong. Even though the others couldn''t see it, he knew that this was seething with rage.

    He was not much different than any other young master. They looked composed and majestic on the outside but turned to cranky little kids whenever their authority was questioned. Even if he thought he would lose here, he would not be able to refuse the challenge, the loss to face would be astronomical if he did.

    Feng Shi was greeted on the stage to the applause of men and women alike. It seemed that he had gained a following of some kind. From Zhang Dong''s perspective, it looked like a bunch of a.s.s kissers trying to weasel their way into the good graces of someone that was going to the inner sect.

    ''They don''t realize how these young master''s act, it would be a miracle if they kept their old promises after gaining power."

    "Your fighting technique is refined junior but you still lack cultivation."

    "Show me then."

    Zhang Dong replied while taking on a battle stance. He produced the exact same technique that he used against the second-ranked jade-like beauty.

    It didn''t seem that anyone was thinking that he would win. From their standpoint, he looked like a junior that was just an early stage Martial Master. One that made up for his lower realm with high-quality skills and techniques.

    The gong sounded again and the two charged at each other. Even though no one believed that Dai Rong could win it, his young age caused the elders here to look at him as a prospect. Someone that could be nurtured to become a true powerhouse for this sect.

 Chapter 354

    "Is this all?"

    Feng Shi scoffed while gracefully evading a small dragon made from blue electrical energy. For most of the outer sect disciples, it was an astonishing feat of agility. They could see that this opponent called Dai Rong was no slouch.

    The attacks were quick and deadly. Each time those dragon heads chomped down a loud booming sound of thunder riverbed through the whole large field. This only showed how strong Feng Shi actually was as he was managing and doing it with little effort.

    "Senior brother Feng Shi was this strong?"

    "No wonder sister Meng Meixiu and brother Xuan Fen never challenged him to an open fight¡­"

    To everyone here, it felt that this senior brother of theirs was far above what a Martial Master should be, even more, experienced elders that were at the late stage of that realm would fall before him.

    "Submit junior, you have no way of winning!"

    A ferocious palm strike that was thrown by Dai Rong was quickly kicked to the side. Feng Shi kick carried his own Qi and caused the dragon made from electricity to quickly dissipate.

    "Submit? This fight has only begun!"

    Dai Rong replied while using his other palm. The dragon on it combined with it as he fired off a somewhat cone-shaped electrical attack at Feng Shi.

    The weapon of choice for this senior brother looked to be a battle umbrella. The moment the palm strike descended in his direction this umbrella was opened up. It started glowing with white light, the palm strike was quickly absorbed into this umbrella that was spinning around.

    "I''ll return this to you!"

    This peculiar weapon continued to spin until it formed a torrent of white energy. It looked like a blade storm that was bathed in electricity. Dai Rong retreated, his feet shuffled on the stage as he left many lightning charges after images.

    The electrically charged storm didn''t stop, it connected with each after image and started getting bigger. It looked to be absorbing all of the electrical energy from those after images and only getting more powerful.

    Dai Rong found himself at the edge of the battle stage. He had no way to run, if he was removed from this stage he would be disqualified. Thus the only thing he could do was to turn around and take the hit.

    Everyone looked in horror at the giant cyclone that was composed of sharp wind blades and electricity connected with Dai Rong''s body. The young man moved his forearms above his head as he turtled up.

    "Senior Feng Shi so brutal¡­"

    "That junior had it coming, how dare he talk like he was senior brother''s equal!"

    The peanut gallery commented as Dai Rong''s body vanished behind the white storm energy. They didn''t think that he would be able to survive this unscathed.

    Feng Shi''s umbrella stopped spinning around and he pulled it back. The young man gave out a sigh while turning around. He looked to his old spot where he was sitting and the girls smiled at him. It seemed that the battle was over and he could return to his original place.

    "I must apologize to everyone, I seemed to have lost my temper."

    "Senior brother is so humble!"

    "Yes, senior Shi did nothing wrong!"

    "Where do you think you are going, this isn''t over yet."

    Dai Rong''s voice was heard by everyone. After the storm was cleared his injured body appeared before everyone. The upper part of his robe had been cut up into tiny fragments. His body looked like it was put through a shredder.

    "How can he still be standing¡­"

    "So many cuts¡­"

    To everyone standing here, it seemed that the young man was holding onto his dear life with willpower alone. Feng Shi just started with an empty look in his eyes and quickly laughed.

    "It''s not over? You can barely stand. This Feng Shi commends you on your bravery and willpower but you should know when to give up. There is no shame in losing to me."

    The young lord smiled while speaking and everyone here nodded. It was clear who had won this battle and if it continued then Dai Rong would shorten his cultivation life. Unless a person surrendered the fight would continue, not even the elders would stop it.

    "Shame in losing? Who is losing, I just need a moment¡­"

    The people laughed while Feng Shi shook his head in disapproval.

    "Even if I gave you a year, you would not be able to best me... ?"

    Feng Shi trailed off at the end of the sentence as he felt something strange happening. Soon after, the people could see a certain glow surrounding Dai Rong''s whole body.

    "What is he doing¡­"

    "His cultivation¡­ it''s getting stronger?"

    Dai Rong''s muscles started twitching and contracting. His long dark hair started floating up while electricity continued to gather in a small area around his already glowing body.

    "If this isn''t enough for me to win, then I just need to go further¡­ further beyond!"

    "How is this possible¡­ is he really advancing his realm in the middle of the match? Is he crazy!"

    Someone from the audience shouted while Dai Rong''s body continued to go through some kind of change. Feng Shi was stunned by this turn of events, unable to comprehend what his opponent was doing.

    Going through a small realm during a fight and while being injured was unwise. This was something that only someone that has prepared accordingly should attempt. Otherwise, they risked failing and crippling themselves for the future. For everyone here, it looked like the young man would just ruin his future and fall.

    "Alas he was a fool, such is youth. Let us hope he won''t suffer cultivation deviation"

    Elder Jingyi commented while other elders looked down to the stage the number one and two prospects were fighting. It didn''t seem like anyone here would go and stop the change. It was far more dangerous to go in, the young man''s chances of bursting through the realm would go down if any elder attempted to move in.

    "Elder Jingyi¡­ look... "

    "What? Impossible!"

    Everyone expected him to fail but instead of his body bursting with more blood it seemed that the wounds were subsiding. His muscles got larger and his figure filled up while his aura increased in power.

    Soon a giant thunder strike was heard by everyone here. Dai Rong''s body crackled with thunderous electrical might and it looked that he had achieved the breakthrough that he had hoped for.

    "How could this be¡­ Martial Master¡­ middle stage? Just like that?"

    Elder Jingyi rubbed his chin while looking down at the young man. He started examining him from head to toe with his spiritual sense and he could feel the powerful golden crystal palace hidden within this youth. When he compared it to the young man this Dai Rong was facing, it was like comparing a grand castle to an old moldy shack.

    "Unfathomable¡­"

    ¡­.

    ''Did you take a good look?''

    His strength was already over the Martial Master level. The young man that he was fighting was talented but not that much more than your average sect prodigy. It was time to play it up for the crowd, he struck a nice pose and pointed out with his finger.

    "Surrender now and I will be lenient!"

    He could see Feng Shi''s forehead vein becoming very prominent at this moment. It was clear that this young man was just acting the good senior brother part. In reality, he would probably tear him limb from limb if there was no one looking.

    "I have been too easy on you junior, if you don''t want to listen to reason I must show you the truth with my fists! So what if you achieved the middle stage, you are still below this senior!"

    "I don''t need to be at the late stage to defeat the likes of you!"

    Zhang Dong taunted the young man. He could see Feng Shi''s eyes going bloodshot from rage, it was clear that he was not used to such behavior from his peers.

    Feng Shi was the first one to charge forward along with that strange umbrella weapon of his. At the end, there was a spike that would probably be able to pierce through anything it touched.

    Regretfully Zhang Dong was done playing around and he would give the audience a nice show. It was the exact reverse of the start of this battle. This time around Dai Rong was dodging everything with no effort while Feng Shi charged at him like a mad bull.

    "How could this be¡­"

    "I have never seen such a display of agility, can he predict all of those movements?"

    People had noticed that Zhang Dong was evading almost too well. This could be attributed to either ability or experience. Being that the young man was still a realm below Feng Shi, most attributed it to ability.

    "That junior must have an innate talent for prediction!"

    "Guh"

    A palm landed on Feng Shi''s c.h.e.s.t and he flew back a couple of meters. The umbrella was used as a crutch as he stood up with shaky hands. During the exchange, Zhang Dong had used a counterattack at a perfect moment.

    "I told you, surrender now!"

    "Y-you¡­"

    Feng Shi''s face contorted to look like that of a devil. He was clearly not enjoying this fight, no one that was similar in age had ever been able to compete with him at an equal footing. Unable to cope with his emotions he turned into a madman.

    Zhang Dong found himself deflecting and evading all kinds of electrical attacks and techniques. The longer this fight lasted the angried the young master he was fighting was acting.

    ''Time to end this¡­''

    With a well-placed kick to that umbrella weapon, he managed to disarm his opponent. The weapon landed outside the ring which meant that Feng Shi would need to fight without it.

    "You dare?"

    "Ha ha, yes indeed, but do you dare?"

    Feng Shi looked a bit confused at the answer and another clash between the two occurred. This time Zhang Dong was sure to ram his palm in the young master''s solar plexus. With some Qi added to it, Feng Shi turned into an electrified puppet that soon flopped on the cold ground.

    "W-winner¡­ Dai Rong!"

    He held his fist up in the air as if he owned the place. It was clear that he was showboating but everyone here knew it, he had skills to back it up.

    "I am number one!"

    ''This should be enough¡­ I know you are drooling up there, come down and let us get this over with¡­''

    Zhang Dong looked up to where Elder Jingyi was sitting. He clasped his hands in a proper manner before getting down from the ring. Now he just needed to wait and his path towards the inner sect should open up.

 Chapter 355

    The new number one disciple had emerged from the competition. Not even a full hour went by as he managed to dismantle the top 3 disciples from this Thunderball Hall. Feng Shi, the golden boy that was unanimously agreed upon by everyone as the best, had fallen.

    Zhang Dong in his disguise stood tall and walked down from the battle stage that he was on. When he arrived at the edges of this tournament area the youngsters parted to the sides. No one that was around this age range was willing to meet his gaze.

    No one knew how they should act around the new number one. Would he be the irritable type that lashed out at anyone that didn''t show him any respect? Maybe he would be more stoic as the previous number one or more conniving like some of the other top students.

    "What is it? Do I have something on my shoes? Raise your heads, brothers and sisters, there is no need to be afraid."

    Zhang Dong called out in a soft-spoken voice which caused a few people to raise their heads.

    "See, isn''t that better?"

    He laughed out loud while shrugging. Now it was the time to show his magnanimous persona. He knew that everyone preferred a senior that was easy to talk to. Pompous ones like Feng Shi or muscle heads like the third-ranked one were not preferred by many.

    Both of them put a certain barrier around themselves. One was hard to approach due to his violent tendencies while the other seemed like an idol that should be observed from afar but never touched. What would happen if the new top student was different, one that was willing to lend a hand to his brothers and sisters.

    "Challenge me if you must, I''m sure we can exchange some pointers during this tournament but don''t think I''ll go easy on you!"

    His plan was to show off while also looking humble. Instead of boasting about his victory and pointing his fingers at the other disciples, he urged them to take it easy. He made it seem that even if they challenged him, he would not cripple their cultivation like the other top students that despised the lower disciples.

    "Hm, not bad he shows some restraint but will he be able to last till the end."

    Elder Jingyi commented while talking with the other elders. It seemed that he did indeed pique the man''s interest but until the competition was over, the old man didn''t seem willing to end it.

    "I have returned elder, I have gathered all the information about this disciple!"

    As if he was waiting for it, the elder that left to gather details about Dai Rong''s other competitions had returned to the tower. He quickly informed Elder Jingyi about how the young man was just a trial disciple that had already won four competitions.

    "He has won both the pill-making competition and the blacksmithing competition?"

    Zhang Dong couldn''t see the man''s expression but by his tone, he knew that Elder Jingyi was surprised. The tails of his expedition into the sect''s contest were revealed to each and everyone of the elders above. Quickly they became chatty as none of them had paid any attention to those outer sect competitions.

    "This Dai Rong, where did he come from¡­ such a talent has made it into our Thunderball hall. It would be bad if it''s cut short, maybe I should¡­"

    "You should what?"

    "Take him under my wing of course!"

    Soon as according to his plan the elders were fighting with each other. All of them were on the very top of the totem pole.

    "Silence! This competition isn''t finished yet!"

    Finally, Jingyi interrupted the bittering as the only inner sect elder here, he had all the power.

    "We apologize, Elder Jingyi."

    The old red-haired man easily silenced everyone here but it didn''t seem that he would be plucking Zhang Dong away just yet. Time continued to pass and Zhang Dong found himself getting challenged by some of the top twenty disciples.

    At first, it seemed that they were just testing the waters to see if he was tired enough to be knocked down from the first spot. After easily beating the 5th ranked senior brother everyone was sure that he had a lot more gas in the tank.

    The 5th ranked youth was not maimed or injured much which showed them that this Dai Rong did show some restraint. Through this, he was seen accepting more fights through which he showed some of the flaws in peoples fighting techniques.

    At the end of the competition, he remained the number one ranked. The night had fallen upon the sect and the people started cheering. Due to the knockouts that they suffered the previous top three was not seen again which caused people to be ranked higher by default.

    "With this, we will end this year''s outer sect battle competition!"

    Each competition that gave him this bead would allow him to redeem it for some treasure. He just needed to visit the outer sect treasure house. There he would be able to redeem his rewards but not like this would add much to his repertoire.

    If he was a regular Martial Master disciple this would probably allow him to cultivate much faster than the other disciples. He was already far too strong for these rewards to actually matter.

    The elder gave a speech that he could only roll his eyes on and then it was over. This would be the time where the elders approached the young men and women to strike a deal.

    Zhang Dong found himself surrounded, there were at least a hundred people around him, one older than the other. He could see some people from the blacksmith''s hall as well as the formation and pill-making hall. The elder that lent him the cultivation abode was also there, just at the edge as he was forced out by the more influential elders.

    These old men that prided themselves on being composed and stoic were now shouting like angry children. It was as if this Dai Rong that he was playing was some kind of limited edition action figure that everyone wanted.

    Before they could start yanking on his clothes, finally the person that he was here for appeared. Jingyi appeared as if he was waiting till everyone gathered up so that he could show off his superiority. His descent from the tower was greeted with bows and clasped hands.

    "What is your name, disciple?"

    "Dai Rong, Elder."

    ''Like you don''t know by now.''

    "You show potential, where does the junior fare from?"

    "I come from the white tiger clan, elder. You''ve probably never heard of it, it''s not a very important clan."

    Luckily this elder didn''t seem too chatty, he just nodded and got right to the point.

    "Junior, you show promise, would you like to follow me to the inner sect?"

    There it was, the thing that he was waiting for. This was all that he wanted, getting inside of the inner sect before spending months at this small sect.

    "The junior would be honored to enter the inner sect!"

    The crowd of elders lowered their heads in disappointment as their meal ticket was getting taken away. The young disciples gave out sighs of regret and disappointment as they didn''t manage to attract the inner sect elder''s gaze.

    This didn''t mean that the rest wouldn''t be able to enter the inner sect. Jingyi here was the only inner sect elder that was forced to come here but this didn''t mean that others weren''t watching from afar.

    Some of the disciples would be asked to enter the inner sect later. If they got famous enough they would be reeled in there via other means. This competition was just one of the many ways of standing out.

    "Good, we will leave then!"

    Jingyi nodded while not giving Zhang Dong an option to get ready. Lucky for him everything that he owned was in his spatial rings.

    "Since you will be an inner sect disciple, you will have to conduct yourself like one, from now on don''t lower yourself to the outer sect standards!"

    "Lower myself? I understand elder."

    Zhang Dong nodded while entering Jingyi''s transportation device. It was another flying boat but it was of far greater quality than the one he was previously on. It seemed that this inner sect elder looked down on the outer sect members.

    "You''ll be an inner sect disciple, this is the true backbone of our glorious Thunderball hall!"

    He was given a long-winded speech about how he should behave and how he was now better than anyone that was not an inner sect disciple.

    ''Do the inner sect elders at my sect think like this as well?''

    Was the thought going through his head as he listened to this man talk. While he was together with the outer sect elders he was mostly quiet but now his true colors showed. It seemed that he didn''t see anyone outside the inner sect as proper people. Unless someone showed their worth and got into their prestigious club, they were not seen as equals.

    Zhang Dong felt that they passed through some kind of barrier. The elder had the item with the code on him so they made it in with no problem. Soon they approached the huge tower which looked a lot wider from close up.

    "Elder Jingyi, welcome back¡­ and that is?"

    A younger man greeted the two as they descended into an area that was before this tower. Zhang Dong found himself in a large castle-like structure. There were many buildings and also many people in various robes here.

    "This is Dai Rong, he shows promise. Show him to his new quarters and explain everything."

    Jingyi dumped him off like a hot potato to this unfamiliar person before flying off somewhere. As he was leaving he also told him to come to look for him after acclimating himself to the inner sect.

    "Greetings junior, It''s always good to welcome a new brother to the inner sect! You also gained the favor of Elder Jingyi, that must have been a hard task indeed!"

    The man he was left with seemed to be friendly. Soon he was given a tour through the whole inner sect grounds. Similar to his own sect the disciples and elders had different color-coded robes. It also seemed that he was not required to take on tasks like the outer sect disciples.

    He was free to train and ask for guidance from some of the masters here and he was also given some monthly pocket change that he could use on various items.

    "I will see you around then, Junior Dai."

    "You have my gratitude, senior."

    Zhang Dong was even given his own small cultivation cave, free of charge. The perks of being an inner sect disciple showed themselves quite fast. Though while the young man was explaining everything he was busy examining his surroundings.

    ''This doesn''t look too bad¡­ I should be able to sneak in¡­''

    The protective formations looked lackl.u.s.ter and there were not many guards either. It seemed that getting into the tower of thunder would not be that hard, he could even approach it this very night¡­

 Chapter 356

    "Elder Jingyi, glad to have you with us. How was the competition?"

    "Boring as always but there was one promising disciple. On any other occasion, this would be a joyous moment but how things stand¡­"

    Elder Jingyi that was used as a ticket into the inner sect walked into a closed-off room. In it, there were many elders and seniors from the Thunderball hall. It seemed that all the leaders from each of the halls had gathered here and this probably without the knowledge of the outer sect.

    "Yes, the future is shaky¡­"

    "How is the Patriarch?"

    "Not good, his cultivation is slowly declining and we have discovered new evidence of a spy."

    "A spy? So it really someone from our sect that had poisoned the Patriarch during his ascension?"

    "Yes, the evidence points to¡­ Zheng Ting!"

    "Zheng Ting? How could that be? She is the Patriarch''s granddaughter¡­"

    "Yes, she vanished the moment we discovered that there was foul play involved. She is also trusted by the Patriarch, it would be easy for her to slip in the poison into his food¡­"

    "But why would she do it? What would she gain from weakening the sect?"

    Elder Jingyi asked as he was clearly out of the loop. Due to the outer sect competition, he was forced to remain in that part for a whole day.

    "We fear that the Blood Poison Cult is involved, the poison that was used is also one that they are famous for¡­"

    "The Blood Poison Cult?"

    "Yes, our brothers found letters coming from that cult hidden away in Zheng Ting''s quarters. It would seem that she was romantically involved with one of their members which might have caused this¡­"

    "Romantically involved? Does this mean that the Blood Poison Cult could attack us?"

    "Yes, we fear for the worst. Normally our patriarch would be able to combat their cult leader but in his weakened state he will not be his match¡­ this might also not be the only problem¡­"

    "There is more?"

    Elder Jingyi''s face went pale as the people started listing other problems. Apparently, their spies detected movement in other evil sects and cults that were situated close to their Thunderball hall.

    The spot this Thunderball hall occupied was quite sought after. The concentration of lightning energies was not the only profitable resource. Deep inside the mountain range, there was a pocket of dark crystals. These crystals could be used by demonic cultivators to hasten their progress.

    This was of course a big secret that the sect was hiding away from the other powers. With the betrayal of Zheng Ting, who was part of the inner circle, the secret might have been found out. It would not be strange if the demonic sects united to take care of them and to take away these dark crystals.

    "This¡­ Did our spies find out more?"

    "No, It seems that our spies have been silenced."

    "This doesn''t bode well, can the patriarch recover in time? Should we contact the other righteous sects in the area and ask for help?"

    "The other sects¡­"

    ''Hm, this place doesn''t look that well-protected. Are they that sure that no one will attack them or are their forces somewhere else?''

    Unbeknownst to him all the strongest elders and their disciples were gathered at one location all the way up the tower. While they were busy going through the sect''s existential crisis Zhang Dong slipped past everyone.

    ''This thing looks a lot bigger from close up¡­''

    He had to strain his neck to look at the giant blocky tower. The lightning storm was circling around this building and discharging lightning bolts into it. If he had the ability to fly he could just charge into the eye of this storm and absorb all of this energy.

    His current cultivation realm was that of foundation establishment middle stage. With the help of this energy, he was hoping to enter the core formation level. Maybe if he was lucky enough he could even push it to the middle stage. There was quite the amount of lightning elements here that possibly could boost him further.

    ''There are some guards.''

    He could see five men being stationed in front of one of the doors that led into this large tower. One of them was clearly the commander while the other four were just part of his unit.

    ''It would be better if I didn''t just charge through here like a maniac¡­''

    Zhang Dong felt that these five would not be a problem to beat but this would just put everyone inside on alert. Five guards just vanishing from their post would be quickly seen through. He at least wanted to give himself some time before they figured out that he invaded their tower.

    ''This calls for the honey pot trap approach.''

    His appearance started to change, from a young and handsome young master to something paler. Two large lumps of flesh started protruding from his c.h.e.s.t as his body shrunk down. His h.i.p.s started getting wider and his highs were now pleasantly plump. His skin was white as a jade as he took the appearance of a once-in-a-lifetime beauty.

    ''This disguising technique is scary, at least it doesn''t make my little guy vanish along with it.''

    Zhang Dong changed into some short fairy-like robes that showed off his legs and c.h.e.s.t area the most. He had to pick a robe on the more flowy side, as from close up his large little brother would be clearly bulging it out.

    "Who goes there!"

    One of the guards noticed some movement and was shocked to see a beauty coming out from behind a building. The five guards started drooling instantly while checking out all the good parts. Zhang Dong had to hold himself back from cringing and scoffing at the looks that these men were giving him.

    "Oh no, I''ve seemed to have lost my way¡­ I just arrived in the inner sect, could one of you senior brothers help a lady in distress out?"

    Lucky for Zhang Dong the competition for the outer sect disciples had ended. It wouldn''t be suspicious for some new faces to appear in the inner sect area. This was also what the guards here were thinking but due to the beauty they were seeing here, their perception was skewed. They abandoned all reason while devouring her with their eyes.

    "Dear junior sister, you should not wander alone through the night, what if you catch a cold. Let this senior brother escort you back home!"

    "What are you talking about? I will be the one to escort this junior sister back home!"

    "No, it''s going to be me!"

    Soon the group of guards started fighting with each other while Zhang Dong stood there. He took on a strange uncomfortable pose that made his posterior and c.h.e.s.t stick out at the same time.

    ''How do girls do this stuff¡­''

    "Be quiet all of you and get back to your post!"

    Soon the captain of the group of four shouted out. His aura was enough to make the four weaker guards shrink back in fright.

    "Show some decorum!"

    The man was slightly older than the rest and seemed a bit more composed. This quickly changed as he gave Zhang Dong one of the most lecherous smiles that he had ever seen.

    "Little lady, you should not be wandering around at this hour, if one of the elders spots you, you will be reprimanded."

    He started approaching Zhang Dong while the other four guards scoffed. They knew that they could not go against their captain and that he was just as attracted to the woman as they were.

    "Oh no, could you show me the right way back senior brother? I seem to have lost my way."

    "Certainly junior sister, let this big brother show you the way¡­''

    The man grinned and the two started walking away. Zhang Dong had to doge a hand going towards his hip. The four guards then looked on in despair as their captain went away with the beauty that was shaking her wide h.i.p.s side to side like a professional dancer.

    "Damn, it should have been me¡­"

    "Hah, why would that fairy even look at an ugly bastard like you!"

    "What did you say?"

    Two of the guards started shouting at each other but soon they quieted down after they heard a strange scream. It came from the direction that their captain and the beauty vanished into. They all looked at each other with wide eyes, was their captain more of a leech than they had thought?

    "Captain?"

    Soon the man returned. His clothes were slightly ruffled up and he had a red handprint on his cheek. The group of men started sniggering as they knew what had happened.

    "What are you looking at, get back to your post!"

    "Yes sir!"

    ''Well, that was easier than I expected, only my pride as a man was damaged...''

    Of course, the man that returned was not the guard captain, it was Zhang Dong in disguise. He had made short work of the lecherous man and with a quick zap, he was out. After taking his face and clothes he returned.

    He looked around and could see that most of this place was empty. The space was wide open and he could see stairs going up.

    ''That''s a lot of stairs¡­''

    It looked like the impossible staircase phenomenon with many of those stairs moving at an angle. It also seemed that there was some kind of illusory formation working here that would make it hard for anyone to ascend.

    This only applied to normal cultivators and not to someone like Zhang Dong. With a quick glance, he already knew the correct path to ascend.

    ''I don''t see any rooms, they must be up higher¡­''

    Soon he ascended up, his plan was to get as far as he could. The closer he was to that storm the better it was for his cultivation.

    While Zhang Dong made his way up towards his destination, there was trouble brewing. Far away from the Thunderball Hall, there was a group of cultivators in shadowy robes.

    "You have served me well Zheng Ting, when we crush this Thunderball Hall you will be granted the position of high elder!"

    "Thank you, my lord, I just wish to be useful to the Blood Poison Cult!"

    The man looked to be in his mid-thirties. He was quite handsome but also quite powerful. Behind him was a swarm of flying boats along with many cultivators.

    "Tonight, we shall bathe in our enemy''s blood!"

    He raised his fist high up while the other men cheered. Soon all of them faded away into the shadows, the approach would be slow and only when it was too late they would strike.

 Chapter 357

    "Darn why is it so dusty in here? Do these sect people never clean their precious lightning tower?"

    Zhang Dong complained while trying not to get too much dust on himself. Thankfully he was powerful enough to create a little dust shield around his body that would also protect him from getting stuck in cobwebs.

    At this point in time, he was making his way through this lightning tower. He had seen through all of the protective formations that were keeping all the secret entrances from him.

    ''I have to give it to them, these illusory formations are quite good. I''m not sure anyone that isn''t at least a formation grandmaster would be able to get past this.''

    It was a little bit odd that this room that he entered was so well protected. To get here he was forced into a secret passage that was barely large enough for him to fit through.

    The moment he entered he noticed that the mechanism was quite old. It was as if it hadn''t been operated in many years. On the inside, it also looked quite old and unused.

    The only reason for this place being so unkept and unused was that it was probably some kind of old secret evacuation passage. Maybe it led all the way up to the most important parts of the tower but never found its use.

    ''Even if that''s true, they could clean it up every year or something¡­''

    The further he went the worse everything looked, finally after walking for about an hour he finally arrived at what looked to be the end.

    ''What is this?''

    He scanned this place with his spiritual sense but could not feel any living being. Luck was on his side though as when he looked up he could see a large cristal.

    This cristal would periodically give out a burst of light followed by a crackle of thunder. It was actually quite loud but a formation around this room was keeping all the noise from reaching outside.

    ''That was easier than I expected¡­''

    Zhang Dong was convinced that on his way through this tower he would need to knock out a few guards. Maybe turn into them to sneak in further before he was discovered. Now on the other hand he was looking at a source of great lightning power.

    This chamber looked like a crypt. In the middle, there was some kind of large coffin. Each time the room lit up strange runes on the ground would glow. After a few glances, Zhang Dong already had a theory about what this place was.

    "The room seems to be purifying the lightning energy that the crystal is giving off. It''s then injecting it into that coffin for some reason, is there someone in it?"

    With another jolt of his spiritual sense, he tried focusing on the object in the middle of the room. Even when he tried he could not feel anything, the inside of this thing had no living being.

    "Hm¡­"

    Zhang Dong looked around, without seeing any traps he finally approached the large rectangular coffin. The room around it had some columns and on the walls, he could see some faded pictures with faces that were unrecognizable.

    ''Has no one been here for hundreds or thousands of years?''

    He wasn''t sure but he was still wary of the inside of this coffin. This world clearly had demonic beings in it. There was always a possibility of some kind of undead creature being in there. He did not feel the presence of any shielding formations but that didn''t mean that there was nothing there. If something exceeded his current cultivation or his old one, he would not be able to detect it.

    ''Here goes nothing¡­''

    It needed to be done, trying to cultivate with this unopened box of pandora would be dangerous. What if a bag of bones popped up and tried biting his nape or some kind of evil spirit tried to take over his body when he wasn''t paying attention?

    "Hm?"

    He quickly dropped his guard as the only thing that was inside of this coffin were rocks.

    "Wait¡­ doesn''t that look like a head?"

    He approached and after looking everything over again he noticed that the rocky bits were shaped as a person. It looked like an old statue made from stone was there. It was clearly broken and crumbling. The moment he picked up what looked to be the head, it just crumbled into dust.

    "Why would they put this in here¡­"

    It was a big unknown, it looked like someone just placed a stone statue in here and locked it. Was someone trying to fake their death a thousand years ago or was there more to it?

    "Hm?"

    This wasn''t all, on a part that used to be the right hand he noticed something shining. After looking this up he found a storage ring, it was quite old but still in working order. It was locked but for someone that studied craftsmanship, this was nothing. After a few minutes, he managed to unlock it and peeked inside.

    In the spatial ring, he found a lot of old texts. There were various lightning techniques that were of a higher grade and belonged to this empire. One, in particular, seemed interesting but it was not complete.

    ''If someone used this thing they would suffer a large cultivation backlash, it''s easy to fix though.''

    With a quick scan, he had taken in all of the cultivation knowledge that was inside this ring. It didn''t say much about the original owner though.

    "Good sword."

    After going through everything there was one weapon of note. A white sword, it was radiating lightning energy and was actually a heaven graded item. With it being far above his current cultivation level he couldn''t really use it but when he recovered it would be a nice replacement for his old one.

    "This robe isn''t bad either¡­"

    Zhang Dong changed into his original appearance. The dark hair of Dai Rong that he used changed into snow-white as his body expanded into a more handsome and muscular man.

    The robe that he found had the colors that he liked to use, it was mostly white. On the back of it, there were some characters that translated into ''Lightning Lord''. It was not quite the Lightning Emperor or Monarch title but would do nicely for now.

    The robe was very similar to his old one as it was not one of the flowy ones, clearly more meant for hand-to-hand combat. There were even leg guards and armguards on it that were made from a shiny white spirit metal.

    "Finally some luck, now it''s time to cultivate."

    The only thing that was missing from this spatial ring was a flying sword on which he could escape after he reached the core formation level.

    With some muscle strength, he removed the coffin from the middle of the chamber. He also needed to alter the formation in this room. With a few alterations, he was now making it focus all of the energy into one point. That point was him.

    While already dressed in his new robe he sat down. He was now in the traditional lotus position with his palms open. It didn''t take long for the crystal above him to charge up and fire a concentrated lightning bolt towards Zhang Dong''s forehead.

    The moment the lightning bolt connected with his body he could feel the energies seeping into his foundation pillars. It was working, he could feel himself advancing further. The lightning strikes continued to descend and each time they hit they were swiftly absorbed.

    One, two, three, ten, twenty, and then thirty. He took on all of the powerful lightning bolts before being able to fashion another perfect golden foundation pillar. His power churned and he could feel the electrical energy rising.

    "Not enough, I need more!"

    He looked up towards the lightning crystal above him. This treasure was somehow storing the lightning bolts but also hindering them from descending. It was like a small dam that only let a certain amount of energy through. For him to advance faster, it needed to go away.

    From his eyes, a golden beam of light escaped and connected with this lightning crystal. The crystal unable to contend with this might soon burst into many tiny particles. The light from Zhang Dong''s eyes didn''t vanish but instead of the light being exuded it was now drawn in.

    A giant suction force was created that was now continuously s.u.c.k.i.n.g all of the lightning energies from outside. Zhang Dong could feel the process being sped up tenfold and it was speeding up.

    More and more foundation pillars were created. Five, six, seven, eight¡­ and they continued with no end in sight. After he went through the fifteenth he realized that something was wrong.

    ''I just reached the late stage and I already have this much¡­ how many will I get?''

    His cultivation was reaching new before seen heights. The foundation pillars kept being created as he absorbed a massive amount of energy from outside. The whole room began to rumble as the walls were being strained by all of this might.

    With this amount of noise, he also believed that he would be found out soon. This is also why he could not stop. Along with his opened eyes, he also opened his mouth and started to absorb everything.

    He was not sure what was happening outside but he would not be surprised if the whole lightning storm wasn''t being forced into this room. With another resounding boom, he reached the great circle stage of foundation establishment.

    His whole body was now surrounded by a giant golden pillar of light. This pillar shot up and drilled through the ceiling. If they didn''t spot him before, they would certainly be aware that he was here now. The pillar of light reached all up to the sky and he could feel all of the lightning energy being s.u.c.k.e.d in by him.

    ''Hey Bob what''s happening, I should have broken through already...''

    There were already over sixty foundation pillars and he had reached the great circle realm but it was still continuing. Without knowing what to do he finally asked his AI companion for some help.

    "User''s increased soul capacity has caused a unique cultivation variation¡­ warning¡­ user will die if he doesn''t break through¡­"

    ''Well, thanks a lot¡­"

    Finally, as that seventieth pillar was formed he felt a jolt in his very being. He could feel something changing in his dantian and also in his soul. This was also followed by a bout of pain, pain that he had never felt before. It felt like his insides were being ripped apart by these energies.

    He screamed out in pain as everything started collapsing around him. The whole place exploded and he shot up into the sky as a rocket. But even while in pain, he could feel it. He could feel his core being created and it looked like there was more than one¡­

 Chapter 358

    "What''s happening?"

    Elder Jingyi asked after feeling the whole place trembling, soon a person burst through the entrance to this meeting chamber.

    "Elders! We are being attacked!"

    "What!?"

    All the people in this room were the heads of the Thunderball hall. All of them were gathered in this room and no one was able to notice any enemies getting closer.

    "How could this be? Why wasn''t the alarm sounded?"

    "They appeared out of the mist, we only detected the enemies after they started attacking the protective barrier."

    "Who are the enemies, who dare attack the Thunderball Hall?"

    All the people looked at the sect member that burst through the door, the man quickly replied.

    "It''s the Blood Poison Cult! They have the whole sect surrounded, they must have sneaked in during the night!"

    "The Blood Poison Cult? Then it must be true, she really did betray us¡­"

    One of the high elders commented as he recalled the Sect Leader''s granddaughter being rumored to have betrayed them. With their sudden attack right after their strongest member was poisoned this was too much of a coincidence.

    "It doesn''t matter now, everyone protect the disciples, we must protect the sect, someone go inform the Sect Leader! Contact the other righteous sects, see if they will aid us in this time of need!"

    The elders soon scrambled, this was a life or death situation. Everyone knew that this Evil sect of poison users would not stop until everyone was dead. Fleeing was not an option as they would just be hunted down to the end of the world.

    On the outside, everyone was woken up by a blaring alarm. The outer sect elders and disciples were forced to defend themselves as they were the closest. The protective shield that was surrounding the whole mountain started cracking each time it was hit by the enemy''s powerful attacks.

    "That''s it, break it down, kill everyone, don''t let anyone survive, no prisoners!"

    An elder from the Blood Poison Cult shouted. He was wearing a dark red robe that was surrounded by a purple haze of poisonous energy.

    This was a coordinated attack. This sect came to eradicate the Thunderball hall and take their resources. Siege weapons were firing off large boulders filled with poison.

    Many demonic cultivators were already in their battle formations and taking the appearances of ghastly demonic creatures. They pounded on the protective barrier with their massive claws and tendril-like appendages until it broke down.

    The bloodbath soon started, the outer sect members were no match for the elite army of this sect. The disciples were quickly evacuated towards the inner sect while the elders and seniors tried to stall.

    Even though this was the Thunderball Hall''s territory the protective formations and weapons didn''t slow down the approach of the enemy sect. It looked like the plans of the defenses that this sect was keeping a secret were also stolen.

    It seemed that they knew where all the traps were placed and where all of the weak points were. With a lack of defensive measures the Outer Sect was quickly collapsing and people were forced to quickly evacuate into the inner sect where there was a stronger protective barrier.

    "Hah, run you little roaches, you will not escape your fate!"

    A large booming voice was heard by everyone, in the sky, three people were seen floating around. They were not using any treasures to float around as they didn''t have to. Each of these three had a cultivation level of a Late Stage Supreme Saint.

    "Brother Ying, your Blood Poison Cult looks ferocious today, it does seem that we won''t be needed."

    The man that previously shouted was wearing a Blood Poison Cult''s robe that showed off that he was the leader. The two people that were floating next to him had other robes and were clearly not from this sect.

    "I thank you brother for your words but we must stay vigilant, that Zheng Tengfei might still be alive."

    The other two men nodded. They were two sect leaders from allied demonic sects. Zheng Ting was put under a demonic bond with the Blood Poison Cult''s leader. She was brainwashed into loving him and revealed to be his perfect spy.

    The cult was forced to act after they got news that this Thunderball Hall leader was close to ascending into the Saint Emperor realm. If that happened they would be surely eradicated by this righteous sect''s new might.

    Before that would happen they planned this out, the two Supreme Saints here were just the backup plan if the old Hall leader proved to be stronger than expected.

    "You dare steal away my granddaughter!"

    Soon the fight was brought over to the inner sect barrier and the Patriarch was forced to show himself. He was clearly not doing great as he was forced to stand on a floating platform.

    "If it isn''t old man Tengfei, you''re not looking so good, is something wrong?"

    The cult leader laughed out while the two men to his sides chuckled with him.

    "Do you think you can leave here unscathed? Do you think my sect won''t put up a fight? You forget where you are!"

    The old man held out a trident in front of himself and raised it up into the sky. When he did the whole lightning tower began to churn with power. The lightning bolts started being absorbed into the tower''s lightning rods as the whole tower started bursting with energy.

    "Even in my weakened state, I can still operate the ancestral tower!"

    "Hah, are you sure about that?"

    The cult leader brought out a strange pendant and while the patriarch was ready to deliver judgment upon the enemies he activated it. The pendant glowed in red and with it, a strange tattoo appeared on Tengfei''s neck.

    The old man started vomiting purple smoke and quickly lost focus. The tower that was glowing brightly quickly lost its power and the lightning bolts started firing off in random directions even causing damage to the inner sect.

    "Did you really think I would come here to be killed by that treasure? You forget that I''m a master of poison!"

    The cult leader knew that Tengfei was the only one able to operate this huge tower of lightning. With the sect leader now down on the ground and vomiting blood, there was nothing to stop them from eradicating this sect.

    "Everyone attack! That protective formation will run out of power soon, they lost their trump card!"

    But while some of the lesser elders from the Thunderball Hall were trying to activate the patriarch''s trident something strange started to happen. The whole tower started rumbling and the lightning storm above became rowdy.

    For a moment the cult was still outside, still attacking the protective barrier. The people only noticed a bit later that all of the lightning was being absorbed by one lightning rod on the tower. This rod soon started melting as it could not contain all of the energy and a large hole was blown from the inside.

    "What is that¡­"

    "Oh no, the tower is no more and the protective formation is done for, we are all going to die!"

    While the Hall members cried out in panic the cult members stopped with their approach as their leader shouted.

    "Brother Ying, was this also one of your plans?"

    The two Supreme Saints next to the cult leader asked as it didn''t look to be so.

    "No¡­ did you also notice?"

    "Yes, there is a person in that pillar of light¡­ the power is immense¡­"

    "Let us attack!"

    The three Supreme Saints nodded at each other as they didn''t like how this looked. It seemed that this Thunderball Hall had another secret that they didn''t know about. They all combined their attacks and fired them into the sky at the person inside of the storm.

    "GAHHHhhhh"

    A massive shout was heard by everyone and prompted them to look up. What they saw there was a giant ball of deep blue lightning energy that looked like a sun. As this energy came to be it lit up the night. The whole place was illuminated and it looked like it was daytime.

    The dark energy attack that were fired off by the Supreme Saints collided with this large ball of lightning energy but could not pierce through it. It seemed that Zhang Dong''s ascension was not going to be stopped by external factors.

    He could feel it, his lightning core was being formed. It was much larger than the one that he had before and it crackled with deep blue lightning energy. This wasn''t all, there were still more foundation pillars to go as this was only a third.

    A second core that was pure gold and radiated the holiest of energies was created soon after. With its creation, the deep blue ball of lightning that he was surrounded with turned to gold and gave out a burst or repulsion.

    The demonic cultivators and poison users were pushed back by these holy energies. Some of them were instantly knocked out cold while others started vomiting pitch-black blood.

    This was not over yet as Zhang Dong had to focus more. There was one more core to go and soon the rest of the foundation pillars started to melt and be absorbed into a new core. This one didn''t really have a color as it was translucent in nature, it was the soul core.

    With one last shout, the ball of electricity turned white and everything was engulfed in it. The people had to avert their gazes while some that didn''t would be temporarily blinded.

    Zhang Dong gave out a sigh of relief as the massive pain that took him over was quickly subsiding. The bright light that surrounded his body was also vanishing and he could smell the fresh air outside.

    When he was ascending into the core formation realm he had momentarily lost his senses. The first thing that he noticed is his ability to fly, this was not something a core formation cultivator should be able to do.

    When he checked, he could feel that his all-around power level was about half of what it was when he was a nascent soul early stage cultivator. Maybe after he digested this unique realm change, he would get even stronger.

    Finally, he started glancing around and he noticed that he was surrounded from all sides. Below him were the Hall members while everywhere else there were evil-looking cultivators dressed in black robes.

    Before he could ask about what was happening he heard an old man that seemed to be poisoned call out to him.

    "T-that robe¡­ that ring... is it possible¡­ is it the great ancestor? Did you manage to survive the dreaded petrification curse?"

    ''The what now?''

    When petrification was mentioned he could only think back to the coffin that he found a crumbled stone statue with a spatial ring. The same ring he had around his finger as it was of a much higher caliber than the rest.

    ''Does this mean that that was a person in there¡­ but what is this situation¡­''

    He started looking around, it seemed that he was right in the middle of a good old-fashioned sect cleansing. Apparently, he was now the ancestor of the losing side.

    ''Oh boy, here we go again.''

 Chapter 359

    Zhang Dong looked at his spatial ring and the new white robe that he apparently lifted off a dead man''s coffin. If he was in a game he would probably have gotten the grave robber achievement.

    He expected to be met with strange gazes after he appeared but there were far too many people here. Not only was the whole Thunderball Hall out here but also some other sect.??

    This other sect was quite evil-looking. He could see many monsters that looked like centipedes and spiders standing along with these cultivators. Their attacking formations were radiating poisonous and demonic energies as well.

    It was clear that while he was busy cultivating this righteous sect had been attacked but the other side. He was far too busy with his cultivation to notice anything that was happening outside. The room he was in was also sealed off so no one noticed him either until he blasted off into the sky.

    After reaching that sealed-off room he had hoped to silently breakthrough. The plan was quickly discarded after his cultivation effort became a bit chaotic. To not go crazy from the pain he also hastened his ascension by directly jumping into the eye of the storm.

    Now the sky above him was devoid of any lightning energies as he had swallowed it up. It would probably take a while till this area recharges itself and years to get back to the previous levels.

    "Ancestor? Was there an ancestor like that? How could one still be alive?"

    Suddenly the people started talking. With his appearance, the Thunderball Hall members became chatty while the enemies backed away. Zhang Dong was now radiating energies similar to a powerful Supreme Saint. His cultivation was of his own empire so the people were not quite sure where he stood.

    "T-there was one¡­ one of the old ones, the long lost ancestor that suffered a curse of petrification¡­"

    The old man that was talking wiped his mouth from the blood that he had vomited out. It was the Hall Patriarch that was affected by the poison. During Zhang Dong''s appearance, he had regained some strength as the Poison Cult leader had stopped using his poison treasure.

    "There was a legend the previous Patriarch passed on to me, of our ancestor that gave his life to protect the Hall. The legend stated that he was still somewhere on the sect grounds but the knowledge of where exactly was lost to time¡­"

    Zhang Dong listened to this story and was able to come to a conclusion. This ancestor had died a long time ago but the room he was placed in was probably designed to keep him alive.

    Through the ages, it was forgotten and probably the formations hiding his chamber were above the current sect''s knowledge. Only legends remained that no one really took seriously, even the ancestor''s true name was lost.

    "So this is their trump card? An ancestor? Do they think that we were born yesterday? He is only a Supreme Saint at the late stage."

    "You are right brother Ying, he is trying to mask his cultivation but it''s easy to see through it!"

    "Their whole tower was now destroyed, Tengfei is in my grasp. Aid me, brothers. Let us kill that fake ancestor and reap the rewards!"

    Zhang Dong could clearly hear what the trio of gloomy cultivators was talking about. His presence was not strong enough for them to just back away. It looked like he would be fighting his way out of it.

    There was also an option of running away. These three might not be able to chase after him or even try. That was not something that he would do, he still felt bad about absorbing the lightning storm that belonged to this sect. He would also not leave so many people to just be slaughtered.

    "Hold your foul tongue you bastard, you dare offend the great ancestor?"

    The Thunderball Hall Patriarch got really feisty after hearing the enemies belittle his so-called ''ancestor''. He was quickly put in his place by the cult leader that activated the treasure. It made the old man vomit up more blood and poison, which was quite a sight.

    "Be quiet old man, your deaths are already assured, now my brothers and sisters att¡­"

    "You sure have been talking a lot of shit for someone in slapping distance."

    Before the cult leader could finish his speech a booming voice spread out through the whole sect grounds. Zhang Dong finally spoke out which caused all of the demonic and poisonous beasts that this sect brought over to cower in fear.

    "What?"

    Zhang Dong quickly vanished from his spot in the clouds and appeared before the old man. Tengfei looked like he was close to withering away. His face was purple and he looked very skinny, it was a miracle that he was able to hold on for so long.

    "A-ancestor?"

    The Hall Patriarch was surrounded by other elders from his sect that were unsure what to do. But they were not even able to react as with one step he appeared right before the dying man.

    "Don''t talk and let me heal you."

    He touched the old man''s forehead with his finger that gave out a golden glow. He activated his healing energies that caused his golden core to churn with energy.

    The old man''s body began glowing in a radiant golden light. This light uncovered many purple-colored spots in his body and forced them outside. He could see this purple miasma being quickly expelled in the form of smoke out of the man''s body as he was nourished back to health almost instantly.

    "Impossible¡­ my poison¡­"

    The cult leader was taken aback after seeing Zhang Dong cure the old man of his affliction. The whole process of healing was far too fast for a high grade poison.

    "What?"

    There was also more, the pendant that he used to activate the poison started glowing as well. Soon he found himself throwing it into the air before it burst into tiny fragments, destroyed before his eyes.

    "My nine hydra poison pendant, how could it be affected from this far away!"

    "You should be fine now, how do you feel?"

    "I feel¡­ I feel great, my hip pain has also gone away¡­"

    The old man stood up on his own two feet and his face looked quite rosy. Zhang Dong was a bit surprised at the potency of his own healing arts. Previously he needed to use needles to insert his holy energies into the correct acupuncture spots but now it seemed that he wouldn''t need to do that anymore.

    The golden core that he made had all of his healing Dao inside of it. Thanks to it being a whole separate core it wasn''t as limited. Then there was his lightning core which looked more similar to the one that he had before he ascended to the nascent soul realm.

    It could be just regular lightning as well as golden. There was no drop in power whatsoever and using both at once was also not a problem. Then there was the translucent soul core which was the biggest mystery.

    From what he could tell, he could also add it to his lightning attacks. He needed to test it first but he was sure that when he added the soul core he would be able to damage the soul directly.

    This would prove quite good against any nascent soul cultivator. They would probably not be able to use their nascent divinity to escape any fights as his attacks would damage it directly. Then there were the phantom and ghost-type enemies that would also not pose a threat.

    "Great, then stay here."

    Zhang Dong nodded as he could see the patient had recovered. He turned around and looked to the three Supreme Saints in the distance.

    "Great Ancestor, let this Tengfei help you!"

    With his health being recovered the old man was now also at the level of these three. From what Zhang Dong could tell the was a little bit stronger.

    "No need, just protect your sect members, leave the punching bags to me."

    "Punching bags, great ancestor?"

    Zhang Dong nodded while strutting forward. His body flew forward at a great spread which caused the three cultivators to take out defensive positions.

    "Hey you three stooges, let''s take this somewhere less populated."

    He shouted out while charging forward, the three cultivators reacted by putting up a barrier which was quickly broken by Zhang Dong''s charge.

    The closest old man was promptly kicked in the stomach and sent flying into the distance. The other two were grasped by the necks and yanked. Soon the three vanished from the area in a matter of seconds leaving both sides stunned. The leftover silence was then broken by the Hall Patriarch.

    "What are you doing? Don''t you see that we have the Great Ancestor on our side! Defend the sect, their beasts are weakened, their formations are nothing, defend the Hall!"

    The old man''s shout invigorated the large gathering of lightning cultivators. They just witnessed a powerful ally easily removing the three strongest combatants from the board. This was the best moment for a counterattack.

    Everyone nodded and soon they also charged into battle. The charge was led by the Hall Patriarch that now with the disappearance of the sect leaders was the strongest person here. He quickly picked up the trident that he had dropped, even if it was unable to use the tower''s might it was still a powerful weapon.

    Zhang Dong could hear the shouts behind him and wanted to give out a sigh. He wished to minimize the bloodshed but it seemed that his new friends were still battle-happy cultivators. Even though he would be fine if they just turtled up until he returned they were going on the offensive.

    "This should be far enough."

    With another kick the middle stooge found himself forming a crater in the ground. The two men that he was holding up by the neck were also thrown to the ground and bounced around it like stringless puppets.

    "Hm, maybe I expected a bit more from you three¡­"

    At first, he thought that he was just a little bit stronger than these three but this didn''t seem like it was the case. He was still only an early stage core formation cultivator but his might was approaching the nascent soul level.

    "You cur, how dare you do this to me¡­ I will eat your soul."

    The man that he had kicked repeatedly while flying here finally floated back up into the sky. Previously he was wearing some kind of mask but now it had fallen off and was showing his ghoulish features.

    "You sure you don''t mean sole? You were eating it quite a bit back there."

    "Ying never told me anything about this, if we survive you better pay up."

    "I apologize brothers, I did not expect someone like that to be in that sect but together we can kill him!"

    The three finally recovered enough to float up around him. They surrounded him in a triangle formation. The ugly demonic cultivators burst forth with evil energies while chanting, it was finally time

 Chapter 360

    Zhang Dong hovered in the air while looking down at his opponents. One of them was quite handsome for his age but he could tell that the man was using a disguising technique. Below it he could see a face that only a mother could love.

    Behind him, there were the shouts of many people. The battle had reached its focal point and to end it he would need to end these three old farts.??

    "If you surrender, I promise to only cripple your cultivations and you may live the rest of your lives atoning for your sins."

    "Surrender? It''s you who should surrender, I don''t know who you are but you can not defeat all of us. Now brothers, let us destroy this man and claim what is ours!"

    The man that looked younger than the rest proclaimed while the other two just nodded. He knew that there was no use trying to bargain with these types but he liked to give people an option.

    "Is that so, well then¡­"

    Zhang Dong pointed out with his finger and behind him, a circle of magic appeared. It was followed by many more such circles which riddled the sky behind him in a mass of bright lights.

    "Mass Lightning Arrow."

    The three stooges were in the process of chanting a strange ritualistic spell as well. The moment the swarm of bright blue lightning bolts descended on them a dark purple shield appeared before them.

    This shield looked to be holding out fine but this soon changed as the onslaught of lightning bolts descended onto them.

    "How could he attack for so long¡­"

    The arrow rain was without mercy and the magical circles remained in place. Soon the three men inside the barrier started sweating. It was clear to them that they might not be able to outlast this enemy and drastic measures needed to be taken.

    Zhang Dong just looked at them while being calm. This was mostly a test of his new cultivation realm that he had achieved. He was still not used to the three cores inside of him and how they could work independently from each other.

    While he was contemplating his move the three demonic cultivators acted. They chose to overload their protective shield and cause it to explode. This caused a massive burst of evil energies to be exuded into the surrounding area.

    Plants and insects that were in the close vicinity all died instantly. The whole place was covered by a strange greenish mist that even enveloped Zhang Dong''s body.

    Even then he remained calm. It was clear that this was something akin to a smokescreen that these cultivators used to surprise their opponents. Any regular cultivator would be forced to retreat in fear of being poisoned by this miasma.

    Zhang Dong on the other hand instead of running he activated his golden core. A radiant glow of holy energy covered his entire body. There was a certain lack of lightning energies surrounding his body.

    "Oh no, not the dark mist, what will I do now¡­"

    He chuckled a bit as the poison and evil energies could not penetrate through this thin layer of holy energy. It would be easy to just remove it almost instantly but if he did that, then the enemies would not come to him by their own volition.

    Soon the first took the bait as he raised his hand up and added some lightning energies to his palm. With this raised palm a bladed weapon connected, this weapon looked to be a pitch-black battle scythe.

    "You demonic types sure like those scythes of yours¡­ wouldn''t a spear or halberd be much more proficient?"

    "How did you¡­"

    The cultivator''s eyes went wide as his sneak attack was blocked by Zhang Dong''s palm. Even though his bodily cultivation was still at the silver body level he could block attacks like these by surrounding his body parts with concentrated Qi instead.

    This was one of the more basic protective techniques but also one of the hardest to do during the heat of the battle. The cultivator needed to focus on the direct moment of impact. If they timed it badly they would suffer dearly for it.

    "I guess you will be the first one."

    The other two cultivators were not far away, one was below while the other one was above him. Before they could finish their combination attack, Zhang Dong grasped the scythe with his hand.

    Both him and the evil cultivator lit up like a bright star and caused all of the mist to be consumed by the light. The two men that were trying to attack him from two sides were forced back and had to use defensive trinkets to protect themselves.

    "One down, two to go¡­"

    "What!?"

    After the bright light subsided they could see their ally''s charred body. It soon started crumbling into dust as it was incinerated by the lightning energies.

    "Blast you Ying! This was not part of the deal, I did not come here to die!"

    The ones that remained were the Poison Cult master and one of his friends. This friend was clearly not too keen on remaining here anymore. This was one of the most common traits of these types of people.

    They were strong against weak people but their confidence quickly crumbled at any sign of resistance. They would not put themselves in harm''s way to help their allies, sooner they would plunge a dagger in their back so that they would have more time to flee.

    "No brother, we must fight together if we don''t¡­"

    "Screw you, you are no brother of mine!"

    Zhang Dong looked at the two men fighting in front of him. They were quick to blame each other and clearly none of them was concerned about their other allies'' death.

    Ying was unable to convince this man who tossed out some items towards Zhang Dong. Some turned into strange creatures that flew towards his way, while others created more poisonous smoke.

    "I might have overestimated your strength or I might be stronger than I originally thought."

    He gave out a sigh and released a new aspect of his aura into the surrounding area. It wasn''t very flashy as there was a certain lack of a golden aura around him. Instead, his body was covered by a dim transparent glow.

    The creatures that were attacking him found themselves dropping down from the sky as if a mountain was weighing down on them.

    "Wh-what is this¡­"

    "How could someone like this have been hidden away in the Thunderball Hall?"

    "Please, senior, I didn''t have anything to do with this. It was all that Ying, he made me do it! Show mercy!"

    After the dust was cleared both of the cultivators were seen down on the ground. They were grasping their c.h.e.s.t in the spot where their heart was. They could not move and breathing came hard as they were being successfully suppressed by Zhang Dong''s soul core.

    This core in particular allowed Zhang Dong to affect other people''s souls. Soul arts were a forgotten art and very few texts existed on how to harness the power of the soul. Thus for him, that had this soul core it was easy to directly attack his opponent''s immortal souls.

    "Your types are quick to change your tune at the drop of the hat, I gave you a chance to surrender."

    His opponents were now defenseless and before him. They were unable to fight back as he was successfully suppressing their souls. If this was the old Zhang Dong then he might have been merciful but after years of struggles, he was not so kind.

    "You have killed many and you would kill more if you were left amongst the living, I shall give you a quick death."

    He began concentrating and thought back to one of the techniques he discovered in the spatial ring. It was very similar to one of his old moves that he was unable to do because of the lack of a nascent soul.

    Zhang Dong clasped his hands together and his body was surrounded by a deep blue light. This light soon expanded while being followed by crackling thunder and lightning.

    It started as a small circle but soon turned to a hundred meters in diameter. Then with a burst of lightning, a draconic head emerged from within. On this head, Zhang Dong was standing proudly.

    Soon a huge lightning dragon could be spotted by everyone in the vicinity, its howls filling everyone with fear.

    "N-no, I can not die here¡­"

    "No please, what do you want? Spirit stones? V.i.r.g.i.ns? I can give you all, I will pledge my life to you senior, just let me live."

    Zhang Dong didn''t answer while the man pleaded. The time for talking was over as the dragon opened his mouth. A large ball of electricity formed in front of its maw and continued to increase in size.

    "I hope you can find solace in your next life¡­"

    The lightning dragon''s breath descended on the ground and the two disabled cultivators. The massive burst of energy almost instantly disintegrated both of them into atoms while producing a giant explosion.

    The fight between the sects came to a stop as none of them were able to move a muscle while under this lightning dragon''s aura.

    "Well then."

    Zhang Dong looked down to the giant hole that he blasted with the help of this lightning dragon. It was not quite the same as his soul beast but could be used during his core formation days.

    He finally turned back to the Thunderball Sect, it was time to clear things out with the locals and then finally try going back home. With the increase in his cultivation, his system was revitalized, maybe now he could teleport back and see his family...

 Chapter 361

    Silence fell upon the entire mountain range. The previous thunderous region that was covered by storms was now devoid of it. The sunlight started to rise on the horizon and gave birth to a new day bringing an end to the slaughter.

    Zhang Dong was hovering above a large crowd of people. His body was radiating an oppressive aura which was causing both sides to remain quiet.??

    After the three Supreme Saints were vanquished by him in a very flashy matter the fighting had stopped. The evil sect members were down on the ground cowering in fear.

    When the top elders fell in battle the juniors knew that there was no way of surviving. Zhang Dong was also already on a level where he could single-handedly dispose of the rest of them. The only way of survival would be to scatter and hope that he would not be able to kill them all too fast.

    ''Hm¡­ some parts of the system seem to be back in working order but the most important one¡­''

    Zhang Dong''s eyebrows furrowed as he went through his system window. The part involving his sect was the most important one and he was now looking at it. He hoped to see the information about his family there. They were part of his faction so the information should be there.

    ''It''s all grayed out¡­ Bob, do you know something?''

    ''The system update was successful, some functions have a distance limit.''

    ''I''m too far away from the sect?''

    ''Affirmative.''

    ''Could you update my map to show me how close I have to get?''

    Soon Zhang Dong was looking at a holographic image of the world. He was on the other side of this empire and it would take quite some time to get back. His hopes of at least seeing the passage of time was also denied.

    His faction-building part of the system showed him the ages of his followers. If he was able to see their age he would know if more than a year had passed as his memory of them was still strong.

    ''Damn, I have to get all the way to the border¡­ useless shitty system.''

    Zhang Dong cursed out which caused a thunderous noise to escape from the heavens. The people below were looking cowered in fear and started to bow.

    "Please senior, show mercy. We could not go against the wishes of the patriarch!"

    "How dare you speak!"

    Tengfei the sect Patriarch shouted out soon after. His trident was stained with the blood of his enemies, his bloodl.u.s.t still not satiated. With the three strongest cultivators being busy with Zhang Dong he had killed most of the other Supreme Saints that were below the late stage all by himself. The man that was pleading for his life was the only one left alive now.

    "Ah right, I forgot about you guys¡­"

    Zhang Dong gave out a sigh, the most important functions of his system were not working. The teleportation option was also something that was activated when he was at the nascent soul level. Even if he got it now, he felt that it would also be out of range.

    When he was in the Azure Dragon empire he did not find any limitations but that was only because he could not travel beyond it in the first place. His disciple window was also not working; everything had a range limit.

    "Didn''t have a choice? There is always a choice."

    Zhang Dong finally started speaking, his body started shining as he descended from the heavens.

    He was not a naive person, he knew very well that these people had blood on their hands. Even with that some of them were probably victims of their circ.u.mstances.

    These demonic cults and evil sects had a way that they operated. Most of the time they would go pillaging through the villages stealing the young men and women away. They would sometimes use them for their strange experiments and the ones that proved themselves would be taken in as disciples.

    Even with that, it was probably too late to save them. Their characters have been tempered by bloody battles and carnage. Taking such a person and trying to bring them back into the light would be quite the hard task, one that Zhang Dong didn''t feel like he would be able to go through with.

    "Your lives may be spared¡­"

    The pleading man''s eyes lit up at the motion of spearing their lives but soon they went wide after Zhang Dong continued.

    "You all will give up your lives as cultivators and become mortals, you can continue living as servants."

    The cult members cried out in shock at this proposition. For a lot of people in this world losing one''s cultivation was something worse than death. Living with no power in a world ruled by power was a sentence most cruel.

    "But senior I implore you to reconsider, we could form a soul contract you may still have use for our cults powers!"

    "A soul contract?"

    There was that, it would force people to do your biddings. They would still have their cultivation but would be not able to go against the person hanging on to part of their soul. They would be nothing more than slaves but they would still be able to cultivate.

    It was funny that the people here would rather become mindless slaves just to keep their small amount of power. Living as a farmer or a baker seemed like a worse deal to them.

    Even the Patriarch from the Thunderball Hall seemed to be considering this proposition. It would be quite a boon to their sect if they could enslave thousands of cultivators. They would have a battle-hardened unit of cultivators that they could order to die for them.

    It was far too dangerous to let them at large and Zhang Dong did not want to have more deaths on his conscience.

    "No, you will become mortals. There is no need for your types to possess this amount of power."

    After saying that he pointed out with his finger. A thick ray of golden lightning energy shot out and at the halfway point down it split into many more rays of energy. All of these rays traveled towards their targets and connected with their dantians.

    The people that were hit by these beams cried out in pain as they got hit. He was not able to just cripple everyone here, his power was not quite there yet. What he did was aim for the people that were around the Martial Saint and Supreme Saint realm. By holding them back with his soul core they weren''t resisting much.

    "Cripple the rest, you come with me."

    He pointed out towards the Hall Patriarch while everyone was too afraid to raise their heads. With the strongest fighters now out of commission, this elder here was not needed.

    "What do you need, great ancestor?"

    The old man bowed his head and clasped his hands as he was beckoned over. Zhang Dong could tell that after healing this old man he was quite grateful. It was time for him to start his journey through the empire but for that, he needed more information.

    "Yes, show me a detailed map of the empire and also take me to the sect''s treasury."

    It would be unwise for him to go unprepared. He had already burned through most of his spirit stones. Those he could recover after getting into this sect''s treasury. He felt that after saving all of their lives a reward was in order.

    He would not just drain the sect of all of their riches, only the items that would aid him in recovering his cultivation. Luckily this sect was concentrated in the lightning element, thus he had reason to believe that there would be many treasures involving his favorite element.

    "Yes Great Ancestor, follow this junior."

    The Patriarch didn''t even react at the mention of the treasury. It seemed that he was fast to switch into the junior''s position after seeing Zhang Dong''s might. Clearly, he believed him to be the man that died inside that coffin.

    The proof that this was untrue had been destroyed during Zhang Dong''s cultivation as the room he was in had exploded. The huge hole at the top of the tower was proof.

    The Patriarch quickly guided Zhang Dong to the tower, the old man could also fly so he was the perfect guide. The inside of the tower looked a bit different as all of the illusory formations inside had been deactivated. Luckily the treasure room that was in the middle section was still there and well protected.

    "I will bring the map of the empire promptly!"

    "Mhm."

    Zhang Dong nodded as he was left in the treasure room. Compared to the White Tiger Clan that he had robbed, this place had much more. The spirit stones were of middle grade quality as well as of high quality. There were many earth grade weapons and even armor that he could use to quickly improve his body''s cultivation.

    ''I should be able to reach the golden body easily with all of these, the spirit stones should help me boost my cultivation directly."

    "A..ancestor I have brought the map¡­"

    It was clear that the old man was against this daylight robbery. He could not say or do anything about it, from his point of view the ancestor was the sect. Zhang Dong was someone above the Patriarch.

    "Good, show me where those three sects are located that attacked us¡­"

    "Ancestor¡­ Do you intend to go there?"

    Zhang Dong just nodded. He was not stupid enough to just start his journey when there was much more to be gained here. The strongest fighters from these three were now dead, the resistance that would be offered were minimal.

    His plan was to clear out the three evil sects from their treasures and only then make his way back towards his empire. Even when he recovered his ability to fly it was slower than his nascent soul realm spread.

    It would take him a month to reach the border, before that he could clear out these sects which would also protect this one from any more deaths.

    "I will make it so that they won''t be able to retaliate but then I must set off on my own journey, I will leave the sect in your care."

    "B-but Ancestor¡­"

    "This is my decision and this is what will happen."

    He replied in a stern voice which caused this Patriarch to shrink back in fright. It was time to finally set off and time to begin his journey back home.

 Chapter 362

    "Where did you hide your treasure?"

    "I''ll never tell a righteous sect sc.u.m¡­ ARGBLARGh¡­"??

    A dark cultivator in a robe was seen being electrocuted, his body lit up like a dark sky during a firework show. Soon he dropped down to the ground while slightly twitching, his cultivation clearly ruined.

    "Damn, word spreads fast here¡­"

    Zhang Dong glanced over to some other cowering evil cultivators. He had arrived at the third and last sect that had attacked the Thunderball Hall. His plan was to go through the sects one by one and take away all of their most precious treasures but he had miscalculated.

    When he arrived at the first sect, there was still a lot of treasures around but already a large chunk of the sect members had scattered. At the second one there were even fewer people around while on the third one, there were only some old farts left behind that probably didn''t have any worth to their sects.

    It was clear that the information of his arrival spread fast and they evacuated. What was left behind were only items for beginner disciples that no one cared about. The items like high-grade spirit stones that he wanted were all gone.

    If he decided to give chase he could probably gain some of those riches back. The biggest problem was that there were just too many variables. It was easy to stash everything in the spatial rings among many people. With this world being this big he could spend a month looking for everyone and still not get it all.

    "Slaves¡­"

    Zhang Dong took a glance at one of the cowering cultivators. It was clear to him that they were all compelled to stay here by some kind of occult contract. While they stalled him the true masters would run away and hide.

    ''I don''t have time to play hide and seek but it would be better to gain more strength.''

    While thinking he started glancing at the people here. He was in the middle of a large hall that was the main chamber for the big wigs in this evil sect. There he found a small group of people that had the stench of death on them.

    "You there, come here."

    He did a grasping motion towards one of the old men that was here. This one had the largest cultivation realm from them all and seemed to have been the leader. After grasping him by the neck he started scanning.

    "Hm¡­ I wonder¡­ this might hurt¡­"

    "W-what?"

    The man asked before a strange shadowy aura descended onto him. Zhang Dong used his soul core to poke and prod at the curse that was keeping this man as a slave. All of these contracts were based on soul arts so in theory, he could be able to overpower it.

    These contracts were easily produced as they only required the person affected to accept them. This could be done in many ways but most of the time it was done by a simple death threat. The evil cultivators were famous for doing this mostly out of fear of betrayal.

    The man landed on the ground while grasping his c.h.e.s.t. He convulsed for a moment before settling, the other cultivators were aghast by the presentation of torture. They thought they would be next in line but surprisingly their fellow sect member opened his eyes and stood up soon after.

    "The soulbond is broken¡­ how could this be¡­ who are you?"

    Zhang Dong just smirked a bit before crossing his arms over one another and puffing out his c.h.e.s.t.

    "It doesn''t matter who I am, now tell me, where did your strongest elder escape to. I already slew your Patriarch, the one next in line is the one I am looking for."

    "Next in line? That would probably be Elder Yuan, he was the Patriarch''s younger brother¡­"

    "That will do, tell me where he went, you are not bound to him anymore."

    Zhang Dong proclaimed while exuding a menacing aura. The man was clearly confused, living a life as a slave did change one''s outlook on life. It was hard to get rid of old habits of following orders out of fear.

    "I¡­ I will tell you senior, just swear to me that the bastard will suffer a painful death!"

    Surprisingly the man did a fast 180-degree turn and turned his hate to the people that enslaved him here. Years of rage bottled up due to being stripped of their freedom. The man was unable to hold it in anymore as he started shouting as if finally he could voice his opinion.

    "He will be dealt with, that I can promise you, now tell me where he went."

    After the man calmed himself down Zhang Dong received the coordinates. Apparently, they headed in the direction of something called the shadowlands. It was a place filled with shadow beasts that were hard to deal with.

    "Good, this will do."

    Zhang Dong started taking off from the ground after he got his information. The sect that he had invaded was a strange one. It was deep inside the forest with many flesh-eating venus fly trap-looking monsters. The eastern-looking buildings were wrapped up in vines that were clearly alive and moving.

    "I''m getting proficient at this, it''s nice to have most of my power back."

    With a few motions of his hand, he produced a round sphere of energy. At each side of the sphere, there were spell circles that were slowly circling around it.

    After pointing at this orb it activated. The magical circles started shooting out thin beams of light that started connecting with the cultivators that were still left alive here. Just as during his other sect attacks he robbed people of their cultivation.

    They would be left alive to live out their lives as mortals. He knew how the people in this world thought but that was just a mindset born from ignorance. There was nothing wrong in living a simple fulfilling life. Everyone here could very well build up a family and start anew.

    ''I hope this is the right thing¡­''

    The only problem that he saw with this would be the people''s character. He did not know if a bunch of demonic cultivators could turn over a new leaf. Would they just cause more death and destruction while harming others in hopes of regaining some of that lost power?

    Would they follow the law of the land out of fright instead and live simple lives? He did not know but he was unwilling to stain his hands even more than this. There were enough people that were now dead because of him and it looked like the count would only continue to increase.

    ''Shadowlands huh? There are always some shadowlands¡­"

    Zhang Dong turned to the sky and bolted towards his destination. His system map was updated with the help of the detailed one that he received from the Thunderball Hall. That one showed him all of the points of interest like sect location and distribution of the lands.

    Luckily they were in the direction that he would be heading anyway. While chasing after this sect''s treasure trove he needed to go through this map. The way he would be traveling was very important as there was an easy way and a hard way.

    With the map and the help of the Thunderball Hall''s Patriarch, he was given a couple of choices.

    If he headed in a straight line he would be pushing it. On the way, there were many dangerous places that could not be approached by anyone below the nascent soul level. He was already there but still lagged behind his old early stage cultivation.

    There were too many unknowns to try going in this fashion. He would be going through sect areas that had elders that were rumored to be Saint Emperor level. There were also a few spots with strong monsters and beasts that would also give him a run for his money.

    This option was taken to the side, unless he received some information of his sect being in immediate danger he needed to look out for himself. It would not do anyone any good if he was dead or crippled during his journey back.

    The best way that also took the least amount of time took him through some cities and points of interest instead. As before he still needed to cultivate, areas with lightning energies would bolster his cultivation but now a little problem arose.

    Due to the fact that he now had three cores, they all needed to be nourished at about the same rate. He could not exclusively absorb lightning energy and use it as a power source. The golden core required holy energies and the soul core required ethereal energies.

    He found it out the hard way after trying to absorb the thunder stones that he nabbed from the Hall. When only his lightning core started increasing in power it was quite noticeable. It was fine to absorb it for now but unless he managed a golden ratio of one-third for every core he would not be able to progress.

    Luckily for him, he still had his system which would aid him in this process. Even though it did lose a lot of its functions there was something it could do for him. By absorbing spirit stones he could use the points towards the core that was missing out. This process was not very cost-effective but it was the only thing that could help him further his power level.

    ''Lightning is quite easy to find, the problem will be with the two others¡­''

    Soon he arrived at the shadowlands that were in some kind of desolate area. Thanks to his soul core he could clearly see the shadowy phantoms lurking behind every corner.

    "Hm¡­ aren''t these phantoms just decrepit souls of the dead? They should be enough to nourish my soul core¡­"

    He rubbed his chin while glancing at some of the dark shades, one, in particular, was hiding in a tree stump.

    "Come here, little guy¡­"

    With a thump, he landed next to that tree stump and reached into it. The creature of the shades had elongated appendages which it started flailing around but the moment he utilized his soul core the shade found itself unable to move.

    With some prodding here and there Zhang Dong managed to figure out the process. He opened up his mouth and a strange suction force was produced. When this force hit the shade it started siphoning away its essence.

    The creature cried out in shock but soon faded away into nothingness. Zhang Dong gave out a burp before covering his mouth.

    "Excuse me."

    His soul core started radiating some light as it absorbed the soul energy that this creature possessed. There was not much of it there but he could feel that he was making progress.

    "I guess the shadowlands will soon just be called the lands¡­"

 Chapter 363

    "Elder Xiong we have locked the exits as you have instructed, the phantoms won''t be able to enter."

    "What did you call me?"??

    "El¡­ I mean Patriarch!"

    "Yes, that''s better."

    A smaller group of about a hundred shadowy cultivators were in a large spacious cavern. The glowing moss on the walls was illuminating this place with a greenish light.

    "Listen to me, my brothers and sisters. Our old sect might have been destroyed but that doesn''t matter, we shall rebuild and create a new one. We will rise from the ashes and become more powerful than ever!"

    The group of cultivators that were here were the remnants of one of the evil sects that had previously attacked the Thunderball Hall. They weren''t fully involved as their previous patriarch had just gone with an old friend to aid him.

    "I must apologize to all of you, my idiot brother brought this upon us."

    "It''s not Patriarch''s fault, no one knew that such a monster was hiding in that righteous sect."

    Everyone nodded as they were informed of one of the other sects going down in only an hour. This white-haired devil was seen destroying everything in his paths and not even the great formations could stop them.

    "We will be safe here, we will send a party out to search for a new sect location for us."

    "How about we go to the lower reaches and take over one of the lesser sects? With our dark arts, we could easily make their weak cultivators do our biddings."

    "Not a bad plan brother, it would save us from having to hide in this place but for now we need to¡­ What was that?"

    They were an evil sect that somewhat knew how to evade the evil phantoms outside. This didn''t mean that they would be able to contend with the stronger ones.

    The only thing that was protecting them were a few old treasures and this safe house that had been built by their ancestors. Most of the people here didn''t know how to repair the formations that kept the evil souls away. If they suffered a massive earthquake and this place collapsed they would be doomed.

    "Don''t worry, this is normal, the shadowlands are surrounded by a storm of death. That''s probably what''s making a ruckus outside."

    The people from the evil sect made their way into this place through a set of tunnels even before they reached the shadowlands. They had collapsed the exit for now out of fear but there were other pathways that they could use after everything had settled.

    "What is that thumping? Is it getting closer?"

    The rumbling stopped for a moment but then they started hearing a strange sound coming from one of the walls. It was as if someone was hitting it with a sledgehammer while being quite far away.

    "No it''s impossible¡­ could someone really be outside?"

    The wall started to shake and the cultivators that were gathered here took out their weapons. The Patriarch moved forward as he was the strongest master here, in his hand a special medallion that had a purple shine to it.

    "It might be one of the death beasts, get ready even if it enters here it will be weakened by the formation, it should not break just from this."

    There were several hiding spots that he could use while the phantoms were busy devouring his sect members. He knew well that if the walls were destroyed the formation would start weakening and the only thing he should do was to flee.

    Then finally with one last hit, a small hole was blasted through the thick wall. He was ready to use the item in his hand to try to stall the evil spirits and then to flee. Instead of evil spirits, there was something else that greeted his eyes. It was the face of an unknown cultivator with snow-white hair.

    "Ah, there you are. You know that you really shouldn''t place a spirit protection array in the middle of nowhere, it''s quite easy to sense with nothing else around."

    "T-the Thunderball Hall ancestor? But how!?"

    "Oh, I almost forgot that they are calling me that? Well, this will make things easy, give me all of your spirit stones and treasures and you might still live to the next day."

    Zhang Dong forced his way into the inside of this cave and his radiant aura filled it with light. Inside the group of ghoulish-looking cultivators started feeling dizzy the moment they felt the overwhelming aura of good.

    "W-what is this¡­"

    The new sect Patriarch was only a Supreme Saint at the middle stage which made him far weaker than this man here. The evil medallion that he was holding out shattered almost instantly as it was pushed back by the holy powers.

    With nothing else to do, he tossed this item at the overpowering presence and started running away. Before he could duck away into one of the hidden rooms he felt a pulling sensation. He could not resist it as he was yanked towards the invader.

    "Listen here, I don''t have time for this, just give me your spiritual rings."

    The evil cultivator felt his body go limp as he was held by the neck. The man jabbed his finger into his dantian and promptly crippled him. With this, the man''s dreams of finally walking out of his brother''s shadow went under.

    "Doesn''t look too bad¡­"

    Zhang Dong peeked inside of the spatial rings that this man had on his fingers. Inside of them, he saw many treasures but most unusable to him as they were of demonic nature.

    "Now, give me the rest."

    He tossed away the old foggy that looked to be the strongest here. The rest could not budge a muscle due to his overpowering aura. Thanks to his half-step nascent soul powers there were now certain things he could do with his spiritual energy. One of them was to have all the spatial rings in the vicinity to float towards himself.

    It only took him a moment to take away all the loo that these cultivators had. Most of it was not great but all of the spirit stones would add up. To top it off he crippled everyone here to the last person.

    "Well, hope you can live simple lives from now non.

    He commented while making his way out of the cavern.

    "Simple lives? You jest, the phantoms outside will eat our flesh and devour our souls, you have sentenced us to a fate worse than death."

    "Oh, the phantoms? I took care of them, the place doesn''t look that bad if you take care of all the evil energy¡­"

    Zhang Dong shrugged and then quickly floated out through the cave opening that he created. On the outside what used to be a barren wasteland covered by grim shadowy energy turned into a more lush environment.

    The death trees that were possessed by evil spirits were slowly regaining their life energy. The streams of water that were pure poison to anyone that drank it, was now pure as they could ever get.

    Zhang Dong had used his soul core to absorb all of the decrepit soul energy that had gathered here. There was even a big bad phantom king that he had to go through. With the combination of his soul core and golden core, it was nothing more than a mob.

    After his holy energies touched this place the plants and animals had turned back to normal. With time this place could be populated by humans with no threat of evil spirits taking hold of them. With the death of the phantom king, the place was cleansed.

    "My soul core can''t absorb more energy, now I only need to power up the other two before the next breakthrough."

    Zhang Dong now knew of a good way to increase his cultivation. Such places with evil spirits were uncommon but still existed without ever being exorcised. He could just use the map to find such places as they would clearly be marked as dangerous zones.

    The only problem that remained was his golden core. He needed divine or holy energy for absorption to further his cultivation. This core was a bit strange as it also received a boost to energy whenever he did a good deed. Even showing mercy to this group of evil cultivators and clearing up an area filled with demonic energy was making it stronger.

    "It''s a bit out of balance, if I absorb more evil phantoms my soul core could go berserk, if I don''t clear up those evil places my golden core won''t progress though¡­"

    "This will have to be enough, I might be able to advance a bit now.."

    Zhang Dong looked out into the distance and he finally took off. After flying for an hour he finally decided on a safe spot. It was deep inside of a stormy mountain range that was also surrounded by some strong beasts. Unless a Supreme Saint arrived he would probably not get any unwelcome guests.

    Before passing through he had a little glaring match with the ''Beast King'' here. The strongest beast here was some kind of glowing green stag. It''s horns were quite intricate and large, it was weaker than him so it could only move its head down in capitulation without even trying to defend itself. The beast could also feel that Zhang Dong was not dangerous.

    Thus he drilled into the mountain range and when he came out he found himself in an underground cave. To the side he could spot an underground river of sorts which was probably why there was some space for him to sit on the side.

    "Let''s see what I am working with."

    Like before he started taking out all the usable items. All the weapons and treasures that could help him bolster his body refinement were placed on one pile while spirit stones were placed on another pile. Then came all the thunderstones that he had obtained from the Hall.

    "Great, with this I should at least be safe when traveling through these lands, it will still take a while to reach the border, better start now¡­"

    While thinking about his family and friends he quickly grasped one of the weapons. It started glowing red and quickly turning to liquid which was then promptly absorbed into his body.

    "Not much progress, this will take a while¡­"

 Chapter 364

    Name : Zhang Dong

    Affiliation : Zhang Clan, United Element Sect??

    Spirit Points : 2891

    Cultivation Base Qi :

    Core Formation [ Middle Stage 5 %] [ Divine Spectral Lightning Trinity ]

    Cultivation Base Body :

    Core Formation [ Middle Stage 6 %] ( Ascended Golden Body )

    Techniques :

    True Divine Lightning Path Cultivation Art, Golden Body Arts, Thunderlight Sword, Thunder Movement Art...

    Dao :

    Other :

    Senior Aura, Impartation of Knowledge, Mentor''s Eyes...

    "Whew¡­"

    Zhang Dong gave out a sigh after looking at his cultivation realm. He managed to balance out his cores before achieving a breakthrough into the middle realm. Now after reinforcing it for an hour he could finally move on.

    Going from one small realm into another wasn''t that hard, he only needed to gather enough energy for all the three cores. This would probably be the same for all the other small realms; the only thing that he needed to worry about would be what was after that.

    His step into this new core formation realm was quite painful already. Would he need to go through another body-altering change? The first time he ascended into the nascent soul realm he did it himself with minimal help from the system.

    This time around it would be much harder but would also put him on a stage of his own. This was due to how strong he was now and how much a breakthrough into a larger realm raised one''s power.

    "Early stage nascent soul¡­"

    Zhang Dong gathered some energy into his hand and the cave that he was occupying started to tremble. Bringing himself into the middle stage of core formation put him at around the early stage of his old nascent soul realm.

    "It would be nice if I knew the multiplier¡­"

    He had asked Bob about it but his AI companion didn''t really know the answers. It was quite strange how useless he was in this original world while he could offer some precious insights into the other one.

    His body refinement had also progressed into the core formation stage and even had a nice name change. While his old silver body had a plus sign next to it, this golden body was now an ascendent golden body.

    With it now being in the golden body stage he could also use the old abilities that he once had. The acceleration of his brain function that it came with was quite nice as it allowed him to be even better during close fights. His senses would be enhanced during activation and everything would seem slower but in actuality, his brain would just be functioning much faster.

    "This thing still isn''t showing anything, guess it''s time to leave. At least my crafting abode is back."

    Zhang Dong had access to his old crafting pocket dimension. There was a problem with it as Bob had burned through all of the upgrades that he made to it. Without any time on his hand, he could not waste it on getting it back up to the old condition.

    With a thunderclap, he rocketed out of this cave. He had burned through all the weapons and spirit stones and was mostly left with useless junk. The occult items could be placed in the crafting abode for now. When he upgraded some of the features those items could be desynthesized into resources.

    At least as a storage space, it was far better than the spatial rings he had. If he was ever searched by some other cultivators they would not find anything worthwhile in his possessions. The only thing he kept with him was the sword he got from the Thunderball Hall ancestor, his robes, and some spirit stones.

    Back on the outside he looked at his minimap and flew forward to his next destination. He had mapped out a couple of dangerous spots that could have decrepit souls or some shadowy monsters. The stronger he got, the faster he would return home.

    Villages with thousands of people and cities with hundreds of thousands. It was hard to find a settlement that did not have at least a thousand people living in it. The large size of this world was the only reason that it was not suffering from overpopulation.

    The only big difference was that the sects in this empire didn''t create large territories that could be their own countries. They kept to their spots and let the lesser clans and smaller sects operate in the cities without getting involved that much.

    They still possessed sites like spirit stone mines and large treasure troves with herbs and the like. Some of these places Zhang Dong was set on visiting, he would not feel bad about taking what he needed as he was choosing the evil sects as his victims.

    Maybe in the future, the legend of a lone cultivator ravaging the lands would be told to the new generation. He didn''t care much as he was not intending to stay here for long. Luckily due to how the sects operated most of the treasures would be concentrated in a few areas. If he chose his targets wisely he would come up unscathed.

    Two days after his travels he came to the first point of interest. When he looked into the distance he could see a thunderous mountain range filled with elements of the wind and lightning alike.

    He was quick to dive into it, with his current cultivation level hurricanes and cyclones was nothing more than a summer breeze. The storm was promptly absorbed entirely into his lightning core. When he left he could see some people poking their eyes out from afar.

    They were clearly cultivators coming over to see what was wrong. The moment they saw him up in the cloudless sky they bowed in fear. Not wanting to stick around to explain himself he moved on to the next area.

    This area was another two days of flight away. This time it was a gloomy-looking forest covered with shadowy miasma and poisonous mists.

    He could feel that right in the center of it there was some kind of soul-based creature. Before moving in though he spotted a group of people quickly walking out of the forests. They had pained expressions on their faces and some of them were constantly looking over their shoulders and back into the spooky forest.

    None of them could survive his soul core''s effect. Any type of undead creature had some kind of spiritual essence attached to it. Without it, they would not be able to move its reanimated body. What Zhang Only needed to do was to absorb this essence.

    While moving towards the largest source of this energy he needed to take a lot of creatures out in the process. This felt like he was playing an old dungeon on an overleveled character. None of these creatures could do any damage to him and would dissolve after a flick of his finger.

    "Ah, good old human sacrifice¡­"

    He finally found why the people that were leaving had painful expressions on their faces. Before the evil creature, he spotted a young girl of about sixteen years of age. She was probably a v.i.r.g.i.n which these types of creatures loved to snack on.

    She was bound to some kind of ritualistic altar and left for dead. The most powerful creature that took the shape of a large lich. It was wearing a golden crown and its body was adorned with a lot of golden trinkets with jewels. The being looked like some kind of old king, probably was one that was buried here before.

    Now his vengeful spirit was snacking on the people in the area. The most probable cause of this sacrifice was to appease this menacing being. If the humans that were living outside continued to give sacrifices it left them to their own devices.

    "Idiots, they don''t realize that feeding this thing people only makes it stronger, for now, it is contained to its own domain. When it grows strong enough it will be able to leave this forest and will devour them all."

    Zhang Dong shook his head as he knew how these evil creatures operated. It probably fooled the people into believing that this was their own option. It probably lent its power to one of the people living there that was doing its bidding and allowing it to grow stronger with time.

    "Excuse me, I''m just passing through."

    Just at the moment when the monster was about to devour the poor girl''s soul, it felt something tugging it from behind. It found its very essence being s.u.c.k.e.d away by some kind of enemy.

    When it turned around it saw a smiling Zhang Dong that was s.u.c.k.i.n.g away all of the phantom''s soul energy. There was a translucent sphere in the middle of his c.h.e.s.t and the monster was slowly being absorbed into it. The monster screamed and used every ounce of its being to get away.

    "Oh be quiet, the neighbors will hear you!"

    It didn''t take long for the monster to vanish and with it the miasma that was acc.u.mulated in this place started to fade away. The lesser ghost started to fade away as they could not sustain themselves without their leader giving them parts of his power.

    "Hey there."

    "W-what¡­"

    "Here, I think this one belongs to you."

    Zhang Dong flew back and easily caught up with the group of people. Since they heard the monsters scream and how the forest started to clear up they remained here.

    "You should really stop making pacts with these kinds of beings, if you kept giving it people to feed it would only grow stronger and devour you all."

    When he handed them the young girl the group of a.d.u.l.ts started to cry and thank him. They clearly realized that he was a powerful cultivator that managed to slay the monster that was plaguing their village.

    "Okay, on to the next one!"

 Chapter 365

    "We have come as you ordered Patriarch."

    "Greetings Elders."??

    A small group of old men were bowing before a certain individual. This man was writing something onto a scroll with impeccable penmanship.

    "This will do, bring this scroll to our allies."

    The parchment was promptly sealed and given to one of the men here. The man that received this letter could see the intricate dragon design that was stamped onto the seal of this scroll.

    "It shall be done."

    "Is everything ready? I don''t think that I have to remind you that we must not fail, if something goes wrong then we will have to suffer the wrath of an enraged Azure Emperor."

    The man that was named the Patriarch commented while taking a seat. The others followed suit as everyone sat down together around a table.

    "There is one problem¡­"

    "What is it? Spit it out!"

    The man that commented swallowed hard and then continued.

    "It''s about the Patriarch''s Grandson¡­"

    The old Patriarch''s brows shot up high and he promptly slammed down his fist on the table.

    "What did he do now, tell me."

    "It''s not much, more of the same. He has heard rumors of a beauty from one of the middle-sized sects and he wishes to take her into his harem¡­"

    The old Patriarch gave out a sigh before leaning back.

    "Is it just that? I thought that part of his character would m_a_t_u_r_e just as his cultivation did. Is there a problem with this particular sect?"

    "Yes, the woman in question is their Patriarch''s wife, this individual, in particular, is revered as one of the rising stars in the region. Normally it would not be a concern but we might suffer casualties if we engage in battle. It would be better to wait till after our plan is carried out but the esteemed junior doesn''t want to see reason, he is blinded by l_u_s_t. Maybe Patriarch could talk some sense into him?"

    "Aye, the boy''s hobby is hard to satiate but even I am having trouble controlling him. He has grown strong, so strong that I can''t even foretell what heights he might reach¡­ it is as if he is our ancestor reborn, we need him for the plan to work¡­"

    Soon the old man nodded with his head as the decision was made.

    "Lend him some of the supreme elders and go take care of it, it''s just a middle-sized sect even if their Patriarch is at the epitome of the nascent soul, he will not pose a problem, take care of it! We still have some time left."

    "As you wish, Patriarch, it will be carried out swiftly."

    Soon the meeting ended and the old man that brought up the Patriarch''s grandson was approached by some other people.

    "Elder Tong, how did it go?"

    "Not well, the old Patriarch favors his grandson, we must appease his urges once again, send word to the supreme elders we will move out, as always¡­"

    The man that approached this elder also gave out a sigh while shaking his head.

    "I will do as Elder Tong commands, the elders will be ready by tomorrow. What about the esteemed junior?"

    "Don''t worry, I''ll talk to him¡­"

    The two men nodded at each other and they parted ways. The man named Tong then floated out of the meeting place that was taking place in a large tower-like structure. He glanced back at this tower which had a giant dragon coiling around it.

    Right at the top was the dragon''s head that was open. Right there was a giant radiant orb, this orb was producing massive spiritual fluctuations that fused into the sect''s protective barrier.

    If someone would fly out beyond the barrier they would quickly notice the true meaning behind this treasure. The whole sect was floating off the ground, the barrier covered the whole set of mountain peaks that made all of it up.

    Tong quickly soared towards one of these mountain peaks. The moment he arrived he could tell the changes that were done to it by its newest master. The scantily clad female disciples and lack of male disciples was a dead giveaway. Even the servants were all of the female variety. Unless a person was an established elder they were barred from entering this place.

    Tong here was one of these supreme elders that could not be stopped even by the new peak master that resided here.

    "Greetings elder, should I deliver a message to the Peak Lord?"

    "That won''t be needed, I would request a meeting with the peak lord, free of others."

    The beauty that approached this old man lowered her head for a moment before speaking out.

    "T-the peak lord does not like to be disturbed, is this an order?"

    "Yes, it comes from the Patriarch, don''t waste my time!"

    The woman bowed her head and quickly apologized before removing herself and moving towards the peak lord''s estate. The old man was asked to wait for the time being while she fetched the man in question.

    Thirty minutes later Elder Tong found himself tapping his fingers on the table himself as he was made to wait in the guest house.

    "Every damn time, that young sprout has no respect for his elders, what will become of this sect if he is meant to be the future of it¡­"

    After another ten minutes passing elder Tong was finally able to hear someone approaching. The bamboo door slid to the side and then he saw him.

    The man was about six feet tall with long jet black hair. His stature was not too muscular but also not too skinny at about that golden middle ratio. His apparel was revealing and his hairless c_h_e_s_t was showing of that pale skin and pectoral muscles.

    "What do you want you old fart, I said that I didn''t want to be bothered."

    Elder Tong''s brows furrowed and he started frowning at how the young man looked. There were two vixens wrapped around each of his arms, their large b_r_e_a_s_ts pushing into his arms as they smiled.

    "You smell of alcohol, this is not how the young master of the Wang family should behave!"

    "Yeah yeah, what do you want, old man, I hope you brought up what I requested with ol'' gramps?"

    The young master that he came to deliver the message to slowly walked in and plopped on the nearby sofa. One of the ladies quickly made her way into his l_a_p while the young man''s hand started grasping onto her hip.

    "Yes, the Patriarch has agreed. Some of the Supreme elders will join us tomorrow."

    "Great, I knew ol'' gramps would see it my way."

    The young man laughed out loud while still getting handsy with the two girls by his side. Elder Tong on the other side could see that there was something wrong with those women. Their smiles felt empty and their eyes were somewhat glossed over.

    He did not know what happened behind closed doors but he knew that there was something affecting them. With a combination of herbs and certain techniques, it was easy to break someone''s mind. The women the young lord fancied were known to change with time.

    Even when they were returned to where they came from they were never the same as before. Stories of them ending their life afterwards were quite common.

    "If it was this much, you could have just told it to one of my attendants."

    Tong''s intent was to keep the clan young master''s name out of the dirt. If the regular disciples knew that he periodically captured women from other sects the good Wang name would go through the dirt. The young master on the other hand didn''t seem to care and bad rumors were already spreading.

    "There is also another issue, the Patriarch requires you to participate in the future mission, I don''t think I have to explain how grave the situation is, all of the peak lords must participate!"

    "Ah, the new quest? Yeah sure, after we are done with the side gig it won''t be a problem, It will be a great moment to get more points."

    Elder Tong wasn''t sure what the young man was talking about. Even after all these years, he could not get used to the way he spoke. Even though he was an oddball the results were there.

    The more enemies he slew the stronger he became. To this day he was the youngest ever nascent soul cultivator that this sect had created, rivaling only the old ancestor with his speed of progress.

    His path was riddled with corpses as all of the previous young masters that stood before him were now six feet under. There didn''t seem to be any remorse behind his actions and whenever a new opponent was slain the mention of some strange spirit points was given.

    Then when the Azure Emperor was mentioned strange words like ''last boss'' or ''raid'' were mentioned. The Patriarch doted on this young man though so no one could say anything, the crazy words could only be attributed to this young man''s eccentric nature.

    "Fine, we shall leave in the morning, that babe will be a fine addition to my collection, not enough light-haired and tanned beauties in this world, everyone is just so pale."

    The young master started laughing while Elder Tong removed himself from this place before he could lose even more brain cells. He did not even bother to mention the husband as he knew that it would only rile the young master up.

    One of his favorite pastimes was taking women away from their spouses. Then he would quickly toss the women away while enjoying the show. It was as if the young man had his woman taken away from him and now he was trying to get back at any happy couple that he could see.

    ¡­..

    "My gratitude, Senior, how could we ever repay you?"

    "No need, I was just passing by on my journey, just be careful next time."

    Zhang Dong floated up while a group of merchants prostrated themselves before him. They were almost robbed and killed by a group of bandits but then he came along. The bandits were promptly taken care of and any spirit stones that they had were taken away.

    "This won''t do, such an act must be rewarded!"

    "Well, if you say it like that¡­ I could use some spirit stones¡­"

    Zhang Dong nodded and was quick to relieve the merchants of some of their spirit stones. As he was leaving he could see the man that offered him the reward being beaten up by all the other merchants that were now without any spirit stones.

    "I should stop making so many stops, for some reason I have a bad feeling about this¡­"

 Chapter 366

    "I''m glad that you have stayed with us for so long, we will present tonight''s last item!"

    A well-dressed man with a soothing voice pointed to the stage. Onto it a jade beauty dressed in lavish clothing was walking. In her hands, she was holding a pillow and on it was an orb. The beauty placed this orb on center stage where everyone could see it and the small crowd of people erupted.

    "Isn''t that the fabled beast core of a divine spirit beast?"

    "It''s certainly the real deal, I can feel the divine power!"

    Where the people were sitting was a large auction house. They were wearing various robes as they belonged to various sects from around the land.

    "Yes, Seniors have a keen eye. This item belonged to a late Divine Beast! But not just any beast, it was one on the level of a Saint Emperor!"

    "It couldn''t be¡­"

    "Saint Emperor? If that''s true then it could be used to fashion a deadly weapon indeed¡­"

    The murmurs continued until the auction started. It took a while for the cultivators here to quiet down and finally, it began.

    "We will start at ten high grade spirit stones."

    Some of the people in the room swallowed hard after they heard the price point. One high grade spirit stone was worth ten thousand middle grade stones. Then one middle grade spirit stone was worth a thousand lower grade spirit stones.

    This brought the starting price up to a staggering amount. If someone tried paying it in low grade spirit stones they would have to dump a whole truck of them here on the stage. Even with this steep price a paddle with a name of a sect on it was raised.

    "It''s the Saint Dragon sect, they even have a Saint Emperor as a Patriarch¡­"

    They weren''t the only ones bidding though as another sect raised the price even further.

    "It''s the Blade Demon Sect¡­ aren''t they in competition with the Saint Dragon sect?"

    Even though this beast core was of the divine element it didn''t mean that only righteous sects could use it. There were ways to corrupt such cores as well as cleanse evil ones of their energies to produce a similar ranked product.

    There were other large sects and powerful seniors that bid at first but soon everything devolved into a competition between these two powerhouses.

    "What is your intention here Blade Demon''s, you can''t fully utilize this beast core are you just trying to hike the price up for us!"

    A man with a long beard that reached all the way up to his waist spit out in anger at a decrepit-looking man in a black robe.

    "Ha, if you don''t have the spirit stones then why even come here? Is the Saint Dragon Sect so poor that it can''t afford a little divine beast core?"

    The people from the Blade Demon Sect started laughing while the cultivators from the righteous one fumed with anger. This was nothing new as the two parties were in a dispute with each other for generations and there was no end in sight.

    "One hundred high grade spirit stones¡­"

    "Hundred spirit stones, is anyone willing to match the price?"

    "Going once¡­ going twice¡­ going, Ah I see a palm raised there!"

    The two sects looked at each other and could not see anyone raising a hand from their camps. This prompted them to look down to the main stage and down from the VIP booths that they were in. There a hooded person was raising his hand as if he wanted to bid more than a hundred spirit stones.

    "Who is that man? He doesn''t look like he even has a hundred low grade spirit stones¡­ is this some kind of joke?"

    As this was something unprecedented the people got loud. The seats that were down below the VIP booths were intended for the poorer demographic from the cultivator world. All the powerful elders would be inclined to pay a bonus to keep face and not look like a country bumpkin with the other poor sobs there.

    "Sir, I must implore you to not raise your hand if you can''t afford the item¡­"

    The person responsible for the action let out a sigh as he looked at the man that raised his hand.

    "Afford it? I think I can but would you be up for a trade instead?"

    "A trade?"

    "Yes, I''m low on spirit stones right now but would you be willing to trade that beast core for something of equal or higher value?"

    "Equal or higher value to a Saint Emperor beast core?"

    "Someone remove that man, he has clearly lost his mind!"

    One of the people from the Blade Demon Sect called out from up in the VIP booth. The others were of similar mind as the man looked like some scammer that was trying to steal the divine beast core from their sect.

    "Hah, why don''t we hear the man out?"

    On the other hand, the people from the righteous sect called out in favor of this turn of events. They didn''t have enough funds to get the item that they d?s?r?d so if this man could snatch it away from the enemies instead it would be a win in their eyes.

    "Okay, what would the gentleman like to trade for this divine beast core? I would advise sir to be careful about the choice of words."

    Even though the Auctioneer was fine with this continuing there were some guards ready to intervene. If it turned out that this person was wasting everyone''s time here, he would be beaten and thrown out. They needed to show that there was no place for disturbances like this, otherwise, their establishment could be seen as a questionable investment.

    "Nice. How about you give me that beast core for this cultivation manual, I think it would be a fair trade."

    The man pulled out a book that was quite large compared to other cultivation manuals. The Auctioneer was a bit surprised by the item in question but he nodded to one of his workers to go fetch the book and bring it over.

    "A cultivation manual? What is this farce?"

    The people began to whisper again as this was a strange trade. Cultivation manuals were a rare commodity in auction houses as they were something a cultivator would mostly not give up.

    Most manuals that found their way here were taken from the defeated and were of low worth. The ones that were deemed usable were mostly kept by the person that found them. No one would actually sell a rare cultivation method unless they were either crazy or really desperate for spirit stones.

    "Please my dear cultivators, I will quickly look over this item and we shall finish this auction then."

    Everyone expected the auctioneer to read the first page and then quickly toss it back to the person it belonged to. Instead, a minute passed, then two and three but the man was still reading this large tome-like book.

    "Hey...hey!"

    "Huh, what?"

    The man that was reading the book snapped out of it after the old man from the Blade Demon Sect shouted out to him. The Auctioneer looked like he had seen a ghost as his eyes were wide open and his hands were trembling.

    "What of the cultivation method? What is wrong with you?"

    "Ah yes¡­ t-the cultivation method¡­"

    "D-does Senior really wish to trade this in for that little divine core?"

    "Hm¡­ you are right, it is worth more than that core, do you perhaps have more of those cores lying around?"

    The people were taken aback by the conversation that the two men were having. It looked like what was written in the book was not just empty scribbles, it was actually worth something.

    "Ah! Quickly call over the owner, this is of great importance, not a decision someone like me can make! There will be a fifteen-minute recess."

    The Auctioneer was then seen calling out to one of the servants with bulging bloodshot eyes. This caused the sects that were gathered to look at the hooded man, it seemed that the item that he brought over was quite costly.

    Some people that were near him started inching away as the constant glares from powerful cultivators started building up pressure that they couldn''t handle. It did not seem that the man in question was perturbed by it as he just sat there waiting while leaning back in his chair.

    Within fifteen minutes, another old man appeared on the stage along with the previous person that was doing the auction. It was the owner of this establishment and in his hand was the large book that supposedly had a cultivation method in it.

    "My friend, you put this old man in a bind, what would you like to trade for this item I could throw in two hundred high grade spirit stones along with the divine beast core, how would that be?"

    "Wait! That beast core belongs to the Blade Demon Sect, explain yourself! How could that book be worth three hundred high grade spirit stones!"

    "I must apologize to our friends from the Blade Demon Sect but this is a matter between the Auction house and this senior here."

    He was quickly shut down by the owner of the auction house which brought more questions to what was being sold there.

    "Only two hundred high grade spirit stones? You do realize that that manual contains a high grade cultivation method all the way up to the Supreme Saint realm right? It''s an all-in-one deal with the path laid out for anyone cultivating it! Wouldn''t a thousand high grade spirit stones be more like it?"

    Everyone was taken aback by what the man in the robe just said. The beast core was in theory the higher graded item as it could be used by a Saint Emperor. This also limited its uses though as the amount of Saint Emperors that were in this empire was quite small.

    On the other hand a full set of cultivation methods that could bring a person from the Inner Aura Realm all the way up to the Supreme Saint realm? That was something that sects would go to war with, this was something that could tip the balance. A cultivation road like that could very well be the backbone of any sect.

    "G-good sir, please you didn''t have to¡­"

    The moment the explanation was given the cultivators that were gathered here looked at the large book with hunger in their eyes. It looked like a pack of vultures that were looking at a tasty piece of meat. The strange way that the auction house owner was acting was proof enough that this book was worth a lot

    It was clear that a lot of people were now contemplating on snatching that book away from the owner. Wars between sects started for lesser items and it was hard not to go for it when the prize was so close. Even this auction house with so many guards would not be able to contend with all the masters that we''re here and they knew it.

    "Oh, would you all shut up!"

    Before they could dive in for the kill though, everyone found themselves on the ground clutching their ?h?sts in pain. The one responsible for this was the robed person that finally stood up, his aura powerful and unfathomable to everyone here.

    "S-saint Emperor!"

    Everyone shrunk back in fright the moment the cloaked figure revealed their cultivation level. Before they could even act they all were at his mercy.

    "Now, could we strike a deal? Don''t waste my time more than you already did you bunch of murder hobos."

 Chapter 367

    Zhang Dong was looking at a group of bowing cultivators. One of them was handing him a spatial bag filled with high grade spirit stones along with an orb that came from a divine beast.

    Traveling through these lands at his current strength level didn''t pose a problem. Even when he got in trouble and alerted Saint Emperors to his presence before they arrived he was long gone. The disguising skills that he leveled up proved their handiness on these occasions as his trail was unfollowable.

    With time he arrived at this city where he heard of an auction house that would be selling a divine item. This he could use for furthering his holy core to get stronger along the way. The only real problem was the lack of spirit stones to buy it.

    He absorbed them all into his system to also get stronger almost instantly as he received them. The only items that he could barter with were cultivation manuals.

    Without wanting to spend days or weeks trying to sell them in the auction houses he decided to try an instant trade. When the maximum bid was raised he finally acted and now found himself with the prize in hand.

    "Everything is accounted for, senior¡­"

    Just as he had figured the cultivators valued the cultivation manual that he corrected a lot more than crafting materials. The auction house would probably make the spirit stones back quite fast after word spread of the manual they had acquired.

    It would probably be quite lucrative for him to just sell manuals like these. The only problem was the lack of time. It would take time for the word to spread and to get the powerhouses to gather before he got his money''s worth.

    If he was just out adventuring without anything binding him in this world then he could very well do that. He could even visit various beast kings and battle them for their cores that he could then use to propel his cultivation forward.

    There was a problem though, he had a strange feeling tugging him elsewhere. He had a very bad feeling that if he didn''t return in time something bad would happen. It was a bad premonition that made him quickly leave this auction house and bolt into the skies at full speed ahead.

    The people there were left astonished by the speed that he was leaving which prompted them to believe that he was really a Saint Emperor. Knowing well that this was the limit of this empire''s cultivators they thought themselves fortunate to have survived this day.

    While leaving he could hear them bickering over the cultivation manual that he had left behind. He hoped that they would be able to work it out between themselves without bloodshed but that was probably just wishful thinking.

    Yet he didn''t have time to have a bad conscience. He has abandoned the thought of being able to take care of everyone here. He could not take responsibility for others people''s actions even though he might have been the catalyst for them.

    ''I need to find a safe spot and move on¡­''

    After leaving the city he found himself a secluded mountain range that was protected by deadly wind and ice elementals. He quickly burrowed himself into the land to form a makeshift cultivation cave.

    The divine beast core was placed on the ground along with all the spirit stones he was able to gather. Zhang Dong was actually surprised at how fast he was progressing. After he was done here he would already enter the late stage of core formation.

    There was no lack of shadowy places with evil phantoms floating about. Lightning storms that spread devastation through the lands were also promptly absorbed into his lightning core. It was a lot easier to progress than when he first came to this world.

    He did not need to stop and slowly purify the lightning energies as he used to. This lightning core was quite efficient at doing this by itself. He just needed to find the correct power source and his cores would just take in the energies as if they were black holes consuming light.

    Even now as he held the divine beast core in his hand his holy core was pulsating with joy. Soon the football ball-sized beast core crumbled into dust. With his holy core being enriched he followed it up with the high grade spirit stones that were used to equalize all of the other cores and bring them to the edge.

    Soon he felt the cores bursting with unimaginable power. They were ready to go through their next enhancement and soon he would reach the late stage of core formation. This would still put him below his old middle stage nascent soul level but he would be quite close.

    ''This will have to do, I''m not far away from the border.''

    After reaching the late stage the plan was to make a last sprint for the edge of the empire. He knew that he needed to make it into the teleportation range of his sect. Only then could he finally reach his home, he also needed to save some of the spirit points for the jump.

    Besides the high grade spirit stones that he received from the auction house, he had many more treasures here. Some were taken as gratitude from people that he saved while others were snatched from the less stellar cultivators.

    He knew that remaining in this empire like this would also pose a large threat to his well-being. The news of a renegade cultivator flying around the empire unhinged from any responsibilities was slowly spreading through the lands. Even though he was able to hide his appearance it didn''t mean that he would remain unnoticed forever.

    The process of refinement would actually compress the cores into smaller ones. The original ones were like large sponges that absorbed all kinds of energies. What he needed to do was to purify these energies and compact the cores.

    This process required a lot of concentration and also a lot of energy. After it was all done the energy in the cores would become purer than before. It was as if he was reforging a blade from a lesser one to the highest graded one possible.

    This process was quite volatile just as with the blades, one mistake, and the cores could shatter into tiny pieces. It was possible to lose one of the cores if something went wrong.

    For someone with three cores, this was three times as difficult but would save him from losing all of his built-up power. The cores were like bonus lives which even if they faded he could probably push forward with only one. This would probably revert him to his old core formation stage which would be much weaker than what he had now.

    ''It''s all or nothing now¡­''

    The earth rumbled and the stormy weather outside was halted. It seemed as if time had stopped for this land as a massive burst of energy was produced. A pillar of light shot out from within the ground causing destruction in its wake.

    This pillar intensified with time and continued to cast a glaring light throughout the land. It reached up into the sky and caused the storm above it to be absorbed into it.

    Zhang Dong could not do anything about this, he knew that he had limited time. The longer he took to break through the more danger could come his way.

    The beasts and animals that were here looked up into the sky. They did not flee or scatter, their senses told them that there was no enemy nearby. Once the storm was gone the soothing energies that came from within that pillar invigorated the land.

    With a thunderous boom, the pillar exploded and its energies rained down onto the ground. These rays of light did not bring death and destruction, instead where they landed the soil became invigorated with strange energies.

    ''There we go¡­''

    Zhang Dong gave out a sigh as he looked up. The cave that he burrowed into was long gone. Above his head was a fifty-meter-wide circular hole that he created after breaking through. He could see the clear blue sky and the sun shone its bright rays on his face.

    ''Damn¡­ there is someone there¡­''

    He did not have much time to reinforce his cultivation as he felt someone approaching him from afar. There were multiple people and all of them seemed quite formidable.

    "There you are, Renegade Cultivator, your days of terrorizing the lands will end here!"

    After floating up into the air he found himself surrounded. There were six people around him and he could tell that they were all Saint Emperors.

    ''Five early stage and one middle stage¡­''

    He had a theory about his true power level but he didn''t really have an opportunity to test out his newfound cultivation. All of the enemies that he had faced were one or more steps behind him. They didn''t even make for good sparring partners.

    "Renegade cultivator? I think you might have found the wrong person. I''m just ''a cultivator'' I think that renegade flew that way, he had a really menacing look on his face."

    Zhang Dong pointed in the opposite direction where he was going while smiling.

    "Well, I will excuse myself then while you go to apprehend that menace!"

    He clasped his hands while slowly floating away but before he could leave two old men blocked his escape route. When he looked behind him there were two old women instead while below him was another old master.

    "Do you think we were born yesterday?"

    Above him was the most powerful member of them all. He looked quite imposing and didn''t actually look that old compared to the others. The salt and pepper hairstyle went well with his rough looks but the dark demonic-looking robes told Zhang Dong a tale.

    "Can''t fault me for trying¡­"

    He shrugged while smiling but soon his expression became stern and his cultivation was unleashed.

    "Guess I''ll have to do this the hard way."

 Chapter 368

    Zhang Dong looked at the six people that were floating around him. They were all on top of the food chain when this empire was concerned as they were all Saint Emperors.

    It seemed that his money-grabbing ways have come back to haunt him. He had spent the last weeks ransacking spirit stone mines. Snatching away divine elemental herbs and even absorbing shadowy energies from evil sect grounds.

    He was mostly sure to focus on the evil sects as those tended to be the less morally friendly bunch. Thus the people that witnessed his deeds attributed everything to him being from the more righteous paths.

    It was clear that the people on top of their sects would not let this just go on. With the lack of time and a goal in mind which would bring him far away from this empire Zhang Dong didn''t erase his tracks well enough.

    In his eyes, he would be long gone back in the Azure Dragon Empire before anyone could figure out where he went. His appearance in the auction house must have alerted some of these old fogies to his whereabouts.

    Even then he would still evade their clutches if he just didn''t stop to cultivate. There were ways for him to hide yet this was not something he was planning on doing. With hiding, he would lose precious time. The old cultivators lived long and they could very well remain in close proximity while waiting for months on end.

    There were two options left for him here, one was to run away. With his current flight capabilities, he could very well be able to reach the border and teleport out.

    There were a couple of problems with that plan. For one he did not know how far these six would chase him and they could always call for their friends to meet him halfway. From six there quickly could become ten or twenty.

    "If you come with us and return what you have stolen we might show mercy, otherwise consider your life forfeit! Did you really think you could rob us of our belongings and see the light of day?"

    The main man that possessed the highest cultivation level here started speaking out. His realm was of a Saint Emperor at the middle stage which would place him at around the nascent soul late stage level. His five comrades that were all at the early stage would be a bit below the middle stage of nascent soul.

    In contrast to them, Zhang Dong was not sure where he stood. He was only a core formation expert at the late stage but after battling with people at the levels of half-step nascent soul masters he felt that he stood a chance here.

    "I think I''ll go with option B. How about you retreat and you might still retain some of your dignity?"

    He replied while his aura exploded, it didn''t seem that he could talk his way out of this. These six people clearly felt that they had the upper hand so he didn''t have anything to bargain with. The only way to prove otherwise would be to prove himself in battle against them.

    After his reply, the five lesser Saint Emperors quickly pulled out their weapons and activated their cultivation. It was clear by their auras that they were all from fewer staller sects of the evil variety. It also didn''t seem that they were planning to give him much time to retaliate. Being all old experienced fighters they knew that it was best to strike their enemies down as fast as possible.

    They charged but as they approached their target they were met with a strange feeling in their ?h?sts. There was a strange crushing feeling, it felt like their feet were stuck and that there was a giant weight upon their shoulders.

    This was Zhang Dong''s soul core. He activated it at max power to see if he could just crush his enemies with soul pressure. Regretfully he could see that these Saint Emperors were different from all the other cultivators that he had faced. Even though his soul core was at full effect it didn''t fully disable them.

    "What is this trickery?"

    The strongest Saint Emperor that was there seemed mostly unaffected. With a hand gesture, he activated his own cultivation aura which started countering Zhang Dong''s soul core. While he was somewhat effective against the other five this man was able to dispel his soul attack.

    "Watch out!"

    Zhang Dong was not born yesterday as he knew that it was best to strike when there was confusion within the enemy''s camp. While his soul attack was resisted it gave him enough time to charge at one of the disabled enemies. With one ferocious slice of his sword a cultivator fell.

    One man''s head fell from his shoulders while another one was quick to move to the side. The slice was aimed at the two but the second one was nimble enough to only receive a grazing wound.

    "Hey now, you''re not supposed to be dodging and I''ll be taking that."

    He raised his head while smirking. This was not quite the end of this attack, just like with nascent soul cultivators these Saint Emperors were able to utilize soul divinities. These soul forms could then be able to function to a lesser extent and with some techniques, it was even possible to recover one''s body.

    At least in theory that was possible but for Zhang Dong, this soul divinity was quite similar to the evil phantoms that he had faced off before. It was a fat juicy piece of soul energy that he could absorb with his soul core.

    This was what this group of evil cultivators was seeing. Just as the soul form of their ally left its body to escape it was pulled back and absorbed by their enemy.

    "What is this technique, he absorbed his source!"

    Zhang Dong could feel the man''s very essence being consumed by his soul core. Luckily he only consumed the underlying energy without any strange things like the man''s memories.

    "What are you doing, surround him, don''t let up!"

    The strongest cultivator didn''t seem perturbed by his allies'' demise. He was able to see the big picture as he threw his spear clad in demonic energies towards Zhang Dong. This spear burst forth with purple energy and turned into a serpent composed of this dastardly Qi.

    Zhang Dong moved his sword to intercept this attack. Spear met sword and a resounding boom filled the area. He found himself retreating a few steps while the spear rebounded back to its master.

    He was then met with a pincer attack from four sides which he evaded thanks to his moving technique. The spot that the four Saint Emperors struck now contained an afterimage that discharged a holy energy-charged jolt of electricity.

    While the ones that dived in for the kill first were affected by this some of them continued their chase. The area around here began being filled with holes and bursts of energy as the fight continued.

    The party of five found themselves unable to gain the upper hand even after several exchanges between the two occurred. Soon all five found themselves on one side while the white-haired Zhang Dong with his bloodied sword was on the other side.

    While dodging he didn''t remain passive, his weapon delivering punishment to his enemies that were out of position. Their clothes told a tale of who was winning, while Zhang Dong''s white clothes were without a blemish his opponents found themselves with sliced-up robes.

    "S-senior, this Renegade cultivator is formidable, we might have to retreat for now¡­"

    The four Saint Emperors that were clearly used as cannon fodder by the one above them looked drained. Their wounds only increased while their opponent seemed to be able to see through their attacks.

    "I have no quarrel with you, do you really want to die just for some poultry resources that you can just regain with time?"

    Zhang Dong shouted out while glowing in his usual golden color. His aura was very confusing to these five cultivators as they had never met someone in the core formation realm.

    It was clear to him that these people here didn''t come from one sect. Their robes were different and their fighting techniques also differed. There was no unity among them, facing a stronger opponent was only possible with good teamwork which they clearly lacked.

    It seemed that the four lesser Saint Emperors were considering the proposition but their ''leader'' just seemed more enraged by this proposal.

    "Poultry resources? Do you even know how far back you set us back!"

    "Is that so? How about this then, I''ll reimburse you for your losses."

    "Will you give us back the spirit stones you stole?"

    "Well, I didn''t say that I would use spirit stones, I might have something even better¡­"

    With that being said Zhang Dong pulled out a booklet that he promptly tossed over towards the five cultivators. They were quickly taken aback by this gesture and their leader used his aura to hold this booklet away from the group out of fear of it being some kind of trick.

    "What is this? How will this make up for our lost resources?"

    "Oh, you don''t want the Saint Emperor level Demonic Ashura palm? It''s just a pinnacle grade palm technique."

    "Pinnacle grade?"

    While eyeballing Zhang Dong from afar the leader of the group opened up the booklet. Even from afar all of them could see what was written there and as they continued to read so did their eyes start to get bigger.

    "T-this is¡­"

    "It looks authentic¡­ everything written there ¡­ how magnificent¡­"

    To masters of this level, it was easy to see a gem like this cultivation method. After a few glances, they could tell that it was the real article. It didn''t take much to make these cultivator nuts look at things with hunger in their eyes.

    "You see, could you even buy such a technique with those poultry spirit stones and treasures that I took?"

    Zhang Dong gave out a grin while yanking the book back towards his own hand. The four old cultivators looked at the technique with hunger in their eyes. Then with a pristine pitching form, he threw the book into the stratosphere.

    "If you want it, then go get it!"

    With that, he bolted in the opposite direction leaving the group to decide on what was more important.

 Chapter 369

    "Greetings brother."

    A dashing young man nodded at the welcome he received from quite a lovely young woman. Both of them were wearing pure white robes reminiscent of their master. Their pure white hair was a clear indication of who that master was.

    "The scouts have given their report, it seems that it is inevitable¡­"

    "This does not make any sense, what would one of the great three powers want with us¡­"

    Asked the young man that hailed by the name Zhang Liu. His younger sister was right next to him and they were standing before the hall of elders. Not that long ago word arrived that a large fleet of ships had crossed into the middle sect reaches.

    Through the years they had created a vast network of informants that were planted in all of the large cities. Their communication technology was quite advanced for the times. The spies were there to inform the main sect of any suspicious movement from the other powers.

    Not long ago such information had reached their ears. A couple of ships from a rather powerful sect have entered this side of the empire and their course was their sect. This was hard to confirm at first but now they were dangerously close and about a day remained until they reached their doorstep.

    "What do you think that the elders will decide on?

    Asked Liu while Xue, his younger sister, contemplated. She could only shrug and shake her head as this sort of thing was above her. Both of them were now core formation cultivators, which didn''t grant them access to the inner workings of their sect.

    While their master was still around they would be informed about the decisions through him. Since he vanished on that fateful day, their standing in the sect had lessened. It was a slow progress but they could tell that some people were treating them differently.

    They still had the support of the matriarch but she was also on thin footing without the support of the strongest. That title fell towards Huo Qiang and since his father was also one of the great elders some felt that he should take over while the Patriarch was away.

    "We might have to ask your partner about the decision, the Matriarch might speak to her about it before announcing it to the rest of the sect.

    Zhang Xiu flinched a bit at the mention of his ''partner''. The girl in question was still Nuana who continued to strongarm him into a more permanent relationship. Now without his master''s support, he was running out of options to refuse the girl.

    "Let''s not talk about that¡­"

    Zhang Xue chuckled to herself but soon her expression became solemn. She looked to the large gates that they were both standing at. These gates would only open for registered members of the great elders which they were not.

    Past these doors was a large open chamber with seats around a middle platform. This platform had no one standing on it and the elders were sitting around it. It was similar to a lecture hall with the professor missing. The spot in the middle belonged to the Patriarch but since no new one had been unanimously announced it remained empty.

    Above the spot where the Patriarch should be standing was a holographic image of the large ship. The image was of various shades of blue but it was quite clear to the people here to whom this ship belonged to.

    "Do you recognize the ship?"

    A woman with light pink hair and quite an exotic look asked one of the other people in the room.

    "Yes, that crest belongs to the Soaring Dragon Sect."

    The group cultivators started murmuring among each other as they knew that this was one of the top three powers in this empire. If this sect wanted to go to war with any of the middle-sized sects they could easily wipe them from the face of the earth.

    "What do they want from us? Did they figure out our situation?"

    "They could be after our technical advances, it''s become hard to keep the flow of information hidden away from the other sects. Ever since the Patriarch disappeared it has become hard to handle the spies from other sects¡­"

    The room wasn''t filled with many nascent soul elders. Ever since Zhang Dong''s disappearance, the progress of the elder generation was halted. He was the only one that could cleanse them from any impurities and offer them the correct advice to help them break through.

    Even with their advanced knowledge that they received, passing into the nascent soul level was not an easy procedure. Only Huo Qiang was fortuitous enough to reach the middle stage of the nascent soul level. Zhang Liena, who was second in line, had not been able to progress.

    This was mostly attributed to the demons that sprung up in her heart. The days of worry about her husband brought her cultivation to a stop and she couldn''t bring herself to advance like Qiang who was more battle-focused.

    "Do we really need to fear them? Their visit here might be unavoidable but it does not have to cause destruction for our sect!"

    One of the older members that was not quite at the nascent soul level commented and some of the others agreed.

    "That''s right, we know not of their true purpose we should hear them out before we make a decision."

    "We should hear them out? Did you lose your mind, why would they gather a whole fleet of flying vessels to come here? It''s obvious that they aren''t coming here to have tea with us!"

    "Silence you old farts!"

    The voice was raised by Zhang Liena which managed to quiet most of the people.

    "What do you expect us to do then?"

    The one that raised his voice was a tanned man with a muscular stature. Next to him was a man of similar build but hair that looked like it was on fire. He sat there looking bored with his hands crossed over one another as if he didn''t have a care in the world.

    "Could I have a word?"

    From the side a voice that a lot of people knew spoke out. A certain dashing young man was seen by everyone which made Zhang Liena scoff slightly.

    "Stop using that technique when you are at the elder gathering you old leech."

    "Ha ha, excuse this old man."

    The man''s appearance started changing and soon he was back to his older looks. Zhang jin was his name and he was the late Patriarch''s grandfather. Next to him was Zhang Zhi that was also from the old Zhang Clan.

    "What I wanted to inform the Matriarch about is that particular ship. It is quite famous around some of the circles and it does not bode anything good¡­"

    "Is that so? Could you explain?"

    "Certainly!"

    Zhang Jin started talking. He explained that the ship belonged to a certain grandson of that sect''s Patriarch. He also explained that there were only bad rumors about this young man. His talents were second to none and he rose to peak lord status in just a few years.

    It was quite astonishing but also very bloody. He apparently took his opponent''s life without any remorse, if there was a chance to vanquish his opponents he would take it.

    "You are saying that such a maniac is approaching our sect¡­ What does he even want with us?"

    "Ah yes, I''m afraid that this particular young man has a strong love for women¡­ If he has moved here then he is probably after one thing and one thing only¡­"

    Zhang Jin proclaimed in an elusive voice which brought everyone''s attention to him. After a brief silence and not getting a response Zhangn Liena slammed her fist down.

    "Well, what is it?"

    Zhang Jin finally licked his lips and gave a quick reply.

    "Beauties."

    "Beauties?"

    "Yes, beauties."

    "What do you mean old man?"

    "I mean what I said, wherever that young man is seen women vanish. He is very well known around some circles, the women sometimes find their way back home but they are nothing but empty husks of their former self¡­"

    "Then you mean to tell me, that they organized a whole fleet of battleships to take our women?"

    This time Huo Qiang chimed in as he was a bit surprised as well. So were the others as they started asking questions about the person that this young man was after. Soon they came to a consensus on who the beauty in question was that he was after.

    "Zhang Xue."

    "Yes, it must be Zhang Xue."

    She was the most sought-after beauty that this sect had to offer. There were a few others that came to mind but all paled in comparison to the late Patriarch''s disciple.

    "Do you think that this peak lord will leave if we give them the disciple¡­"

    One of the men here asked the question that was on everyone''s tongue. It might seem cruel but offering one member as a tribute didn''t sound so bad if the whole sect was not affected. To some of the people here, it would actually be profitable to get rid of a potential thorn in their side.

    There were two main camps in this current sect. One was composed of the people from the old Zhang and Feng clan while the others were of the Huo clan. The latter had abandoned the motion of ever finding Zhang Dong''s remains while the other still wanted to wait till they discovered more clues.

    The Patriarch in question that they thought of being dead was at this moment speeding away from an encounter with five powerful cultivators. He could hear the explosions and screams behind him as they battled for possession of the palm technique that he threw far away.

    "I should have enough time to get away from here before they discover the fault of this technique¡­"

    While the palm was a powerful technique it had a certain downside of exploring a person''s nether regions if ever used. It could serve as a last-ditch effort for survival but one gave up on ever having children in the process.

    ''They''ll need to read the whole thing until they realize I should be able to reach the border by then¡­''

    His body soon vanished in a torrent of lightning energy as he made his way towards the teleportation range. The bad feeling in his stomach did not go away so he continued with utmost urgency.

 Chapter 370

    "Xue, you must leave, you can easily use one of the secret shelters that we created in these lands. Even if it''s the Soaring Dragon Sect they won''t be able to find you."

    "Brother, it''s fine¡­"

    A confused Zhang Liu was yanked back as he was trying to pull his younger sister away. He was just informed by Zhang Jin of what the real reason for that sect''s arrival was. If it was true then his sister would be subjected to a life worse than death.

    "What do you mean, you must escape, we can''t let that maniac desecrate you!"

    While Zhang Liu continued yanking Xue finally managed to get her hand free. She grasped her wrist while looking down to the floor. Her shoulders were slumped forward but she seemed to have made up her mind.

    "No brother, if I escape by myself many of our brothers and sisters could die¡­"

    Zhang Jin that was here as well started frowning as he knew what his great-granddaughter was getting at. There was no telling what the young master of the Soaring Dragon Sect would do if the prize he came for was not here.

    He knew of a few circumstances of this happening which always led to more deaths. This person clearly didn''t hold people up to high standards. When being denied what they thought was theirs they would lash out and if they did lives were at stake.

    "It pains this old man to admit it but¡­"

    "But what? You can''t seriously be thinking of just giving up Xue to those bastards!"

    Zhang Jin didn''t know what to say, he could see the pain in Zhang Liu''s eyes. It seemed that he was taking it rather badly while his sister was somewhat composed. Zhang Jin wasn''t sure what was going through her head but she was clearly willing to make the sacrifice.

    "Brother, stop shouting, it''s not grandfather''s fault! If it means that I can save lives I will gladly sacrifice myself for the sect just like master did!"

    Zhang Xue started shouting back while tears formed in her eyes. The moment she mentioned her master everyone was reminded of the times that Zhang Dong put himself in danger for the sect.

    The first time was against the Dark Palm sect, he had almost lost his life during the expedition. Then he faced off against their elders in the final battle and finally came out victorious at the end with some help from the two other nascent soul elders.

    Some of the sect members were against how the Patriarch acted. This was shown at the time where he agreed to help another sect out. No one really saw the merit of them facing off against that monstrosity. Some even blamed him to this day as his disappearance only weakened them.

    "Have you set your mind to this?"

    Zhang Liena walked out while being followed by two attendants.

    "I did, matriarch."

    "Liu, you need to calm down. Nothing is set in stone, you might not be the reason for that young lord to come here."

    What Zhang Jin informed them about had been confirmed by some other sources. This didn''t mean that the man in question always went for the particular beauty in question.

    "For the time being, remain hidden, if he doesn''t call for you directly we won''t have to reveal you to them."

    Zhang Liu let out a sigh of relief but his frowning face did not vanish. He would remain by his sister''s side for the time being.

    "The scouts say that they will be there within four hours. Please use this time to calm yourself down.

    Soon everyone from here departed. The members from the Huo side of the sect were a bit less friendly as they left a few people to watch Zhang Xue and Liu''s movements. Everyone knew that the sect was at stake here and they would be willing to give up the late Patriarch''s niece to let it survive.

    "This sect is changing¡­"

    "Yes, it has not been the same since master vanished, wherever could he be¡­ we couldn''t find anything, not even a flicker of his Qi or soul¡­"

    Zhang Liu dropped down on a couch while sighting out some more. Both he and his sister noticed that after about a year of their master''s disappearance the people started to change.

    Their master was not one to make public appearances often but he was regularly seen flying around the sect. At first, they told everyone that he was just cultivating, this was an excuse that worked most of the time.

    It could take many years for a nascent soul cultivator to progress through a bottleneck. Thus it was not odd to not see them for years on end. Even then, everyone knew that something was off.

    Whenever something happened only the grand elders were sent to clear up the problem. Some problems were resolved but others were not. The sect started clearly operating similarly to others and not as it used to when the Patriarch was at the helm.

    Soon some started speculating that the Patriarch was either injured or dead. No longer did they see him clearing up demonic beasts or healing the injured. No more lectures were given, the techniques that he improved upon were also slowly getting withheld by the top brass.

    With time a power struggle in the sect was seen to happen. With this most of the people could easily deduct that something had happened to the Patriarch. It was clear to them that if he was there no one would dare to go against the old rules.

    Zhang Liena was also a big tell as the Matriarch had been seen acting strangely. The smile that she had on her face was replaced by a stern look. Even his closest students seemed vacant and uncharacteristic which caused everyone to speculate that Zhang Dong was no more.

    Some saw this as a catastrophe while others saw this as a chance. Without the monolithic person on the top that could force everyone to act, there was now a chance to gain some power.

    Even though the new recruits were handpicked for their morals this wasn''t the same for the old brass. Some members from the old clans took the chance to gain power and fatten their purses.

    The sect was just too big to manage for the limited number of elders that was on the old Patriarch''s side. The next in line Huo Qiang also showed no d?s?r? to take over which left things up to others.

    Zhang Liena still had a lot of say in everything but most of the nascent soul elders were still coming from the Huo side of the sect. They could not be denied and they often bu??ed heads when it came to decision making.

    After a few hours, all of the elders gathered outside.

    "They aren''t taking us seriously, aren''t they?"

    Huo Qiang was there, for once he looked quite ecstatic about the situation. It was clear that he was itching for a fight.

    "Yes, they didn''t contact us until they already passed through our borders, if they were from any other sect we would have just attacked them¡­"

    "This is normal, that''s how the strong operate. We can only hope that they leave quickly¡­"

    Zhang Liena replied while looking at all the other elders that didn''t comment. All of them looked a bit ticked off about the blatant disrespect but they could only wait here for the ship to arrive.

    Soon they saw it on the horizon. It was huge, bigger than the flagship that was produced by Zhang Dong. Behind it were several smaller flying ships and all of them carried strong auras with them.

    Without having made an appointment the elders from the United Element sect decided to not take out the red carpet. Instead, they activated the protective barrier that would be hard to pierce through from even a nascent soul grandmaster at the great circle level.

    This caused the ship to halt before its approach and a certain person to appear in the front. Behind him was a group of nascent soul cultivators all in the late stages.

    "People from the United Element Sect, listen well. We have not arrived to cause you harm, we will soon leave after we achieved our objective."

    The man''s booming voice filled the entire area. The people that lived in the city were previously informed about the danger and were already in the process of evacuating.

    The sect had an extensive underground with long winding tunnels. They would lead everyone outside the sect grounds and into the forest area several kilometers away. The tunnels were lined with special materials that halted anyone from piercing them with their spiritual sense. Thus even now the people from the Soaring Dragon Sect would not know that people were escaping while being directly under their ships.

    "We from the United Element Sect greet the great elders from the Soaring Dragon Sect. I apologize that we could not receive you respectfully but you did not inform us of your arrival¡­"

    The one talking was Zhang Jin while the rest of the elders remained on standby.

    "Yes, we have to apologize for this but we do not have much time on our hands. First, let me introduce myself, I am Rang Tong."

    The elders started discussing things with each other but soon another powerful aura washed over the area which was followed by an annoyed voice.

    "Damn, I wish there was a dialogue skipping option in this shitty world, can you old farts shut up for a moment!"

    This was followed by the appearance of a handsome-looking young man. Normally such a face would be envied by many other men and would cause the women to flock. The only problem was to who it belonged to. It was clear from one glance that this person was quite a quirky individual.

    In his hand, there was a bottle of wine that even while talking he continued to sip from. When it was empty it was promptly tossed to the side and followed by a loud burp.

    "Young lord please, let me perform the negotiations so we can return with haste."

    "Negotiations? Hah, let me show you how you negotiate!"

    The young man appeared next to the most powerful elder and started looking around. Soon he spotted a certain woman from the elder group that was floating along with them.

    "You there, yes you with the massive milkers. You will come with me and become my concubine!"

    The young man pointed with his finger at Zhang Liena, who was taken aback by the revelation. The man was not here to take away Zhang Xue, no he was here for her instead!

 Chapter 371

    "Massive milkers?"

    Asked Feng Liena as the man was pointing at her. She started looking at her peers that were to the sides. Huo Qiang followed this pointing finger as well and Liena could see his gaze stop at her ?h?st area.

    She immediately put her hands to cover up as she realized what the younger man was shouting. Her robe might not have been one of the more revealing ones but her figure was hard to miss.

    "What is the meaning of this Soaring Dragon Sect, is this the way you treat other elders?"

    While the strongest cultivator by the name of Tong was showing a tired expression. The young man that referred to Zhang Liena''s br??sts with milkers started grinning.

    "Try as you might, we all know that they are too big to be hidden away!"

    "Well, he isn''t wrong¡­"

    "Will you shut up you idiot!"

    Huo Qiang shrugged while going back to looking at the enemies that they were standing against. He was a well-trained warrior that was just itching for a fight. Even now he was trying to measure his strength against the other nascent soul cultivators here.

    The nascent soul masters that the United Element sect had were slightly different than the ones that came from other factions. For one thing, they were much stronger than their older counterparts.

    This was mostly due to how much better their cultivation manuals were which allowed them to jump at least one smaller realm. Then some could further enhance their powers through some skills which could put them at or over the strength of people two small levels above them.

    While normally it might have looked bleak from an outsider''s perspective. It wasn''t quite as bad, even now defeat wasn''t ?ssured even when they were against a large number of nascent soul elders in the late stage and even one at the great circle level.

    "You''ll have to excuse young master Long but if you accept our terms we will quickly leave this place."

    "Old Tong, why are you trying to ruin the fun? It''s not fun if they don''t resist and how many spirit points do you think will be wasted here?"

    The elders from the United Element Sect side looked in confusion at the back and forth between the elder and young man. The youngster was a nascent soul cultivator as well but he was not as strong as the old man.

    It was clear that the only reason that this man was not acting was that this young man was related to the current patriarch. While the elder wanted to strike the deal it seemed that the man named Long was trying to cut to the chase and just attack them.

    Everyone here thought that the young man was quite brazen. They could not get a feeling of his cultivation. Sometimes it was low while other times it raised above what the limit of his abilities seemed. It was clear that he was dangerous and that fighting it out would be the last resort.

    "Young master please, I will have to report this to the patriarch if you force us into an unnecessary confrontation with this sect."

    "You''ll tell it to gramps? Fine but make it quick!"

    Finally, the elder floated forward while the young man retreated a few meters behind him. Even now he was looking at the sect Matriarch with ?ustful eyes which gave the mother of two to shudder in disgust.

    "I will make it quick, give up that woman there and we will leave. She had been chosen to be the concubine for our young master. This is a great honor, she might even be able to foster the next Patriarch''s son!"

    "Have you lost your mind? You wish me to become that bastard''s whore? I already have a husband and children, have you no shame or reason?"

    This posed a certain problem for the sect. It was fine to give up a disciple that was below the nascent soul level or even an elder but it was different when it came to their backbone.

    They would look weak if they just gave her up without getting anything in return. Even then they would be considered a laughing stock by the other sects which might see this as a chance to get something out of it.

    "Senior, do you expect us to relinquish our honored matriarch to your sect? Don''t you think that you are being unjust?"

    "I am well aware of everything, this does not matter to the Soaring Dragon Sect. The young master d?s?r?s your matriarch and she will come with us."

    "Hah, you tell them old Tong!"

    The old man started changing his tune soon. It was clear that even if this man knew that what he was doing was wrong he could not go against the young master''s wishes. The other elders and the ships started spreading out and even more cultivators appeared as they were clearly ready to act.

    "We will of course reimburse you for your loss with high quality spirit stones."

    Elder Tong commented while clearly getting ready for a fight.

    "Please give us some time to consider¡­"

    "You have ten minutes and not a second more!"

    The young master replied while laughing and then slowly made his way back to the large ship. He was greeted there by a group of scantily clad women, it seemed that even now he was a slave to his ?ust.

    "What do you think of our chances?"

    Zhang Liena and the other elders huddled up, their conversations hidden away by the grand formation that was protecting them.

    "The barrier should be able to last for a while but without the Patriarch here we can''t activate the grand formation fully¡­ the elders even to this day have not been able to unearth all of the secrets¡­"

    Zhang Dong fashioned this whole sect with the help of his system. It was a fortress that was built to last an extensive attack from all sides but there was a limit. One was the power sources that would be used up and the other were the functions that were locked to his system.

    In his absence, his wife had the moderator privileges to the sect grounds, then came his grandfather and disciples. They would be able to activate the basic functions but would not be able to boost them with their lack of cultivation.

    Similar to the Thunder tower that belonged to the Thunderball Sect. Only Zhang Dong knew how to fully operate it, without him victory was shaky.

    "We stand a fighting chance, the biggest problem is that Tong¡­"

    "Leave him to me!"

    "Wait Qiang¡­"

    Feng Liena looked at the red-haired man and then turned around. She looked out into the distance where the city and sect were visible. Her eyes looked up to that large floating castle where she recalled her short blissful life with her husband and family.

    She could remember like it was yesterday. His warm touch and the awkward smile that with time turned more genuine. His panicked expression when he realized that the first child was on the way. Then that happiness when her daughter was born and the pampering she received soon after.

    She smiled for a moment but then she recalled when the second child was born. The good days were halted and nothing but sadness remained. He was not there anymore to see his son start crawling and utter his first words.

    Was he really gone? Would he ever come back? These were the questions that she has been asking herself for a long time. If he was truly dead then it was up to her to pave a path for her children''s survival.

    "Liena, what are you planning? You aren''t seriously thinking about giving yourself up to that bastard?"

    Huo Qiang''s eyebrows furrowed as he seemed maddened by the fact that Liena was even thinking about taking the Soaring Dragon Sect up on their offer.

    "Can you beat him?"

    She asked and he quickly replied.

    "I can!"

    "Then what?"

    "Huh?"

    "I asked you what will you do, what will we do after we kill them all? Can you say with honesty that we can defend ourselves against the Soaring Dragon Sect? If we manage to push them back they will only return in more numbers and crush everyone till no one is left alive!"

    Huo Qiang went silent while the other elders knew the truth to these words. The force that they were against was not that they were afraid of. It was what would come after if they killed them off or managed to somehow outlast their attack.

    While all other middle-sized sects would have no way of protecting themselves against something like the Soaring Dragon Sect, this wasn''t the same for them. The whole ground was a massive formation and the buildings were built to last and power it more.

    Even without the patriarch the shield that they had here would probably not fall that soon. But it would fall, sooner or later they would run out of options while the other sect could just swarm them with more nascent soul cultivators.

    If they wanted the Soaring Dragon Sect could order cultivators from other middle sized sects to aid them. Each of the three large powers had a section of the empire to command and the United Element Sect was under their jurisdiction.

    They could do whatever they wished with them and no one would come to their aid. Then if they managed to somehow escape and survive they would not find any shelter. Their faces would be on wanted posters and the only thing they could do is seek shelter in other fringe parts of the empire.

    "Even if we win this battle we will still lose the war¡­"

    "Damn, if only he was here¡­"

    Huo Qiang shouted out in indignation at the lack of power. He knew that even if he could take care of a couple of the enemies more would just come. He also had a large family and many children. If there was a possibility to just offer up one person to save the rest it was the better option.

    "Ten minutes is up, now decide mega milk? I like ya and I want ya, now we can do this the easy way or the hard way, the choice is yours! What will it be?"

    The young master shouted out from the large ship that he soon left. The whole sect was already surrounded and it was clear that if she gave the wrong answer all hell would break loose.

 Chapter 372

    "That didn''t give me as much time as I hoped for¡­ how many are there, Bob?"

    "There are four large energy sources approaching from behind. There are also another five from the north and three from the south."

    Zhang Dong looked at his minimap and he could see many small dots there that were following after him. After giving the bogus cultivation technique to the four people that confronted him, he made his escape.

    Regretfully the old fogies were craftier than he anticipated. They alerted some of their allies that cut his escape route. Even though he went through a face swap it was hard to talk his way out of this predicament.

    The next group that he passed started following him as well and now he had over ten powerful cultivators following him. They were mostly from places that he had robbed of spirit stones and other cultivation resources.

    ''Why does it always have to be like this¡­''

    There he was, close to the border between the two empires. He had to make a lot of stops and zig-zag around the area as there were many lookouts posted to welcome him. The route that he planned to use had been denied as many old fogies blocked all the best exits. Thus he found himself having to use the scenic route.

    ''There is always a place like this isn''t there?''

    He had gained some information from the cities that were closer to the borders. No one really could give him a clear answer but this strange ''barrier'' between the two empires had been there since time immemorial.

    This strange construct created a large wall of deathly elemental energies between these two empires. There were a couple of ''tunnels'' that allowed passage but they were all controlled by the strongest forces in each empire.

    There was some information about these passages not being open at the time being. A limited timeframe for the passages being open would explain the lack of wars between the powers.

    It would take time and resources to conquer. If the aggressors could not invade and set up a stronghold for their forces it was a fool''s errand. Even when they placed some of their forces there if they could not return home to get more troops and resources they would be eradicated.

    This also brought up another problem, which was teleportation. If they could not make strongholds that linked them back to the original empire this also meant that teleportation gates were limited.

    This caused Zhang Dong to worry even more. It was possible for his teleportation feature not to work even when he arrived in the right spot.

    ''Not like I have the choice to test things out though¡­''

    He glanced behind and saw a swarm of beasts and cultivators following him from all sides. They all clumped up into a large force that was slowly catching up to him.

    "Stop this instance, there is no place to run!"

    Some of them shouted at him but he ignored them. What he was looking at was the great unknown bundle of energies in front of him. The ''wall'' spread all up into the heavens and was pushing the clouds away.

    The ground was devoid of any life and looked like a desert. Elemental storms, rain, and hurricane-like winds along with twisters were everywhere. While he was not affected by the lightning energies here, there were far more elemental powers at work at this location.

    Even with his current cultivation level, it was debatable if his body would not just burst into chunks when he entered this chaotic stream of energy.

    "I don''t think that''s such a good idea!"

    He burst forth with energy and headed towards the dead zone between the chaotic energies and the borderline. When he entered it he could feel his face and lip being cut by something. Even with his current cultivation, he was receiving damage for even being in close proximity to the elemental energies.

    While he propelled himself forward the people that were following him stopped in their tracks. Some of the beast tamers were not able to halt their less intelligent familiars. The moment they entered the zones their bodies contorted in strange ways and they started exploding.

    Thanks to Zhang Dong''s improved golden body that also reached the great circle stage he was somewhat able to resist the initial phase. But, even now he could feel that his body would be torn apart if he ventured in too close to the deathly black wall composed of strange energies.

    ''How does it look, can I teleport yet?"

    He glanced at his system screen and at his faction section. There he was trying to see if he could fast travel to his home point which was his sect.

    ''The user is still out of range, the user must move a hundred meters closer.''

    His body was reinforced and covered with a layer of golden glow. This was enough to keep him from exploding for now but if he ventured forward he was not sure about his survival.

    There was a choice to make, should he turn back and try to fight the large group of foes? Or should he fly towards the unknown without even knowing if the teleportation option would work? One thing was clear, the longer it took him to make a decision the meeker his chances of surviving got.

    ''I feel like going into this storm is certain death¡­ but¡­''

    Zhang Dong could not shake this strange foreboding feeling. This feeling was part of the reason for him being sloppy while returning home. If he was more careful it would have taken him longer to get here but he would have probably been able to cover his tracks.

    Thus he took a step forward. It was a large stride that took him closer to the barrier and even this caused his clothes to be shredded by some incoming wind.

    "What is that madman doing? Does he intend to go into the vicious elemental storm?"

    The cultivators that were following him cried out in astonishment as they watched the man in the white robe stride forward. They were already astonished that he made it halfway in without dying.

    He advanced forward without looking back. Soon he was unable to keep himself up in the air and had to descend onto the sandy ground. The earth was devoid of any life, when he landed his feet caused the ground to crack.

    Even though the ground looked like a desert it was far from soft. He noticed a strange increase in gravity the further he went which made his feet sink into the hard compressed sand.

    To them, he was already a lost cause. His remains would be eradicated by the elemental energies and scattered in this zone that was devoid of life. But, he kept on pushing. The memories of his children and wife keeping his spirit afloat allowed him to move through the pain.

    Forty, thirty, twenty, and ten. He was close yet also quite far as his body was pushed into the ground below him.

    ''Not yet, I''m not done yet¡­''

    He pushed his body to the very limit as he crawled. It felt like he was being weighed down by a mountain and going against the stream. Still, he didn''t falter and continued, one meter at a time he pushed forward, and then when all seemed lost and his vision started getting blurry he noticed something.

    Faction in range, teleport to the registered home point? Y/N

    With a shaky hand, he reached out to select one of the prompts. His vision blurred and he felt like his body was about to be torn apart. Then suddenly he felt his face landing on something soft and squishy.

    "Huh?"

    The feeling was reminiscent of something and when he opened his eyes he realized.

    "Wait, isn''t this?"

    "Am I back?"

    "Affirmative, the user has returned to his faction''s home point."

    Bob''s robotic voice echoed in his head. He wanted to do nothing more than to jump up in a show of happiness but then he noticed that his body was in no condition to do this. He was n?k?d, his body looked like it went through a shredder as he was covered in wounds and bleeding all over the place.

    The room that he appeared in was his secret man cave. It was something that he made as an excuse for secluded cultivation. In reality he used it to wind down and relax. This room was secretly placed deep underground, the walls were blocking spiritual senses so no one would be able to tell that he had returned.

    "Ugh¡­ it should be somewhere here¡­"

    This room was somewhat similar to his old room where he used to live. It wasn''t very spacious and besides the large bed, there were some monitors, a desk, and a gamer chair in the corner.

    There was also a side room where he kept some of the items that he made. This was the room that he was slowly forcing himself to crawl to. In it, he was able to find some healing pills which he instantly popped into his mouth before passing out on the floor.

    When his eyes opened again he felt refreshed. Through the dried-up blood that covered his body, he could tell that he had passed out for some time. This was no time to rest as he jumped up to his feet and quickly returned to the main room.

    "What is that?"

    "Other system holder detected in close proximity to the user, caution is advised!"

 Chapter 373

    "I''m getting tired of this, Tong let us just do the usual, it won''t take that long."

    "But young master, if we escalate the problem it will take valuable time. I must remind you that the Patriarch ordered us to take care of this swiftly, there is much at stake here."

    At this moment the old elder from the Soaring Dragon Sect was talking with the young master. They were both floating in front of their flagship and their conversation was private. The young master started chuckling as he replied.

    "You worry too much, how long could this take? They don''t even have as many nascent soul mobs as we do?"

    "I worry about their barrier, it won''t be easy to get past it, It''s not something that I expected to see from such a small sect¡­"

    The old man narrowed his eyes as the barrier was large enough to encompass the whole city. Most of the sects would not make protective barriers this big and focus on protecting the main inner sect. This left the outer sects and cities around them mostly unprotected from actual strong opponents.

    From Tong''s perspective, the large barrier that was here wasn''t far behind their own. It would take a prolonged ?ssault to crack this large nut. They might have to use the middle sized sects and ask them for reinforcements.

    This was of course something that he wished to avoid. He knew that the middle sized sects would probably stall for time and would put in the minimal effort. There was also the problem of the Azure Emperor and the other sect that they had a shaky agreement with.

    If they took too long here they would be showing weakness. This could be put up to debate if their next plan would go into fruition.

    "You''re worried about that?"

    Tong nodded while looking at the young master who was grinding.

    "Damn, it really is a powerful one¡­ this will cost me a big chunk of my points¡­"

    The young man started mumbling to himself about some points. The old man had witnessed the strange behaviours of this young man a long time ago. At first young master Wang hid this quirky nature away but the more power he gained the more relaxed around others he became.

    It was clear that he tossed all pretense to the side and let his true nature emerge. The old man figured out some terms like ''NPC'' to which the young master referred. It was not a gentle term that mostly stripped anyone of their humanity whenever he called them as such.

    "But not like I can''t farm these points right back, I bet this sect has some fat spirit stones that I can collect and there are enough nascent soul mobs to get everything back and more!"

    Tong looked at the young man wiggle his index finger in front of his own face. This was something he did from time to time as well. Most of the time nothing happened but sometimes strange things would appear out of thin air or other bizarre effects.

    "Ten minutes is up, now decide mega milk? I like ya and I want ya, now we can do this the easy way or the hard way, the choice is yours! What will it be? Let me help you make the right decision!"

    Suddenly the large barrier that was surrounding the whole Spirit Spring City and the sect started to rumble. Like glass, it shattered into many tiny pieces and the people that were beneath were revealed.

    Tong was astonished by the craftiness of this young man. He knew that if the youth was not so enthralled by the female form he would make a great patriarch. It was clear that he had the talent and had some kind of fortunate encounter.

    It took him a couple of years to achieve what took half a lifetime to lesser men. His rise to power was like a meteor that could not be stopped. Like a proper cultivator, his path was paved with the corpses of his predecessors. No one on his level remained and now he was next in line for the throne.

    "How could this be, how could they disable our grand barrier? Do we have a traitor in our midst?"

    The United Element Sect was in chaos, their cannons that were manned by the lesser cultivators turned aim and every battle-hardened veteran was ready to strike.

    The ten nascent soul elders from the Soaring Dragon Sect pushed their palms forward and caused a massive amount of pressure to fall on the entire city. Through this, anyone below the nascent soul felt like they were at the bottom of the sea.

    Some of the elders that were able to resist from the United Element side countered this effect with their own cultivation but it wasn''t enough. The Soaring Dragon Sect came prepared with many masters in the late stage.

    Any of these men and women that were here could become a Patriarch of their own sect if they wanted. They still chose to remain in the middle reaches of the empire. That was the best spot for cultivation and far more enticing than a big fish in a small pond scenario.

    One particular man with red hair charged out in front of the others. He was radiating a massive amount of energy. From Tong''s perspective, he was still only a middle stage nascent soul cultivator.

    There was something strange about him though. The red energy surrounding his body that looked like a coat of flames felt somewhat off. Even though he was someone at the pinnacle of the nascent soul he felt like he would not come out unscathed if he touched that energy.

    Thus he moved to intercept this man, it was clear that he was dangerous. Before the battle could start, they were interrupted by a booming voice of the woman that they came here for.

    "Please stop! No one has to die today, I will come with you!"

    Both sides stopped whatever they were doing and looked to Zhang Liena who flew forward and placed herself in front of Huo Qiang.

    "Are you sure you want to do this? I say we fight¡­ how do you expect me to face him if I just let them take you like this?"

    "I know, but the lives of our people and family members are more important. Even if we win today, there is nowhere that we can hide¡­"

    "Good, you came to a decision, let us depart then."

    "Don''t worry, the rumors about the young master are over-exaggerated. Your matriarch will be well cared for and any offspring will become part of the Soaring Dragon Sect."

    Tong put on a stone-cold face while talking as he knew that this was total horseshit. The woman that they would be taking with them will be lucky if she came out alive after everything was over.

    Most of the women end up dried up husks of their former selves. Then if they survived they were tossed out of the young master''s peak to fend for themselves. Some remained in the sect out of necessity while others took their own lives as they were unable to cope with what had happened.

    "Do you really want us to believe that?"

    Huo Qiang snorted while backing off, he looked to the young master in question that was in the process of ???k?n? his lips. Soon he stood before his prize, Zhang Liena, the late Patriarch''s wife.

    Tong was close by and ready, if anyone tried to pull something he would need to act. He did not like this grandson of the Patriarch but if something happened to him, then his head could roll.

    Even his status might not be able to shield him from the Patriarch''s rage and he knew that the old man doted on this young master here. He was convinced that the young man was the future and if the future was gone then he feared that the Patriarch could do something drastic.

    Luckily it didn''t seem that anything out of the ordinary would be happening. While the man with red hair moved slowly back the woman begrudgingly approached them. The young master Wang didn''t hide his ?ustful gaze. It was clear that it was fixated on the woman''s rather large ?h?st which put most of the other concubines to shame.

    Just as with any other concubine, Tong knew that the young master would not be able to show restraint. It didn''t matter that they were in public and that everyone from the United Element Sect was staring daggers at them. They could only watch as their Matriarch got harassed.

    But just before the man could grasp that ?h?st, Tong felt an attack coming from the side. It was strange as it was easy to read, he didn''t even have to move as it fizzled away into nothingness just from getting close to his nascent soul aura.

    The attack was followed by an angry-looking girl. Just from the face, he could tell that the person was related to this matriarch and the ?h?st size was quite similar. The biggest difference was the height as this girl was about a head shorter.

    "Leave my sister alone!"

    "Oh? Isn''t that a feisty one! They are sisters? Even better!"

    Tong wanted to sigh as he saw his young master''s eyes glitter. He instantly knew that the girl that just attacked would be taken as well. Even though the girl charged forward she was restrained by the people from the United Element Sect.

    It was clear that they wanted to remove her from the situation. Alas, it was too late, the young master had made his decision so he needed to follow up on it.

    "Release the girl, she will also come with us."

    The young master nodded and moved his attention to the United Sect Matriarch. His hand reached out but before the fingers could sink into the goods another event interrupted them. Tong could hear a strange buzzing sound and instead of soft flesh, the grasping hand collided with something.

    "What? But I used the spirit points¡­ how could this barrier go against the system?"

    It was the defensive barrier that was once again operating. Tong did not know how his master removed it in the first place but it seemed that he didn''t know why it was running either.

    The barrier wasn''t the only problem as the whole city began to rumble. The floating castle in the background began to glow in a golden light and Tong could see that it started moving towards them.

    "How could this be? The Patriarch''s citadel is unable to function without his presence¡­ could this mean?"

    The people from the United Element''s Sect looked to the glowing castle with wide eyes with one person in particular looking with quite the zeal.

 Chapter 374

    There he was, n?k?d and woozy down on the ground. He felt like he was run over by a car which then turned around and hit him once again. Luckily for him, there were some healing pills in the room that he crawled into.

    "I''m back¡­"

    While slowly standing up he pumped his fist in the air which caused some of the wounds to sting. This he didn''t care much about as he was visibly pleased by having his long journey be at an end.

    It all started on that fateful day where he fought off the third iteration of the monster. Then he was tossed into the void between worlds. This taught him secrets that he was not meant to know.

    The person behind the creation of these separate dimensions was still unknown to him. It did give him valuable information about how his own world worked. The existence of higher beings that watched over these worlds became known to him. For him to not suffer an untimely death he would need to avoid them at all cost.

    This was not a problem that he would need to handle yet, now he needed to rejoin his family. The simple fact that this room was in place meant that things looked well. With heavy steps he traded out of the side room, his vision was blurry but this didn''t keep him from seeing the bright monitors.

    His vision focused and he could see the familiar scenery that he remembered well. The sect buildings were there, he was back home. The monitors in this room were fashioned by him and he had his own version of cameras placed around some key locations.

    The first thing he noticed was the lack of people. Out in the yard at his home there was no one, he hoped to see his children playing with their mother but there was no one there. No people in the streets either, it looked like a ghost town.

    His attention was drawn to a certain monitor, on it he could see movement. There he finally saw her, his beautiful wife. At the moment he was drawn into her face but soon he noticed that something was off. She looked rather perturbed and the reason behind this became apparent.

    "What?"

    This realization was soon followed by his AI giving him an alarm.

    "Other system holder detected in close proximity to the user, caution is advised!"

    "How could that be possible?"

    From what he could tell there would be one person with a system summoned. Even back in the other world, Takeshi was the main system holder. All the girls that came with him were only borrowing some of its functions.

    Was this person related to him? Could he have been summoned at the same time and possessed some off-shot system?

    "Calculating¡­ answer available. The possibility of a new system holder being summoned after the perceived disconnection from the source by the user is 99.99%"

    "The source?"

    Zhang Dong thought back to the time when his system started acting strange. It was back when he was forced down into the expedition along with his clansmen. There he suffered a near-death experience after using up all of his spiritual energy.

    "Are you telling me, that this world''s overseer thinks that I''m dead and so he summoned another person to replace me?"

    "Affirmative."

    "Could you explain yourself, you''re not really helping much¡­"

    "Attempting to access the database to answer the quarry¡­ error¡­ error¡­"

    "Figures¡­"

    His little AI helped appear after he got thrown into the void. It was unknown to him how Bob really worked and if he could actually fully trust him yet. All the questions that he posed towards the people that were working in the background were met with errors.

    Bob did ?ssure him that if he reached a higher state of being that some of this information would be revealed to him. This AI was probably something that was left behind when he absorbed that first cube during the expedition.

    The initial absorption cut him away from the source and altered his old system. Then when he was thrown into the gap between worlds Bob was activated. Perhaps this thing needed certain requirements to unlock its secrets.

    One of these requirements was gathering more cubes and gaining more power. If there was another person with a system that was summoned to this empire. This meant that there was another cube powering a different teleportation formation as the one that brought him here.

    "Wait, did this person come from my world? Why is he here then?"

    It didn''t seem that a battle had broken out just yet so Zhang Dong decided to wait. He needed more information, if he bolted outside he might have just escalated everything.

    "I don''t like this but maybe they can talk it out¡­"

    The barrier was surrounding the whole area and the civilians had been evacuated. It seemed that the construction of this base had been finished and they were following his old instructions.

    While the situation looked to be sketchy he did have a smile on his face. It took a bit of time to move his gaze away from his wife. All the people he knew were there, Huo Qiang, Zhang Jin, and even Zhang Zhi. He did not see many people of the younger generation like Feng Nuana or his two disciples for some reason.

    With a wave of his hand, he activated the monitors to search for them. He did not want to activate his spiritual sense as that could cause him to be discovered. The monitors tapped into some hidden cameras that were spread out like a net through the whole sect and city. In a few seconds, he managed to find both of his disciples.

    "Wha¡­"

    They weren''t alone though, with them there was Feng Nuana that was visibly angered at something. She was pacing back and forth while fuming and talking fast. This was not what drew in his gaze, no what he was looking at was a child that was sitting in Zhang Xue''s ??p.

    ''Wait is that¡­ no¡­''

    He took a step back as he realized that this was his son, Zhang Jun. The thing that took him aback was his size, for him not more than five to six months had passed but the child that he was looking at was far above that age.

    Next to the boy he also noticed another child that was slightly bigger. This was clearly his daughter Zhang Xiu. While the boy wasn''t doing much the girl had a rather grumpy expression.

    Zhang Dong quickly brought up his faction interface. He did not have time to check yet but now would be the perfect time. He zoomed on his wife and also found his children there. His eyes moved towards the age indication and his mouth opened wide.

    "Five years¡­ I was gone for five years?"

    ''No, what matters is that they are both fine and healthy.''

    This was no time for spacing out, while his children might not recall their father it was enough for them to be alive. His wife was out there and danger loomed over the sect, this was no time for this.

    The person that replaced him came into view. Right from the start, Zhang Dong could tell that something was off. When he left the ship that he was on he was surrounded by scantily clad women. It was clear from the start that this man was living the bachelor''s life.

    His looks were also somewhat peculiar. He clearly picked a good-looking avatar but while Matt chose to go with a more muscular version this person went with a slimmer variant. The face was of a pretty boy that would give women a run for their money.

    "Wait¡­ what did he say? Milkers?"

    He thought that he might have misheard it but when he turned up the sound he could tell that this person was a bottom feeder. The more he heard him talking the more he wanted to just fly out and punch him in the face. There was far too much at stake here though and he managed to keep it cool.

    Everything became apparent rather quickly, it was clear that this man wanted to violate his wife. It didn''t seem that he had many character-building encounters and was consumed by this world''s more sinful characteristics.

    "Soaring Dragon Sect¡­ I guess he went with the young master option¡­"

    He recalled his life as Matt and how he received that strange e-mail. One of the options he could have chosen then was to become a young youth and be part of a prominent sect. This person here hit the jackpot and was now part of the big three that ruled the whole empire and it seemed that he had built himself up into a good position.

    It didn''t seem that this person had the morals that he had. With so many women by his side, it felt like he should have been satisfied. There was no real reason to go to other sects and capture the wives of sect leaders. It was clear to him that this person had a screw loose.

    "Or he could think that this is some kind of game¡­"

    There was a system that allowed him to see stats. Spirit points could be gained, it worked like any role-playing game. Killing enemies gained a person more points that made them stronger. Some might lose themselves in this world, run on power, and unleash their deepest d?s?r?s. This person was apparently a s?xu?? deviant and the more he looked at him, the more this became apparent.

    "If he thinks that he will get away with this, then he has another thing coming¡­"

    Zhang Dong snapped his fingers and a wall opened up. While the elders from his sect consulted with each other he needed to prepare his counterattack.

    When he entered this closer room he was greeted by glittering lights. His stack of spirit stones and other valuable resources greeted him. Weapons, armor, and untested treasures were all here.

    He leaned down and picked up a handful of spirit stones. Quickly they turned to dust which fell down to his feet.

    "Come to my home and try to take my wife, don''t think you can leave with your balls intact!"

 Chapter 375

    ''I need more time¡­''

    There he was, sitting on the ground and hastily absorbing holy energies from some previously created pills. All of the spirit stones that he had stashed away were now gone.

    The weapons that could boost his body refinement up to the great circle of core formation were now gone. All of the treasures possessing electrical energies had also been consumed in a hasty fashion that was causing him pain.

    He knew that one ??pse of judgment could cause him to suffer but he didn''t care. With the help of Bob and his system, he would be able to work through failures in his cultivation process.

    Soon his body started exuding a new power yet he was unable to push his regular cultivation through the next step. His new tetra core cultivation method was very demanding, even more, when he tried to push it towards the great circle level.

    The materials that he had stored away in this small man cave he made was also very limited. There was just not enough energy to go around. Just like before it was not equal, he needed to absorb a bit more but for this, he needed more time.

    "Ten minutes is up¡­"

    He could hear the sound coming from the other room. Most of the cameras were focused on the Soaring Dragon Sect''s flagship while the others were peeking at the room that his children were in.

    From what he could tell this room was one of the safety bunkers that was deep underground. It was a specially made escape pod that could be activated and would send the people inside of it into a distant part of the forest. It was lined with special aura blocking materials so no one would be able to tell that someone was escaping.

    There were a few other pods like these and he fashioned them for a limited number of people. It was supposed to carry his disciples, family, and closest friends to safety. When he returned though one person that had been there previously was missing for some reason.

    He must have missed it while he was making his preparations but his disciple Zhang Liu was sprawled down on the ground. It was clear that he was still alive and just sleeping but Feng Nuana was the person that was not there anymore.

    Zhang Xue on the other hand was holding both of his kids by the hands while looking at her passed-out brother. He concluded that somehow Nuana had to have put Liu to sleep for some reason while also leaving the escape pod behind.

    Soon the reason became obvious as he could see her running outside. He wasn''t sure but he had a suspicion of why she was doing this.

    The escape pod that they were in had similar monitors that could show the outside to them. It was clear that they had heard that s?xu?? deviant pronounce his intentions towards his wife. While his disciples were there to keep his children, Nuana was probably more emotional towards her own sister.

    ''She must have taken Liu out and made a run towards Liena¡­''

    He wanted to smack the little sister on the head as he knew that she could not do anything worthwhile. She was only an early core formation practitioner with no way of helping out. Zhang Dong even feared that if that pervert noticed her that he would decide to take her with him as well.

    Suddenly something happened that he didn''t expect. The monitors started turning red and he could feel that the large protective barrier that should have been able to last for multiple days had just turned off.

    ''What the hell¡­?''

    This barrier was made with utmost diligence and with the best materials that he could get his hands on. It should be able to resist anything that this world had to offer and the off switch was deep inside the middle of the sect. Unless someone turned it off from the inside it should not be possible.

    ''The use of spirit points has been detected.''

    The system gave him the answer itself. It was the young man with his own system, with its help he was able to make months of designing and years of work just vanish with a snap of the finger.

    Zhang Dong now realized how people felt whenever he used his system against them. Years of hard work and planning went down the drain and the other person didn''t even need much to do it.

    With even less time on his hands and more people to save he reached out with his hand towards the monitors. With a jolt from his cultivation aura, the alarms were turned off as he activated another function that was embedded into this chamber.

    Through a previously set up short teleportation array, he was teleported up into his home. The gaudy castle that he was forced to live on was somewhat an eyesore. It was huge and there was far too much space in it for a small family like him to live there.

    The place he appeared was right in the inner courtyard. There was a large fountain in the center that had somewhat changed in appearance. Previously it showcased a random angel with wings but now he could see that someone changed it into a statue with his appearance.

    ''I guess they wanted to honor their late missing Patriarch¡­''

    While he was a bit sorry for destroying this piece of art, he needed to get to the room that was right under this statute. With the previous one removed, it didn''t seem like the opening mechanism was in place either.

    It was a blunder on his part as he did not explain the full function of this system-run fortress. It was impossible to untangle some of the functions that it had from his own system. It was connected to his faction system and not one would really be able to make sense of the construction without its help.

    With the fountain being thrown to the side a strange wall of metal appeared. It had various runic symbols on it that soon lit up brightly as he stood on top of it. The structure activated as a circle of about two meters in diameter around him appeared.

    Soon Zhang Dong found himself moving down on this circular elevator that brought him to the insides of this large castle. While on the outside it looked like a structure fit for a king, its true functions were hidden away.

    This was something that he used his years of crafting knowledge for. After absorbing all sorts of books about making treasures and upgrading them through the system he could put himself in the top five of best craftsmen that this empire had to offer.

    While other masters mostly focused their skills on smaller items like weapons and pills, he had a tendency to build big. His first real step in this direction was the huge battleship that he had helped create.

    The same battleship and a few other smaller similar ones were now ready and floating above the city.He could feel them activating their generators and getting ready to fire as soon as the barrier was turned off.

    ''Well then, I hope this thing doesn''t just blow up on me¡­''

    Zhang Dong found himself in some strange liquid then suddenly the light went on and he could see everything that was on the outside. He felt as if he was sitting in a pool filled with clear water but while being able to breathe.

    During his exit from the lower room, he had also switched his clothes. He was wearing a skin-tight body suit that was similar to a wet suit. It had added armored parts on his ?h?st and shoulders which had now cables sticking out of them that connected to the strange control room that he was in.

    ''Biometric signature has been scanned, welcome administrator, would you like to activate the fortress 1?''

    ''I guess it''s time to make myself known¡­''

    "Activate all systems, activate the engines! Reactivate the shields at my command!"

    While the grand formation barrier was canceled there was a way to restart it. By using up some of the stored power he could activate the reserve generators that were only accessible through his administrative privileges.

    With the orders given many popup screens and loading screens turned up. The inside of the castle started to rumble as it activated as well. The outside structures started cracking as the floating fortress moved forward.

    While he was saddened by the fact that he had to damage his own home that he had some fond memories in. His family was more important than material things, the kids were below ground and well protected with his disciples, they would be fine.

    "The Patriarch''s castle is moving! How could this be?"

    "Is the grand formation working again?"

    The sect members called out at the sight of their late Patriarch''s home moving. It was a symbol that reminded them of him but most of the people here had thought him to had perished.

    "People from the Soaring Dragon Sect, you are not welcome here, begone!"

    His voice was heard through all the speakers that spread through the city. The large fortress that once looked like a villa started to shed its outer shell. Many cannons appeared from within and all of them were pointed at the ships and cultivators from the Soaring Dragon Sect.

    "That Voice¡­ could it really be?"

    Zhang Liena backed away from the reactivated barrier and looked to her home approaching. While she wanted to believe that her husband was back, it could have been some intricate treasure with his voice.

    "I''m sure you would rather do nothing more than to attack us but before we start killing ourselves I''d wish to speak with that person¡­ yes the person called¡­ Wang Long¡­"

    Zhang Dong had his system so even through the computer screens he could see the man''s name floating above his head. It was clear that he went for a similar style of naming but for some reason reversed the last name with his name.

    "What is that? Did we activate a hidden boss?"

    The pervert called out while not even seeming alarmed by the appearance of the flying castle.

    ''Bob, can you directly connect me to his system, so we can have a private conversation?''

    ''Affirmative, connecting now.''

    With one last try, Zhang Dong decided to try the olive branch approach. The person was not of this world, so maybe if he knew that he was interacting with another ''player'' he might see things differently.

    ''Connection established.''

    "Hello there Long Wang, we need to talk¡­"

 Chapter 376

    The large floating fortress with cannons pointed in all directions halted its advance. The cultivators from the United Element Sect recognized that the voice that came from it belonged to their Patriarch.

    While some of them cheered out, others were concerned. Did the Patriarch really return or was this just some pre-recorded voice line that this floating weapon possessed? There was also the problem with it being openly hostile towards the Soaring Dragon Sect.

    Some of the elders were still hopeful that giving up one or two women would save the rest from bloodshed. While everyone was speculating and discussing with each other another conversation that could not be heard by anyone else was taking place.

    "Long Wang huh?"

    "How are you talking to me?"

    "Did you think that you are the only one that has a system? Things are not how you might think, stop treating this like a game."

    "Wait? Do you have a system too? You''re a player just like me?"

    Zhang Dong with the help of Bob had managed to hack his way into the communication function of Wang Long''s system. He wanted to do nothing more than to punch this guy in the face. Regretfully people''s lives were at stake, if he could talk his way out of this mess he needed to try.

    "Player? This is not a game, why are you attacking my sect? The woman that you are trying to take away is my wife."

    "Your wife? Are you one of those role play types or something?"

    "Huh?"

    "Well I did try that one time, but I was never good with those romance games, getting the correct dialogue checks was confusing."

    The man called Wang Long gave out a sigh and started going on a tangent. While listening Zhang Dong realized that this person didn''t see the people living in this world as true living beings.

    It was clear that he thought that they were nothing more than a part of some program. The system allowed people to see people''s stats, even alignments. It also sometimes advanced its features to suit what the user wanted.

    He was a witness to such things as when he d?s?r?d the teleportation feature that had just appeared there. This could have happened to this man as well, maybe his system was presenting him with emotional-related statics like affection.

    Even Zhang Dong had similar stats in his faction system. He could see how well his people were doing, it was all presented to him with things like the satisfaction level of his people. If he didn''t invest in his clan as he did he might have still been thinking like this person.

    "Wait... hold up, these people aren''t NPC''s, have you actually sat down and talked to one without your status looming over them?"

    While Zhang Dong started out thinking in a similar way as this person. It started changing over the years, he was a more compassionate person from the start which probably caused him to see the humanity in these strange cultivators.

    They all had their problems but they all had goals just like him. While they acted reserved when people with status were involved they also laughed and cried.

    This he mostly learned when he was out on his travels. When he pretended to be someone else he did visit restaurants, taverns and even looked at the people in the villages. He just couldn''t see them as part of some strange program. They were certainly not soulless puppets as this person was claiming.

    "Damn, are you being serious right now? You role-player types always got too much into your strange fantasies. Wait, aren''t we forgetting something? How come you also have a system? could this be some trick?"

    "Did you think that you were the only one? You are not the only person with a system."

    "This is bull-shit! I thought this was a single-player PVE experience! Does this mean that I have to worry about getting ganked by other players? Wait, why should I even trust you? Hah, you almost got me but I''m too smart for such an obvious trick!"

    "Wait, what are you talking abou¡­"

    It seemed that the person he was talking with was not the trusting type. He started accusing Zhang Dong of a scheme. The person was clearly a gamer that was used to playing certain player versus player-related content. Some of these games were quite toxic and people loved killing others just to troll them in any way possible.

    "Damn, I didn''t know that you could go into faction versus faction combat, I bet I''ll get a massive boost in spirit points if I win this fight¡­"

    "Wait, this isn''t what¡­"

    "Shut up, you think that you can pull a fast one on me? Go screw yourself!"

    The connection was cut off soon after and Bob reported that this Wang Long had used some of his points to set up some kind of communication barrier that would require Zhang Dong to also spend points.

    ''Shit, what is this idiot even thinking? Did he lose himself to the debauchery of this world?''

    While Zhang Dong had a rather reserved personality and it came hard for him to interact with women, this person seemed to be the total opposite. He treated everyone as mere NPC''s in the game and probably didn''t suffer any remorse when something happened to them.

    "Young master are you alright?"

    He looked into the distance and could hear a member from the Soaring Dragon Sect calling out to Wang Long.

    "Yes I''m fine, let us continue with the attack! They are clearly disrespecting our sect!"

    The barrier was reactivated but he had to jump start it. This used up some of the power reserves which would cause it to shut down a lot sooner.

    "Wang Long or Long Wang, stop this, you don''t realize what this world really is, we can still discuss it!"

    While his connection to Wang Long''s system was down he could still talk through the fortress and the city speakers.

    "Do you think that I''m stupid? You just want to gank me and take away all of my spirit points! I''m not going to trust some idiot in a backwater sect like this."

    "Listen to me, you idiot!"

    "Screw you!"

    The little back and forth between the two was clearly heard by the people around it. It didn''t seem like it was going anywhere as the two cultivators started calling themselves strange names like cucks, simps, and incels.

    "Enough! Tong attack, at least I''ll be able to see if there is a respawn feature in this game! Burn the city to the ground but leave the women alive!"

    It seemed that the time was up and the young master pointed out with his finger towards the barrier. The ships in the back that were prepared started gathering up energy and soon they started to ?ssault the city.

    The people from the Soaring Dragon Sect would soon discover that it would not be such a one-sided slaughter. The barrier that was created here was not like the other ones fashioned in this world. While the defensive capabilities were lowered it also possessed a certain feature.

    Zhang Dong flying fort''s cannons were already ready to discharge similar spiritual bullets. Normally this would be impossible as the barrier was a two-way barrier. With some testing though he had managed to get the energies in tune with each other. Thanks to this the deathly energy-packed bullets would be able to pass through it.

    Soon the energy bullets were released and they were not only coming from this flying castle. The whole city was a massive fort filled with automated weaponry. All of this firepower lit up the sky and the ships from the Soaring Dragon Sect started being suppressed.

    "How is this possible? Their protective formation is still up? How can they return fire!"

    Tong called out in fright while holding one of his palms forward to produce a shield of his own.

    "Elders, summon your soul beast, protect the ships!"

    While the automated weapons that were scattered around the whole city emerged from some buildings, the people from the sect were still confused.

    "Elder Liena, is this your doing?"

    "Huh? What do you mean?"

    "Who else but you would profit from this chaos?"

    Asked a rather angry looking man from the Huo clan.

    "Be quiet father, you should know that only Senior Brother would be able to do this¡­"

    "The Patriarch? Could he really be alive?"

    Huo Qiang shrugged while looking to Zhang Liena and Zhang Jin for answers. The old man looked to the large floating fortress that was shedding its skin and revealing some kind of metal contraption underneath.

    "I''m not sure, it could have been some weapon left by Dong''er that was activated when his wife was in danger¡­"

    Zhang Jin looked at Liena who was still staring at what used to be her home crumbling into dust. Her expression that was filled with astonishment quickly changed to one of curiosity and longing.

    "Nuana, stay here, the rest of you¡­ what are you doing? It''s already too late to bargain, you heard that bastard, they are going to turn this city, our city, to cinders if we don''t stop them. Even if it''s the Soaring Dragon Sect, they are not impossible to beat, let us focus on this battle first and then deliberate on our future actions!"

    After giving a little battle speech she departed towards the island that was approaching them slowly. It didn''t seem that her advance would be stopped as even when she was right next to the cannons they didn''t fire at her.

    "Husband? Are you there? Is it really you?"

    She called out, her breath heavy as she was unsure of what was happening. While the conversation between the bastard that tried to take her away and this flying fortress was quite animated it didn''t mean that it was her husband.

    Leaving behind part of one''s memories was a technique that some cultivators could use. Her husband could very well have left a part of himself behind that could somewhat speak and reason. It would not be him if this was true.

    "Zhang Dong? ZHANG DONG? Where are you?"

    Her shouts were met with silence and as she was almost ready to give up hope she noticed something. A large glowing circle appeared in the spot that once had a large fountain on it.

    The light was there and it was humming, without thinking much she decided to stand right on it. The moment she did, the ground under her shook slightly and she started descending.

    Soon a strange feeling took over her, it was pitch black in here and she dropped into something. It felt like she was submerged in some kind of liquid. She wasn''t prepared for this so she opened her mouth and it made its way inside which caused her to panic.

    "Relax, the spirit fluid won''t hurt you."

    She then heard a familiar voice which was followed by light returning to her eyes.

    "You should have regained your senses, it''s a strange feeling at first but you''ll get used to it."

    Once her breath returned and her vision got clear she found herself in a certain man''s ??p.

    "It''s been a while, hasn''t it¡­my wife."

 Chapter 377

    While Zhang Dong was concentrating on the battle he almost didn''t notice that he had a visitor. His wife appeared in the middle of what used to be his home. While he was a bit preoccupied with what he was doing and this was not the place for a family reunion, the moment she started shouting his emotions got the better of him.

    While this place he was in was not really made for more than one person, he could squeeze in one caramel beauty in. It was a little funny to see her panic when she was submerged in the special fluid but soon he found himself opening up his arms to catch her.

    It took a moment for it to sink in. Watching the people through the screen wasn''t the same as actually being right next to them. He could feel her body pressing into his which made him instinctively move them around her back. It was as if he feared that she would just vanish into tiny soap bubbles if he didn''t hold her tightly.

    Soon he could tell that sight had returned to his wife. She could finally see him and it was clear that she was unable to mutter a word. A tiny moment passed between the two where they just kept looking at each other without saying a word.

    If it was any other time he wished that this moment could continue to eternity. But fate was cruel and the sight of explosions and the chaos outside brought Zhang Dong to his senses.

    "It''s been a while¡­"

    He called out to her, Liena looked at him with even more intent before giving an answer.

    "Is¡­ is it truly you?"

    "Who else could it be?

    She narrowed her eyes and he could feel that she was using her spiritual sense on him. He was glad that she was not being too gullible as he could have truly been some other entity taking the form of her husband.

    "It is truly you¡­ but... "

    "Yes, my cultivation has changed slightly but I wouldn''t consider myself much weaker than what I was before, I just need some time to recover."

    He quickly replied to at least alleviate some of the questions. While his cultivation level had decreased, the improved version of the core formation realm was close to what his old nascent soul level was. If he managed to break through into the great circle he might actually be slightly stronger than before.

    "Truly my husband has returned?"

    "Yes, that''s what I¡­ is something wrong?"

    Soon he could see his wife''s eyes closing. If this wasn''t inside of a special pod filled with liquid he would be seeing her tears streaming down her face. She suddenly slung her arms around his neck and gave him a big hug. Her voice started getting more muddled as she started to sob.

    Without being able to do much, he just returned the hug and started to rub her back. The embrace lasted for a few moments but soon he felt some resistance as she started pushing herself back. When she did he could see that her face was devoid of sadness which was now replaced by anger.

    "Where were you?"

    "Well¡­ that''s going to be hard to explain¡­"

    "You better have a good explanation!"

    "My dear wife, I don''t think this is a good time to be arguing. I think we have more important matters to attend to¡­"

    Zhang Dong backed away while trying to soothe his angry wife. It was understandable that she was angry as her husband just popped out of nowhere and seemed mostly fine. If he was in her shoes he would also be quite livid if a family member appeared out of nowhere after being seen as dead.

    She looked back and could also see what was happening outside. While the automatic cannons could shoot at the invaders the other cultivators couldn''t. Without attuning their techniques to match the barrier they could just sit there and look at the enemies.

    The biggest problem was the large number of nascent soul elders protecting their ships. Along with their soul beasts, they could protect those battleships from the cannon fire while also attacking the barrier.

    It was turning into a battle of attrition, would the barrier give out or would the nascent soul experts run out of juice first? While Zhang Dong didn''t really know what the end plan of these attackers was, they certainly did seem like they were in a hurry.

    The force that they brought over was quite large for something like this. It was excessive for going against a middle-sized sect. Either the Soaring Dragon Sect had a lot of resources to spare or they wanted to get it over with fast.

    The best way to do such a thing would be to overwhelm their opponents with firepower. With ten late stage nascent soul elders and one at the great circle realm, they could steamroll any normal middle-sized sect.

    They were out of luck with this one as with the system''s help and Zhang Dong''s knack for crafting they were in for a prolonged siege. That was also not counting in all the buried escaped tunnels that blocked out spiritual sense from coming in. They would be in for quite a chase if they ever wanted to get to every last sect member that was here.

    "I hope that you have a plan."

    "A plan¡­"

    "If not¡­ I could still try¡­"

    "No."

    He shook his head while glaring at Liena that flinched.

    "I''d rather die than have you go with that bastard."

    "But what about the Sect? What about¡­"

    "What about you? What about our children? They need their mother!"

    Zhang Dong shouted out but soon gave out a sigh as he caught a fearful expression in his wife.

    "It doesn''t matter now, that bastard won''t let us go."

    He heard the one called Wang Long call out. It seemed that he was planning on getting rid of every male member from the sect and just taking all the women with them. Probably the less good-looking ones would follow in the footsteps of the men. The ones that made the cut could look forward to a life of slavery.

    "But can we win? This is the Soaring Dragon Sect and you are also weakened!"

    "Don''t worry, we have a chance of survival, luckily our opponent isn''t the brightest."

    Zhang Dong tried to calm Liena down, while it didn''t look good there was still a chance of walking out of this battle alive. This would be possible thanks to it being their home ground. The advantage was actually on their side as they were only involved in a defensive battle.

    What was needed was just some bait and if their enemies took it, then victory was ?ssured. Luckily the man in charge wasn''t really the elder at the great circle level. While he might have been the strongest of them, the person in charge was the otherworlder.

    This person had many glaring flaws that could be used during this fight. It was clear to Zhang Dong that Wang Long lacked any real combat experience. Just like him before he received the system degrading he was very dependent on it.

    His faction was also a big reason why he would fail. Being brought up in a powerful sect had its advantages but there were some disadvantages when being brought up as a young master. These he would now try to exploit along with the man''s pride. He knew very well how it could cause one to lose himself.

    "So be it, I shall put my faith and the sect''s faith in you my husband! If we fail, then we will fail together!"

    He smiled at the proclamation from his lovely wife. While he was not interested in perishing here, he had a backup plan that would allow his wife and kids to survive. It was not much of a plan but at least his loved ones would be safe.

    It was a strange feeling to finally have something that he wanted to protect. When he thought back to his old life that he lived in the modern world it wasn''t all that bad. While he didn''t have much going for himself he was still free and with no responsibilities other than himself.

    Now, on the other hand, people''s lives were dependent on his decisions. With a wave of his hand, he could decide if people lived or died. At first, he felt that he would be crushed under the weight of this responsibility but then he found something that he could fight for.

    The pity that he felt would not hold him back from ending his life though. He was still an opponent that made his decision.

    "Hah, that''s why I love you."

    He smiled one last time before pulling Liena into a prolonged kiss. When their lips parted he could see her blushing which only made him want to protect her even more.

    "While I intended to make this as a one seater, some more spiritual energy is always better."

    Zhang Dong said while stretching out his hand towards Liena.

    "Will you lend me your strength?"

    "Do you really need to ask?"

    She just smiled and they both interlocked their fingers. Now with Liena sitting in his ??p and lending him some of her spiritual energy the fortress exploded with even more energy. The cannon fire increased and the enemies from the Soaring Dragon Sect even found themselves being pushed back.

    "Liena, help me talk to the other elders, they''ll probably listen to you more than me."

    "Hey there, gramps and you to Qiang, it''s been a while, I need you to do something for me¡­"

    Even though he was inside this fortress and he couldn''t really see them, he could feel their gazes shooting towards the crumbling castle that he was in. It was finally time to turn this thing around, if everyone made it out alive would depend on how stupid and prideful their opponents were...

 Chapter 378

    "Young master, we might have to retreat, for now, I must remind you that this is a critical moment for our sect, our time should be used elsewhere. The elders that had come with us will be needed for the coming¡­"

    "Be quiet Tong, that can wait but this can''t!"

    Elder Tong looked at the young master that had a peculiar expression on his face. This was the face of a man that was consumed by something. It was an uncommon thing to see this young master striving for something but the timing could not have been worse.

    Tong could somewhat measure the defensive and offensive capabilities of the sect they were facing. They were more or less at a stalemate, they were somewhat at an advantage as the United Element''s sect was stationary.

    If they kept at it long enough the defensive formation would falter but it would falter later than sooner. This elder feared that it would take up too much time and cause their enemies to go through some plans of their own.

    The ten late stage nascent soul elders that they were using here was not a small number. The group here could more or less conquer the middle sized sects if they attacked them one by one all by themselves.

    Tong feared that their resources could be spent elsewhere and after they were done with their main plan they could honor the young masters'' conquests. Thus he decided to report this to the Patriarch, maybe he could convince the true leader of the sect to force this unruly grandson to back off for now.

    They were giving a certain time window to clear things up, while this window had not passed yet he feared that they would not meet the deadline. But before he could grab the communication jade he noticed something, the barrier started faltering.

    "Hm? Isn''t that a bit too early?"

    The protective barrier that had stood like a solid wall of energy started flickering as if it was running out of energy. He could even see some of the spiritual bullets that were being fired from their own ships penetrating into it and some damage being caused to the buildings below.

    "Hah you see that Tong? I knew that the bastard was using some tricks, the system can''t be beaten! This is our chance, everyone attack! Remember that we take the women!"

    Some of the cultivators that were manning the ships shouted out in unison. Tong knew well why those people were quite ecstatic at what the young master had said.

    This was not the first time that something like this was happening. There were some other lesser-known sects that were flattened by this Wang Long. Every time he would capture the women and kill the men.

    Then the ones that were deemed not beautiful enough he would give away to the other sect members. They would be free to do with them as they wanted, which led mostly to a life of slavery and misery. Consumed by ?ust and egged on by the young master the sect members were more willing to do things that they wouldn''t normally do.

    "Young master please wait, doesn''t this all feel strange? Would this grand formation just fail almost instantly right after being reactivated?"

    Tong tried to reason with Wang Long as he was afraid that they could be going into a trap. While he believed that they would be able to punch through this barrier in time, it was too soon. There was also that large thing that was floating about and raining cannon fire on them.

    At first, it looked like a giant castle that was situated on a giant boulder but now he could see strange metallic parts under it.

    "Strange? Nothing is strange, they probably used up the remaining energy to restart the formation while trying to scare us off. They clearly failed as I called their bluff, just follow my lead old man, and let''s get on with this!"

    Tong was ignored and while he had his reservations what the young master said could have been true. After the reactivation of the barrier, he noticed that his young master was talking with someone.

    Even without him telling the elders to act they were moving forward. He was the strongest person here but he was not the one with the most prestige. Everyone here knew that the young master would be the next sect leader, thus they were afraid to get on his bad side.

    He would really need to put his foot down and threaten them if he wanted them to go against the young master''s wishes. He was nothing more than a costly bodyguard and his only mission was to keep Wang Long safe.

    Thus he kept his eyes open while advancing slightly behind the other ten elders. The people from the United Element''s sect were seen by him and they were escaping to where their main sect was located.

    The nascent soul elders from their side were using their soul beasts as shields while everyone else backed off. The flying fortress in the sky had also halted its advance as it started to back away slowly.

    "Look at them flee, don''t let them escape, they probably have a secondary protective formation deeper!"

    The cannons that were firing at them were quickly picked off by the ten nascent soul elders and their soul beasts. Along with their flying ships, they started decimating the Spirit Spring city.

    It seemed like the obvious conclusion of this fight, why the Patriarch from the United Element Sect had decided to fight was unclear to Tong. The logical conclusion was to hand over his wife and be glad that they didn''t need to give up more.

    To this old man, the survival of the sect far outweighs the survival of his own family members. If he could offer them up in exchange for long-lasting prosperity to his faction, it would be the greatest honor.

    His hesitation was slowly fading away as it seemed that the others were just backing off and ready to make their last stand. Now he was only concerned about them all running away and them having to chase them down. It would be quite a headache if they needed to play a cat and mouse game and chase after them.

    Thus he was ready to give the ten elders the order to quickly encircle the main sect and not give them space to escape. Before that could happen a flash of blue caught them off guard¡­

    ¡­..

    "They really took the bait as you said."

    "It looks that way, It''s time for phase two of the plan!"

    Just as one of their enemies expected, this was just a ruse. There was enough energy to run the barrier for weeks even if they continued to pelt each other with spirit bullets.

    Zhang Dong knew that they had a fighting chance as long as they fought at the location of his faction. He wasn''t sure about his enemy but his system did present him with a buff whenever he was at his faction''s main location.

    With him present, he could activate a buff that would cause people that he had high affinity with to be stronger. This mostly included people from the old Zhang Clan like his grandfather and Zhang Zhi but also people like Huo Qiang.

    Thus the problem was to keep the enemies around this specific location. This they could only achieve by entrapping them here. The barrier had not faltered and there was enough energy to activate it yet again. When the bulk of the enemy ships and all of the nascent cultivators were at the right spot, Zhang Dong sprung his trap.

    The formation was reactivated and its blue light shone strongly as it encompassed the bulk of the Soaring Dragon Sect inside. The key locations of the barrier were hidden away under the rubble. It would be possible to deactivate it if their enemies managed to gain information about their locations.

    Luckily this was a forceful approach with not much planning behind it. The Soaring Dragon Sect clearly wasn''t prepared for any deviations to their plan. They were ?ssured of their own might being enough to push them through any adversity.

    "Are you ready Qiang?"

    "I was born ready!"

    "Good, this might feel funny¡­"

    Zhang Dong moved into his faction window and activated the buff that would enhance the strength of his faction members. Depending on their loyalty it could go all the way up to 50%.

    The faction system that he had upgraded with time did not suffer as much as his crafting system. Thus it kept most of its functions with one in particular which he would need to win this battle.

    He was able to select a champion from his faction, this would allow this person to gain even further enhanced capabilities along with the factionwide buff. With Qiang being the strongest person now, even outperforming Zhang Dong due to his lowered cultivation level this choice was obvious.

    Huo Qiang was outside and gaining speed, he could feel his muscles twitching in anticipation of the fight he would be having. Zhang Dong had contacted him not so long ago and tasked him with holding back the nascent soul master that was at the great circle level.

    At first, he thought that he would be sacrificing his life for the cause but it seemed that this wasn''t the case. Soon he realized that newfound power was entering his body, he felt strong and powerful as he exploded into a fiery inferno.

    His body went through a strange transformation. It felt like he was burning up from the inside and all of his flesh was turning dark as coal. Soon it all caught flame and he felt as if he broke through into the late stage and maybe even beyond.

    The change was quick and to the point. His body was covered by a dark red firmament of flames which made him look like a fire elemental. This new form gave him the feeling of being able to destroy anything in his path, even his soul beast that was right behind him expanded in size.

    The fire Ifrit started looking like a devil made from molten rock. Its horns and tail expanded in size and were black as obsidian. The temperature around it caused everything that was in close proximity to instantly melt or evaporate.

    He wasn''t the only one suffering from a change to their being. Zhang Zhi, who was dressed in a white robe and was wearing a snow-white katana on his side, could feel his muscles contracting. With sword in hand, he charged at one of the late stage masters, not afraid of losing.

    "United Element Sect, Attack!"

    Zhang Dong''s voice was heard from the flying fortress and soon the fight commenced. With the formation keeping anyone from leaving, only when the last enemy was dead would this battle end.

 Chapter 379

    A large object was moving through the air while receiving damage from massive amounts of spirit-filled attacks. Even though it was getting pelted from all sides it continued to fire back.

    Finally, its outer shell was blasted apart and there was nothing left from the large castle that it once was. What greeted the attackers was a strange-looking shiny metallic sphere with many cannons sticking out of it.

    The attackers from the Soaring Dragon Sect were doing their utmost to continue with their attacks on the giant mechanical thing and they were slowly whittling it down. It had thick armor plating that was posing a problem and the longer it took for them to pierce through the more damage did their own ships suffer.

    They had gone into a trap, the whole city and part of the sky above was encased in a dome through which they could not leave. Soon after they felt a massive spike in their opponents'' cultivation level, it was as if they were holding back and only now showed their true might.

    Elder Tong, their best fighter at this moment, was engaged in a brutal confrontation with a man that looked to be made out of strange fire. Both of them were not riding on their soul beasts that were clashing with each other.

    Huo Qiang was standing on the top of his Ifrit''s head that had gone through a size increase. Up against him was an eastern-style dragon with an emerald coat of scales. While the length of the dragon was about four times of the ifrit, it wasn''t as wide.

    As the emerald dragon tried coiling itself around his opponent it received an uppercut to its head which sent it tumbling back. It released emerald bolts of lightning which were somehow absorbed by this creature that was actually made out of plasma and not fire.

    "Is that all you have, great elder from the Soaring Dragon Sect?"

    "You¡­"

    Huo Qiang gave out a laugh while pushing himself towards his opponent. Both of them started crashing through the entire city and the residual shockwaves caused the buildings to crumble.

    While this battle was happening the other elders from the United Element''s sect were trying to engage the other ten nascent soul elders. While they weren''t as strong, they were strong enough to cause them damage.

    They weren''t alone, many of the lesser cultivators that were still at the core formation level banded together to form battle formations. These beasts made from condensed spiritual energy were as powerful as the people going against them.

    Argonaut 1 the sect''s flagship was already charging its main cannon to deliver a devastating blow to the enemy''s huge flying vessel. While it started off bleak and with no hope, it looked like the defensive capabilities of the United Element Sect were enormous.

    It was far larger than what a regular middle-sized sect should be able to produce. The longer the battle continued the more the people from the Soaring Dragon Sect realized this. They were ?ssured of their victory when they charged in, now on the other hand they were not sure if they would be able to make it out alive.

    "What are you doing? Just kill them all!"

    Wang Long shouted out while using a sword to counter a peculiar-looking cultivator.

    "You''re annoying, just die!"

    His sword was met with another peculiar-looking one. While it was thinner and longer than the Jian it looked to be quite sharp.

    This was Zhang Zhi from the United Element''s Sect that had picked out his opponent from all of the chaos. While Huo Qiang was keeping Tong busy the young master was unprotected which made it a good chance for him to capture the second biggest threat.

    "Isn''t that a dai-katana?"

    Wang Long called out as he was confused about seeing this type of weapon in the hand of a cultivator. He was facing off against a man that would be more fit to be in a world filled with ancient samurai.

    The man didn''t reply while slicking forward. His blade started glowing and Wang Long quickly dodged to the side. The energy from the blade that was one long line started splitting apart into a thousand.

    "Annoying!"

    Instead of evading them, the young master used his own sword to defend himself. His Qi was gathered onto the blade, the previously white blade turned purple and bolts of lightning started shooting out from it. He performed a sideways swipe which caused the sword energies to collide with the other which in term canceled each other out.

    "Stop moving around!"

    The exchange continued for a moment and it was clear that the samurai was below the young master''s level in terms of power. Even then, the young man found it hard to land a clean blow as the member from the United Element sect was finding ways to dodge at the exact right moment.

    "Your strength is great but your lack of technique and experience is painfully obvious!"

    "Hah? Do you think I haven''t heard that before? What do I need technique for when I can kill anyone with just one shot? Now try dodging this!"

    They traveled at an astonishing speed and were upon his opponent in a fraction of a second. The samurai used his sword energies to try to deflect this attack but as he tried he noticed that his attacks went right through these ghostly chains.

    His next step was to quickly retreat but try if he might he wasn''t able to shake these chains free. They followed him everywhere and even when he tried to get behind some cover they just went through it.

    "Just give up, I spend so many spirit points to get that rare binding skill!"

    Wang Long laughed out and soon his opponent found himself being shackled by this skill. Both his wrists and ankles were being constrained and Zhang Zhi felt that this attack was even affecting his nascent soul. He was momentarily paralysed and unable to move, he could feel that if he had enough time he could break free but would his opponent give him that?

    "Hah, it never fails to get them."

    Wang Long pointed his sword up into the sky and energy started gathering on it. Zhang Zhi could tell that the power behind this skill was massive. Normally he would be able to easily evade it but with these shackles, he was a sitting duck.

    "Another one bites the dust!"

    Wang Long started swinging his sword down, the massive torrent of energy was about to get discharged but right before he could complete his sword technique another blast of energy approached him.

    "What the?"

    "Young Master!"

    "It''s not wise to look away during a fight, old man."

    Elder Tong noticed that Wang Long had been directly hit by a blast coming from the large flying fortress. But as he tried to move to help the young lord he was interrupted by Huo Qiang''s fist which he had to block.

    "I''m fine old man, no need to scream like a little girl."

    Zhang Zhi was finally able to get himself out of the strange ethereal shackles but the young man that he was facing was clearly alive. After the beam attack subsided his form covered by a thin flickering barrier could be seen. One of the rings he was wearing that was previously quite bright had its gem become cloudy after this attack was received.

    "Protective treasures? Did you buy them in the system store or did you receive them from your own sect? Must be nice to go with the easiest starting location."

    The voice of a certain man came from the side and when people turned to it they saw someone that they didn''t expect to ever see again, Zhang Dong the Sect Patriarch. Zhang Zhi''s eyes went wide and some of the other cultivators that were busy fighting stopped in their tracks.

    "From the shop of course? Why would I use the items they give me when I can get better ones from the cash shop¡­ what the hell are you even wearing, first the samurai now armor? What are you supposed to be, a power ranger?"

    Zhang Dong approached slowly from the skies. The item he was wearing looked like a more modernized suit of armor that snuggly clung to his body. It was white with golden outlines and had his sect''s insignia written out on his back.

    "Something like that, it''s not too late to leave, I''m sure you could talk to your people and make this blow over."

    "My people? I think you''ve been living with these NPC''s for too long and lost it."

    Zhang Dong frowned as he heard the reply. It didn''t feel right to go against someone from his original world but the man was not giving him much choice. It was clear that he was taking this like some kind of elaborate game that came down to gaining points. Even now he was probably wondering if he would get a special bonus for killing an actual system holder.

    "I think you are the one that has lost it, fine¡­ Have it your way."

    Liena at this moment was left inside of the large fortress and was giving it some of her spiritual energy to run it. He had given her a crash course about piloting it, only when the attackers managed to blast through its plating was she to leave.

    While their reuniting was brief he needed to do this himself. Liena would do more by piloting the large orb of cannons as it could easily keep the enemy ships and some of the nascent cultivators at bay.

    "Why would I have it any other way? This is just a playground for me, but you seem to have a different idea¡­ and what''s this? Ha ha¡­"

    Wang Long started laughing after Zhang Dong placed a helmet over his face. But it didn''t look like his armor was the true reason he was laughing.

    "Core formation? You are still only at the core formation level? How am I to get any points if you''re below my level?"

    Just like Zhang Dong, Wang Long could see his enemies stats and realms. He knew the weakness of that approach though. The system did disclose the realms but this could be misleading if someone like him was involved.

    His response was not in words but with a fist to Wang Long''s face. The armor that he was wearing started giving out a golden hue and his power was boosted to a new level.

    The young master from the Soaring Dragon Sect made a nice arc and landed five hundred meters away. His body slammed into a yet not destroyed building that now crumbled and dropped down on him.

    "Go help the other elders Zhang Zhi, leave this idiot to me."

    "As you wish, Patriarch!"

    Zhang Zhi nodded and then flew away. He knew that Zhang Dong would be able to bring victory to the sect like he always did. Even if it meant to go against the Azure Emperor he would follow his Patriarch all till the end.

 Chapter 380

    There they stood, two people from a different world that now came together on the battlefield. Zhang Dong was on one side wearing a somewhat uncharacteristic white and golden armor. It made him look like a certain metallic superhero from a comic book that he used to read when he was younger.

    On the other side, there was Wang Long, a person that he just met. Both of them might have come from the same world and might have even had similar backgrounds. While one chose to succumb to the carnal p???sur?s of this world where power was paramount, the other managed to retain some of his core values.

    "Were you one of those cringe weebs or something?"

    "I guess talking sense into you will be impossible¡­"

    Zhang Dong raised his sword up over his head and was ready to deliver a strike.

    "Do you think you can win against me? With such a low cultivation level? You really didn''t use your time well to grind for points."

    Wang Long laughed while waving his own sword around. From his perspective, he had a clear advantage. Zhang Dong could also see that his opponent was at the nascent soul stage and in the middle realm of it.

    The time he was gone has given the man time to catch up but from Zhang Dong''s perspective, his level was somewhat low. He was a member of a prestigious clan but he only managed to get to the same point that he did before he was ejected from this world.

    This person''s progress was somewhat slow but there were a few explanations. When he was looking at how he behaved it was somewhat clear to him why.

    "Low cultivation huh?"

    There was a clear surprise on Wang Long''s face as he probably expected to overpower Zhang Dong''s strike with pure cultivation power. But this moment of confusion would not be wasted by his enemy.

    Zhang Dong''s body faded away as the area that he was previously in had only an after image left behind. Wang Long''s reaction was somewhat slow as a protective barrier around his body appeared and he finally turned to the side. There he saw a blade being pressed against this barrier that was protecting him.

    "You little shit!"

    He swung back but his opponent quickly dodged in a strange fashion. His heightened senses pointed him to where he vanished to but when he swung his blade towards that spot it was as if Zhang Dong knew that the attack was going and was able to parry.

    The two fighters started clashing through the sky and one of them was obviously coming out on top. Soon the exchange ended and Wang Long''s face started contorting into an ugly frown.

    "How the hell¡­ it''s that armor isn''t it?"

    Zhang Dong didn''t reply as he was done with the talking. The diplomatic approach had been refused by Wang Long so he would not give him an opportunity to back out now.

    ''This guy clearly doesn''t know how to fight.''

    After the couple exchanges, Zhang Dong came to this conclusion. Wang Long''s cultivation was high and if he tried to pit power against power, Zhang Dong would be on the losing end. This he was able to counter with his superior battle scene which he gained through experience.

    Battling at the foundation establishment and core formation level was quite different from the nascent soul level. The enhanced spiritual sense that a nascent soul master had could be used in certain ways to read your opponent''s movements.

    The two masters would pit it against each other to affect the flow battle. For some reason, this Wang Long was not very good at doing this so he could read him like an open book. After progressing to this level it was obvious that he didn''t study the techniques that were available to him.

    With his status of Soaring Dragon Sect''s future Patriarch, he had a big shield around him. No one in their right mind would try to offend him or ask him for a sparring match. Thus Zhang Dong believed that his opponent didn''t actually know how to fully use his current abilities.

    The system was also probably responsible. He remembered the days when he was also dependent on it. Instead of learning the techniques himself he spent his days using points on skills that sounded cool and had a good rating.

    Some points were used on abilities that were not even that good or somewhat similar to others that he already had. After the system store went away he was forced to actually train his skills up but then he finally noticed that being proficient in his skills was actually better.

    It was much better to train in a certain sword art that he could also later upgrade with his system than to buy a new sword skill from the store. This was probably what this man he was facing doing. When he was done with the lower level skill he just replaced it with a new version that might not particularly go well with his own fighting style.

    ''It would be nice if that was the case but I''m not doing much to him either way¡­''

    While he didn''t find it hard to land a few hits here and there, he wasn''t able to do any damage. Any time he went in for the kill a protective barrier surrounded Wang Long''s whole body. It was as if he had an intelligent defensive formation on his body that sprung up every time he was in danger.

    "Don''t get ahead of yourself, this fight has almost started, let me show you the difference in levels!"

    "Wait¡­ isn''t that¡­"

    He was a bit surprised by the appearance of this soul beast that Wang Long summoned. The purple energy that he was covered with and the lightning strikes also felt familiar. The moment the soul beast was revealed it all made sense.

    "A black lightning dragon?"

    There it was before him, it was not quite as big as his own soul beast golden dragon but it wasn''t far behind. During the exchanges that he had with the man, he also noticed the peculiar element that he was using was very similar to his own.

    It looked like both of them went with the lightning element when it came to making their character. The only difference was that Wang Long went with the purple lightning that offered more attacking power while he went with the golden variant that was more universal and added healing.

    "That armor might be making you stronger but without a soul beast you are just like a trash mob!"

    Wang Long laughed while pointing with his finger, this caused the large black dragon to howl in anger and discharge purple lightning bolts towards Zhang Dong. His body was submerged in this strange purple lightning energy as he was not able to dodge.

    "Yeah, that''s what I''m talking about, now give me all of your spirit points!"

    The laughs continued for a while but soon Wang Long noticed that something was off. His enemy was being surrounded by electrical energy but he was not screaming. It was as if the attack wasn''t affecting him at all.

    "Dragon, crank it up, use your breath attack!"

    Wang Long pointed out with his hand and the dragon opened up its large toothy maw. In front of it, the lightning energy started to condense into a shape of a circle before it was fired off towards Zhang Dong.

    If Wang Long had any battle sense in him, he would know that something wasn''t right. His opponent didn''t even try escaping after the first attack was broken and he did nothing to dodge this one either.

    The torrent of energy connected and everyone was greeted with a magnificent light show. The elders that were fighting in the distance looked to the side and even some from the United Element''s Sect cried out in fright.

    Zhang Dong that was inside of this torrent of energy on the other hand didn''t move a muscle. He just let this energy flow through him while concentrating. The terrifying energy blast that was just pure condensed lightning energy instead of increasing started to slowly falter and vanish.

    "What? Dragon what are you doing, kill him!"

    The Soul-Beast listened to its master and continued to inject more of its spiritual energy into the breath attack. Even when it did, the blast continued to diminish the moment it connected with Zhang Dong.

    After the prolonged discharge, even Wang Long started getting tired as the energy source for the soul beast was directly him.

    "What? Is that all?"

    Soon Zhang Dong''s armored form was revealed to be there and without damage. His whole body was radiating newfound power as he managed to absorb all of the lightning energy that came his way into his lightning core.

    "You probably didn''t go past the cultivation upgrading part that was provided by your system, did you?"

    "Huh? What are you talking about, I picked the best cultivation upgrade that there is!"

    Zhang Dong wanted to smile as he knew that he had gone in a different direction by focusing on his crafting abode upgrades. He had pushed his own cultivation past the initial upgrade offered by his system by grinding crafting upgrade points.

    Wang Long on the other hand was content on just going with the highest upgrade available to him at the given point. Without anything to strive for he didn''t try to find any other ways to improve his cultivation past what the system was giving him.

    Thus he was not able to fathom how Zhang Dong was just able to absorb all of the lightning energies into himself and take no damage.

    "I must thank you, I wasn''t sure where I could get enough lightning energy to charge my lightning core."

    Zhang Dong had absorbed all of the spirit crystals, holy weapons, and items that he could get his hands on but there was a certain lack of electric energy to get. When he was a nascent soul master he mostly used natural storms as cultivation aid and didn''t stock up on anything like lightning crystals.

    Thanks to this lightning-based attack though he was all filled up. The nascent soul that he absorbed previously covered his soul core and the spirit crystals and holy herbs that he managed to get, were enough to fill up his golden core.. It was time to skip a realm and finally reach the great circle of core formation.

 Chapter 381

    Zhang Dong was floating up in the sky, a shroud of purple lightning energy was still swirling around him. This residual energy was getting quickly absorbed by him and to others, it looked as if a tiny circle inside of his ?h?st was su?k?n? it all in.

    Wang Long with his soul beast in front was perplexed to see his enemy somehow using his own attack to power himself. This didn''t mean that he was in a state of panic, to him this only meant that there would be more points to be gained.

    "So what if you bought a few good tricks? Don''t think that you are the only one with a system to back you up!"

    He called out while slapping his spatial ring. When he did a burst of sword energies flew out along with hundreds of swords. These swords quickly shot in all directions and started to dance around. Their flight patterns painted the sky red and produced a phantom image of a red lotus.

    The blades continued to fly at such a speed that the figure of the lotus remained intact and moved towards Zhang Dong''s location. Before he could react he found himself surrounded by thousands of sharp swords.

    "I''ll shred you into minced meat!"

    The swarm of sharp objects descended towards Zhang Dong before he could continue with his cultivation breakthrough. Even though he had absorbed enough energy to push him to the other level he would need some time to cultivate.

    "Swords huh?"

    Luckily for him, he was on his home territory, a place in which he created many treasures. Many of which were perfect for this occasion. With a loud clap, his aura spread through the entire Spirit Spring City and the Sect.

    From his spatial ring, a massive swarm of various flying weapons escaped, and even more, appeared from the sides. The metallic objects all rose from the ground, from the destroyed buildings, and even from people that had already fallen in this battle of the sects.

    "Did you know that when a master craftsman creates a weapon that a slither of their will remains in them? Even if the weapon chooses a master if the will is strong enough it will always listen to its creator instead."

    The flying sword formation that was about to devour him was soon intercepted by a torrent of metal. Zhang Dong''s counter formation was not only made from swords. If one looked closely they could see various other weapons like maces, axes, and polearms being absorbed into a grand flying weapon formation.

    "Now give me a moment¡­"

    "Do you think you can hide from me?"

    Wang Long had momentarily lost his opponent but he had ways of finding him. With the aid of his own system and the mapping function, he was quickly able to find Zhang Dong that had hidden himself away in some rubble.

    "There you are!"

    Wang Long moved his hands together and started to focus. A small ball of purple energy appeared in the middle that started to get progressively bigger. The energies that he was gathering quickly became chaotic and he raised them above his head.

    "Take this."

    He shouted while lobbing the ball of energy towards the area that his system map was showing him. When the ball of spiritual energy collided with the ground a giant explosion was made.

    The half-destroyed building where Zhang Dong was supposedly hiding in was incinerated. The explosion pushed debris in all directions while also melting anything that was directly in the spot that was hit.

    "Hm?"

    Wang Long was waiting with a sword in hand and had already his next attack ready but something was off. He expects Zhang Dong to dodge out of the way of that large attack and his aim was to then cut him. Instead, the whole explosion only caused more dust to be blown up which lowered the visibility even further.

    "Did he get hit by that?"

    "Hah, you must be joking. Do you really think that I''m not aware of the system''s mapping function?"

    Zhang Dong''s voice echoed through the area. To Wang Long, it seemed as if he was somewhere close but also somewhere far away. When he looked at the map once more to lock onto Zhang Dong''s unique power signature he spotted a problem.

    His system map that he had relied upon was showing him more than one location in which his opponent could be. It was as if he was fighting a small troop of Zhang Dong''s that were hiding from him.

    "Maybe if you learned how to use your spiritual sense correctly you would be able to find me~"

    "Screw you! I''ll just blow up everything!"

    Wang Long''s expression became full of malice as he gathered even more energy. His soul beast roared out loudly and did the same. Soon both of them started blasting everything in the vicinity but mostly aimed at the locations on the map.

    At this exact moment, Zhang Dong was actually quite far away. He used a hiding technique to slip away while also leaving some dummy spiritual ghosts behind. These spiritual avatars were created from a special technique he learned and could even fool the system''s mapping feature.

    While taking his time to build up his sect Zhang Dong didn''t stop studying the techniques that he found in the secret ground. He focused a lot of his time on ones that would allow him to escape from stronger opponents or ones that were good for spying. Some of them when leveled up could even fool his system.

    He put his hands together as if he was praying and a thin layer of energy surrounded his body. This was a sound canceling technique that would give him some time during his breakthrough.

    While he set up many dummies of his aura signature around the area, this didn''t mean that his opponent would not be able to find him. Thus he started circulating his energies throughout his body and pushing his cores to their apex in an attempt to breakthrough.

    The great circle realm was somewhat harder to transform into than the previous two realms. When he attempted it now he could feel similar pain to when he pushed through into the foundation establishment realm.

    This step was a bit different as the great circle realm was more or less a transitional period between the smaller and higher realm. Regular core formation masters at the great circle could access some nascent soul only techniques like lesser flight that allowed them to float without a flying sword.

    His great circle core formation realm was a lot different though as it would bring him closer to an enhanced version of the nascent soul realm. He was already able to fight masters at the middle stage, how strong would he actually be if he rose to that level of power?

    "ARGHhhh¡­"

    "Why is this so painful, it''s as if my body is trying to reject this transformation¡­"

    Zhang Dong felt like if he made a mistake he would explode right here. It was as if this world was rejecting him from achieving these breakthroughs. If this continued he feared that he would lose his mind when he actually attempted a breakthrough into the nascent soul level.

    "There you are!"

    Due to this painful transformation, he was soon discovered by Wang Long. The man might not have been the best fighter but Zhang Dong knew that he would not be able to take many hits. He was still in a somewhat pseudo nascent soul state and his opponent had bought superior skills through the system.

    The only reason he was able to continue fighting was due to his battle experience. If the battle continued for too long, Wang Long could very well shorten that gap to land a critical blow.

    ''Shit, he was a lot faster than I expected, did he use the system to find me?''

    There was also the system. There was an unknown number of points that his opponent still had, he only used them to cancel out the barrier but how much he could do was unknown. Zhang Dong''s old system store allowed a person many functions that even he didn''t have time to discover during his travels.

    Soon he found himself below a large ball of concentrated spiritual energy. This time around Wang Long had done some alterations as the spiritual energy was not aligned to any particular element like before.

    "It''s time to die!"

    He pointed with his fingers and a dark purple orb that was about ten meters in diameter descended. Zhang Dong was now left with the options of either remaining here and taking the hit or escaping.

    Both choices would put him under a different amount of strain. One would cause him to suffer cultivation backlash as he was attempting a breakthrough while the other one would expose him to Wang Long''s energy attack.

    "Oh no, you don''t!"

    He heard a very familiar voice not far from where he was. This was followed by hurricane light winds and an emerald glow that collided with the purple energy balls. This collision of spiritual energies caused everything to rumble and also revealed the spot that he was hiding in.

    "It''s you? Have you come to beg for mercy?"

    Who appeared was a certain busty woman with caramel skin and light pink hair. It was Zhang Liena riding on her emerald soul beast that had managed to intercept the blast coming towards Zhang Dong''s location.

    "Beg? It is you that is going to beg!"

    "Hah, I like girls with some spice, I''ll be sure to give you a good time when we return."

    Wang Long licked his lips while laughing, even now he was convinced that he would be returning victorious. While he was fixated on a certain part of Liena Zhang Dong used this chance to converse with his wife.

    ''What are you doing here, I told you to remain in the fortress. It can''t function without a person piloting it!''

    Zhang Dong was concerned that without the fortress that the sect would not be able to achieve victory. There were just too many nascent soul masters on the other side.

    ''Fear not my husband, someone else is using that construct!''

    ''Someone else?''

    Zhang Dong peeked into the distance and could see the fortress continuing to fire. It was a bit slower than before but it was still operational. From it, he could also hear an older man''s voice that he also recalled.

    "Do you think you can attack my grandson''s sect and live?"

    "Gramps?"

 Chapter 382

    ''"How is gramps in the fortress?''

    Zhang Dong was a bit confused as he had not had much time to explain how the large creation worked. The GUI that it had was quite easy to read through as he had made it to mirror game graphical interfaces that he remembered from the old days.

    Liena quickly explained how she managed to call the old man over. When he approached the same spot that she did before an icon started glowing. She just needed to push it to let Zhang Jin drop into the pilot section.

    It seemed that Liena had studied up on the creations that he had built. He made sure to make everything streamlined and easy to understand. This fortress was also running on an old operating system that was made to make things easy.

    Thus it was plausible for his wife to figure out a way to get Zhang Jin inside. Though the fortress was acting a bit strange after the pilot switch. It was somewhat zig zagging all over the place as if the old man was hitting random prompts while in the pilot seat.

    ''This isn''t the time for questions my husband, I will hold this good-for-nothing animal off!''

    Zhang Liena took off in a burst of emerald energy. The feathers from her soul beast kicked up a storm and flew at the dark purple dragon as if they were homing missiles. While her cultivation wasn''t that high she had one more trump card left behind by her dear husband.

    One of the rings on her finger started glowing and quickly encased her in pure green light. Wang Long was a bit surprised by the sudden counter attack so he decided to back off for a moment. His eyes were on his system as he tried to measure his new opponent''s strength.

    "Wait, isn''t that?"

    Wang Long''s eyes went wide after the emerald light subsided. The woman was covered in a strange form-fitting armor. It looked as if it was made from some kind of green metal and had strange glowing runic patterns that were glowing.

    The first thing he did was to look at the system indicator. His enemy didn''t seem to have gotten stronger as it still only showed her as an early realm nascent soul cultivator. But for some reason, he felt that her strength had increased.

    Liena noticed that her opponent was a bit stunned by her armored appearance. This item that she was wearing was a high heaven grade item that Zhang Dong had managed to finish before his disappearance.

    He called it ''power armor'' and it was a fitting name as it did enhance her spiritual levels and strength levels. It was as if she was wearing something akin to a weapon that changed her body into something fearsome.

    She didn''t skip a beat as she charged at Wang Long along with her soul beast. The two collided with each other and it turned into close-range combat. While her emerald phoenix was tussling with the dragon she was exchanging blows with the man that tried to capture her.

    It was clear to her that he was not versed in combat tactics as his reaction time was somewhat sluggish. Even then, she couldn''t really do much damage as a strange force field continued to bounce off any deep hitting attacks that she produced.

    If she landed ten good hits, he returned one that caused her to retreat. With time the armor that she was wearing started to receive some dents from the man''s kicks and punches and she was forced back without really causing much long lasting damage.

    "Hah, you''re quite feisty, can''t wait to peel that thing off you, how about we make your whole sect watch as we have some fun?"

    Liena scoffed at the man''s words. It was clear to her that this person had a screw loose. The things that he said were truly vile and despicable. She wanted nothing more than to rip the vile thing from between this man''s legs and beat him to death. But it seemed that she could only stall for time as this young master was not such a simple opponent.

    Zhang Dong''s first reaction was to jump in to save his wife but he needed to use this time to cultivate. If he didn''t manage to break through soon, this whole battle could turn in their opponent''s direction.

    Above him, he could hear massive explosions. The ground he was sitting in was constantly shaking and blasts of condensed spiritual energy were constantly raining around the whole city. The elders from his sect were giving it their all but they were up against a large force from a mighty foe.

    ''I must join them¡­let''s do this.''

    He closed his eyes and concentrated on his three cores. They were all pulsating as if they would crack at any moment. This felt quite different from when he only had a singular core. That one had just gone through the motions as he cultivated and then was transformed into his nascent soul in a rather simple way.

    Here on the other hand he was dealing with three separate cores. Was he supposed to fuse them into one large core or turn them into three nascent souls instead. When concentrating he noticed that the cores were moving away from each other while a strange power started to form in the middle.

    ''What is this¡­ could a nascent soul be forming¡­ no this is something else¡­''

    At first, he thought that perhaps a nascent soul was starting to form but he was mistaken. It felt different and grander. He could feel that the Dao''s that he had picked up throughout the years of his travels were being excluded from the three cores. They were all traveling into the center to form something, some kind of strange-looking seed.

    He had to really concentrate to be able to feel it. The size of the core was far greater, it was as if he was comparing a moon to a tennis ball. But, the more he focused on this strange pure white seed, the more it continued to grow.

    After it reached a certain size the growth was halted and he felt like his body was burning up. It was time, the great circle of this strange core formation was being reached.

    "Got ya!"

    Liena at this moment had been caught by some strange chains and was unable to move. Her emerald phoenix was being subdued by the purple lightning dragon that was strangely similar to her husband''s golden dragon. It looked like this was as far as she could go, even the armor treasure that she was wearing had been damaged enough to reveal her face.

    "I still need to have my fun with you, You''ll look nice with a collar around your neck."

    Wang Long laughed while taking out a black slave collar from his spatial ring.

    "Now hold still, I don''t want to cripple you before I had my fun, normal girls break so easily but on the other hand, you should be able to take it."

    "I will never submit to someone like you!"

    Zhang Liena screamed out while trying to use her spiritual energy to break free. Struggle she did but even then the slave collar continued to approach. Normally restraining collars like those would not work on nascent soul masters. But for some reason she felt her cultivation being suppressed, she could tell that if that thing went around her neck something disastrous would happen.

    These two weren''t the only ones that felt this strange aura being spread throughout the whole battlefield. All of the lower and higher masters could feel something in their very being. No one knew what it was about but to the people from the Soaring Dragon Sect, it felt very ominous.

    On the other hand, the cultivators from the United Element Sect felt something entirely different. It was a strange warm fuzzy feeling as if they had just drank some warm tea.

    Before anyone could realize that it was Zhang Dong going through a realm change it was already too late. The pillar of light pierced through the massive protective barrier and caused the clouds to disappear and the sun to shine in.

    The rays that illuminated the world started being absorbed into this pillar of light. Soon the entire area was bathed in a wondrous golden-white color. It could not be stopped and it could not be resisted as it passed through each and every one of the cultivators that were gathered here.

    Just as soon as it appeared the light was gone. It was as if it was su?k?d into one certain point that was still radiating light while the rest of the area was shrouded in darkness.

    Like moths drawn to the fire, everyone looked to this lit-up spot. There they discovered a certain white-haired Sect Leader. The light was coming from his dantian and for a moment some of the onlookers could see the light take the form of a bright white seed.

    While everyone was staring, Zhang Dong found himself outside of his armor. It had shattered into many tiny pieces the moment he managed to breakthrough. This was quite surprising as it was supposed to be able to last through a regular late stage nascent soul master''s attacks without much of a dent.

    He circulated his energies through his body to check if everything was in order. The three cores were still there but there was the addition of the tiny seed in the middle. He could feel that the energies from the cores were all flowing into this seed. Even if by a tiny fraction, it continued to grow, he felt that when it finally sprouted, something astonishing would happen.

    ...¡­.

    "Hmmm?"

    A man opened their eyes while looking in a certain direction. He was sitting on a large golden throne that was adorned with various gems. His eyes were a dark sapphire blue and matched his long sky blue hair.

    "My, Emperor. Is something wrong?"

    The man turned his head to the womanly voice that called out to him. It was a beautiful woman that was sitting to his left on a slightly smaller throne that wasn''t as magnificent as his.

    "Mmm¡­ it must be my imagination."

    Soon he turned his face towards a hall filled with many other powerful cultivators and raised his hand.

    "Let us get this over with."

    When he gave the signal the large door leading to this throne room was opened and soon a small group of cultivators emerged from it. At the helm were two old men dressed up in magnificent robes.

    The man on the left was taller and his robe was mostly white. On the back, there was an elaborate crane embroiling. The man on the right on the other hand was a bit more imposing and a somewhat familiar-looking flying dragon adorned his robe....

 Chapter 383

    Name : Zhang Dong

    Affiliation : Zhang Clan, United Element Sect

    Cultivation Base Qi :

    C????????????????????o??????????????r????????????e???????????????? ????????????F??????o????????????????r?????????????????????m???????????????????????a???????????????t???????????????i???????????????????o????????????n???????????????????? [ ?????????????] [ [email protected]#%#@$^#$ [email protected]#$FGD @#$Es ]

    Cultivation Base Body :

    Core Formation [ Great Circle 95 %] ( Ascended Golden Body )

    Zhang Dong was hovering in the air, out of curiosity he glanced at his own status screen and discovered something strange. While most of it was fine, for the first time he saw some glitched text at the spot for his Qi cultivation.

    He could somewhat make out that ''Core Formation'' was written there but all of the other text was just a bunch of random symbols. It was as if this supposedly goldy system that had all the answers didn''t know what to make of his cultivation.

    While looking at the tiny seed that was inside of him, he noticed that it was radiating quite a bit of energy. It was connected to all three cores, at first, he thought it was just su?k?n? energy from them but he wasn''t quite right..

    The energy flow existed both ways, while it was being energized by these three cores it continued to increase in size. Even a tiny increase in size was causing it to radiate more power, a power that he could utilize.

    If it was a different time and place he would be sure to test his new cultivation realm out. Instead, he moved with haste by pushing his new spiritual energy into his body. While he was attempting to intercept Wang Long''s attempt on collaring his wife, the amount of energy that he had access to proved to exceed his expectations.

    His intention was to either grab Wang Long''s hand that was holding the slave collar. Instead, he crashed into his opponent and tumbled with him to the side. Wang''s protective shield activated instantly as both of them were pushed in opposite directions.

    While the shield was activated one of the rings on his fingers shattered into many tiny pieces. The young man was embedded into a rocky pillar that he had to use his Qi to get out of. He was clearly pissed as he had almost been able to place a collar on the woman he came here for.

    "The hell?"

    Wang Long called out as he was still surprised at how he was unable to react to this attack. He clearly saw Zhang Dong going through the change and he prepared for the counterattack but he couldn''t see it at all.

    "Did that bastard ascend to another realm?"

    He looked to his own system window and tried to answer this question for himself. While previously Zhang Dong had ''Late Stage Core Formation'' written down in his stats, this time it was some glitched-out text.

    While Wang Long was trying to figure out what the problem was and cursing up a storm, Zhang Dong removed himself from some rubble that he flew into. It appeared that the boost in power was far more dramatic than he had expected.

    Before this fight started he put himself at around the middle stage of nascent soul at most. Even when he could tie with a nascent soul master he was missing a key part, a soul beast. Without it around he would need to be a lot stronger than his opponent to counter this disability.

    Zhang Dong was hoping to tie Wang Long''s cultivation after ascending but he went much further. It was time to test his theory and if it was true, then this fight might be a lot easier than he realized.

    "Liena, are you okay?"

    He moved next to his wife who was breathing hard. Her soul beast was in a bad state as it was still being torn into by the dark purple dragon beast of Wang Long.

    "I''m fine."

    She nodded but he could tell that she was tired.

    "Leave him to me and go help the other elders instead."

    "But¡­"

    "No buts, I''ll be fine."

    He smiled at her and then promptly vanished which took her by surprise. Liena then noticed a loud explosion in the distance and turned to it. There she saw the purple dragon being kicked away from her Emerald Phoenix. Her soul beast quickly retreated while she recovered some strength.

    She could tell that Zhang Dong''s kick wasn''t that simple. The Qi that he had infused into it was somewhat different from the golden lightning one that he usually used. His form also looked different, instead of the usual golden hue, it was a faint white one. While it didn''t look as flashy, it somewhat felt a lot more imposing than before.

    "Take care of yourself¡­"

    Liena nodded and slowly removed herself from this fight. While she would still participate in protecting the sect she would be helping out against the other Soaring Dragon Sect elders instead.

    "Where do you think you''re going, I didn''t give you the permission!"

    Wang Long''s face contorted into a truly ugly expression. The woman he was after didn''t even pay attention to him and the look she gave her ''husband'' was the thing that broke the camel''s back.

    There were a few things that Wang Long could not deal with. One of them was couples that had a deeper connection than the surface ones that he aimed for. He could not stand people like that as he thought them to be massive hypocrites that were just acting out a fantasy.

    Due to this there was nothing more that he liked more than to break those couples up. There were various ways that he approached these people. Sometimes he offered them money and power to see them break it off with their spouse. Other Times he threatened them with violence and laughed as he saw their relationship break into pieces.

    "Oh, but I did."

    Before he could pounce on the fleeing woman he heard a voice next to him. When he turned his face towards it he saw a fist covered in some white aura shooting like a meteor towards his face. He was unable to raise his defenses but a thin shield still covered his body to take the hit.

    "Useless, you will never defeat me!"

    He screamed out in indignation after recovering from this blow that sent him to the ground.

    "Is that so? I don''t think you have that many lives left though¡­"

    Zhang Dong was there to meet his gaze. He pointed to his hand and when he did one of the rings that were there quickly burst.

    "What? With just one hit? How is this possible?"

    Zhang Dong had noticed that his hits weren''t really leaving an impact on Wang Long. Even though his opponent was losing, he had yet to take any proper damage. This was all due to the rings that covered his hands. They were clearly a sort of defensive treasure that was activated whenever its wearer was in trouble.

    This was either a store-bought item, or something that he received from the Soaring Dragon Sect for protection. Since the battle started this was the third ring that had been destroyed. It also looked like Wang Long only had nine of those defensive rings on his fingers while the tenth was a regular spatial ring.

    "Nine lives huh? Similar to a cat, but now you only have six¡­"

    "Shut up, so what if you gained some power? Don''t think this is over!"

    Wang Long gritted his teeth while also using the phantom chain attack that he previously used on Liena and Zhang Zhi. This time around, instead of his enemy being captured he saw something strange.

    Zhang Dong opened his mouth and started breathing in. A massive suction force was created that caused the shackles to fly towards his mouth. The dark chains of ghostly energy were then promptly devoured by his soul core that was a perfect counter for this type of attack that actually went for a person''s astral form and not their physical form.

    Without saying much Zhang Dong plunged himself into battle. It was quite one-sided as Wang Long found himself getting punched and kicked in all directions. His soul beast that attempted to shield its master was also quickly dispatched by a well-placed smack.

    "Protect the young master!"

    Wang Long wasn''t alone though, elder Tong''s voice boomed through the whole battlefield as the old master noticed his struggles. The elder was still facing off against Huo Qiang who looked quite injured.

    Tong instantly tried forcing his way towards Wang Long but Zhang Liena with her soul beast stood in his way. This moment of emotion gave Huo Qiang enough time to attack and cause the old man to retreat. Unable to help the young master, it was up to the other elders to rise to the occasion.

    Two of them quickly appeared from the side. Their robes were slightly damaged but the two were clearly still in good condition. Their opponent Zhang Dong was forced to momentarily halt his advance towards the young man as he evaded the spiritual attacks coming his way.

    One man performed a devastating attack with their spear which produced a massive trench. The second one was using an Axe that cleaved in the other direction that caused the earth to be split in two.

    Even then, the two late-stage nascent soul masters found themselves unable to contend with Zhang Dong''s speed. Both of them felt something connecting with their stomachs as they received a hard blow from the white-haired United Element Sect Patriarch.

    "Useless old farts, what are you doing? Kill him!"

    The enraged Wang Long dived into battle, while still having the protection of his ring treasures he didn''t feel any fear. A battle between four nascent soul masters ensued, while the three were busy trying to connect with their attacks on Zhang Dong the others weren''t doing so well.

    With two nascent soul masters now missing, the flying cannon fortress had an easier time piercing through the defenses. Soon all of the flying ships from the Soaring Dragon Sect were up in flames. The explosions that the falling flying vessels produced river bedded through the lands and caused even more craters to appear on the surface.

    The three versus one soon turned into a two against one and then back to a one on one as Zhang Dong was able to dispatch the nascent soul masters. His new cultivation was clearly giving him enough power to outpace experienced late stage cultivators without much problem.

    Wang Long soon found himself suffering his first real blow as Zhang Dong''s fist connected with his nose and sent him flying into the distance. A fountain of blood followed soon after as the young master''s nose was shattered.

    "Young master, I''m coming!"

    Elder Tong finally managed to break himself free of his fight and was able to catch Wang Long that was smacked away by Zhang Dong''s fist.

    "Surrender now!"

    Zhang Dong shouted out while looking at Elder Tong. While killing them would be easy, having a political prisoner in the shape of Tong and Wang Long would be much better. It would give them some time to come up with a battle plan, otherwise, the Soaring Dragon Sect would just b?r? their fangs on them instantly.

    "My face¡­ the fu?ker broke my nose¡­"

    "Surrender? You dare go against the Soaring Dragon Sect?"

    Tong called out while also being enraged but after looking around he realized that they were losing. Some of their nascent soul elders had already suffered defeat and all of their flying ships were down on the ground and burning up.

    "Young Master, think we will have to surrender, for now, they will not be brazen enough to hurt you, I''m sure the Patriarch will come to rescue us."

    Tong turned to Wang Long who was right next to him and placed his hand on the young man''s shoulder. Soon their eyes met and he could see the madness and rage in the young master''s eyes.

    "Surrender?... I have a better idea¡­"

    Before he could react he felt something sharp being pushed through his body. When looking down he could see Wang Long holding a dark dagger that was going right through his heart.

    "Young m-master, w-why¡­"

 Chapter 384

    "Y-young master Wang¡­ w-what are you doing?"

    "I never liked you Tong, you were also a major ???k-blocker¡­"

    Zhang Dong and the others flinched the moment they saw the Soaring Dragon Sect''s young master plunge a demonic-looking dagger through his retainer''s ?h?st. The old man had been tasked with the young man''s protection for quite some time, but he never thought that he would be capable of doing such a thing.

    "What is that maniac doing, why would he attack one of his own?"

    One of the elders from Zhang Dong''s side called out as they were all slowly edging the Soaring Dragon Sect members to the edge of the barrier through which they were unable to leave.

    "Dang¡­ he really only sees these people as spirit points."

    Zhang Dong quickly realized what was the purpose of Wang Long''s action. While normally it would be hard to instantly kill a nascent soul master, Elder Tong let his guard down and was focusing on the enemies in front of him. The dagger that Wang Long was using was also not a simple item as he could feel Tong''s nascent divinity fading quickly as he died.

    "....Wang L-long¡­ y-you¡­"

    "Don''t think this is over you fu?ker, I''ll remember this!"

    Wang Long pointed at Zhang Dong with the dagger while his figure started flickering. It was clear that he had killed the nascent soul master to get more points and activated a teleportation feature.

    Zhang Dong''s own system had several teleportation options like these. All of them required points to be spent and probably the one Wang Long was using required far more than he had.

    ''Bob, can you stop him from teleporting!''

    ''Not enough spirit points to comply with the request.''

    Was his AI''s reply as Wang Long vanished into the ether. The young master from the Soaring Dragon Sect was sure to flip the bird toward''s Zhang Dong who charged at him but was too slow.

    He had managed to go through all those blasted wings but only landed one good hit. Wang Long''s nasty face remained embedded in his mind as he knew that he would be a troublesome foe.

    With the system on his side, there was no way of knowing what he could do. The otherworldler was not against killing his own people for points and Zhang Dong feared what that crazy person would do now.

    ''He must have teleported back to his own home point.''

    Even though the Soaring Dragon Sect was a huge one, this didn''t mean that they had unlimited resources. The ten late stage nascent soul elders that were here would not be coming back, neither would be the strongest Elder Tong from them all.

    This should be a big hit that they would not be able to bounce back that easily. If it was a normal encounter it was even possible for the Soaring Dragon Sect to not do anything out of fear of losing more resources.

    It would be easy for their enemies to attack if they diverted their elders towards this sect. They would require more powerful elders of the late and great circle nascent soul level for the next attack as the United Element Sect had shown that they would not go down without a fight.

    From his point of view, their enemies would probably petition the other middle sized sects for aid and go into a long-lasting battle while also watching. Their enemies on the other hand could very well contact Zhang Dong''s sect to aid and prolong the fights which would give them well-needed time to advance further.

    While these thoughts went through his head he looked to the side. There he saw the remaining late stage nascent soul elders that witnessed their young master murdering their own. Zhang Dong knew that these old men and women here didn''t come here out of their own volition but they were also fine with murdering his whole sect.

    "People of the Soaring Dragon Sect, surrender now and we will spare your lives."

    Even then, he felt like giving them an option was the right thing to do.

    "Surrender to a lowly sect like you? Don''t listen to them my brothers and sisters, they are but a puny...Ugh¡­"

    Before the old man with the long gray beard could continue he found someone''s hand grasping his abdomen. This was Zhang Dong that in a fraction of a second traveled over to him and was now successfully sapping away all of his strength.

    "I will not repeat myself, either you surrender or you all will die. You might think that you have a chance of victory but I ?ssure you that you don''t!"

    The old man started screaming while his vitality was su?k?d away. What Zhang Dong was doing might have seemed cruel but he had to show that he was being serious. Thus with the help of his soul core, he started absorbing the man''s nascent soul while the elder was still alive.

    This caused the soul beast that belonged to this cultivator to just vanish into oblivion. The remaining group of nascent soul elders were quick to jump in to help their comrade and the battle continued.

    He had hoped for a peaceful resolution but it was clear that these people would rather die than have their cultivation be removed. As someone that lived a large chunk of his life as a regular human, this was not something that he understood. There were many things like creating a family and living a fulfilling life that a person could strive for even without being a cultivator.

    So the battle continued and with Zhang Dong''s increased strength it was soon over. With more time on his hands, he was able to come to terms with his new power. He was not sure how he would stack about the top experts on the continent but a regular great circle nascent soul master would not give him that much trouble.

    With this in mind, he was expecting his next realm to be something entirely different than before. Whatever this small white seed was, it continued to grow and when it sprouted he might have access to something totally different than the nascent soul level.

    Due to him visiting the other empire he knew that there were other ways of achieving similar power levels. There were many things that he didn''t know and his system was also unable to recognize where he was heading.

    When all was said and done Zhang Dong was left floating up in the sky and looking down on the destroyed remains of Spirit Spring City. This was his home that he helped to create with his own two hands.

    While he was saddened by this fact it was fine. What was important were the people that lived in the city. They had been previously evacuated and with some time even this city would be able to recover.

    They were also left with a mostly intact defensive system that would allow them to fight back against more intruders. After everyone realized that their sect had managed to fight off ten late stage nascent soul monsters and one in the great circle, they would think twice about attacking.

    "Hey, Dong''er¡­ how do I get out of this thing?"

    He snapped back to reality as he heard Zhang Jin''s voice calling out to him. The grandfather was still in the large fortress and even to this moment the cannon blasts were going off.

    "I''ll be right back¡­"

    "I''ll come with you then."

    Liena moved over next to him and the two flew over to the flying orb of cannons. For some reason, his wife had moved into shoulder-rubbing distance as the two continued with their flight.

    "I''m not going to vanish¡­"

    He realized what this was about almost instantly. It was not strange for her to be a bit more clingy, he was gone for five years and the woman was probably still digesting this fact.

    "You don''t know that!"

    She replied while grabbing part of his robe as if he was really going to disappear. Instead of backing away he just smiled and grasped his wife''s hand. The two then descended down to the entrance, there he used his spiritual energy to activate the mechanism that would eject Zhang Jin from the ???kpit.

    "Dong''er, it''s really you, I knew you were alive!"

    "Yes, it''s good to see you too, gramps."

    Both of them smiled at each other but soon the question came.

    "But where were you all these years? We looked for you but could never find a clue, it was as if you vanished from this world."

    Both Liena and Jin looked at him for answers. Before he could reply though a third person appeared from the side and caused quite the rumble.

    "Yes, you have a lot of explaining to do, where were you?"

    It was Huo Qiang that was covered in the blood of his enemies. There were various wounds all over his body and face included but the large man didn''t seem to care at all.

    "I guess I owe you all an explanation but I''m not sure that this is the best moment to do this¡­"

    Zhang Dong looked around and could feel many eyes and ears upon him. While they were in one sect he could not really disclose his secrets easily. He had thought for a long time and finally decided to come clean about his true identity as a person from another world.

    While he trusted Huo Qiang, Liena, and his grandfather he was not sure about the other elders from his sect. This was more of a family matter to him and he would like to also inform his disciples about this.

    "I need to handle a couple of things first, gather the elders and we will discuss everything soon¡­"

    "Wait¡­ what could be more important than the sect?"

    Before Zhang Dong could take Liena to take care of some family business he heard a voice calling out to him. It came from a burly-looking man that resembled his friend Qiang. Behind him were other various elders probably with many other questions on their minds.

    "Are you really the Patriarch? We need to¡­"

    This time around Zhang Dong was not really interested in the diplomatic resolution. He could tell that Qiang''s father was unconvinced of Zhang Dong''s disposition as he had been gone for five whole years. While he wasn''t here for that period of time, he was convinced that a power struggle between the sect members was taking place.

    "What we need to do, I will decide, now gather up the elders and help the injured!"

    Before anyone else could react they felt a massive oppressive aura wash over the whole area. All of them were forced down to their knees as they realized that this Patriarch was a lot more imposing than he was before.

    "O-of course Patriarch, we will do as you command."

    With that being taken care of, Zhang Dong looked to Liena. Both of them nodded at each other as they descended from this flying fortress, their next destination being their children.

 Chapter 385

    "Big sister! You are alright, I thought you''d be taken away by that monster."

    Zhang Dong smiled a bit as he saw a smaller girl with pink hair pounce on his wife.

    "Calm down Nuana, I''m fine."

    The two started hugging for a moment while the younger one cried. Luckily he managed to get here in time, if not both of them would have been on the flying ship along with that perverted Wang Long.

    "Big brother, is that really you?"

    Zhang Dong twitched a bit as he looked down at his ''younger sister''. The girl was always a bit strange and clingy when he was involved. While he didn''t care that much, he did spoil her just so that she would leave him alone.

    "Yes, it''s me, you¡­ haven''t really grown much since I''ve last seen you, have you been eating right?".

    He moved over to the two hugging girls. While a lot of time had passed the bodies of cultivators aged slowly. Nuana was just as short as she was before but perhaps her ?h?st had gotten slightly bigger from the last time he saw it.

    "Hey! That''s mean!."

    The young girl started pouting but only received a flick to the forehead from Zhang Dong as he came over. While this was a nice moment there were other people that he wanted to see.

    "Next time, you should remain in the escape pod, you could have gotten yourself and others killed."

    Nuana flinched a bit as she saw Zhang Dong frowning. He still remembered how she knocked out Zhang Liu and rushed here to help her older sister Liena. If he didn''t come along her fate would have been sealed along with her sister''s.

    "I''m sorry¡­"

    She rubbed her forehead that was somewhat red, soon all three of them descended below what used to be his home. Directly below this spot was the entrance to the Patriarch''s escape tunnels. Through them, Zhang Xue, Liu, and Feng Nuana were supposed to escape.

    Before going down Zhang Dong glanced at the entire sect ground. While almost all of the city was destroyed in the large-scale battle, more than half of the sect remained intact. Its most important part that was the hidden away secret ground had already been moved along with the junior sect members.

    The pocket dimension that had increased in size was large enough to house all of the young men and women that were too weak to help. The people that stayed behind were mostly the core formation elders and veteran warriors that could man the various spirit canons.

    In the battles that ensued, there were casualties. It was impossible to save everyone and they were already lucky to be alive. This was mostly thanks to Zhang Dong''s faction-building feature of the system that allowed him to build up strong defenses that even a large force could not take out.

    Regretfully it would be hard to repeat this task again as most of the defensive cannons had been destroyed in the large-scale battle. The floating fortress that could somewhat match a nascent soul master at the great circle level proved pivotal in holding the ten late stage nascent soul cultivators back.

    It didn''t come out unscathed and repairing it would prove difficult. Zhang Dong''s crafting abode had been reset while he was shot into another world which would only make things more difficult.

    Previously he would be able to copy parts in it which would make things easy, now he would be forced to do it by hand while slowly leveling up the crafting abode''s old features.

    Finally, they descended below into the tunnels. While Zhang Dong knew about these tunnels as he helped design them with his mapping function, this was the first time physically being here.

    Luckily this escape route was still intact and would not require any repairs. That is if Zhang Dong decided that it was a good idea to remain here. While walking through the corridors he began to think about the future.

    There were mostly two options left for him. One would be to remain here, repair the sect, and bunker down. Due to them being able to take out ten nascent soul masters, they would be considered a serious threat.

    Such a threat that the Soaring Dragon Sect would actually have to use a large chunk of their resources to have a realistic chance to go against them. Luckily for Zhang Dong, his enemies also had their own problems.

    The first one was the Azure Emperor that was considered the strongest cultivator in this empire. He occupied the best cultivation spot that this land had to offer. His clan might not have been the largest but they went for quality over quantity and were a force to be reckoned with.

    The second was the Heavenly Crane Pavillion. They were quite a power that mirrored the strength of the Soaring Dragon Sect. For decades these big three had remained in power while never really going all out against each other out of fear of getting eradicated.

    If two of them would engage in combat, there was a realistic threat of the third party using this chance to take a crown for themselves. When two sides are fighting, the third always profits. It was an old proverb from his old world and this was very true in this situation.

    ''The problem remains that idiot¡­''

    He thought while increasing his pace. Wang Long was someone whose actions he could not predict. The cultivation nuts were easy to read as they always acted in the same way. This man on the other hand could even show up the next day with a similar sized force and not care if they would all die in the process.

    Him just giving up after getting socked in the face and being humiliated made a peaceful resolution mostly impossible. Zhang Dong realized that Wang Long was too far gone, he was clearly not taking this world seriously.

    While he was hard to read if he counted in this world''s morals, he was somewhat predictable if he accounted for his emotional outbursts. He was still a person from another world but he acted similar to the other young masters from this world. If this was some side effect of the system or his original personality was not something he knew though.

    "M-master is that you?"

    While going through the tunnels that were made without any shortcuts in mind, they came upon a familiar face.

    "Liu, it has been a while, you look well."

    Zhang Dong smiled while nodding his head at his disciple. The handsome youth didn''t age that much due to his high core formation cultivation realm but his eyes did look somewhat sharper.

    "Master, it''s really you!"

    "Who else could it be!"

    The one to reply was Feng Nuana that popped out from behind Zhang Dong. She quickly shrunk back though as Liu gave her quite the death glare. This made Zhang Dong remember how she knocked his disciple out cold to go ''save'' her older sister.

    "What, are you mad? It all worked out well¡­ help big brother, Zhang Liu is bullying me!"

    Liu continued to glare at Nuana who quickly ducked behind Zhang Dong. Luckily for him, his wife was close and delivered a nice blow to her younger sister''s head.

    "Stop that behavior!"

    "Ow¡­ why would you hit me, big sis?"

    Zhang Liena moved between Nuana and Zhang Dong. At first, he thought she was just helping him out with the silly situation but then his wife started hugging his arm while yanking him to the side. It looked like she was mad about the way her younger sister was clinging to him while hiding from Zhang Liu.

    While this would normally cause him to rub his eyebrows in indignation. This time around it caused him to laugh out loud. He placed his hand on Nuana''s head and ruffled up her hair, then he moved over to Liu to give him a firm smack on the shoulder.

    "Hah, never change you two."

    The two looked at Zhang Dong with big eyes as he wasn''t acting too much as a Patriarch. While he had mellowed down when interacting with his wife he mostly kept his more laid-back character in the bedroom. When he interacted with the cultivators outside he still tried to act like a proper leader.

    "Is Xue together with¡­"

    He looked to Liu who moved himself a step behind Zhang Liena as they continued down the path. Xue, his other disciple, still remained with his children. The way these walls blocked spiritual energy was even making it hard for his enhanced senses but he could somewhat feel that his kids were near.

    "Yes master, she is together with little Jun and little Xue."

    "Is that so¡­"

    While he wanted to do nothing more than to see his kids, there was a certain something that was making him slow down his pace. It had been five years since they last saw him. For him, it was only about half a year which wasn''t all that much.

    For his children, on the other hand, they have lived for more than they ever saw their father. Deep inside he was worried that they would not recognize him nor accept him as their father as he was gone out of their life for far too long.

    The more that he walked the heavier his legs became. It was as if someone was placing shackles on his feet the closer he got to the escape pod in which his family members were waiting for him.

    Then he finally saw it, the large door behind where his children would be. It was circular in shape and was really thick. Behind it was a large straight tunnel through which the people in the pod would be shot out.

    While at first it might have looked like a simple high-speed escape tunnel, there was more to it. After it went through a certain range it would accelerate and then be teleported to another location which left a dummy pod behind. The idea was to make the enemies chase after this high-speed decoy while the actual pod was transported to another location entirely.

    "It''s okay, I''m with you."

    Zhang Dong spaced out for a moment and it was noticed by his wife. Liena hugged him tightly while pulling him over towards the entrance. Without resisting he nodded at his wife, while he was concerned about how his children saw him, it was more important that they were safe.

    He was still their father and he would always be that. Even if they didn''t accept him at first, that didn''t mean that he didn''t love them. His task was not to be their friend but to be their father and this was something that he intended to do.

    Thus with a wave of his hand, the entrance was opened up and there he saw them. Two little munchkins hugging his second disciple...

 Chapter 386

    There they were, Zhang Dong''s children. While he had been thrown into another world they had been a lot smaller. The older child, Zhang Xiu was about a year and a half when he left. She had grown quite a bit and he was having a hard time recognizing her.

    Then there was Zhang Jun, the younger of the two. When Zhang Dong left to fight the monster the boy wasn''t even a month old, he was a newborn child. Now he was five years old and didn''t look any close to what he remembered. He was the first one to enter the escape pod area and Zhang Xue was ecstatic to greet him.

    "Master, It''s really you, I knew that you would return to us!"

    She was quick to move before him while leaving the two children behind. All things considered, they weren''t all that young anymore. In his world children at the age of his daughter were already going to first grade in some countries..

    While normally he would have done nothing more than to catch up with his disciples, he was a bit preoccupied with his own problems. It felt like there was a giant chasm between him and his own children. He was not sure how he should greet them thus he just froze in place while staring at the two kids in the back.

    As he was trying to speak up, Liena his wife moved forward. The moment the two kids saw her they instantly jumped up from their seats.

    "Mother!"

    Xiu shouted while bolting towards her mother. Liena at this moment was clinging to Zhang Dong''s arm so she had to accept the tackle to her legs.

    "Mommy!"

    Jun the younger called out while approaching at a more reserved pace. He looked a bit more scared as his eyes were focused on the man that his mother was clinging to. Zhang Dong noticed this and tried smiling at the child. This caused an adverse reaction as the young boy started backing away while hiding behind Xue.

    "What are you doing Jun?"

    While he was a bit shaken by the fact that his own son was afraid of him, he heard a cute voice call out. This was his cute daughter Xiu that was now looking at her brother while clinging to her mother''s h?ps.

    "B-but... "

    "Stop acting like a little brat, you''re supposed to be a man!"

    Liena started giggling somewhat as the girl started shaking her fist at her younger brother. It seemed that the older sibling was the one in charge. Jun on the other hand cowered even more as he hid behind Xue that wasn''t sure what she should do.

    "That''s enough Xiu."

    The fight between siblings was halted rather fast as both of them jumped up the moment Liena lowered her voice in a more commanding way.

    "Liu, Xue I must thank you for keeping my children safe, I''m sure you have many questions you''d like to ask my husband but for now please give us some privacy."

    Liena turned to Xue while Liu remained outside the room with Nuana. Xue just nodded while looking at the boy behind her. She placed her hand on Jun''s head while giving him a smile.

    "Aunty needs to go now but your mother is with you now, so you don''t need to be scared."

    "Mother¡­ where is everyone going?"

    Asked little Xiu while everyone left the escape pod. This was not the best place to have a family reunion but it was better than having everyone from the sect stare at them outside.

    "Xue, Liu, please pay respect to your father."

    "Father?"

    In this world, men were still considered the leaders of the household. His position was above the mothers and the kids would normally be ought to respect both their elders and their father. It would also fall to him to discipline the kids if they ever did something wrong.

    This position fell to the other men in the family when the father was gone. In this particular situation, it would fall either to Zhang Jin or Zhang Liu that had a closer relationship with the Patriarch.

    Zhang Xiu looked up to her with her big eyes that looked like bright emeralds. Her hair was quite long and her facial features were somewhat similar to Liena''s younger sister. The child continued to look at Zhang Dong''s face for a moment with a frown on her face.

    "Daddy!"

    As if she recalled something this frown turned into a bright smile and he received a tackle to his own th??h.

    "Y-yes it''s me, your daddy!"

    Zhang Dong stuttered a bit as he uttered the words. It seemed that his daughter still somewhat remembered his face.

    "D-daddy! Where were you! Xue waited and waited but you never came back"

    While she was hugging his leg she started to cry. The sounds of her sobbing could even be heard by the three people waiting outside.

    "It''s okay daddy''s here."

    Without much reservation, he leaned down and picked his daughter up, and started hugging her against his ?h?st. He could still remember the days of his strolling around the sect with her perched on his shoulder.

    This almost made him shed a tear at this very moment. His child was crying her little heart out while being in his arms. Liena started to tear up as well as she watched the whole scene with a smile on her face. But as the pillar of this family, he had to hold it in at least for now.

    "Let me take a good look at you."

    To change the mood he decided to hoist up his daughter with both his hands into the air. He looked at her with a big grin on his face and started laughing.

    "You''ve sure have gotten big but aren''t those cheeks a bit too plump?"

    "Xue''s cheeks aren''t plump!"

    "Yes, they are."

    With a little poke to one of those cheeks, he caused Xue to pout a little bit but soon she started laughing loudly when he started to tickle her. The father-daughter reunion was then interrupted by a somewhat painful pinch to his th??h from the side.

    There he saw Liena looking at him with a forced smile on her face. Soon he realized what the problem was as he glanced down to where his son was standing.

    "Jun, why don''t you greet your father together with your sister?"

    Zhang Dong placed the laughing Xiu down on the ground but was instantly tackled once more. It seemed that his daughter was energetic as always, she had gotten even more energetic with age. On the other hand, his son seemed the exact opposite of his older sister.

    "Zhang Jun greets father¡­"

    The greeting lacked any sort of emotion behind it. It was as if he was greeting an elder from the sect rather than his own father. While Xiu had some old memories with her father, Jun was far too young to remember him in any good light.

    What the child was left with were stories from his other parent and from the people around him. While he didn''t think that anyone from them would badmouth him, there could have been other people that might have.

    There was no way of him knowing what Jun was thinking. He was already at an age where he could understand many things. His children were also somewhat special in the way as they both came from a nascent soul master.

    They were naturally smarter than a regular child and developed sooner. This he noticed by the way this son acted as if he had practiced interacting with elders and knew proper decorum.

    "You don''t need to be so stiff."

    While this wasn''t anything out of the ordinary around this world, he didn''t really want to bring up his kids in such a way. All the respect and fear of the elder generation that was beaten into each generation here was something that he never liked. At least with his own close family members, he would like to have a less strenuous relationship.

    Thus he placed his hand on the boy''s head and gave him a good fatherly pat.

    "You are my son, when we are alone you can act as you wish, being a bit spoiled is also allowed, just look at your big sister."

    Zhang Jun looked to Xiu, who was obviously wanting to be picked up. While he set her back down due to Liena giving him the starte, he was forced to pick her back up as the child didn''t relent. He held her with one hand as she was still rather small, the moment Xiu''s face brightened up but it also caused Liena to sigh out.

    "You''re spoiling her too much¡­."

    "It''s fine, it''s a father''s obligation to spoil their daughters!"

    Liena frowned a bit but she didn''t reply to the answer. Xiu on the other hand realized with this little exchange that there was someone above her mother in the family hierarchy now. This realization would cause some friction between the mother and daughter combo but that was a story for another time.

    "I¡­ I''ll try father."

    Jun on the other hand was still somewhat reserved. This was fine as Zhang Dong knew that a relationship like this needed some time. This was something that the two could work on after they were safe. For now, Liena took Jun''s hand and the four walked out from the escape pod to meet up with the people outside.

    "Master."

    "Master."

    "Big Brother!"

    "We will return to the sect, I''ll have to ask you to take care of the children for now."

    "No, daddy, stay!"

    While he was talking, Xiu instantly cut him off and started crying.

    "Uh¡­ no, daddy just has to go talk to the elders, It won''t even take that long¡­"

    "No, don''t leave Xiu, you can''t!"

    While Jun didn''t seem affected by his father leaving, his older sister continued to cry. It was clear to him that the child was afraid that her father would disappear as he did before. Problematic as it was, he could not take the small child to the meeting with the elders. They would be discussing the future of the sect, not something fit for her ears.

    ''This might be a problem¡­''

    He turned to Liena for help but his wife instead of helping him out started to sob as well.

    "Wait, not you too¡­"

    "I''m sorry but It''s just been so long¡­"

    It seemed that his wife had also not gotten over the fact that he had returned. Soon all three members of his family started to cry, Jun included.

    ''Oh, jeez¡­''

 Chapter 387

    "How much of the sect has been affected?"

    "Not that much Patriarch, most of the destruction was spread through the city but the sect buildings have remained mostly intact."

    "Good."

    Zhang Dong nodded while walking together with a man that he hadn''t seen in a while. It was Zhang Kuo that was one of his trusted retainers. His cultivation had advanced into the middle core formation stage and his face didn''t change much even though he had aged by a whole five years.

    At this moment in time, he was walking through the large halls of his own sect. While normally there would be many disciples running around, the halls remained mostly empty.

    "So, all of the disciples have been evacuated to the dimensional regalia?"

    "Yes Patriarch, Zhang Ya is with them along with a core group of elders.".

    Thanks to the treasure that he had discovered on his travels the sect was able to evacuate all of their disciples. There was enough space in that pocket dimension to house everyone. The treasure took the form of a medallion so transporting it was rather rudimentary.

    The person holding this treasure was inside a similar escape pod-like his children were. Just as they, the person holding the medallion had not yet left and been on standby. During the meeting of the elders, he would need to decide if they would be remaining here or if they would be moving towards a different destination.

    "Well done."

    He nodded and was glad that the escape pods were still unused. When activated the tunnels would explode later on and the whole construction would have been unusable. All in all, they didn''t suffer that many casualties and were rewarded with the treasures in the spatial rings of the eleven nascent soul masters.

    "Thank you, Patriarch!"

    Kuo replied with vigor which took him by surprise. This man was usually the more cold and calculating type but after a while, he had also become a father which might have altered his way of thinking.

    His own daughter was hard to peel off after he informed her about the elder meeting. For the time being, they were with their mother but he was to return to them as soon as possible. While little Xiu had opened up fully back to him, this wasn''t the same for his youngest Jun. It would probably take some time for the boy to open up to him but for now, it was fine for him to be healthy.

    "Zhang Zhi, greets Patriarch."

    Before the large meeting hall stood Zhang Zhi with a large samurai sword strapped to his hip. Next to him was a somewhat large woman that looked like a battle-hardened amazon. This was the man''s wife who was also part of the old Feng Clan.

    "Glad to see you, I have to thank you for taking care of the sect while I was away."

    "I am but a humble servant my lord, I did it all for the sect!"

    It didn''t look that this man had gotten over Zhang Dong quite yet. Even now he could see that samurai lookalike''s eyes sparkling during their conversation. Normally Zhang Dong would only cringe at these sparkly eyes and try to hide but now after not sleeping his number one fan for so long, he didn''t mind.

    "Keep up the good work then, maybe if we have some time I could impart a new technique to you."

    "I am unworthy of such praise!"

    Zhang Zhi just lowered his head but Zhang Dong could tell that when he mentioned the improved technique the man became a bit giddy. Soon all four of them entered through the door and were greeted by a room filled with many sect elders. Everyone was already waiting for him and some of them had less than stellar looks on their faces.

    "We greet the Patriarch."

    Huo Qiao called out from the side which made everyone bow their heads to Zhang Dong. This was someone that he hadn''t interacted much since the old days but it seemed that the old elder was still friendly with his friend Huo Qiang.

    Both of them were sitting quite closely while Qiang''s father still looked rather uncomfortable. Even though he didn''t look like he approved, he did bow his head. Zhang Dong''s performance and boost in power spoke volumes and he could not be denied.

    "I''m sure you''d like to know where I''ve been for all of those years but that will have to wait, we must decide on our next move."

    Everyone nodded as they knew that if they came to the wrong decision they would be eradicated.

    "Hah, the moment senior brother returns all hell breaks loose, there is never a boring moment if you are there, I''m glad that you are back!"

    Huo Qiang called out while laughing, it seemed that he wasn''t taking this that seriously. Even now he was not at full health after facing Elder Tong but this only made him itch for the next challenge.

    "I''m glad to be back, I must thank you all for taking good care of the sect while I was away. Now let us discuss the matter at hand, does anyone want to make a proposition about our next step?"

    While he was still the Patriarch and the decision-making was up to him, he always liked to hear out the people from his own sect. Their lives were at stake as well, even more than his as he had ways of hiding himself along with his family if he ever needed to.

    "What can we do? We offended the Soaring Dragon Sect!"

    One of the elders called out while the others nodded their heads.

    "This is similar to the time when we offended the Dark Palm Sect!"

    Zhang Zhi was the one that commented that from his point of view this was not the first time that they were against less than favorable odds.

    "You want to compare the Dark Palm Sect to the Soaring Dragon Sect? It''s like comparing a toad to a phoenix!"

    Soon the elders started to shout at each other as the opinions were somewhat split. While some still believed that there was hope to get out of this alive others wanted to flee. Zhang Dong remained silent for the time being as it had been a while since he had seen the elders be so rowdy.

    "That''s enough."

    While normally he enjoyed when the oldies were at each other''s throats this didn''t get them anywhere. They needed to make a decision and they needed to do it fast.

    "I can see that at least you all agree on one issue, there is no peaceful resolution to this problem we face."

    Zhang Dong said as he noticed that no elder in the room made a proposition of bribing the Soaring Dragon Sect to appease their anger. Everyone here seemed to be in agreement that it would be strange if that sect just let things be after they killed so many prominent elders from their side.

    "If I may speak, Patriarch?"

    Huo Qiao spoke out and Zhang Dong just nodded with his head.

    "Brothers and sisters, it might look dire but there is still hope. We have managed to push their ?ssault, this was not a small force that the Soaring Dragon Sect had amassed, it is not something they can just ignore, they can not ignore our potential might!"

    "Are you implying that the Soaring Dragon Sect will be fearful of us and not go through with an immediate attack?"

    Zhang Dong asked as he was not sure what their enemies would try to do. Normally a huge force like that would not take something like this lying down. They killed ten of their late stage nascent soul masters and most of them fell to his blade.

    On the other hand, they did manage to slay these ten monsters that each could be the Patriarch of their own middle sized sect. This showed people that the United Element Sect was to be feared.

    Those middle sized sects in the region would probably not want to have anything to do with this conflict. They might even choose to flee instead of answering the call to arms that the Soaring Dragon Sect would normally send them.

    "Not afraid but unable to."

    "The Soaring Dragon Sect is but one of the powers that rule this empire, they still have to answer to both the Azure Emperor and The Heavenly Crane Sect."

    The Heavenly Crane Sect in particular could see this as a chance to strike. Ten late stage nascent soul masters didn''t just pop out of nowhere. It was clear that Wang Long miscalculated by bringing over such a big force.

    It was clear that there were so many of them for the intimidation factor and they weren''t really planning on fighting. Even then those cultivators didn''t expect the amount of resistance that the United Element Sect offered.

    "That is a possibility, the tunnels and facilities for the sect''s evacuation are still undamaged."

    More people started talking, it seemed that even if they remained, all of the teleportation formations and intricate mechanisms for their escape were still in place. The defensive formation was still there and with Zhang Dong here now it could be fully utilized.

    "We have two options, either we stay here or abandon the sect to a life of constant flight."

    Zhang Dong gave his opinion as well. While it wouldn''t be that hard to flee, that would be for the sect. It would be impossible to keep as one tight-knit group. They would probably split into two sides, one going with the Huo Clan while the other going with his side. Some might even try to establish their own small clans in the other sect territories.

    By not staying together they would have no chance of ever fighting back if the Soaring Dragon Sect decided to search for them. On the other hand, it would be a lot easier to hide in smaller groups and they could infiltrate other cities and lay low.

    While survival was more probable with the second option, they would never recover their old prestige nor would they be able to progress as cultivators as they did.

    "Patriarch, do you believe that we have a fighting chance?"

    Everyone looked to Zhang Dong, it was all up to him to decide. While the old him would have probably chosen flight, the man that he now was different.

    "Yes, I do believe that we have a fighting chance¡­ tell me, how many masters at the great circle of core formation do we have to spare?"

    "Patriarch, do you mean?"

    Zhang Dong nodded with a little grin on his face. While his system was not fully in working order with his new realm that was more powerful than the old one it gave him his old method of raising his people up. It had been five years since he was here, in that time his people had to have made some progress.

    "Yes, the more the better, we will put the resources that were left to good use!"

 Chapter 388

    "What do you think is happening outside?"

    "According to the evacuation order, we should arrive at a safe location in a few days, then the elders will notify us if we are free to leave¡­"

    "Cheng Yun¡­ do you think that the sect is really done for?"

    "I don''t know Yang Rong but it didn''t look good, I could see the confusion and fear in the senior''s eyes¡­ it''s never good when the Soaring Dragon Sect is involved¡­"

    Two youths were sitting together by the window of their dorm room. Their names were Yang Rong and Cheng Yun and they were both outer sect disciples from the United Element sect.

    They had been at the sect for many years and both had managed to pass the foundation establishment threshold after long days of trial and training. They were soon expected to be promoted to inner sect disciples as their cultivation was progressing smoothly but now that dream might be at an end.

    "This is bullcrap! This great Yang Rong was supposed to be a core elder and marry at least ten sect sisters!" .

    Yang Rong started shouting in indignation through the opened window while looking into the vast expanse of this pocket dimension. Both of them were inside the dimensional regalia treasure that was able to house all of the disciples for the evacuation.

    "Be quiet you idiot, I''m trying to sleep!"

    "Who was that? Who dares call this Yang Rong an idiot! Come out so I can shove my fist in your face!"

    Cheng Yun gave out a sigh as he heard his friend arguing with some other disciples that were stuck in this pocket dimension. It hasn''t been that long but it was long enough to make them worry,

    While the news of the approaching Soaring Dragon Sect was still fresh and they haven''t been here for long. Cheng Yun was still worried as if everything went well outside they would have been allowed to go back to the sect. It had already been a full day which could mean that the person with the regalia was actually heading towards the secret hideout.

    "Yang Rong, is it you again? Stop causing troubles for your seniors, go to sleep or meditate!"

    "Elder Fei! It''s an honor that you have graced these eyes of mine with your beautiful form!"

    Yun peeked out from the window and could see a rather beautiful woman down on the ground. She was holding a whip which was promptly used to deliver a strike to Yang Rong''s forehead.

    "ACK!"

    "Be quiet you stinky junior, now stop causing trouble for everyone here!"

    "I''m sorry elder Fei, he just needs some sleep!"

    Cheng Yun quickly closed the window while bowing his head at the woman. While she was one of the prominent beauties around the whole sect, everyone feared that whip. There were certain rumors that many disciples and elders alike fell to it when trying to court the busty beauty.

    While she was shapely and beautiful, she was also very strong. There weren''t many people that could keep up with her which meant that it was hard to make her settle down. She had already progressed past the foundation establishment realm and was one of the inner sect elders at quite the young age.

    "Rong, you should stop that¡­ you''re going to die one day¡­"

    "Hah, this is but a scratch, it''s nothing in the pursuit of love! Did you see how she didn''t even pull any punches, look at how my forehead bleeds, it is truly a mark of our love!"

    Cheng Yun squinted with his eyes, he was not sure what was wrong with this sect brother of his. If he didn''t know that he was actually a good person that would put his life on the line for his sect sisters and brothers, he would probably evade him like the plague.

    ''What''s wrong with these people¡­''

    ''That old crow isn''t telling the whole truth¡­ I know she knows something¡­''

    Lan Fei walked away from the dorm after it had quieted down. She entered a separate building where some other elders gathered along with the one in charge, an old granny that looked like a potato that had been out in the sun for too long.

    "Little Fei? I hope that the children aren''t causing too much trouble for you."

    "Junior greets elder."

    Her name was Feng Maling and she was the grandmother of the current matriarch. While her cultivation level wasn''t all that high compared to the other elders, she still had a lot of backing. Even elders at the nascent soul level feared offending her in any way.

    "It''s just one trouble maker, nothing the senior should worry about."

    The building they were in was in the middle while the dorms spread out like flower petals in all directions. The one she was responsible for was the closest one so she spent most of her time here.

    Feng Maling was the person with the right to opening this pocket dimension. Without her approval, nothing could get in or get out. Lan Fei along with the other elders didn''t really know what was happening outside as everything went through this old lady.

    ''She has to know something¡­''

    Even when the information didn''t go through she did spot the old elder talking with someone through a communication jade recently. No information did get through so the state that the sect was in was a mystery.

    ''Is the sect really done for? They would have let us out by now if everything was fine, I don''t like this¡­''

    Lan Fei had been living in this sect for many years now. At first, she wasn''t sure if she made the right decision of coming here as she did have a history with its Patriarch. In the beginning, she thought that it would be a boon but then she realized that the man she was chasing was already married.

    With nothing else to do she remained and quickly found out that this sect had quite the prestigious disciple program. With the merit-based system and her already high cultivation, she managed to progress through the ranks quite fast. From an outer sect elder all the way up to the inner sect elder.

    With some more work, she was even hoping to get into the core elder position and attain the nascent soul prestige. But when she was so close to her goal, this strange event with the Soaring Dragon Sect transpired and she was now stuck babysitting kids.

    ''Should I just make a run for it when we reach the sanctuary?''

    She looked at the old lady that was smiling and drinking some green tea. She knew the evacuation procedures that they were going through. The elder with the medallion would reach a certain spot and place the medallion there. Only then they would be allowed to leave this place.

    While leaving was limited to the elder generation she with her current status would be allowed to leave. Then she could decide if it was smart to remain in this sect or if they had offended the Soaring Dragon Sect to the point of no return.

    Even though that was the best way to survive she somewhat felt that it would not be the correct choice. She owed the sect quite a bit, all of her current strength was all thanks to them and their Patriarch.

    The same man that she had a fling with. During the years in the sect she could see him from a distance performing some speeches but the two never really interacted with each other again. The biggest problem was Feng Liena, his wife that she was afraid of.

    She feared that if that woman ever found out about her husband''s encounter with her she would be done for. Even though this was something that happened before the two met, she wasn''t so sure if Liena would care much for it.

    ''Did he really perish? If he is really dead then there might be no future left for this sect.''

    While she liked her current position she didn''t like it more than her life. Without Zhang Dong being in the lead she feared that it would go down in the wrong direction. The debacle with the Soaring Dragon Sect might just be the straw that broke the camel''s back.

    If she could go back in time she wished that she could grab the man called Zhang Dong for herself. To this day she regretted that she let someone like that slip through her fingers.

    "Huh? Right now?"

    Fei was about to go do another round around the dorm to check if the troublemakers were still at it. Before she could stand up though, the old grandma spit out her tea.

    "Elder? Is everything alright?"

    She asked while Feng Maling fumbled around with her communication jade, it seemed that something had happened outside and it didn''t look like anything good.

    ''Could have we really angered the Soaring Dragon Sect?''

    She asked herself while her legs quaked slightly. Even though she was thinking about leaving when the coast was clear she was still responsible enough to help the juniors first. If it was really required she would do her duty to protect them.

    "Alright? Well¡­"

    The old lady stood up from her seat and started to slowly walk outside. Lan Fei along with some other elders that were here remained half a step behind the old lady while being curious of what this was about.

    ''That is¡­''

    They ended up before the teleportation area through which people that were given access to the regalia could come in. The old lady just smiled while waiting here and soon someone started to appear before her.

    "Why does it always take a crisis for you to show up?"

    The old lady asked as a certain white-haired Patriarch appeared before everyone. His looks were known by everyone here as it was hard not to notice all of the statues in the sect.

    "Hey granny, I hope that you have been well, I need to borrow this place for a while¡­"

    As soon as he spoke more and more people started appearing behind him. All of them were of various ages but they had one thing in common, they were all at the great circle of core formation.

 Chapter 389

    ''This place did get larger, glad that they continued to feed it more energy.''

    Zhang Dong looked into the wide expanse that was the pocket dimension of the dimensional regalia. This place actually had a nice cool breeze running through it after they went through applying some elemental treasures.

    This allowed them to fashion several biomes with different temperatures which helped certain herbs to grow. With the help of this dimension, they were able to grow rare herbs without the knowledge of other sects and the Soaring Dragon Sect overlords.

    ''It seems that even without me around they were prospering¡­''

    He had left behind quite the treasure trove which would allow his people to progress even without him. After these five years of absence, there was no one that had step foot into the nascent soul stage but Huo Qiang had managed to reach the middle stage. If he had stayed then perhaps his wife would have been able to advance as well.

    The first person he noticed was his grandmother, Feng Maling. She still looked like a baked potato.. It seemed that she wasn''t aging so well either.

    "I didn''t want to believe it, but it is truly you."

    "Good to see you too, granny, you seem to be doing fine."

    "Hah, that old bat is too stubborn to die, she also got the easy mission of protecting the kids."

    "I''ll never die before an old fart like you Zhang Jin."

    Zhang Dong came along with a group of great circle cultivators and his grandfather. The moment they arrived the once old couple were at their throats yet again. While he found the two grandparents bickering with each other there was no time to lose. The sect''s existence was at stake, with every minute spent bickering they were at risk of being eradicated.

    "Enough, both of you. We don''t have time for your lovers'' squabbles we need to prepare the elders for their advancement and you two are going to be the first to go through the change."

    Feng Maling and Zhang Jin almost fell over after he mentioned that they were bickering like an old married couple. While Zhang Jin''s old cultivation had been quite messy, it had been revitalized by the new teachings and better cultivation methods. Now even this old man that was a great circle master could have his body cleansed from all impurities before progressing into the nascent soul level.

    "My boy, this old lady is far too old, I''m not sure my body will be able to go through a change like this¡­ but if the sect and the young ones can be saved, I am willing to try."

    From the perspective of these old cultivators like Feng Maling, there was a very slim chance of surviving the transformation into the higher realm. The nascent soul stage was quite dangerous to attempt and it had claimed the most lives from any realm progressions.

    Lucky for everyone here, they had Zhang Dong with them. With his extensive knowledge and his system, he would be able to choose the right cultivation method for everyone.

    A large portion of the lives that this transformation claimed was due to the incorrect usage of the cultivator''s talents. It was similar to Zhang Zhi''s situation when he had chosen the wrong weapon to focus his talents on. Without Zhang Dong''s involvement, the man would probably never have reached his true potential.

    "Don''t worry granny, you''ll live, gramps will be fine too."

    Even without his help, it would be possible for all of the younger cultivators at this level to probably ascend into the nascent soul level before they reached the age of a hundred. This would cause quite the uproar through the empire though as even the giant sects like the Soaring Dragon Sect could not progress this fast while being at an area with the highest spirit energy density.

    "I haven''t been here in a while, can someone lead us to a secluded spot that is far away from the disciples."

    Zhang Dong looked out into the distance and could feel many eyes on him. It was clear to him that he had been spotted by the young ones. He did not really hide himself from then and his aura was even more powerful than it was before. His intent was to give everyone a morale boost, with their beloved Patriarch back at the sect, they would be fearless.

    "Ah yes, little Fei come over here."

    Zhang Dong looked to the side of where this little Fei was supposed to be. There he saw someone peeking out from behind the corner while somewhat hiding themselves.

    "Fei? What has gotten into you, pay respect to the Patriarch!"

    Granny Maling lowered her voice which caused the person that was hiding to emerge. The moment he saw the woman he realized the reason why she was hiding. While the hair was a bit different he would not forget the set of ?ssets that were jiggling with every move that this woman took.

    "...Lan Fei greets the Patriarch, forgive me, I''ll be your guide."

    It was Lan Fei, the woman that had popped his cherry. He knew that she had come to his sect but after a few months he stopped paying attention to her as he focused on his wife and then the first child. It was still hard for a man to fully forget their first time.

    "Let us depart now, time is of the essence and there are many brothers and sisters that require my help."

    The disciple''s Cheng Yun and Yang Rong included were greeted by a large group of flying elders. The whole sect dorm became loud as everyone noticed the peculiar white-haired Patriarch at the helm of their formation.

    "W-was that the Patriarch?"

    "It was, he looks the same as he did, I remember him from the entrance speech!"

    "What is happening outside? What of the Soaring Dragon Sect?"

    The disciples here had even more questions now. What had happened to the evacuation attempt, why was their dead Patriarch here and why were all of those prominent elders here with him.

    While everyone had question marks above their heads Zhang Dong was flying towards a distant destination. Lan Fei brought them to a secluded mountain range that was built for combat training in mind. The disciples were many kilometers away from this destination and would not get in the way of the training.

    "Good, please keep the disciples away from this area, for now, they will remain here."

    While the sect was mostly intact the protective formation needed some work. The whole city was destroyed and some of the formation lines had to be redone. Before everything was fully fixed he didn''t feel like putting disciples that were weak out there.

    The only way to enter this pocket dimension was to either kill the current owner or somehow breach through the treasures defenses. He didn''t really think that there was any craftsman that would be able to do that and killing him would also not be that easy. Thus the disciples were safer here than outside.

    "Little Fei, forward the Patriarch''s orders to the others, be sure that we don''t get bothered by those rascals!"

    There were a few disciples that would probably attempt to get to the bottom of what was happening. It was dangerous to interrupt people that were trying to pass into the nascent soul level as they could fail. It was also dangerous for a weak cultivator to be around someone that was a nascent soul master. They would release a devastating amount of Qi which could cause death to anyone below a certain level of power.

    Zhang Dong looked at Lan Fei and bowed her head while also somewhat evading his gaze. It was clear to him that she was feeling awkward about this whole thing as well.

    "Hm¡­ Dong''er¡­ you and that girly¡­ you sly fox!"

    His gaze trailed a little bit too long on the busty woman and he was noticed by his grandfather. Zhang Jin was a known womanizer so he had a keen eye for such things, he could instantly see that there was something going on.

    "What are you talking about gramps?"

    He got elbowed to the side by the old man who had a strange silly look on his face. Zhang Dong to this day didn''t know how a person like this could score so many women. Even after hundreds of years, he could not keep his lower brain in check and his family number constantly grew each year but at least one.

    "Don''t worry, I won''t tell your wife, grandpa understands, I knew you had it in you! You''re just like your grandfather."

    "I''m not anything like you, you old fart!"

    Before Zhang Jin could continue he received a smack to the back of his head. If there weren''t so many people here Zhang Dong could see himself choking his grandfather out at this very moment. Alas, he needed to remain cool and collected.

    "Patriarch?"

    Feng Maling turned to the unfolding scene along with the other core formation experts that were here. Everyone was a bit perplexed about the reason of the Patriarch hitting his own grandfather out of the blue.

    "Hey, why did you smack me? Grandpa is going to be sad when his favorite grandchild acts like this!"

    Zhang Jin started rubbing his face while trying to act cute. Though he was someone that was far above the age of a hundred, so even when he tried the puppy dog eyes, Zhang Dong could only cringe.

    "Excuse me¡­"

    Zhang Dong turned around while coughing into his fist. It was time to get these elders up a notch. He wasn''t sure if all of them could make the jump to the next level but the more he got up there the better their chances at survival were.

    "Well then, I think you know how it goes gramps, you''ve gone through the process before¡­"

    "Uh¡­ Dong''er¡­ please be gentle with this old man¡­"

    "Don''t worry, I''m always gentle."

    Zhang Dong cracked his knuckles while bringing up his sect''s window. It was time to cleanse everyone''s body from impurities and then use some of those spirit stones they got from their attackers to push their power levels towards a new level.

 Chapter 390

    "Fucking shit, If that shithead cares about those bots so much I''m going to tear them limb from limb while he watches!"

    A certain young master''s shouts filled one of the peaks at the Soaring Dragon Sect. All of the women that attended to his needs had fled outside while he was demolishing his own living quarters. It was so bad that other sect elders had to get involved, only ones at the level of elder Tong dared to approach.

    While the scared beauties waited outside Wang Long looked at his system window. He continued to examine it as he could tell that something was wrong. The person called Zhang Dong was clearly only a core formation expert, he saw it on his system screen.

    "How did he do it? Did he find some kind of exploit? Is there some kind of bug? His info got jumbled up after that change¡­"

    Wang Long was still a gamer, thus he tried applying gamer logic to what transpired at the battle. From his perspective, the man he fought was somehow abusing the system that they were given.

    "Did he buy something to fake his status screen? Maybe he was already above my realm when we started?"

    Wang Long started to calm down while also looking around.. The room he was in had previously been a huge chamber with many lovely ladies. He had grown bored of this world after going through all the other young masters that the sect had to offer.

    Without any internet or television, there was nothing else for him to do here. He never really aspired to be the leader of this sect. It was even quite the bothersome occasion that would require him to attend long boring meetings. He would rather leave that task up to the old man that was supposedly his grandfather.

    He was slowly starting to grow bored of this world. There was nothing more for him to achieve as he was already in the most prominent sect. The only two factions that they were up against would not interfere with them either.

    He felt that in time he would be able to take over as the new Azure Emperor if he just continued to level. But after achieving the nascent soul level it had become quite the grind. There weren''t that many nascent soul bearings that he could kill and he got almost no spirit points for things below it.

    With longevity being on his side he didn''t really see any reason to try so hard anymore. He would at least live a thousand years but his body was that of a twenty-year-old. Signs of him aging wouldn''t even be visible before he reached the age of a hundred.

    ''I need something to drink.''

    "Hey, where is everyone? One of you better brings over some wine!"

    Wang Long shouted out loudly, his voice echoed through the whole peak that he was the master of. In a matter of seconds, three girls appeared with various items in their hands.

    "There you are, took you long enough."

    They were momentarily stunned by the way that this place looked. Fist marks and small craters riddled this previously gorgeous room. The fountain that once gave out a radiant glow of fresh spirit water was now but rubble. All of the furniture was broken and Wang Long had nothing else to sit on than a large throne-like chair that somehow survived his onslaught.

    "Well, what are you waiting for?"

    "E-excuse our rudeness, young master."

    The three scantily clad girls were quick to attend to their master. Wang Long was a bit irked so he continued to stare at the three women. He could tell that they were afraid of him, one of them even stumbled for a moment and was quick to bow her head before him.

    He continued to glance at these three ''people'' while they served him the wine and some spirit fruits. One of them started to even give him a shoulder massage which was actually quite relaxing. But as soon as his rage was subsiding he started recalling a large fist that connected with his nose.

    It was a rare moment in his life, after he joined this place he had never really suffered through a real setback. His position as a young master gave him certain prestige. Even though there were other young masters before him, thanks to the system he was able to leave them in the dust quite fast.

    He had long forgotten how it felt to actually lose a battle as after figuring out the system shop he had never lost. The only thing that he needed to do when he was up against a stronger foe was to visit a place with slightly weaker enemies and farm them for points. He was also given more and more spirit stones with each victory from the sect which made things even easier.

    "Ack."

    "Eeek."

    The girls that were tending to him closed their eyes as the splinters from the special chair exploded everywhere.

    "God damn that fu?ker, I''m going to kill him, damn NPC lover, what''s so good about these AI''s"

    Wang Long looked at one of the girls that had fallen down on the ground and pointed out at her.

    "You there, bark like a dog."

    The grown woman hesitated for a moment but was quick to follow the order that this young master had given here.

    "You, balance yourself on one leg and start juggling."

    The second girl was ordered to perform some acts while the third one continued with the shoulder massage.

    ''Nothing but lifeless drones, they just do what they are told, what does that guy even see in them?''

    Wang Long was confused about Zhang Dong''s way of acting. It looked like he actually cared about the NPCs from this world that to him were nothing more than tools for his p???sur? and amusement. Tools that would be used and then thrown away.

    After he was bored with giving them orders he called one of the girls over. With an empty expression on his face, he pointed out with his finger towards this woman.

    The poor girl didn''t even have enough time to blink before a large bright ray of light escaped from Wang Long''s digit. It instantly evaporated her into fine particles while causing the two other girls that were in the room to jump to the side in fright.

    "Not even enough points to use teleportation¡­"

    Wang Long was more interested in the feeble amount of spirit points that he received from his system. The woman was a great circle foundation establishment cultivator but the number he got was just ten spirit points.

    Ever since he achieved the nascent soul level, the number of points he was given had declined drastically. It was clear that the system wouldn''t allow him to grind too much on the weaker mobs in this world.

    ''Unless I kill something close to my level I b?r?ly get enough points¡­''

    This was mostly the reason that he had stagnated for the past years. Nascent Soul cultivators were quite rare and beasts of the same level were even rarer. One reason he went after large sects was also the points, when he couldn''t hunt the nascent soul masters the volume of the kills mattered.

    But this grinding trick that he knew also started going away the moment he achieved the middle stage. At this point, he was not getting any points from people below the foundation establishment level and even a great circle veteran gave him ten points.

    "What are you looking at? Just go away."

    While contemplating where he could get more points he spotted the cowering girls. Growing bored with the two he just waved with his hand and the two were able to leave.

    With the realization that there was another player in this world, Wang Long had a lot to think about. Previously he thought that this was just a big playground given to him that he was the main character in.

    A single-player sandbox game for him to do whatever he wanted and whenever he wanted.One that would not really progress if he didn''t act.

    With Zhang Dong being there he started to feel threatened. He already lost to him in an open fight and he didn''t feel like he would be able to win in the short term. It seemed that his opponent was somehow gaining the system and hiding the real numbers from him.

    "I need to level up¡­ that bastard also got those idiot elders¡­ they were all late stage¡­ at least I managed to ks Tong before he got to him."

    While the biggest reason that elder Tong was stabbed by him was to get away from there, he also knew that he would be getting the most spirit points from him. The ten late stage elders when put together would probably give a bit more points but it was close.

    "Also I need to lure him out somewhere, fighting in his faction was probably giving his forces buffs and where did he get that flying fortress from?"

    Wang Long started going through his system store but anything at the level of that flying castle would cost him an arm and a leg. He wasn''t really someone that was interested in crafting so he didn''t realize that there were other ways that one could get stronger without buying everything off the store.

    "Young master, please explain yourself! Why can''t we reach elder Tong? Where are the ships, where are all the elders!"

    While Wang Long was talking to himself an angry-looking old man entered the room that he was staying in. He was wearing an identical robe to Tong''s and was clearly not concerned by this young man''s position.

    "Explain yourself? What happened?"

    "Could you shut up, I need to think, Chao."

    "You¡­"

    The old man scoffed at the quick reply and then started looking around the room. He could feel that spiritual energy had been used to kill someone which angered him even more.

    "I don''t care that you are the grandson of the current Patriarch, you will explain yourself, even you are not above the sect!"

    The old man approached Wang Long while exuding an oppressive aura that caused him to stagger a bit.

    "Leave me alone, old fart, I need to get more spirit points or else¡­"

    Wang Long looked at the man in front of him. The system showed that he was clearly a person at the great circle stage of nascent soul.

    "Chao¡­ this sect does possess quite a few nascent soul elders¡­ doesn''t it?"

    "What are you babbling about? Quickly explain yourself, what happened at that United Element''s sect."

    Wang Long moved his hand back so that this man could not see it and a black dagger appeared in his hand...

 Chapter 391

    "Dong''er are you sure that this is safe¡­"

    "I''m not sure¡­ I guess half and a half?"

    "Only half? Maybe we should try it on another sect member that isn''t as old as this old man."

    "Just be quiet and let me concentrate, I need to do it with someone that I''m more familiar with before I continue with the other sect members¡­"

    "P-please be gentle¡­"

    "Don''t worry I will¡­ this might feel a bit strange so please bear with it¡­"

    "Ahhh¡­ it tingles¡­"

    "..."

    "What are you two doing in there!"

    A confused-looking Zhang Liena burst into a hastily manufactured cave opening. There she saw her husband and his grandfather.. The old man was b?r?-chested and in a lotus position and Zhang Dong had his hand on his back.

    "Oh¡­"

    "Is something wrong Liena? Is the Soaring Dragon Sect attacking?"

    Zhang Dong called out while breaking his concentration. He had managed to cleanse every expert''s impurities with the help of his system. This didn''t mean that everyone would be able to reach the next level just like that.

    Normally what they would do, was to give a person that could potentially progress some pills and also time. But time was not something that they had as they could be attacked at any moment. Thus Zhang Dong decided to lend his energies to help people progress faster.

    Zhang Jin was part of their inner circle and his body was similar to his own. Through these similarities, he wished to test how well he would be able to nourish his cultivation up. It seemed that he had forgotten that he had promised to give his wife a call when he was finished with the initial cleansing stage.

    "I''m sorry, I was just too busy with work, how are you?"

    Liena started blushing a bit, he wasn''t sure what this was about but it seemed that she misunderstood something. Zhang Dong could just move over to place his hand on her cheek.

    "Don''t worry, I won''t vanish like last time."

    "It wasn''t like I was worried or anything¡­"

    She started blushing even more and Zhang Dong could feel that his wife''s body heat was increasing. But before he could lean in for a hug and maybe something extra he heard someone chuckling from the side.

    "Oh, don''t mind me, pray continue with what you were doing, I bet you two have a lot of catching up to do, don''t mind this old man being here!"

    Liena quickly moved away from Zhang Dong after hearing Zhang Jin commenting from the side. The old man just started laughing which caused the matriarch to stare at him with intent. To diffuse the situation Zhang Dong decided to quickly speak up as he didn''t want to have his grandfather being mutilated by his lovely wife.

    "Um, I''ll be stuck here for a little bit, is there any word from the spies outside¡­"

    "That is the surprising part, it doesn''t look like they are attempting anything but we didn''t have any spies placed directly in their sect, the closest one was by a nearby sect but it has been quiet¡­"

    "That does sound odd¡­ you''d think that they would be making a big deal out of losing so many elders and ships, could they be silencing the news so that they don''t lose face?"

    Zhang Dong asked while contemplating. A few days have passed since the attack but no news of any retaliation had reached them. If another large force would be getting formed it would not go unnoticed.

    At most, the Soaring Dragon Sect could teleport through a gate to a closer location before attacking. Such a large undertaking would be noticed before they reached their borders as the sect had done well at placing their people at strategic locations throughout the whole empire.

    "That''s a possibility, maybe the word hasn''t reached them? Wang Long vanished without losing a trace and we took care of the rest, we even managed to catch all the stragglers that fled into the forest."

    Zhang Jin chimed in while Zhang Dong tried to come to a conclusion. What would be the reason that would make that sect wait?

    "Maybe they want to act, but can''t for some reason? Maybe they truly fear the Azure Emperor and the Heavenly Crane sect¡­"

    This was the only logical conclusion that he could come up with. If it was true then he would not need to worry about being attacked any time soon. Maybe if Wang Long was the sect leader they would be attacking instantly but he didn''t seem like someone that worked well in a team. To him, his sect brothers and sisters were nothing but pawns.

    The Patriarch that was his grandfather would probably think everything through before coming to a decision. Blindly going against someone that managed to slay that many nascent soul masters was not something that should be taken lightly.

    "What worries me is what the Azure Emperor and the Heavenly Crane Sect will do, gramps do you think they might aid each other?"

    "I don''t think that''s a possibility, the great three never saw eye to eye, they would sooner aid us before giving a hand to the Soaring Dragon Sect."

    Zhang Dong nodded, the more turmoil that they caused for the Soaring Dragon Sect the happier the other two would be. They probably wished to snatch the mainlands that were in the center of the empire for themselves and only then worry about the United Element Sect.

    "Well, there is no use to worry, we can only look towards the future, gramps get back into position, we need to get you into the nascent soul level, or was there something else?"

    Zhang Dong looked at his wife and just shook her head. While he was glad that she was worried about him to the point of paying him a visit here, it was not the time for a family get-together.

    Soon Liena left the cave and was greeted by her grandmother.

    "See, I told you that he would return, my husband, isn''t so easily killed. It''s best that you don''t mention that you wanted me to remarry."

    "Yes, that would be best..."

    "But Liena, do you really think that it''s wise to stay? I understand that you want to listen to your husband but I worry about the future of this sect, what if we¡­"

    "No, he is the Patriarch, without him there would be no sect, if you doubt him then you can just leave, no one will stop you."

    Feng Maling was glared down by her granddaughter and started chuckling.

    "Your love for him didn''t waver one bit, it might have only gotten stronger, fine I''ll put my faith into the young Patriarch, if we falter then we shall pass on from this world together."

    The old woman nodded and was about to join the other core formation experts before feeling something. She together with all the others looked to the cave into which Zhang Dong and Zhang Jin vanished.

    "What is that¡­"

    The ground started to rumble and the cave opening that was being guarded lit up in blue. There was clearly something happening inside but no one dared to enter. They were told by the Patriarch that there would be strong energy fluctuations during the change and that they should not interrupt the process or it might cost Zhang Jin his life.

    "Everyone, let us give the Patriarch some space."

    Feng Maling called out to the people that were sitting around and trying to get their own cultivation in check. They all nodded and quickly put some space between themselves and the small mountain that they had set up their training camp.

    "By the ancestors, is that old idiot really going to progress?"

    Feng Maling''s eyes bulged out as she hovered next to her granddaughter that had helped her move out of the range of this energy.

    "If my husband said that he would be able to do it, then he will be able to do it!"

    Liena on the other hand just nodded while smiling. She started looking around to see a forest of astonished faces. Everyone''s jaws were agape at the demonstration here. It was clear that they weren''t sure if the Patriarch''s plan would work. After five long years, a chunk of them had forgotten how big of a miracle worker Zhang Dong was.

    They would remember after this day that their leader had the golden touch. The mountain exploded with another burst of energy that approached the level of a nascent soul master. This wasn''t a gentle transformation, no, from inside the mountain Zhang Jin''s screams could soon be heard.

    "Bare with it, we are almost there!"

    Shouted Zhang Dong before the closed-off mountain blew its top. A pillar of deep blue escaped from it that formed a fountain of water. This burst of clear blue transformed into a mighty serpent with wings that gave out a mighty roar.

    "H-he did it!"

    The old grandma could not believe what she was seeing. Inside of this water dragon stood a half-naked Zhang Jin. His age started getting to him these past five years but now he looked like a new man. Even some color returned to his hair after he achieved this new level of power.

    When they looked up they could see Zhang Jin floating up in the air. Behind him was Zhang Dong who still had his palm on his grandfather''s shoulder. It looked like he was constantly helping the old man with his new transformation and only pulled back after it was done.

    "T-this¡­ I feel a hundred years younger!"

    Zhang Jin was ecstatic as he shouted out. His aura spread through the area and brought the core formation elders to their knees. Luckily Liena was there to block it, otherwise, some of them would have blacked out instantly.

    "You old fool, get a hold of yourself, you''re not the only one here!"

    Feng Maling shouted out in anger but only when Zhang Jin got smacked to the back of the head by Zhang Dong did he realize what he was doing.

    "Oh¡­ excuse this old man, I must have lost myself¡­"

    "Yeah¡­ you should go meditate and check if your cultivation is stable, it does look like your nascent soul is stable but you''ll need some time before you can make your soul beast appear."

    Zhang Dong nodded and then looked down at Feng Mailing.

    "Okay granny, you''re next, then I''ll start with the rest of the elders, please decide on the order yourself."

    Everyone nodded while looking with sparkly eyes at the floating Zhang Jin. To them it was a miracle in the making, to allow them to reach this level of power Zhang Dong was a true saint to them.

 Chapter 392

    "Elder Wang? Is there a problem?"

    "You must apologize for my behavior, Lord Qing Long but I need to tend to some family problems."

    "Is that so?"

    Three men were drinking spirit alcohol with each other in a wide-open room. All of them were holding small cups made from white jade in which there was some glowing liquid inside. This was the purest spirit that would be quite deadly if drunk by an ordinary cultivator.

    One of them was the Soaring Dragon Sect''s Patriarch, Xuan Wang. He was a man known throughout the whole empire as he was part of one of the big three.. Next to him sat someone that was his equal, Tao Guan the Patriarch of the Heavenly Crane Sect.

    The two were both having a conversation with the leading cultivator, the Azure Emperor Qing Long. While this conversation continued the Soaring Dragon Patriarch was given a transmission through his communication jade.

    "Lord Xuan, Can''t this family matter not wait? Isn''t it rude to bring such matters up while we are discussing our alliance?"

    Tao Guan commented while covering part of his face with a fan. On the back, there was an intricate pink design of a crane that was the staple of his sect.

    "Lord Tao, it''s fine, family is very important, I''m sure Lord Xuan wouldn''t bring this to our ears if it wasn''t important."

    The man called the Azure Emperor just waved with his hand in a bored fashion. He looked the youngest from the group of three but this didn''t mean that he wasn''t just as old as the other two top cultivators in the empire.

    Wang Xuan''s face twitched slightly but he was able to hold it in. For a moment he looked at the old man holding the fan. It looked like he wanted to say something but with the Azure Emperor being so close he decided not to. Soon the old man from the Soaring Dragon Sect went away which left the other two behind.

    "With lord Xuan''s absence, I propose that we postpone the talks for a few days."

    While the Azure Emperor asked this, it was clear that he wasn''t really hoping to get any confirmation from the other cultivator next to him. He was clearly already standing up to leave even as he gave his preposition.

    "Then I will return to my quarters."

    Tao Guan nodded as it seemed to be over and along with everyone else in this wide chamber he began to leave. While the three top cultivators were discussing their retainers were spread out through this large chamber. Only when their leaders walked over to them could they stand up and leave with them.

    "Patriarch."

    A group of scholarly men in similar white robes greeted the old man. It was clear that this Patriarch of theirs was slightly maddened by the way the Soaring Dragon Patriarch acted.

    "What is that idiot thinking, what is so important that he would make such a scene?"

    He posed this question to the group with the intent of them giving him an answer. One of the scholarly men walked up and started whispering into the Patriarch''s ear. After a moment the old Patriarch moved the fan over his mouth and nodded at the group before leaving without giving a reply.

    As the two elders were walking away the Azure Emperor retreated behind his throne and back to his own room. Inside he found his wife that was in the process of feeding a baby.

    "Are you finished, my Emperor?"

    "Not quite my love."

    "Is there something wrong? Are they perhaps plotting something to bring my Emperor down?"

    The woman smiled at the blue-haired man while holding their offspring in her hand. The man''s stone-cold expression seemed to melt away the moment he laid eyes on his wife and the future of his clan that she was holding in her hand.

    "Hah, when are they not plotting to bring me down? Still, Wang''s outburst was strange indeed, what could shake that old monster up so much?"

    "Wahhhh¡­."

    While the Azure Emperor was talking the baby started crying. The man revered by the whole empire looked at the small child. He started fumbling about in a panicked state while not knowing what was the reason for such an outburst.

    "My Emperor, it might not be the right moment to bring up politics while the child is trying to eat."

    "You speak the truth, my wife, I should consult the royal guard."

    The woman just smiled while picking the small boy up and cradling him around. Soon the man walked away to perform his duties. The royal guard was just the word for his inner circle of retainers. He needed to get to the bottom of this strange predicament. Was the Soaring Dragon Sect in some trouble and if this could potentially endanger the empire''s future.

    "Ah, whatever would I do without you my wife~"

    The Emperor chuckled while giving his wife and crying child a big hug. Then he soon left to get to the bottom of this debacle. The empire was his to run and he needed to know everything that went on in it.

    "My Emperor, I am here to serve."

    In another chamber, a group of powerful cultivators was ?ssembled. The Emperor took a seat to overlook his men and the meeting started.

    "I don''t think I have to remind you about the dire times we face. The barrier between empires is wavering, we don''t have time, we need to know where their allegiance lies."

    War was coming and the Azure Emperor was aware of this. This was information that very few had knowledge of, it was something that was left behind by the other Azure Emperors that came before him. Now it was finally up to him to make use of it.

    For many hundreds of years, he had made preparations. The other two sects might have been strong but the Azure Empire had been here long before those two came to power.

    Once every hundred thousand years the barrier between worlds would come undone. He knew that his was not the only Empire in this large world. There were others and they would come to test them.

    It was an old prophecy passed around through time immemorial. It had survived to this day and after certain predictions came true it was clear that the day that the massive war started was upon them.

    While the people here were fearful of the unknown empires that could emerge from other sides of this barrier there were also hopeful. There was a limit to what they could learn here and the top cultivators felt that they were at an impasse that they could not go through.

    The nascent soul level had not been broken but the knowledge of a stage above it was widespread. It had become nothing more than a legend that sometimes was confirmed due to the existence of a handful of immortal grade treasures.

    The knowledge to progress into this legendary immortal stage had been long lost. The nascent soul masters had tried everything but to no avail. Even those that turned to demonic rituals were unable to place their foot inside this fabled realm.

    For this to work, they needed to overwhelm their enemies with their might. While the Azure Dragon Clan had been training for all these thousands of years for this very day, it didn''t mean that they wanted to do everything themselves.

    There were other forces in this empire that they would utilize first before they used their trump cards. First came the lower level sects that were situated closer to these barriers between empires. They would be the vanguard and would test their enemies first.

    They knew that the curious cultivators would be unable to resist the temptation of journeying into the unknown lands. If they managed to battle their way inside without much resistance it would just show that the other side was ill-prepared.

    On the other hand, if the opposition showed itself to be far above their predictions they might have to choose a more reserved battle strategy. The middle reaches that they resided would be almost impossible to breach by any force.

    The old grand formations left by the ancestors dipped their toes into the immortal stage, unless the opposition could match their defensive capabilities they would be able to outlast any prolonged siege. Even if the empire crumbled around them, they would be secure in their lands where they could sustain themselves indefinitely.

    The borders would close up in time and then they could establish themselves as the leading force once again. They would either conquer or be forced to be watchers while their own empire crumbled into dust and their people became nothing more than slaves.

    This would be something that the Azure Emperor was willing to risk. As long as the Long Clan survived the empire could flourish again in the future.

    While the secret meeting continued, in another location a certain angry-looking Patriarch was looking at a peculiar message.

    "How could this be? What has transpired back at the sect?"

    "We don''t know Patriarch, our communications attempts have not been fruitful, it is as if ¡­"

    "As if what? There is no one there to answer? Did that bastard crane lie to me? Is he and the Azure Emperor working together against my Sect?"

    The old man asked while kicking over a table. An attendant that was standing next to him continued to speak.

    "Our ships have not been seized, there has not been any increased military activity in the vicinity of the Long Clan, It does not seem that they are aware of this either."

    The man tried to calm the Patriarch down as it was now, they had not been attacked by any of the other two great powers. Their large armada of ships was still on standby outside and their powerful nascent soul elders were still ready to engage in combat if there was an order by the Patriarch.

    "Our defensive formations are impenetrable, even if a spy made his way inside our sect they would be unable to work the formation, only the Patriarch and the next in line can¡­"

    "Wait, what did you say?"

    The man was grabbed by his shoulders by the old Patriarch that started shaking him around.

    "P-Patriarch? Only you can work the grand formation fully¡­ Did I say something that offended you?"

    "No, the latter part!"

    "A-about your successor? But the young master would never¡­"

    The Patriarch pushed the man out of the way while looking out into the distance a bad feeling washing over his old bones as he looked at a certain communication jade that he didn''t use yet. This one connected him to his grandson that had been pledged in as the next in line to the sect''s throne, Wang Long.

 Chapter 393

    "Please, take a break, it has already been a week, you look pale¡­"

    "I''m fine but you might be right¡­ if the enemies come I won''t be able to offer them much resistance like this¡­"

    A somewhat shriveled-up Zhang Dong was looking at his lovely wife Zhang Liena. She had come bearing some homemade cooking with spirit energy-packed foods.

    "Elders, we will postpone the transcendence till tomorrow, I must rest."

    Zhang Dong looked at a smaller group of elders that was composed of less than twenty. He had been working hard on helping most of them pass into the nascent soul stage but he was slowly reaching his limit. The white seed that now powered his cultivation gave him a lot of energy but it also had its limits.

    "We understand Patriarch, we will await your return."

    All of them were still in the pocket dimension. After blowing up several mountain tops with the nascent soul realm boost they decided to set up an open-air version.. He would just sit with the cultivator in the middle of a special formation on an altar and boost them up.

    The process was not really that hard as somehow his new cultivation allowed him to forcefully insert his dao into people. This Dao would mix with his target''s cultivation and fill out the holes in it.

    He wasn''t sure why but the Dao Seed inside him had those properties. It was able to boost the lesser Nascent Souls to flourishing and only required a set of spiritual energy. Through this, he was already able to create thirty new nascent soul elders from the core formation experts that they brought here.

    They were still only early stage cultivators but their foundation was solid. Thanks to the system''s cleansing feature and the high grade cultivation methods that their sect possessed, the elders would be much stronger than regular nascent soul masters.

    They would be able to rival middle stage nascent soul masters in a one-on-one battle. Then due to the sheer number, they would be able to team up in formation attacks to compete with stronger foes.

    "Thank you, whatever would I do without you¡­ but uh¡­ you don''t need to feed me yourself¡­"

    Zhang Dong had returned outside the dimensional regalia. With the castle that they lived in having been destroyed and replaced by a metallic fortress of cannons, they found a different villa to stay in for now. At this very moment, he had his wife sitting in his ??p while trying to feed him a piece of fruit.

    "Yes I do!"

    Without wanting to argue about this he opened wide and the airplane made its way into his mouth. He chomped down on the sweet treat and started chewing.

    "Now me! I want to feed daddy like a baby too!"

    He looked to the other side and there was his almost seven year old daughter. She had another fruit in her hand and was holding it out with some chopsticks. With a smile on his face, he just nodded and opened up to get fed.

    While the two girls were all over him, the other male from the family remained seated away from the group. Zhang Dong could see him peeking out from the corner of the eye as if he wanted to say something but the moment he turned his gaze to meet his son''s eyes, he averted it.

    It seemed that his wife and oldest child had become quite clingy. Whenever he went they were there. If he wanted to go into the garden to meditate, they would plop down next to him and do the same.

    If he wanted to eat, they would try to feed them. If he wanted to put some clothes on, they would be there to pick out the right robe for him to wear. He would not even get peace in the bathroom as they would start to bang on the door if he locked it.

    While he liked that his family was showing him love and affection it was starting to get annoying. He needed to recover his spiritual energy to push his elders to the next level as their life depended on it.

    "Daddy has had enough for now, how about you go play with your brother."

    He petted his daughter on the head while pointing over to Zhang Jun. The moment Zhang Xiu saw her younger brother she pouted a bit.

    "Jun, why are you still there, you are being rude!"

    She charged off the couch that the three were sitting on and started chasing after her younger brother.

    "They sure are energetic¡­"

    While the small girl continued to chase her brother and he continued to run away, Liena still remained on top of his ??p. He was finding her childish behavior quite cute but for things, to last they needed to get stronger.

    "That Soaring Dragon Sect¡­ what are they doing¡­ they should have tried something by now¡­"

    After a moment of silence between the two, he decided to speak out. The Soaring Dragon Sect was a big problem that required solving. Since Wang Long''s appearance already a week had passed and in this week he was able to strengthen his sect to new heights.

    Even though they all expected the giant sect to react in some way, they didn''t. There was no declaration of war, they didn''t try to get the other middle sized sects involved in their struggle nor did they send anyone to make any demands.

    "It is unbecoming of them¡­ did something happen? You seem to know that man called Wang Long, did he perhaps come from that other world you mentioned before?"

    "Yes, he did but I''m not sure I can talk him out of this anymore...."

    His wife was already aware of his otherworlder status as he had come clean to her while the first child was on the way. While that time he kept it vague she knew Zhang Dong''s true name which was Matthew.

    At this point in time, Matt didn''t think that his fellow earthling would be able to see the error of his ways. He was convinced that this was some kind of virtual reality experience in some kind of supercomputer. On the other hand, he knew that there was more to this than a simple game.

    There were many other worlds that he had seen as he tumbled through that rift in space in time. He had only visited one of them but it was enough to get the general idea of what was happening here. The question was why did these words place people from earth on them just to give them a cheat system.

    "That''s fine with me, let us not give him a swift death!"

    Zhang Dong''s eyes jumped up a bit as he noticed that his wife was clearly still mad. He wasn''t sure what she was thinking but probably being almost forcefully taken by some random person was not something a prideful cultivator woman like her took lightly.

    "It would probably be better to get rid of him when we get the chance, I''m not sure if it will be that easy to get rid of him."

    His Ai Bob was still silent about the reason for this. The only clue he had to figure this out was the strange person he saw when he absorbed the first cube-shaped nucleus. He burned through almost all of the cubes he received from the other world so he needed a recharge.

    ''I wonder if I could go check that place out for some answers¡­ but is now a good time for it?''

    He thought of the place that started this all, the place where he became untethered from the main system. It was the strange secret ground that he almost died in. It was still a mystery to him and there was still that large door that he never visited.

    He was brought on to speed about the other medium sized sects after he returned. The Limitless Sword Society had lost its leader and had been declining for a while now. The other sects saw them as an easier target and were forcing them back into their mainlands.

    On the other hand, his own United Element Sect remained strong. Word of his disappearance was only getting out recently but now he could show himself again to keep everyone at bay.

    He wanted to pay that secret ground a visit. Now with Bob with him, he might be able to figure out some things when he got there. Some answers and also some helpful items could be behind that large gate.

    With his current strength, he might be able to get through whatever was inside. The biggest problem would be opening it back up. His sect was now much stronger so they would probably be able to get through those old monsters and tower defense stage without much of a problem if he explained the rules.

    The question was if he would even need to go that far. There could be ways to get around this trial phase as he already had gone through it before.

    "You are too soft my husband, such demons need to be punished! He even murdered one of his own sect elders just to flee, how could such a person be the next Patriarch."

    "Hm?... yes how could he¡­ wait¡­"

    While thinking about the secret ground his wife continued to talk. She brought up the murder of that elder Tong that happened. Zhang Dong knew that he did it for spirit points but what if there was more to it now?

    "Wait¡­ the Soaring Dragon Sect has been quiet for some time right?"

    "Yes? Our spies are unable to confirm anything, the areas around the main city are being rightly guarded so they weren''t able to slip by."

    He started to get a bad premonition. As Wang Long has already slain one elder for points, what if he decided to continue with the trend? While the system mostly worked as a cash shop it was also able to directly increase one''s cultivation. What better place to get points than at a massive sect with many nascent soul masters, treasures, and beast alike?

    "That bastard wouldn''t¡­ right?"

    Zhang Dong mumbled to himself while getting up. If he was right with his theory the person that he had thought a week ago might be going through a massive strength increase. While he was trying to increase his sect''s all-around strength the enemy went for a different approach.

    "He wouldn''t? Is there something wrong?"

    "I don''t know yet¡­ I need to talk to Zhang Kuo!"

 Chapter 394

    "H-how could you do this¡­ hundreds of years of planning¡­"

    "Oh hey there old fart, do you like what I did with the place? Give me a moment, I just need a little sip."

    Wang Long was holding a person''s head in his hand while staring deep into their eyes. The person was motionless and by the robe, he was wearing it was clear that he was of high status.

    A ray of dark purple light escaped from Wang Long''s eyes and entered the man''s eye sockets. His body started convulsing and spasming in random directions as the dark light took over it. In a matter of seconds, his body turned into a dried-up husk that quickly dropped down to the ground next to other similar husks that were once powerful cultivators.

    The dark light that escaped Wang Long''s eyes soon returned to its master. It entered back through his mouth and revitalized his body increasing his cultivation by a small fraction in the process.

    "Ah, I should have gone with the demonic cultivation a long time ago, do you know how much easier it is to cultivate with it? Just a little suck and I improve, no more pesky meditation for this guy!"

    Wang Long chuckled while looking at Wang Xuan, the current Soaring Dragon Patriarch.. The old man''s face was pale as he looked around. Above him was a giant black dragon whose wings were glowing in dark purple light. Even now he could feel his own nascent soul being drawn to these wings as his grandson''s soul beast was clearly absorbing the souls of everyone in the vicinity.

    "Why Long''er¡­ why would you destroy the Sect that brought you up? We were meant to be the new Emperors!"

    Wang Long stuck a finger into his nose as the old man continued to talk but it didn''t seem that he cared much.

    "That old questline? I never liked it in the first place, I didn''t think it would have worked anyway, I was always better at playing solo."

    Wang Long laughed while looking at the large number of points he had gathered through this short period of time. After the Patriarch left the sect he had decided to get rid of his faction. There were no rules against killing your own people for points and points is what he needed.

    The sect reserves, the council of old elders was also there. It was composed of the oldest nascent soul elders that had retired from the sect life. They were there to only act as a last resort as their life energy was slowly fading.

    Luckily for Wang Long, they were put in an induced slumber to keep them alive for long. They would only be awoken to perform battle tasks that required a large powerful force before returning back into the underground below the sect grounds.

    With some secret techniques that the Patriarch had given him, he was able to operate the grand formation. This formation was also responsible for awakening these old monsters and also keeping them hidden away.

    The large chamber where they slumbered was something that was shown to him by the current Patriarch, Wang Xuan. This show of faith would be this Sect''s undoing as the only people that had a reasonable chance to take him out, would not even get a chance to fight.

    When the deed was done and almost all of the powerful elders were taken out, he continued with phase two of his plan. He ordered everyone to return to the sect at once, with the help of the formation he would be able to trap them here, and with his newfound strength that he gained from killing so many monstrous cultivators he could not be stopped.

    The points that he had received were spent to gain some new and improved immortal grade abilities. He threw away his old method that was similar to his enemies. After seeing Zhang Dong absorb his lightning he knew that it would be an uphill battle anytime they met.

    Instead, he decided to go with one of the demonic techniques. The one he chose was the Abyssal Devouring Scripture. It allowed him to feed on people''s souls and Qi to make them his own. With every devoured soul his soul beast would increase in size and his cultivation would be pushed towards a new point.

    After going through his whole sect he was already on equal footing with the strongest cultivators that this empire had to offer. This didn''t mean that he was going to stop, there were more people living here, he could still get much stronger before fighting his opponent.

    "Questline? What are you talking about¡­ Tong was right about you¡­ I should have never trusted you."

    "Blah blah, you just figured that out, old man? I have to thank you though, if you never left the sect I would have probably never been able to go through this plan so easily, thanks for giving me the keys to the formation, it came in handy."

    The old Soaring Dragon Patriarch looked around himself and could see thousands of bodies on the ground. All of them were dried-up corpses of his fellow sect members. Women, children the elderly, no one was spared from Wang Long''s demonic technique.

    "You damn monster! I will not show any mercy to a foul wretch like you, as long as I live the Soaring Dragon Sect can recover!"

    His cultivation exploded causing the ground to rumble and split apart. Wang Xuan''s cultivation peak was at the great circle of the nascent soul. He along with the Azure Emperor and the Patriarch from the Heavenly Crane sect were believed to be the top three cultivators of this empire. Even when going against Wang Long he didn''t show fear as he still believed to be stronger.

    "Haha, not so fast old man, do you really think that I wouldn''t come prepared for you?"

    Wang Long had learned from the previous encounter that there was strength in traps. While his new cultivation level was strong he was not that eager to test it out against an opponent as strong as this Soaring Dragon Sect leader.

    The spot that he had lured him over was something that he prepared beforehand. With so many points that he gained, he had a myriad of choices that he could pick from. Most of his spirit points were burned through into his own main cultivation level.

    The system had a bad ratio if a person wanted to go with that path but it was not impossible. Wang Long was not someone that worried about life so from his perspective he could always grind for some more spirit points and ignore regular cultivation altogether.

    "Activate, abyssal prison!"

    Wang Long pointed at the ground and before Wang Xuan could power up fully he was tossed into a strange demonic dimension. The whole area around him went dark and shackles made of dark purple energy started appearing from all directions.

    "Where did you learn this? Did you partake in some demonic teachings?"

    Wang Xuan let his cultivation explode in an attempt to force these shackles made of demonic energy away. Behind him a dragon made of pure gold appeared, its size even larger than the soul beast that Wang Long was controlling.

    The soul beast gave out a large roar which was followed by an explosion of golden heavenly light. This energy blast causes the shackles to burst into tiny particles of dark light.

    "Hah, do you think that this was all?"

    Wang Long''s voice echoed through this dark dimension that Wang Xuan was trapped in. The shackles made of demonic energy continued to come at him from all sides.

    The shackles had various tips, some were in the shape of sickles, while others looked like rusted over nails. The golden dragon continued to radiate the heavenly light but with time the sharp shackles started connecting with its scales. The nails rammed themselves into the beast''s flesh while others wrapped themselves around its appendages.

    Quickly Wang Xuan felt strength leaving him, he realized too late that this strange dimension was sapping away at his vitality. Now with his soul beast shackled he was unable to exert more of his energy to getaway. He realized that if he noticed sooner and just prioritized escaping there would be a chance but now it was too late.

    "Wang Long!"

    He called out in anger as he flew towards where his grandson''s figure flashed. A giant spear in his hand appeared while his whole body was surrounded by a golden glow.

    "What are you looking at? I''m over here."

    The spear connected with something and the darkness subsided. What it was embedded in was a leftover steel statue of one of the older Patriarch''s. Just as it was split apart he felt something grab his shoulder from behind.

    This was followed by all of his strength leaving him as Wang Long activated his energy absorbing technique that he had bought from the System Store.

    The old man''s dried-up husk slowly fell to the ground. Along with it came the statue under which he was buried. The last thing that he saw before his death were the vacant eyes of his grandson that he had fostered to this day.

    This signaled the end of the Soaring Dragon Sect, its Patriarch slain by his own kin. There were still a few leftover members in the further regions of the empire that were not able to return but their base of power was in ruin.

    Wang Long floated over the landscape slowly while taking in the sights. All of the peaks were in ruins and there were no people left alive to tell the tale. The plan to take over the Empire was over and it died along with Wang Xuan.

    "Hm, that went better than I expected, what should I do now¡­"

    The grand formation that was shrouding the whole sect came undone and revealed the destruction within. He knew that in time people would realize what he did but would probably not be able to point fingers at him.

    "This sect is done but there is still more¡­"

    With a little nod and soon his body vanished from this silent battlefield. The massive dragon that was hovering above ground was nowhere to be seen and nothing but death and destruction was left.

    Soon the news of the behemoth of a sect vanishing in just a few days would reach the ears of every important party around the empire...

 Chapter 395

    "Is this information correct?"

    "Yes Patriarch, our spies have been on the site of the incident and this information is slowly spreading through the Soaring Dragon Sect''s lands¡­"

    "Is that so¡­ you can leave."

    "As you command, Patriarch!"

    Zhang Dong looked at an information jade with the intelligence report of what transpired at the Soaring Dragon Sect. It had been already two weeks since the incident with Wang Long and to this day he did not return.

    The preparations that his sect was performing for another battle seemingly went to waste as one of the big three was no more. It was all in this report, the place where the sect used to stand was nothing more than a ghost town.

    It was apparently covered in some dark demonic energy that was hard to pass. The scouts from his sect had fake identities as members of some local clans or merchants. They couldn''t get too close due to their lack of cultivation but the word was spreading fast..

    It was clear to Zhang Dong that this had been something orchestrated by his fellow earthling, Wang Long.

    ''That bastard must have switched to demonic arts to quickly increase his cultivation¡­''

    While he had ignored that certain demonic art section, Wang Long certainly didn''t. Those arts allowed a person to suck away their opponent''s vitality while making part of it their own.

    These arts were clearly designed to level up faster if a person didn''t have any moral qualm in killing everything around themselves. These abilities incentivized wanton slaughter but also became weaker if the user didn''t perform enough heinous acts.

    Being a person that likes to sleep at night he ignored that section of the system shop. He went in the opposite direction with the holy arts and his current divine cultivation method.

    ''Previously that idiot had a similar cultivation method as I did before, he just went with the more offensive lightning variant¡­How many spirit points did he have to spend to totally redo his own cultivation?''

    This was probably another reason why Wang Long went with the demonic cultivator variant. As he stood before he wouldn''t be able to harm Zhang Dong with any lightning-based attacks. On the other hand, Zhang Dong didn''t have any way to absorb evil dark energy which Wang Long was probably using.

    Holy arts and Dark arts were opposite to each other. While he could purify demonic beings and was resistant to the corrosive nature of those energies, it was the same for Dark practitioners.

    Wang Long would be able to counter his holy Qi with his newly gained dark Qi. In the end, the stronger one would win as both of these energies countered each other. That is if he ever got to fight him as it stood now there was no sign of the murderous young master that had caused the demise of his own sect.

    "They are starting to call him the demonic dragon."

    While Zhang Dong was thinking Zhang Jin commented from the side. His wife and his red-haired friend Huo Qiang were also there as well as a certain granny that used to look like a baked potato. Ever since she stepped through into the nascent soul level her looks got revitalized.

    A nascent soul master could live up to a thousand years. Sometimes longer if they used life-improving techniques. Whenever one that was old made it through this cultivation wall they regained some of their previous looks. It wasn''t that much but the old woman now looked

    more as if she was in her late fifties than the late seventies as she did before.

    "Do we need to be worried about this renegade? The whole empire will be after him, he will have to escape to the fringes of the empire unless he wants to be chased till the end of his life."

    Zhang Jin continued as he saw this as an absolute win. From his perspective, the sect was the true enemy that they needed to face. With it gone, the single demonic cultivator didn''t pose much of a threat.

    "That would be nice but I don''t think our little demonic friend will be that easy to find¡­"

    In Zhang Dong''s mind, it was safer when Wang Long acted in a larger group as his location was known. Now on the other hand he would be impossible to find as he also had access to a myriad of disguising techniques that the system store could give him.

    "Does he possess a similar technique to the one that you taught me?"

    Zhang Dong nodded at Zhang Jin''s question which made the old man rethink his old stance.

    "But even if he can hide, not like he can get through into our sect while you are here, isn''t that right Dong''er?"

    "I should be able to detect his presence if he ever entered the range of our sect, that is true but¡­"

    If he just decided to bunker up then Wang Long could reach an immense amount of power. If he could contend with such a strong demonic cultivator was not something he wanted to bet his trust into. His new cultivation was kind of strange and he wasn''t sure how to progress it without absorbing an astronomical amount of spirit stones, souls, and lightning energy.

    "Is there something bothering you, my husband?"

    Asked his wife as she was not really aware of Wang Long''s strange system. To them, the enemy would need to hide himself for many years for this to blow over. Even if he was to emerge with the current state of their sect there was nothing to fear.

    "You worry too much senior brother, with so many elders achieving a breakthrough, not even the Azure Emperor could take us likely!"

    Huo Qiang also put in a word in this small tactical meeting. He continued to help the elders with their breakthroughs and now they possessed a large force to be reckoned with.

    "I''m not sure if having these many nascent soul elders will be such an ?sset if this Wang Long is in the picture."

    "What do you mean by this?"

    They asked while Zhang Dong started explaining.

    "We aren''t going against a simple foe, Wang Long possesses a strange technique that allows him to absorb the strength of the enemies that he slays. Through this he can reach new heights in a short amount of time, this is also why he was able to eradicate a huge sect like that so quickly."

    The reports that they were getting didn''t really mention how the young master managed to destroy the whole sect. They could only speculate that he had prepared some demonic ritual beforehand or that he was some old monster in disguise that devoured the sect from inside while the Patriarch was at the meeting with the Azure Emperor.

    Zhang Dong knew the truth though, he had done it mostly by brute-forcing his way and getting spirit points from killing all those elders. The new demonic cultivation helped but it was all thanks to the system that he was able to do it quickly.

    Now his own United Element Sect had a large number of nascent soul masters. He knew that if he just let them fly around the empire they would just be harvested for spirit points by his enemy.

    "Such a technique exists? He must have really made a pact with some kind of demon¡­ or might he be some kind of demonic rebirth?"

    While the others speculated he just nodded as he was really unsure of what he should do. Either he would remain here and help his sect members get stronger or he needed to head out to hunt this monster down.

    The new improved cultivation that he had made him stronger than a regular great circle nascent soul master. His opponent managed to slay the Soaring Dragon Sect''s Patriarch who was one of the most praised masters in the whole empire.

    Demonic arts were quite strong against traditional cultivators. Zhang Dong that was able to not be affected by a large chunk of those techniques would have a better chance than someone that wasn''t versed in the holy arts, even when they were slightly stronger than him.

    "The sect formation has been reinforced and the elders are progressing, I will aid them in materializing their soul beasts but then¡­"

    He stopped himself while looking at his wife. While he wanted to head out in search of this demon before it was too late, he was still a father. What if he died or was wounded in the process of his chase? What if his sect that was looking suspicious was attacked by the two other leftover powerhouses in the empire.

    Wang Long was a big threat but there was also the Azure Emperor and the Heavenly Crane sect that he needed to watch out for. With how they were able to counter the Soaring Dragon Sect''s attack they had also gained infamy. Wang Long''s name was spreading like wildfire but so was his.

    Even though they wanted to keep it hidden word spread that Wang Long set out to the United Element''s Sect. A lot of people saw the parade of flying ships going to one location but they never made it back. It didn''t take them long to put two and two together.

    The name Wang Long was infamous throughout this empire. Many beauties fell to this man''s ?ustful ways and never made it back to their own homes. Now that Wang Long was a wanted man, people weren''t afraid to make their run-ins with him public.

    Even now he was getting reports of people popping up even in his own region that had a bone to pick with him. People even started to pull in a reward for anyone that would be willing to take the demonic cultivator out. Wang Long was slowly becoming the most notorious criminal throughout the whole empire.

    "First let me help the elders with their soul beast, then we''ll decide on our next step."

    He rubbed his chin and was about to stand up from his chair but without warning, Zhang Kuo burst in through the door. Before he could be reprimanded by the people inside, he started shouting out.

    "Patriarch you must forgive me for my rudeness but this is the direst situation. The ¡­ The Azure Emperor wishes to speak with you!"

 Chapter 396

    ''Well, this is an interesting turn of events¡­ I have to go, don''t I?''

    Zhang Dong was sitting in his office that had managed to survive the last attack on the Sect. On his table was an actual parchment that was handwritten with quite the formal invitation. The place that he was invited to was the Azure Emperor citadel, a huge castle in the middle of this country.

    His own little sect ground was at the far reaches of this whole empire. It was a place mostly ignored by other sects and only with his knowledge he had turned it into a high quality cultivation spot.

    This was all thanks due to the large spirit vein that they were harnessing down under this ground. They had managed to keep this secret under wraps and didn''t suffer any attacks from the other sects.

    The Azure Emperor''s castle was right under a similar spiritual vein. He and the other large sects were in close proximity to it. All three of them had divided this spot amongst each other while also placing a huge dividing wall in between their lands. Due to this barricade, the other sects were not aware of the Soaring Dragon Sect''s fall until it was too late..

    ''Is this going to be another trap or are they trying to seek a new ally?''

    From Zhang Dong''s perspective, he was being called over there for the sole reason of being able to defend himself from the abrupt attack. They were also the last faction to be in contact with Wang Long before he lost his marbles.

    ''Could they be thinking that I did something to Wang Long that made him turn into a demonic cultivator or something?''

    This would be a dire situation for him and the whole sect. If the other two giants got the idea that he was somewhat able to turn someone into a demonic cultivator, they could try to eradicate them. There was no proof that something like that happened though so it was somewhat a far-fetched idea.

    ''I still need to have some kind of escape strategy¡­ there is no telling what these cultivators will blow out of proportions.''

    Strength was still paramount in this world. If they judged him to be a threat to them, they could come up with any strange excuse for conflict. As long as they looked like the just side they could go through with an attack. He would not be surprised if he found himself in some trapped formation after he arrived at the Azure Emperor''s house.

    ''Though if they are planning to capture me, they will probably strike before I get close to their base.''

    From his perspective the two leftover superpowers weren''t yet taking him seriously. This would be something to measure his and his sect''s worth. Thus if he managed to arrive at the castle he would probably be safe as he didn''t think that the Azure Emperor would bring an active threat over to his own throne room. That is unless he was trying to lure him into his home ground and was seriously thinking of taking him out right there.

    ''I still have my escape feature, I should be able to escape from there even if they activate some trapping formations, isn''t that right, Bob?''

    ''Affirmative.''

    ''You sure haven''t been talking much lately or have been that useful since I got back to my sect¡­''

    Bob his AI partner, didn''t seem to do much besides answering his rudimentary questions. Then when he asked something more specific he never did seem to have a proper answer. In the world of sword and magic, he was more helpful.

    This was somewhat understandable as Bob was a new function of his system. His system was depowered after a while and even with his new cultivation realm, it wasn''t quite recovered.

    "Your thoughts?"

    "You mustn''t go, it must be a trap!"

    Replied his lovely wife that had also gone through the letter.

    "That''s a possibility but we can''t go against the Azure Emperor''s wishes, his decrees are final in this Empire and you know this."

    Commented Zhang Jin as a rebuttal to Zhang Liena''s outcry. It was clear to the old man that after Zhang Dong had returned his wife didn''t wish for him to leave again.

    "I don''t like to agree with the old fart but there is not much that we can do¡­"

    "Not you too granny¡­"

    Feng Maling was also here as she was part of the family. He had asked all three of them to come here as he needed to reach a decision. The letter stated that he was to come alone and that after he arrived at the capital city he would be escorted by someone inside.

    "If I don''t go they will see it as treason, I''m not sure our sect can handle Wang Long and both the Azure Emperor''s wrath at the same time."

    While the Soaring Dragon Sect was gone, there was always the danger of Wang Long popping up unannounced. This would be a good chance to get some friends in high places. If he could somehow get the strongest cultivator in the Empire to aid him, it would be very reassuring.

    "But what if they throw you into a dungeon, try to torture you for information, what if¡­"

    "Liena please stop, I get it¡­ but I don''t think I can talk myself out of this."

    Zhang Dong stood up from his seat and moved over to his worried wife.

    "If I don''t do this we will be forced into a defensive battle with the whole Empire, if there is a chance for a diplomatic resolution of our problem, don''t you think that we should try?"

    "But¡­"

    "Don''t get me wrong, I don''t trust that Azure Emperor either I''m not going in blind, if something happens I intend to escape."

    "You intend to escape from the Azure Citadel? I know that you have improved since you were gone, but even you wouldn''t be able to take the whole Long clan on¡­"

    Added Zhang Jin as he wasn''t convinced that his great-grandson would be able to easily escape from.

    "Do you remember the time you encountered that elder from the Dark Palm sect?"

    "Elder Ming?"

    "Yes, that one, what do you think of my arrival at that time?"

    "Yes, you did materialize through a strange portal..."

    Zhang Jin looked at Zhang Dong with a raised eyebrow as he tried to recall that encounter. His grandson did somewhat appear in a strange fashion through an even more mysterious portal. It did not seem to require any formation to work but he rationalized it by his grandson''s crafting knowledge.

    "Do you mean?"

    "Yes, I do have a way of escaping and now I don''t really need a portal."

    To convince his family that he would be fine he decided to bring out a monitor that was thankfully in his office. On it, he brought up a room where his disciple Zhang Xue and his children were.

    "Can you see that doll little Xiu is holding?"

    The screen was quite large and the group of ?du?ts could clearly see a very intricately made doll that looked like a small jade beauty in Zhang Xiu''s hand.

    "Yes, I see it but what do you intend to¡­"

    Before Zhang Jin could ask the question Zhang Dong vanished from the spot before him. Liena and him flinched a bit as they could tell that he used some strange technique to disappear.

    They started looking around and soon discovered that the screen was showing another person. This person was Zhang Dong and he was waving at the camera.

    "I didn''t feel that any Qi was used, how did he do that?"

    The life in the sect had been somewhat peaceful so Zhang Dong never had to use the system''s teleportation feature before. It was a waste of spirit points as he could already fly and travel anywhere within minutes. Thus his wife had never experienced him teleporting anywhere in such a fashion and was also confused.

    "Here, Xiu''er said that she wanted to eat some cookies also here."

    Before the people inside Zhang Dong''s office could speculate on how he got in the room where his daughter was, he returned.

    "Hm?"

    Liena looked down at the item that her husband was holding and recognized it as the toy that her daughter was playing with. This little demonstration demonstrated his teleportation ability which he intended to use if he ever needed to escape.

    "I don''t require gates to teleport, if there is trouble I will instantly flee before they can activate any trap formations. Even if they do, this technique isn''t affected by regular teleportation jammers."

    Teleportation wasn''t something new in this world and there were ways to insulate buildings from such techniques. This didn''t take the system''s feature into consideration as it could go through such places with a small increase to the spirit points it required.

    "I plan to use the Argonaut for this journey. The ship will stay afloat outside the Long Clan''s land and if something falls through during that meeting I will escape into the ship."

    He started explaining that his technique had some limitations and he would be able to escape into his flag ship. He didn''t go into detail but thanks to his faction system he was able to teleport himself to large flagships like the Argonaut.

    The closer it was to him the fewer points he would need to escape. He had no idea how many anty-teleportation formations the Azure Emperor had so he needed to lower the spirit point cost to the absolute minimum.

    "I hope that this will give you some peace of mind."

    Liena looked at the doll in her hand and had to agree that it was the one that her daughter was using. Soon a consensus was reached of him going into the lion''s den.

    He was to leave quickly as the meeting was in a week. With the Argonaut''s speed, this would be about the amount of time that he would require to get there. Even with the ship''s high speed, the Empire was huge and traveling was still a hassle.

    After getting everything ready he started packing. Zhang Liu would be coming with him on the voyage as he was also someone that he could teleport to. On the off chance that something went wrong with the faction teleportation feature, he would go with the portal he had used all those years before.

    "Take care."

    "I will."

    Without alerting their children and while keeping the fact that the Azure Emperor gave a decree to meet with Zhang Dong he boarded the ship.

    ''I hope this goes well, why can''t I ever catch a break¡­''

    Zhang Dong frowned as he thought his luck was abysmal. People in this world could live for a thousand years and everything that has happened to him didn''t even take ten. Now with new problems arising he wasn''t sure that he would have any more peaceful days ahead of him, not until he got rid of Wang Long.

 Chapter 397

    "Master, we will be arriving at the location in thirty minutes."

    Zhang Liu delivered the message to his master as he was glancing outside the window. After a moment of silence, Zhang Dong began to speak.

    "Liu, if for some reason I don''t make it back, I''ll leave my family in your care."

    Liu was taken aback by his master''s words and he instantly started panicking.

    "What do you mean master, of course, you will return and you will lead our sect to victory as you always do!"

    The young man raised his fist and Zhang Dong could see that unreasonable amount of faith that Zhang Liu was putting into him. He would probably not get to him if he wanted to explain his system and that it was mostly just pure luck that he was alive at this moment of time.

    It all started that fateful day in the secret ground. If he didn''t succumb to his own pride and inflated ego after gaining some strength that he didn''t work for they wouldn''t be here. His system went bonkers as he b?r?ly survived that encounter which in turn brought Wang Long over here.

    If he managed to finish that test then he would have been able to live his life peacefully. Though he would be still quite ignorant to the real ways of this world. The cubes would have not been discovered and other disasters could have been triggered.

    ''I can''t really wait and see, god knows how many people would die before this character decided to show up.''

    There was also the possibility of a world reset. The demon lord from the world his summoner friend was in almost went through it. If Wang Long caused a world upheaval the person watching this world could come to the decision of restarting it.

    What that really meant was not something Zhang Dong knew but he was sure that the lives of his loved ones would be at stake. That was not something that he could allow, the problem was getting to a level above what this world was limited to. He saw it in that other world and he was lucky enough to come from one that had a higher ceiling.

    Now with a new kind of cultivation, he was hoping to bust through that ceiling. When he did that he would probably not need to fear any of those overseers.

    He had a little theory of why he was able to achieve this new breakthrough in power. One of the reasons was that he was able to increase the size of his soul which allowed him to fuel some of it. The other reason was his little expedition into the other worlds.

    When tumbling through that connection through worlds he came in contact with some strange energies. These energies were purer than what he could see in this world or in the other. During his travels, he might have absorbed some of this energy which was now being focused in that white seed.

    His body had been transformed through the years of cultivation as well as was his soul. It craved energy to grow stronger and even without him focusing on cultivation it would try to absorb ambient Qi from the area it was in. Some of that could have made it into his body and it had altered the cultivation he now had.

    Now he only needed to foster and cultivate that seedling till it could sprout. What was inside this little seed was a mystery but it would certainly be something that put him above the nascent soul level, a new undiscovered cultivation realm.

    "Don''t misunderstand me, Liu. I don''t intend to just lie down and die but you are the only person I can trust with this¡­ I''d mention it to Qiang but he would never retreat from a fight."

    Zhang Liu wasn''t the strongest cultivator but he could trust him to follow his orders. Huo Qiang would probably go down faster in a fight than try to flee himself. His wife was already strong but she would also prioritize the children over fighting. That left a few other people that he wished to join them if push came to shove.

    "Just follow the escape route that I prepared for you, at the safe house you''ll be able to survive for hundreds of years."

    The place that he prepared for his closest family was buried underground. After some testing, he was able to gather some samples from the wall that was blocking off the cube that he found under his sect.

    He was then able to produce some small samples that would even block out his system. It wasn''t perfect but as long as the system user didn''t get too close, he would be unable to see anything.

    The possibility of Wang Long flying around to look for things deep underground wasn''t that high. There they would be able to remain without the need to go outside for a very long time. Still, if the world was reset then his idea would only give his family some time before the unavoidable end.

    For this reason, he had to go see the Azure Emperor. He needed some help, it was impossible for him to go around this giant empire to search for one man. Wang Long probably already had some kind of disguise that would make him hard to find.

    The only thing he could look for would be the disappearance of young women. His counterpart would probably not be able to get over his s?xu?? addiction so where there were beauties he would probably go there. This was also something that he wanted to bring up with the Emperor.

    "But master¡­"

    "No buts, I hope that you will follow your master''s wishes."

    Zhang Dong smiled at Zhang Liu who could only cup his fists together and bow. Luckily the master-disciple relationship was paramount here and he could trust Liu to honor his wishes. The young man was quite strong for his age, with time he would also be one of the most powerful cultivators in this whole empire. That is if he had enough time to spread his wings.

    "Well then, let us not keep the Azure Emperor waiting. Tell the captain to remain on standby and not cross into the Long clan region under any circumstance!"

    "Yes, master!"

    When he was trapped and unable to teleport back into the ship, it would be unwise for his sect members to try to rescue him. Even with this large battleship, they wouldn''t make it far inside.

    The ship''s large engines started to give out less of a hum as they started to power down. The flying ship that was cutting through the skies like a massive sword soon emerged. It descended and showed itself but was quickly halted.

    "So those are the fabled Azure Gates? They sure like to build them big in this world¡­"

    Before Zhang Dong stood a massive wall that stretched all the way up into the clouds. Even someone that was capable of flight would have a hard time getting over this barricade that was the entrance to the Long Clan''s lands.

    The Long clan was more or less the equivalent of the royal line in this Empire. They would decide on every new Azure Emperor that would be trained to become the strongest cultivator here. With their superior techniques and cultivation materials, they were able to hold onto the crown for many millennia.

    No one even remembered the time when someone other than a member of the Long clan was the Emperor. To them there would never come anyone close to the current Emperor, the two other large sects might change but the one leading the country would not.

    "I will be off then¡­"

    "Please be careful, master, we will remain here as you ordered!"

    Now when he arrived there was a large gate. Below this gate was a whole bustling city filled with millions of people on this side and even more on the other. This was the border city through which he needed to get through first before he arrived at his true destination.

    The massive ship that just appeared out of the clouds was sure to attract a lot of eyes. Even though this city was part of the Long Clan, the ship that Zhang Dong was able to produce with his sect was a marvel of engineering. The sight of the massive metal airship was something to behold and everyone down below could not avert their gazes from it.

    ''That must be the welcoming committee.''

    While the Argonaut started floating back to not scare the locals a group of cultivators approached him. There were five of them and they were all nascent soul cultivators of varying degrees of strength with the weakest being a middle stage one and the strongest at the late stage.

    From the looks on their faces, they were a bit taken back by the large ship that emerged from the clouds. Zhang Dong made sure to use his technology to try to evade detection. This was not done out of malice, no.

    He just wanted to see if the Azure Emperor troops would be able to detect his ship before it landed. Now he knew that their detection capabilities weren''t up to par with his sect''s technology which might boost his prestige during this coming debate.

    There was no way of him knowing what they really wanted from him. Would they question him about Wang Long or would they just try to throw him into the dungeon if they deemed him too much of a threat?

    "Honored Zhang Dong from the United Element''s Sect?"

    "Yes, that''s me."

    Due to his strange cultivation realm now he would be hard to read. His aura was not of a nascent soul elder nor of a core formation master. It had changed since he entered this new transitional stage even if he allowed them to take a peek they would probably not be able to measure his true power.

    They could only take his flying capabilities into consideration and think of him as a nascent soul master that was too strong for them to read.

    "By the Emperor''s decree we are to escort you to the Azure gates, there you will be escorted by the inner elders."

    ''Inner elders? I guess these guys are just some outer sect elders?''

    This made him raise a brow as these people might have been weak for their cultivation realms but they were still very high for an outer sect elder.

    "I will put myself in your hands then my fellow Daoists."

    He just nodded and followed without asking too many questions. This was also a good opportunity to see how the top clan in the empire operated, for now, they got some brownie points for being respectful.

    ''I hope the inner clan elders will be just as cordial.''

 Chapter 398

    ''So this is what the top of the Empire looks like?''

    Zhang Dong looked up at the giant wall that even with his enhanced vision he couldn''t see the end off. It was truly immense, how long something like this took to build was probably astonishing.

    The place that he would be entering supposedly survived the trials of time. The Long Clan that ruled this Azure Dragon Empire was apparently something that stuck with it through many millennia. They were the undisputed champions of the land now even more, after one of the large sects disappeared.

    The Heavenly Crane Sect that was around the same prestige as the Soaring Dragon Sect was somewhat in a bind now. While previously the big three could not really act out against each other, now it was different.

    Qing Long the Azure Emperor could now take over everything if he really wanted. With the Soaring Dragon Sect being gone the Long Clan could overpower the Heavenly Crane Sect. It would take some time but without a third party looming over their shoulders to strike when they were weakened, it was now possible to take the initiative.

    But Zhang Dong''s elders informed him that this was not really how the Long clan operated. They gave their subjects a degree of freedom to fight it out with each other. They would probably sit back and watch from behind these walls till another Soaring Dragon Sect arose to fill in the gap.

    There was far too much land to occupy by one faction. From Zhang Dong''s perspective, it was probably smarter to focus on a couple of high quality spots than to spread themselves out.

    In this world, one nascent soul master could take out a full battalion of core formation cultivators. Only if they were in possession of some high quality battle formation that boosted their strength past this master would they stand a chance.

    Even then, the master could easily flee and prolong the fight. Such battle formations took a lot of training and even one person falling behind could cease to be. Thus it was better to focus on quality over quantity.

    The land he was on was still only the border town that divided the commoners and royal members of society. For the people living in this empire, it was an honor to go past those dragon gates. Some would even abandon their families if they could become a member of the Long clan, even being a retainer was enough for other kingdoms to fall.

    "I''m not sure what you have heard about the Emperor but best you be on your best behavior, you will not speak unless spoken to, don''t meet the Emperor''s or his aid''s eyes, I don''t think I need to explain to you what angering the Emperor could entail for your sect?"

    While slowly floating towards the gate one of the elders from his escort started giving him ''advice'' on how he should behave in front of his Emperor. It seemed like it was natural that Zhang Dong should be put in his place as he was just some random sect Patriarch from a rural area of the empire.

    It didn''t seem like these people were seeing him as much of a threat for now. While the escort was composed of some strong nascent soul elders, they were clearly not the strongest fighters on their side. The most powerful man here was at the level of the nascent soul late stage elders that attacked his Sect.

    The man called Tong would probably wipe the floor with all of them here and even Huo Qiang could take him with a slight boost from the faction system. This would be a good moment to let his aura spill to show them that they shouldn''t underestimate him but the smarter option was to do the opposite.

    The more they underestimated him the more freedom he would be given, if they decided to spring a trap they would probably not prepare something lesser from which he could escape from.

    "I will heed your advice fellow daoist but could you answer my question?"

    The old man frowned a bit as he got interrupted by then nodded as they still had some time.

    "Do you perchance know why the Azure Emperor has summoned me?"

    The man just shook his head as he replied.

    "No, The Azure Emperor has his reasons, those reasons are not for someone like me to know."

    Just as he expected the men here were just following orders and would be out of line if they actually asked for the reason. He could clearly tell that they were also perturbed by his appearance

    Finally, they arrived at the giant gate that looked like it would require some titanic creatures to open it. But while he was stuck looking at the massive construction the people from the escort beckoned him to the side.

    "Why did you stop, come this way."

    "Ah, we aren''t going through the gates?"

    The group of elders looked at each other and then back at Zhang Dong before giving out a chuckle. They seemed to be some kind of inside joke but they still were cordial enough to not laugh out loud.

    "The Heavenly Azure Dragon Gates are not for such trifle exchanges."

    The man answered while they descended down to the ground, there he found something that he was familiar with, a teleportation formation. Quickly it started making more sense to him, he was but a single man and opening this huge gate only happened when something like the Argonaut needed to pass through it, not a single Patriarch from a country Sect like him.

    The group of elders looked quite smug after Zhang Dong''s comment. It was clear to him that after it they saw him as someone uneducated and that didn''t know his own worth.

    "Please step into the teleportation array."

    They were even quite condescending while asking for him to stand in this teleportation formation. It was as if they thought that he was unaware of such formations. This might have been true to other Sects as even they mostly only had access to teleportation gates that were easier to manufacture.

    Even he had to agree as the ones back home were all teleportation gates and he used his system''s features to go around the building process. This didn''t mean that he was not aware of the ways of constructing one of those. Now when he was able to see a working model he would be able to copy it over if the need ever arose.

    To get things to move along they didn''t comment and remained docile. He was going into the belly of the beast so it was better to not antagonize the natives yet. Soon the formation lit up and his whole body was surrounded by a bright white glow. In a matter of seconds, his body vanished from the area with the elders that escorted him remaining.

    "Was this person really the one that fought back that demon Wang Long?"

    "If the rumors say¡­ but he didn''t seem that powerful."

    They all looked at each other but soon flew away to monitor the large ship that was floating somewhere above in the clouds. Even though they were just making fun of the country bumpkin that arrived they were still baffled by the capabilities of that ship. This was the first time in a while that someone managed to sneak up on them.

    "Didn''t that man look familiar?"

    "Yes... could it be!"

    *Bzzzzp*

    After a bright flash of light, Zhang Dong found himself in another location. While a normal person would be disoriented he had his system map to help him out. With it, he could see that he was tossed into a quite far away location from the initial border town. The jump to his ship would still be possible as he was in the area on the map that belonged to the Azure Emperor.

    The first thing that he noticed was the nice breeze at his new location. What he expected to see was some dark hidden chamber with nothing but stone. Instead, he was in something similar to a gazebo formed of blue azure dragons.

    On the ground he was standing in he could see an intricate array formation that was even more complex than the one he came through. It was quite miniaturized and hard to understand, so without enough time to go through it he ordered Bob to take a snapshot for later use.

    Later he could examine the lines in all intricacies but for now, he realized that he was being watched. He felt a presence of a person before him but his attention was still elsewhere as he noticed the splashing of waves behind him.

    From what he could see he was in a summoning array that was placed on some tropical island. The weather was quite perfect and sunny. He could hear birds singing and the wind was gently moving the tree leaves around.

    Soon he took a step forward and descended through a laid-out path. This path was composed of pure gold and it was clear that he was supposed to follow it to his destination.

    One of such trees drew his attention when he passed next to it. The fruits that it possessed looked like golden peaches and they radiated an odd holy aura. As a person poised in such energies he strayed from his path due to this opportunity. While he knew that it would be rude he just had to check this tree out.

    It only took a couple of steps to arrive at this tree. Its trunk was radiating a strange presence while the unsuspecting golden fruits remained devoid of any Qi.

    "Interesting¡­"

    While he stopped staring at the tree he finally heard a voice call out to him. It was quite alluring and reminded him of his own wife.

    "I would advise the dear guest from eating or touching the nirvana fruit, you will suffer a most gruesome of faiths if you do."

    Zhang Dong turned his head to see quite the voluptuous young beauty that looked more like an exotic dancer than a cultivator.

    "I can''t?"

    "This one will not stop the guest but please reconsider."

    Zhang Dong looked at the woman again and could see only a smile. In reality, he knew what eating this fruit would entail for any normal cultivator. Luckily for him, he was not an ordinary cultivator.

    The only thing keeping him from eating this treasure was that it belonged to the Azure Emperor. The woman here didn''t say that he couldn''t eat it, so this was enough for him to quickly grab one and begin munching.

    "Wait! You mustn''t, the Emperor will be¡­!"

    The woman''s eyes went wide as she noticed that her visitor didn''t understand her words fully.

    "The Emperor? Hey, you did say that I could eat it, don''t bring him into this!"

    Zhang Dong on the other side just gave out a burp as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.

    "H-how...how can you still be alive after consuming the nirvana fruit!"

    He just shrugged while looking at a second one that wasn''t far from it.

    "Uh¡­ is this a bad time to ask for a second one?"

 Chapter 399

    The nirvana fruit was its name. Its taste was supposed to be one of the sweetest in the world but also one of the deadliest. If a person was to ingest this fruit without any preparation they would suffer a fast death. The moment the sweet nectar of the fruit reached their insides they would start to burn up.

    To this day there were few people that could suffer through this fruit''s condensed Qi. It would instantly cause the person that consumed it to burst up in flames of bright light. There would be nothing left but white ashes that radiated an eerie divine glow.

    For this reason, the woman that Zhang Dong met up with was close to collapsing. He had managed to devour the whole fruit without batting an eye.

    "H-how could this be¡­"

    "It''s a bit too sweet for my tastes but not that bad."

    Zhang Dong smacked his lips as he licked up the juices from his mouth. Even when he tried to consume it all, the fruit was a bit too juicy and some of it dribbled down to the grass below. The moment it did a massive white glow of light burst forth while leaving a zone of deathly white ash behind in its wake.

    "Hey, are you alright? Would this be a bad time to ask for another one?"

    Zhang Dong asked while looking up into the tree. There weren''t that many fruits left there as it was clearly something rather rare. While a normal person would probably die rather quickly from ingesting this pure holy energy, he was able to absorb all of it into this golden core.

    This was truly a nascent soul treasure of the uppermost level, it was even closely approaching a level above it. It was hard for Zhang Dong to resist the temptation of ingesting a massive amount of holy energy like this. The woman clearly didn''t deny him the fruit so he decided to quickly gobble it up before she changed her mind.

    "Huh, what? Another one? Stop this instance, put your hand down!"

    Zhang Dong was about to reach out for another fruit while he had the chance. It would be somewhat impolite to eat another one when the woman said otherwise. There was also the thing with her tossing herself in front of the tree and pulling out her weapon to defend it.

    "How could you desecrate the secret garden, spit out the fruit this instance!"

    "Spit it out? But you said that I could have it?"

    "I¡­ I didn''t think you would eat it! Give it back!"

    The woman had long black hair and looked like your everyday jade beauty, the only thing that was characteristic were her deep blue eyes and a strange golden gem in the middle of her forehead.

    "I''m sorry but I don''t think you''d want the remains of the fruit after I''ve eaten it¡­ how about you have this instead."

    The woman looked at a fruit that Zhang Dong pulled out from the spatial ring. While he had to clear out his spatial ring before arriving here he still came with some necessities that would be fine to smuggle into the inside of this clan.

    "T-that''s just a regular peach! How can that replace the sacred Nirvana fruit?"

    "Is it a regular peach? How about you look again¡­"

    "What are you babbling about? It''s clearly a normal ¡­ !"

    Soon the peach that he pulled out started glowing with a golden sheen. Soon a similar aura to that of the fruit that Zhang Dong had eaten sipped into this regular peach. Something like this didn''t go unnoticed as more people started popping their heads from within this garden.

    A group of ten beauties in similar dancer-like robes stood around him while he was holding a glowing peach. They were all pointing their spears at him and he was starting to think that he was transported into a certain Amazonian island.

    "W-what did you do?"

    "Nothing¡­ I just gave the peach similar properties to that nirvana fruit. Regretfully it''s not as potent but should be fine for lesser cultivators to eat, the taste should be the same as well."

    After consuming the Nirvana peach he was able to analyze it. By infusing a somewhat ordinary spirit fruit that he got from his sect''s garden he was able to create a lesser version with his own power. It would not hold a candle to the original but could be mass-produced and would still give people quite the boost of holy energies.

    "Catch."

    He threw the peach to the lady that was first to meet him. The woman dropped her own spear and almost fumbled in catching this new treasure. She quickly glanced at it and after analyzing it she was left speechless.

    "T-this¡­"

    Soon the other women gathered around that peach and started looking at it with much interest. After passing it around between themselves they came to some kind of consensus. They even started talking. One of them even proposed to take this fruit and him to the clan apothecary''s for investigation.

    "I wouldn''t want to interrupt your debate but wasn''t I supposed to meet the Azure Emperor?"

    "He is right, we must fulfill our mission."

    From what he could tell all of these beauties were nascent soul cultivators of various levels. The one that he met first was the strongest while the others kept shadowing the two. It was clear that they were the backup if he decided to be rowdy.

    While she looked to be in her early twenties Zhang Dong knew that he was looking at someone that was above the age of Feng Maling. It was unclear to him how the old woman was able to keep her youthful appearance but there were many ways that even he knew about.

    One would be using a disguising technique like the one he taught Zhang Jin. Then the only way to measure a person''s true age would be their Qi that with age did change slightly. He on the other hand had his system that could pinpoint the ages of people he examined without much hassle.

    "If you want more fruits, I could prepare more if you just supply me with peaches¡­"

    The women looked at the strangely glowing fruit that they were handling and then went back to Zhang Dong who just smiled back at them. After absorbing the nirvana fruit his holy energies were already part of his cultivation.

    When he used them up they would quickly regenerate after some rest, he could actually fashion far more of these treasures if they just let him eat more of those fruits.

    It didn''t seem that he had the trust of these beauties as they pointed their spears at him. He just moved his hands up as if he was being aimed by guns and started walking.

    Now with another escort, he was unable to wander anywhere to see the sights. Soon they left the forest and arrived at a beautiful gate. This one as all the rest was made from some kind of bluestone that radiated a strange aura.

    Dragons and serpents were clearly the motives of this garden of Eden-like island. The place they arrived was a large villa and from within he could hear a gentle zither tune. Someone was playing a slow emotional melody. What was strange about this tune was how it had a limited range and with a little step back, he found himself unable to hear it.

    ''Interesting, this must be some kind of sound-canceling formation, I wouldn''t be surprised if this island isn''t some kind of illusion.''

    Zhang Dong looked up into the sky and found the sun''s glow a bit strange. If he compared it to where it was before he entered this place, there was a difference. From this, he could make the conclusion that this could be inside of some sort of treasure like the Dimensional Regalia through which he would have a harder time to escape.

    ''The teleportation feature is still there¡­''

    ''Let me see this Azure Emperor.''

    Now after stepping through the threshold of this gate he felt an even more protective barrier. It was clear that they were taking their defenses quite seriously and that for the unsuspected cultivators acting out here would be quite deadly.

    "Wait here."

    The group of amazonian jade beauties came to a full stop right after entering through the entrance to this beach resort villa. By how the gates looked a person would expect a giant castle behind it but instead it was a house made from bamboo. He could even hear some kind of stream flowing behind it and after spreading his senses there was also a hot spring.

    ''Did I arrive at an old Japanese inn or something?''

    They made him wait for a few minutes thanks to which he had some time to examine all of the formations in this place. His eyebrows started twitching as even his own place could not compare to this. Even for him, it would be quite hard to figure out a way to escape on foot.

    The women were clearly only able to get in through some kind of trick. Either the formations were attuned to their Qi or they were in possession of something that acted like a key. Even if he managed to get it, he would probably not be able to use it.

    "The Emperor will now see you."

    Zhang Dong nodded while he received the stink eye from all the women here. It was clear that they didn''t trust him but for some reason, this Azure Emperor didn''t seem that alarmed.

    "Please take off your shoes."

    After coming through the entrance he noticed another beauty sitting there. She had more of a m?tur? look and made this look like an inn out of a Japanese anime. After going through it he wandered inside and the more he walked the more he realized that there was something not right here.

    Finally, at the end, the doors were slid open by two beauties that were guarding the door. Inside he finally saw the Azure Emperor, his face was buried in a ??p of another beauty that was tending to his years.

    ''I sure hope this isn''t what I think it is¡­''

    He gulped as he checked his system window, he was ready to lay an egg if he discovered that the person before him was another world traveler.

 Chapter 400

    Zhang Dong looked at his system window with narrowed eyes. The person that he was looking at had quite the blue hair that was similar to the color of the sky. He was enjoying a ??p pillow from a stunning beauty that was somewhat unique when he compared her to the other women on this island.

    She looked a bit more exotic, her skin tone was more natural than all the pale jade beauties that were on the island and her hair color was a ruby red. She even had a gem in the middle of her forehead that was of the same coloring.

    Both she and the Azure Emperor luckily didn''t seem to have Japanese names. By what they were doing it made him think of the four heroes he met in the other world. They were clearly performing the fabled ??p pillow ear cleaning combo that he had seen so many times in anime shows when he was still on earth.

    Long Qing the Azure Emperor seemed to be quite relaxed as this woman that was called

    Long Chunhua was tending to his ears. This was not something that he had tried with his own wife as he didn''t want to have Liena looking at the inside of his ears and digging for wax.

    From the look at his place, he came to a conclusion, either this Azure Emperor really was another player or the whole Long Clan came to be thanks to a person like him. This option made more sense as he knew that people like him existed already.

    With the appearance of Wang Long, it was also clear that the new players were quickly replaced. Probably when Wang Long died he would also cause someone else to come to replace him. How long the other person took to get here was unknown to him but he was more interested in the procedure that got them here.

    He didn''t think that he replaced a person that was named Zhang Dong. This wouldn''t make sense as he went through a character builder and also decided on a name. His theory was that this system implanted some vague memories of him into some people.

    His backstory was of a young man leaving the clan for over ten years to train up. Besides Zhang Jin and a few other family members, not many people had interacted with him. But with Zhang Jin''s word as the highest elder there, no one else could complain. He wouldn''t feel surprised that if he pressed the old man for specific things in his youth Zhang Jin would not be able to answer them.

    "Dear, your guest has arrived."

    The woman was the one to look up to him. Her bewitching ruby eyes were hard to evade, if Zhang Dong was not a married man he would probably be instantly smitten by this woman''s gaze. It seemed that the Emperor had aimed high.

    There was a certain lack of other female caretakers here. When he thought of someone like an Emperor an image of a large harem popped into his mind. It didn''t seem that there were any other women here besides this one and the ones outside seemed to only be part of the guards.

    "Eh, already? Don''t they live at the end of the empire?"

    "Yes dear but our new friend arrived a few days early~"

    "Ah is that so¡­"

    The Emperor that had his head turned towards the woman''s crotch finally flopped around to reveal his face. The moment Zhang Dong saw the Emperor he noticed the deep blue eyes that were a stark contrast to the wife''s fiery set of pupils.

    ''Is that him? He does somewhat look the part but¡­''

    Zhang Dong looked at the man''s face and could see that he was very handsome. His eyebrows were quite sharp and the jawline was something that could be envied. But on the other hand, he looked kind of wishy-washy and sleepy, like he thought this was somewhat a bother.

    The women guards that were standing behind him clearly didn''t like this fact and started moving towards him. They drew their spears and were about to point them at him but before they could utter the words ''You dare'' the Empress looked at them. One look from here was enough to make these two guards back off, they lowered their heads and soon closed the room doors while removing themselves from it.

    Now he was finally alone with these two people. It looked like the woman beside the Emperor had a lot of power. Her presence was undeniably fierce and her cultivation realm was just as high as the Emperor''s was.

    While he had the time he continued to look around. From what he could tell there were no protective formations here to speak of. These two were probably perfectly confident in their own skills to defend themselves against any foul play.

    The two were wearing somewhat more Japanese-style kimonos. The woman was somewhat more revealing than it was probably originally designed to be. Her legs were revealed and her ample cleavage was bouncing about even though she wasn''t moving too much.

    If it wasn''t for Zhang Dong''s tranquil mind technique his eyes would probably be wondering about to inappropriate places. This could already cost him his head as he would be caught looking in a naughty fashion at the emperor''s wife.

    Finally, the two parted and the young-looking Emperor stood up. While standing he was about the same height as Zhang Dong. It was a bit uncanny as the two men looked somewhat similar, while the man was down on the ground it went unnoticed but now when they were looking at each other, their similarities could be noticed.

    The long hair, the sharp eyes, and the chiseled jaw, if he wanted he could probably pass for a cousin. It seemed that the Azure Emperor was also of the same mind as Zhang Dong. The moment their eyes met he started to examine his whole body.

    His blue eyes glowed with powerful light as he tried to use his spiritual sense for a scan. He found this deed somewhat difficult as Zhang Dong was able to successfully deny the invasive treatment. While this could upset the Emperor he thought that he had enough freedom to ?ssert himself here.

    "Oh¡­ very surprising indeed¡­ you are also very young¡­"

    "Oh my, this young man does look like the one we were looking for but dear, don''t you think you are being rude?"

    "Ah yes, excuse me, what was it? Zheng Pong?"

    "Zhang Dong dear."

    "Hah, I knew that, I was just testing you for my love!"

    The man in question just stood there as the Emperor couldn''t recall his name. The two seemed like some kind of newly wedded couple as they continued to look at each other with loving gazes. This made him wonder if he and Liena ever acted like this in the presence of others.

    While this would cause a regular cultivator to be alarmed to him it just made these two be more down to earth. He expected the strongest person in the Empire to be someone with a stick up his behind but instead, he felt more like a goofball.

    "Come, my friend, this is not the place for this discussion!"

    Zhang Dong wanted to clasp his hands to do a proper greeting but the man stopped him. With a snap of his finger, a different sliding door on the side opened up. Behind him was another sliding door which slid to the side right after and this phenomenon continued for a few seconds.

    This was obviously not something simple, he that was versed in spatial formations could tell that this one was of a very high caliber. The Japanese-styled inn that this was supposed to be didn''t seem that large but this tunnel that formed went on for about a hundred meters.

    The two didn''t elaborate too much as they got up and left towards the tunnel. Zhang Dong looked around him but didn''t find anyone urging him forward or to ask about what was happening.

    The whole thing was already strange, they were treating him like some kind of friend that came over to play some checkers. The Azure Emperor was relaxed and the woman next to him just smiled without saying much either.

    ''I sure hope this tunnel doesn''t bring me outside the teleportation range.''

    The range was quite huge as he was able to get to his sect all the way from the other empire''s border. But if they traveled somewhere a bit further away than that, he would be stuck there with no way to escape.

    Were the two leading him into some kind of dungeon for questioning? Was he in danger? The two didn''t feel that antagonistic and didn''t even care for proper decorum. It was strange that the guards were still outside and no offense was taken when he didn''t bow properly.

    Still he took a step forward, his gut was telling him that he didn''t need to be afraid of this man here. The biggest question here was why they were leading him to.

    The moment he stepped through the threshold of the first door he felt it. The dao of space was strong here and the area was clearly distorted. Even though this tunnel didn''t seem long, each step that he took could take him hundreds or thousands of kilometers in this direction.

    For this reason, he brought up his system map to track his movement. Just as he had suspected as he continued to walk the map terrain started shifting dramatically. Even the system had trouble keeping track of him.

    The people that walked in front of him seemed to disappear into the distance. Their bodies became distorted but this didn''t cause him to lose his cool. He knew well how these sorts of passages worked and just continued to walk at his own pace.

    After what felt like an eternity he felt that he had gone past the space warping effect of this tunnel. He was really far from his initial starting point but still in the vicinity of the Azure Dragon Empire.

    "Welcome my friend, you can''t believe how long we had waited for this very moment, with your arrival this Empire will be victorious in the coming war!"

    "The what now?"

    He heard the Azure Emperor''s words echo through this cavern and soon the lights went on. The chamber he was in was quite spacious and in the middle was a large holographic projection of the whole empire, it was suspiciously similar to the one that his clan members were using all those years before during the tower defense trials.

    Soon it dawned on him what this could be and why the Azure Emperor had led him here. When thinking back to how these game-like worlds operated the answer was clear.. It seemed that he had triggered a new event that would plunge him into another big mess.

 Chapter 401

    Zhang Dong stood in confusion while looking at this large chamber. It looked like some kind of bunker with a tactical map of the Empire in the middle. The most important cities were shining brightly and he could even see a dot that represented their current location.

    While the lights were somewhat dim the holographic map in the middle was lighting everything up nicely. In the center spot of this room, he saw the Azure Emperor just sitting there with his apparent wife next to him. For some reason, he looked quite happy about showing him this place.

    ''Did he say something about a war? Wasn''t this guy supposed to be the strongest cultivator here?''

    With how the Soaring Dragon Sect had gone under the Azure Emperor would have no worthwhile enemies. The Heavenly Crane sect would probably remain docile as they alone could not contend with the Long Clan.

    Wang Long was a problem but he probably wasn''t on the Emperor''s radar just yet. There had to be another reason for this and Zhang Dong had a theory as he approached the holographic map.

    While this map was mostly composed of the Azure Empire and its lands, it didn''t end there. For someone like him that had been to the Emerald Phoenix Empire, it wasn''t hard to put the dots together.

    The border to the Emerald Phoenix Empire was outlined there but this wasn''t the end. At some parts, he could see some red lights with a timer above. The clock was counting down and it seemed that it wouldn''t be long before it was up.

    ''All of those timers are at the spots where the barrier between empires was said to be the weakest¡­ I guess war is really coming.''

    While he recognized the border with the Emerald Phoenix Empire there seemed to be two other countries. All of them were surrounding this Azure Dragon Empire as if it was the designated fighting place. If each of the Empires around this one attacked at once it would spell disaster for the citizens here.

    "What do you mean with ''my arrival'' what are you implying?''

    The Azure Emperor seemed too cheerful after seeing him. Zhang Dong had a bad premonition about this as it would align with how the other world he was in operated.

    "Ah yes, I did order everyone to be quiet about it, let me explain it to you my new friend¡­ or should I call you my brother instead?"

    "Brother?"

    Zhang Dong was not sure at first but the Azure Emperor was implying that he was his sibling. It didn''t seem that they were martial brothers like in a normal sect relationship, by how the Azure Emperor''s facial features matched his this was a possibility. For now, he decided to wait and hear him.

    "Yes, this has been foretold by our great ancestor, the very first and most powerful Azure Dragon!"

    ''Oh boy, another prophecy¡­''

    The young-looking man continued with his story while looking at the map. It seemed that this progenitor that established this empire had created it to last through the coming wave.

    Apparently, the Long Clan was one of the survivors of the old ages and managed to last all the way till this day. For many millennia they hid the facts away from the others while gathering more strength and thus most of the people in this Empire were clueless to the coming carnage.

    Every hundred thousand years the bridge to the other cultivation empires would be opened. Thus a war that was to last five hundred years would start with the other empires.

    "Sorry to interrupt¡­ but a five hundred year war? What would the other Empires gain with such a prolonged fight?"

    This was quite the long timeline that would last half the life span of a nascent soul master. Were cultivation resources enough for something like this to continue? Zhang Dong didn''t see the cultivators fighting that long for just some spirit stone mines and manuals that would be hard for them to use.

    He had been in the Emerald Phoenix Empire and the people there didn''t really look like they were starving for resources. The techniques they were using were also different from the ones here, so were the realms they had. It would be impossible for them to use some of the arts that required things like core formation cores or nascent souls.

    "Glad that you asked, I see that you are paying attention, older brother is pleased!"

    "Older brother?"

    It seemed that this strange fellow clearly believed that he was his sibling for some reason. If that was the truth he was unsure but if the world was going through a script it sure was possible.

    "The ancestral records state that when the bridges to the other empires open up a treasure will form!"

    "A treasure? Would this treasure be something that worthwhile?"

    "Yes, it is said that when it is fully formed the treasure will bring enlightenment to the winners and propel them all to the next stage of their very being!"

    "Next stage? Do you mean?"

    "Yes, the fabled immortal realm!"

    Zhang Dong nodded with his head as this made more sense. With the promise of achieving the mystical immortal realm that had been lost through time, it was enough to make these cultivation nuts fight for millennia. They would never stop until they reached that next level, that was something he was already aware of.

    ''A battle for the immortal realm¡­ that does sound like the last stage of the scenario¡­ that''s probably why the bridges are open for five hundred years¡­''

    If he thought about how his old system worked it all made sense. There weren''t that many nascent soul masters to go around so a massive conflict between large groups of masters was the best way to gain spirit points.

    People always liked to gather in groups, the Zhang Clan, the Long Clan, or a larger sect. They would think less of other groups and be fine to engage in a conflict with each other. Thus it would be easier on a person''s conscience if he continued to kill people from an ''enemy'' group.

    While his theory about this being the next stage of the ''scenario'' for this world, it didn''t explain how he was supposed to be this Azure Emperor''s brother. Maybe their resemblance was just a coincidence as he just designed this face to look handsome. This man before him could just have similar traits.

    "I see, but why are you telling me this? I''m just a cultivator from a small sect¡­ I thought you wished to speak about the Soaring Dragon Sect incident and not about this¡­"

    "I thought you were paying attention, my brother? As I''ve stated, we share the same ancestor!"

    "We do?"

    "I see that you are unconvinced, my young brother."

    Long Qing smiled while taking down his necklace. This accessory was made from some kind of silvery-blue material and had a menacing-looking dragon head as its main part. On the dragon''s forehead, there was a white gem that looked like a diamond.

    "This is the sacred Azure Dragon pendant that has been passed down through generations. Only a member of the Long with a sufficiently strong bloodline can hold this in their hand without sustaining considerable injuries."

    Azure Dragon Necklace of the True Emperor [ Lesser Immortal Grade]

    It revealed itself to be some sort of immortal grade treasure. What it did was unknown to him but it was clear that it was something powerful.

    ''Bob, do you know what that is? Is it safe for me to touch it?''

    He was still in an unknown location and talking to a powerful cultivator he didn''t know. For all he knew this pendant could instantly suck his soul away into it to power this Azure Emperor. It would be unwise for him to just touch it but he wasn''t sure if he could decline.

    ''Scanning in progress please wait¡­ scan complete, displaying item''s characteristics.''

    Azure Dragon Necklace of the True Emperor

    Ancient treasure created by the first Azure Emperor, it possesses the power to control the ancient formations that lie in the center of the Azure Dragon Empire. It can be only used by someone of the Azure Dragon bloodline that is at least at the 90th percentile.

    A person that is deemed unworthy will be burned to ash by the azure flames of the ancestor''s spirit that dwells in this treasure.

    He started to go through the explanation and it started getting somewhat concerning with that last sentence. It seemed that if he wasn''t deemed worthy by this thing he would be turned into a roasted chicken by some immortal flames.

    ''Hey, Bob¡­ do you perhaps know if I will survive touching that thing?''

    ''Probability of survival is at 99.99999%''

    ''Huh? That''s impossible? Am I really related to that guy?''

    ''Biometrics of Azure Emperor match the user''s.''

    "Don''t be shy brother, here take it."

    While Zhang Dong was still confused about what his Ai was telling him, Long Qing decided to throw the blasted murder nacklace at him.

    "Hey, wait!"

    Zhang Dong moved his hand up to surround himself with a barrier of lightning but even when he did the necklace just passed through it as if it wasn''t there. It collided with his hand and the gem in the dragon''s forehead started glowing with a bright blue light.

    Soon his entire body was covered with Azure flames. He was ready to click the teleportation option on his system window but before that he noticed that the flames weren''t hurting at all. The temperature in the room didn''t increase at all and even when the fire continued to burn nothing happened.

    "See my wife, you were worried for nothing, the Azure flames aren''t hurting him at all, I was right!"

    "So you were my dear husband."

    "Wait¡­ I really am related to the Azure Dragon Emperor?"

    "Yes my brother, only someone with the purest of our clan''s bloodlines could hold that necklace, you also are part of it, a member of the Long clan!"

    "I''m a member of the Long clan¡­ hey wait a minute¡­ wouldn''t that change my name to¡­"

    ''Updating name.''

    ''What are you doing Bob?''

    ''User''s name Zhang Dong has been updated to Long Dong.''

 Chapter 402

    ''Very funny Bob, now change it back.''

    ''Attempting request¡­ request denied.''

    ''The hell? Why can''t you change it back?''

    ''User''s true identity is an integral part of the system, the user''s name can''t be changed after it has been updated to the true one.''

    ''For the love of¡­''

    Zhang Dong wanted to punch the person that designed this system even more now. It seemed that this was some kind of scripted event that was left for him. He had been the original system holder when he came here and probably due to this there had been no change in the grand scheme.

    He was unsure about how Wang Long came into this. While spending many years in this realm he did read up on old cultivators that had ascended to other realms. They were all shrouded in mystery but were all probably players like him.

    From what he could tell none of these players existed at the same time as the other. Only when one vanished for one reason or another would they be summoned. Here on the other hand there were two of them with two different backgrounds.

    Wang Long was a member of the Soaring Dragon Sect so he was already born to power. Maybe due to this, he would not get a boost from the Azure Emperor. Zhang Dong on the other hand started off at a different level.

    This could be something to level the playing fields implemented for when the war started. If he was really related to the Long Clan it could be on purpose. The system was giving him a chance to become the leader of the Empire.

    Maybe in the original scenario, the Azure Emperor was supposed to die and he was to replace him. They also could have just become allies in the coming war and his true identity was there to help him get through it.

    He had thought about his past when he entered this world. He had rushed to the defense of the Zhang Clan which at that time was somewhat stupid. If he thought about everything in the grand scheme he would have been better off as a renegade cultivator.

    With the help of this system, he could slay the clans that took his own apart and slowly grow stronger. Probably after he took care of them a sect would be waiting for him to conquer. There were other special locations with strong beasts and treasures that he could farm along the way as he got stronger.

    The Zhang Clan that he had saved wasn''t anything special. It actually got him killed as he was forced by the Dark Palm sect to take part in that strange testing grounds. That place was created by someone that realized that the system was something else. Without that cube he found there he would have probably truly been dead.

    This also caused Wang Long''s arrival. Probably because he hadn''t even been in this world for a year at that point in time, the administrators of these worlds didn''t see any reason to wait.

    His mark on the world was small and he didn''t get any of the resources, it was as close to a new game as it could be. He wouldn''t find it strange that the email that Wang Long received only lacked the option that he had taken as the thirty-year-old cultivator.

    His opponent clearly went with the easiest option that also made him younger. The last option was of an old powerful master of the nascent soul level. Probably all three of these options had unique circumstances that somehow led up to the war that was now in the making.

    This cross empire war seemed like it would be the ending phase of this scenario. It was still happening a bit too soon in his opinion as not really that much time had passed since he entered this world.

    If he counted the five years that he lost due to the time difference in the other world it would have been close to ten years. This didn''t seem like enough time to get ready for something like a whole enemy empire of cultivators.

    But perhaps the initial rush wouldn''t really cause much harm to them and it would be a more contained battle. There could also be a reason for the scenario to be hastened and the words that the Azure Emperor mentioned alluded to it.

    "Long Dong, I''m glad that you are with us, and judging by how you handled the nirvana fruit you will be an indispensable ?sset in this coming war! You could have not come any sooner, the bridges have become unstable without reason."

    "Unstable?"

    "Yes, normally we should have had more time to prepare, we didn''t really have time to alert the citizens and other sects yet. I wanted to bring it up with the Heavenly Crane Sect and the Soaring Dragon Sect but then that Wang Long fellow went crazy!"

    Long Qing gave out a sigh while Long Chunhua patted his back softly. It seemed that these two had a good relationship with each other. It also showed that the Azure Emperor was just a regular person that had trouble with handling the future of his nation.

    As someone that had a large sect to maneuver he could relate. But this didn''t mean that he was fine with how this was turning out. While he could use this to his advantage he still wasn''t sure how much leverage this Azure Emperor would give him.

    "I think our new friend is confused, we should give him some time, don''t you think so dear?"

    "Is that so?"

    Zhang Dong looked at the necklace that pointed him to be part of the Long clan. Before he could answer the question that the emperor posed, the light in this room went on.

    "Young Lord, why didn''t you tell the council that you were bringing someone into this secret chamber?"

    He looked to the side where he saw a trio of old cultivators. Two men and a woman of advanced age was standing there. Their robes were quite regal and at the same level as this Azure Emperor''s. It was clear that they were people in a high position just by the fact that they spoke up without the need of asking for permission.

    "Ah, it''s just you Yingjie, don''t worry about the small things!"

    The Emperor smiled widely and showed the old man a thumbs up. It was not something Zhang Dong expected to see from someone that was called the Azure Emperor. This man seemed too relaxed and laid back for someone in such a position.

    ''Huo Qiang would probably like this guy¡­ but those elders don''t look that happy about it.''

    The old man that was at the front of this trio wasn''t amused. His beard was braided with a golden ring at the tip that looked like it cost a fortune to make. Even without his system, he could tell that it was worth a lot.

    "Please my lord, listen to the Prime Chancellor Yingjie, this information isn''t to be taken lightly, we should place this man in solitary confinement and discuss this situation with the elder council!"

    The old woman that was next to the Yingjie character spoke out while looking over to Zhang Dong. He didn''t like the sound of that, if they threw him into a prison cell he could be stuck for years without being able to leave. The cultivators were famously slow when it came to bureaucracy, it could take years before they come to some kind of conclusion.

    "You wish to imprison my brother Dong? Can''t you see what he is holding in his hand?"

    "His hand my lord?"

    The three looked at the necklace and their eyes instantly went wide. It was already clear to him that no one that was of a different linage could hold this thing. After the blue flame surrounded his body and did nothing it was clear that he was part of the Long clan.

    How this was possible was still a mystery to him. Could his grandfather be the responsible one, could he have managed to conquer a high noble lady from the Long Clan that then left a child there?

    ''This is probably what happened¡­ I wouldn''t be surprised by that old fart''s track record¡­''

    "As you can see, he is one of us. I want Long Dong''s name to be written into our history books as he is my closest relative! He possesses royal blood just like me!"

    The Azure Emperor raised his nose up into the air while pointing at Zhang Dong. The moment he heard the new name he wanted to slap his past self for being so immature.

    "How could it be¡­ he can hold the ancestral treasure? How could someone like him exist outside of the Clan?"

    "What does it matter? With his help, we will be able to move the Azure Goliath! Now we do stand a chance against the other Empires!"

    "The Azure Goliath?"

    He perked up at the name, it was strange that this Azure Emperor was this happy to see him. With this name, he got the gist of why he was so ecstatic to meet him.

    "T-the Ancestors Weapon?... Could we really activate it?"

    All three of the old farts looked at Zhang Dong with question marks above their heads. It didn''t seem that they were buying whatever Long Qing was selling. He wasn''t sure about it either, how did they even know that he was part of their plan, to begin with.

    Was there some kind of bloodline scan when he teleported in? It seemed that they were already aware of this before he arrived as he was invited to some strange p???sur? resort with the Emperor already being here.

    While the Long Clan would help protect him and his sect, that didn''t mean that Wang Long was an easy opponent. He had vanished for now and with the war being close, he would also be able to sneak into one of the other Empires to harvest spirit points. Before he became too powerful Zhang Dong needed to find him.

    "We still need to discuss this with the other elders! The ancestral treasures aren''t toys to be played with, my Lord."

    "Bah, you''re no fun, let us throw a party for my blood brother, we will call it the Long Dong Festival and hold it every year!"

    "Please don''t¡­"

    Zhang Dong muttered while placing the necklace on the table. It seemed that he needed to gather some more information before going back home.. The war and the role that he would play in it was something that he needed more intel on.

 Chapter 403

    ''Are you all right?''

    ''Yes I''m fine but I think I will have to stay here a bit longer.''

    ''Did something happen? Do you need help?''

    ''No, I''ll inform everyone when I''m back, tell the elders that we will be holding a meeting, there will be a lot to explain. Please be careful, we never know when that Wang Long could show up.''

    ''I will, please be careful and¡­''

    ''Yes?''

    ''The children miss you, try to be back as soon as you can¡­''

    ''I will try, tell little Xiu that father will be back before she knows it.''

    ''That child sure likes her father, she didn''t throw tantrums like this before¡­''

    While being stuck in the Long Clan Zhang Dong decided to call his lovely wife. Thanks to his system he was able to connect to people from his faction that he had a high devotion value with. His wife was one of the highest there and shared a maximum devotion rating along with his disciples.

    After being brought over to that room with the empire''s map he was led outside. This place had no windows, the corridors were small and confusing, clearly made to confuse people that would try to enter it from the outside. If he didn''t have his system map he would have no idea where he was.

    He was right in the center of this huge Azure Dragon Empire. If compared to the maps that he had access to he would be in the capital which was of course named the Azure Dragon City.

    ''I think we are close to reaching our destination, I need to go now, take care of yourself and the kids.''

    ''I will be sure to return my husband.''

    ''I''ll try to make it before dinner.''

    The two laughed for a moment but the stares from the three elders of the Long Clan brought him back to the current situation. The three started interjecting whenever the Azure Emperor tried to bring up some state secrets. It was clear that they didn''t trust him. If they attempted anything like a slave contract he would still need to get out of there in an instant.

    Even though he was apparently a member of the royal family, this didn''t mean that he would be welcome with open arms. This could actually spark a war of succession if everyone wasn''t careful.

    Zhang Dong knew that places like this had multiple factions. The war for the throne was an everlasting struggle with many people trying to get their foot in. Now he appeared out of the blue and apparently had a similarly strong bloodline as the Azure Emperor himself.

    Some of the infighting factions could see this as a chance to dethrone the old leader while pushing him on the throne. He wouldn''t be surprised if some sleazy characters appeared and tried to get him on their side.

    Then there was the more drastic option where the people close to the Azure Emperor could see him as some kind of upstart. This was the faction in power now, he didn''t really want to have any ?ssassins being sent after him during the night.

    To his surprise, he was led to another teleportation array. This one looked more traditional and was also in a closed chamber.

    "Let us show my new brother our Long Clan, I''m sure this will be a sight that he will remember for all eternity."

    "A great plan my love."

    While they stood in the teleportation formation the Azure Emperor started talking. The three elders showed scowls the moment he mentioned showing the long clan. At first, he didn''t know what this was supposed to mean but after they teleported he realized.

    They found themselves on a large elevator. It was surrounded by a blue glowing dome of energy that allowed him to see everything that was here.

    ''Are we going up?''

    With his enhanced vision he could see the large walls in the distance. Even though they were going up these walls were still blocking the view from every direction. On the ground, he could see various buildings and many people just going about their ways.

    ''Huge¡­ this city is much larger than anyone that I have visited.''

    Zhang Dong had visited many wondrous cities in this world. They were all large with the population being much higher than any modern-day city that he had seen in his original world. This one was truly tremendous, he could b?r?ly see the end of it, and the life signatures of the people were felt by him from all directions.

    ''Could this place have a hundred million people living in it¡­ maybe more?''

    "Bask in the glory of the Azure Dragon City, my brother! I can''t wait to show you to the rest of the Clan and to the citizens!"

    "Show me to the clan¡­ and also the city?"

    "Yes, such a wondrous occasion as this doesn''t come around too often! Don''t you also think so my wife?"

    "Indeed my love, brother Dong, needs to be inaugurated into the family properly otherwise the seniors might get rowdy."

    "Oh, you bring up a good point my wife, I thought that we should throw a big feast that will last for at least two weeks!"

    Zhang Dong listened to the conversation that he was apparently not the part of. The three elders didn''t look very pleased about the Azure Emperor''s statements. He wasn''t surprised as he appeared from nowhere and now their leader was going to spend clan resources on some kind of feast.

    "Ah no, I wouldn''t need to intrude on your Long Clan, I''m only an outsider I don''t think it is my place to¡­"

    "An outsider? You are my brother, you are part of the Long Clan, Long Dong!"

    While he wanted to distance himself from this strange Azure Emperor that was too friendly for his own good, it didn''t seem that he was willing to let him go without a fight. Then there was this strange treasure that they were talking about before, it apparently needed people with pure enough bloodlines to run.

    This was probably the main reason why they were acting so cordially with him. This Goliath they mentioned probably needed co-operation between the two of them. Maybe slapping on a slave collar on him would cause the weapon to not work correctly.

    Thankfully to this, he had gained some worth. Probably if he was able to move this thing his safety was guaranteed. On the other hand, now that he was forcefully taken to see some of the clan secrets, if he was unable to help them, he would become an eyesore. He wouldn''t find it strange if they tried to murder him on the spot if he failed to be useful.

    ''Better if I don''t mention my family, they could try to take them as hostages¡­''

    While the scenario was playing out in a good direction for him, he could not drop his guard. All of his closest family members were given special rings with teleportation features. He could not risk them being used against him but his enemies would not know that he was able to teleport to them with his system''s function. Even if they got captured he would be able to get to them, that is if he had enough spirit points to go around.

    "Dear, I think brother Dong is still stunned by these events, I think we should give him some time to relax. I know, how about we invite his family members over?"

    "My family members?"

    "Brother Dong''s family?"

    "Yes dear, I heard that he has a beautiful wife and two children."

    "She can not be more beautiful than you, my wife!"

    "Oh, you~"

    ''This vixen¡­ is she planning something?''

    Zhang Dong didn''t reply as the two continued their lovey-dovey routine. While the Azure Emperor seemed like a doofus she did her homework. She knew that he had a wife and children. Bringing them over here would be akin to holding them hostage and the best way to make him cooperate.

    ''Is this her plan or is she just trying to be nice?''

    There was also the option of him just overthinking things here. The woman could have just been someone friendly and just wanted to invite his wife for a talk. While Liena was strong, this woman was much stronger thus he wouldn''t feel comfortable leaving the two together. One bad move and everything could go south real quick.

    When looking at the woman she just smiled like a little angel. If he didn''t know that outside appearance could be deceiving he would probably believe that this woman could do no wrong.

    "My children don''t really like traveling that much. It will be better if they remain in my own sect, they are far too young for such events."

    He waves the proposition off and thankfully the Azure Emperor didn''t seem perturbed about his reply.

    "Is that so? If brother Dong thinks so then it''s fine."

    The woman just nodded while glancing back at him with a smile. While the city landscape was breathtaking he was more concerned about where this lift was going. They were clearly traveling at a very high speed right into the clouds. They even passed a thick one that blocked out the city view.

    Only after they passed through this fluffy white barrier could he see their true destination. Above in the sky there was a whole floating city that was slightly larger than Spirit Spring City.

    "I see that you noticed it brother, this is the true Azure Dragon City and the district that our Long Clan lives in."

    This elevator was going straight up into the middle of this floating city. From this vantage point, he could just see a massive mountain underside. There were some smaller parts floating above and made it look like something ripped a part of the planet and it was now floating up in the sky.

    ''So that''s the Long Clan base? Makes my little floating fortress look like a toy¡­''

    The scale of this thing was something else. He could already see how the Azure Clan was able to survive this long. A flying fortress like this would be quite hard to conquer. If it could actually move while defending itself it would cause quite the headache for everyone.

    Even a nascent soul cultivator would not be able to remain at an altitude like this for too long. This city was surrounded by some kind of energy bubble that probably also generated a comfortable living environment inside.

    ''Wang Long still remains at large and a war is approaching¡­ why can''t I ever get some rest for once?''

    He gave out a sigh while they closed in on the city''s insides. It didn''t seem like the coming years would be easy....

 Chapter 404

    There it was before him, the elusive Long Clan. It was the center of the empire and even considered the empire itself. The moment the elevator reached the apex he arrived before a magnificent city.

    The tremendous amount of spiritual energy that was just floating around was truly astonishing. Even back at his own sect he needed to harness the spirit vein directly and implement several spirit gathering formations to b?r?ly be close to this.

    ''I bet that in the central part it will be even higher, no wonder they were able to stay in power for so long.''

    A high ambient spiritual energy allowed people to naturally absorb it while they were young. This would widen the future bottlenecks for anyone living in such an environment. Thus it was quite an unfair advantage that couldn''t be easily passed.

    ''So this is the Long Clan?''

    Zhang Dong started looking around while the five people that were with them started advancing from this elevator platform. Around them was a wide-open area covered with grass and trees. It looked like a heavily tended garden with a nice path laid out with bricks leading to the outside.

    The moment they arrived here he also noticed a large crowd around them. On the path laid out of bricks that seemed to be made from gold, there was a tunnel of core formation cultivators. They were all standing at attention while wearing some expensive-looking armor.

    It was a sight to behold as the moment the Azure Emperor''s foot touched that brick road the soldiers raised their swords into the air. It looked like a picture from a game as a tunnel was formed from shiny weapons that probably cost as much as a whole small clan in the lower regions.

    This kind of put everything in perspective. He had advanced quite a bit since the first time he entered this world as a core formation master. Probably if he had to face any one of these regular guards at this base level all those years ago he would be in for a hard battle.

    "Come brother, I need to introduce you to the rest of our family!"

    "Rest of the family?"

    Long Qing nodded while urging Zhang Dong to move towards this path of soldiers. There were quite a few of them, it wasn''t odd for the lower clans and sects to not be taken seriously. There were enough guards in this park to eradicate anyone at the level of the old Zhang Clan.

    While they were walking through this tunnel of swords Zhang Dong continued to spread his spiritual sense in all directions. He noticed that there were many people looking at them from the buildings around them. Some were waving and screaming the Azure Emperor''s name, others were already on the ground and bowing even without being anywhere near them.

    The city in itself was somewhat more modern-looking than he expected. Large buildings made of stone and glass that were akin to skyscrapers from his world were spotted in the distance.

    Around them were other various buildings that didn''t seem to belong to one theme. He spotted some that looked like grand churches while others were the regular large pagoda types that were seen everywhere. The city was somewhat random in its architecture without sticking to any single theme.

    Then in the distance, he saw a large tower made of bright blue crystals. It stretched far into the sky and towered over all the other tall buildings. It looked like some kind of giant spear that was shoved into the ground by a titanic existence.

    "That''s the Crystal tower of azure, the place where I live and your new home my brother!"

    "My new home?"

    Zhang Dong wanted to instantly refuse but for now, he was still just gathering information. At any moment in time, he could just teleport away to his ship that was waiting at the border. It didn''t seem that he was in any immediate danger, getting more intel was important.

    Swaying Long Qing towards Wang Long was also on his agenda. He could not let that madman roam the land and absorb everyone''s spirit points, the other player needed to be stopped.

    From here he could tell that there were some formations in place that blocked most of that energy from seeping out. When removed it would probably cause widespread damage as there was a limit of how much spiritual energy each person could actually contain in their body.

    The bodies of the cultivators in this empire caused them to absorb ambient energy from the surroundings. If the energy was too pure though it could cause a rather nasty affliction that would lead to death.

    He could only speculate that the people here had grown accustomed to this high degree of spiritual energy. Their children would thus be fine living in this environment even though normal children''s bodies would be unable to survive for too long.

    "Yes, this is your new home and also your people, come my brother let us rejoice in our family reunion!"

    While he was half a step behind the Azure Emperor the man moved over and hooked his arm around his shoulder. It was as if two drinking buddies were just walking together while others stared.

    This was about at the same time as they stepped out from the tunnel of swords. He could instantly feel thousands of eyes on him. This was not surprising as he was walking hand in hand with the Azure Emperor, the leader of the whole empire. The people were clearly interested in who he was and why the emperor was acting so intimate with him.

    There was of course an immediate roar from the citizens of this city. There were various cultivators floating around and keeping an eye out for anyone trying to get too close to the emperor. He could even see some people being shoved back as they were trying to rush to where the emperor and others were.

    This painted a picture in his mind when he compared the city to other ones in the empire. The people looked happy and didn''t feel threatened even when rushing towards their leader. It was clear that they were led with compassion and not with an iron fist as most societies here operated.

    At least that''s how it looked on the surface level. Zhang Dong was old enough to know that appearances could be deceiving and that on the inside there could be some murky business afoot.

    ''He sure is a celebrity¡­''

    The Azure Emperor smiled brightly and finally moved away from Zhang Dong. He floated up into the air with a big smile on his face. The people started cheering loudly the moment they saw him, in the distance, he spotted something that he thought only existed in his own city, a large holographic display.

    On this display all of them were visible but the Azure Emperor was clearly the main character. From time to time they would zoom in on his wife and the elders but he was mostly ignored.

    "Please Emperor, we must return to the azure tower with haste!"

    The previously silent member of the three elders spoke out. It seemed that if they didn''t move this along the Azure Emperor would start a big speech to the people that were shouting. Zhang Dong could even hear some young maidens throwing marriage proposals at the city leader.

    "The elders are right dear, our guest also looks overwhelmed with this display."

    "He is? Let us return home in haste then!"

    While the Emperor seemed to ignore the elder that spoke up he instantly changed his mind when his wife spoke up. The Azure Emperor was quick to wave his hand to surround everyone with blue flames. From the outside, it looked like they were inside of a flaming ball but on the inside, it looked like a normal spirit barrier.

    Zhang Dong took this chance to investigate this peculiar cultivation method. This was some variation of flames that was similar to his holy lightning. It had a somewhat divine aura to itself that was giving him good vibes.

    ''This Long Qing is a bit odd but he doesn''t seem like a bad guy¡­''

    ''Scan those formations, Bob.''

    He gave the order while looking around, the scan didn''t take that long and he was given a result that he expected. The formation worked similar to the treasure he was in contact with before, they investigated a person''s bloodline.

    The closer they got to the tower the better looking the buildings became and the spirit energy increased. Even though the city looked like a happy unit, this barrier clearly segregated them into sections. He wouldn''t be surprised if the people with a purer bloodline looked down on the lesser ones.

    Soon they finally arrived at the large tower that looked like a big chunk of blue spirit stone. At the base, there was a large yard made from shiny tiles and the welcoming committee was already waiting for them.

    Most of the people there were wearing white robes but some had ones somewhat identical to what the Azure Emperor was wearing. There were three of them, two were young men and one beauty that could give her own Zhang Xue a run for her money in the jade beauty department.

    At first, he wasn''t sure who they were, maybe his younger brothers and sister but after they opened up their mouths, it was clear.

    "Welcome back father."

    One of the young men stepped forward to greet the Azure Emperor and his wife. The two looked somewhat similar but also the same age. Zheng Dong almost forgot how people aged in this world. It would be somewhat hard to tell which of them was the older one as both looked to be around twenty.

    "You to mother, welcome back¡­ and this is?"

    While the family of four were having a nice moment they soon noticed him. It didn''t seem that they were that happy to see him as their faces were devoid of joy. From the looks of it, these young lords didn''t think much of him, this probably due to his strange cultivation level that was more similar to a core formation master than a nascent soul one.

    "Don''t be rude, this is your long-lost uncle, Long Dong! Be sure to give him the respect that he deserves!"

    The Azure Emperor''s words took the trio aback as they examined him some more. From what Zhang Dong could tell the elders of these ''children'' was actually older than he was while the other two weren''t far behind.

    ''They don''t look too happy about me being here, hope this goes well.''

    While they did start, with their father around they somewhat lowered their heads with indignation in their eyes.. Soon the tour of the Azure crystal tower commenced and he waited for the time to bring up the issue with Wang Long.

 Chapter 405

    "This is where the formation masters contemplate new improvements¡­and that''s the building where the Clan''s physicians take in the patients, I''m sure I don''t need to explain how much better our healing arts are compared to what you would find outside in the empire..."

    "...is that so¡­"

    Zhang Dong along with three people were walking through the main Long Clan compound. The three here were all the children of the Azure Emperor and were quite gifted for their age. Two young men and a beautiful lady that would make almost any man''s heart flutter.

    After arriving at the Azure tower that looked like a giant phallic object going towards the heavens the Emperor had to leave. At first, it seemed that he would be getting a tour of the compound by the leader himself but the elders from the clan had other duties for him.

    They started bickering between each other and only when the empress spoke up did the Emperor agree to tend to his duties first. Zhang Dong had already noticed that this dynamic between the Emperor and Empress was a bit one-sided. Whatever the lady said was taken to heart and he acted instantly.

    It was probably her that he needed to look out for even though she was the weaker cultivator. Clearly, the pants in the relationship were worn by her and not the man that was enamored by her.

    Thus while the Emperor was yanked away to tend to some things he was deposited into the arms of his children. The oldest prince was clearly not happy about him being there, his face could be easily read as he didn''t hide his disdain.

    The second prince was a bit more mellow as he had a happier expression. He was also the one that was the most talkable out of the three. While going around he seemed quite proud in showing all the advances in this sect but Zhang Dong also noticed that his guide was talking down to him.

    Clearly, he was not that welcome here and he didn''t fault the emperor''s kids for this. To them, he was only some random cultivator their father brought over. They had no reason to like him even if he was a part of the family. There were many other family members like him that were part of branch families.

    He knew how these cultivators looked at status and he clearly didn''t have any in their eyes. As the leader of a small sect from the lower regions they probably were shocked by him being here and getting so much attention. Probably unless they saw some proof they wouldn''t believe that he had a pristine bloodline just like them.

    "Our new friend doesn''t sound that interested in these structures, maybe we should show him something different brothers?"

    This was true as he just continued to nod his head while giving out one-liners whenever they showed him the various clan structures. They were probably hoping for a big reaction from him after seeing the state-of-the-art facilities that they had here.

    In reality, this wasn''t anything new to him as his own sect was on a similar level as this Long clan. In some cases, they were even ahead thanks to his knowledge and healing arts he considered the United Element''s Sects physicians and healing pills ahead of the curve.

    The formations that he had the opportunity to glance over weren''t anything that he wasn''t familiar with. They did vary in some ways but not by that much to make his eyes pop out. Thus it made him look somewhat bored as there was nothing in particular that he was interested in.

    But this also made the three children of the Azure Emperor somewhat upset. Thus the daughter spoke up while her face remained behind a semi-transparent veil.

    "Maybe we could show him something more interesting, like the elite clan training ground?"

    She chuckled while looking at her two brothers that quickly caught on to the meaning of those underlying words.

    "Yes, our dear uncle Dong is probably tired of all these boring places!"

    The younger of the two brothers nodded to the sister while the oldest brother agreed.

    "You are both right, there is nothing better than some exercise to bring family members together!"

    "Is that alright with you Uncle?"

    The sister turned to him while smiling. For some reason, he was getting some bad vibes from this conversation as if he wasn''t in on the joke. He was in enemy territory and didn''t really want to offend anyone just yet. His system window was open at all times for a quick teleportation escape so for now he decided to wait and see.

    "I don''t mind, lead the way if you wish."

    He was still someone that by proxy of the Azure Emperor would be considered a senior to these three. His decision of just nodding with a blank expression on his face could be taken in several ways but it seemed that these youngsters didn''t like him too much.

    "Good, let us depart then dear uncle, father will probably be busy for a while before he joins us!"

    There were various people moving back and forth between the entrances. Some of them looked injured and somewhat worn down by this training. While heading in he started to somewhat realize why they wanted him to see this place. It seemed that they would be going through with a childish plan.

    On the inside, there was a wide-open area that was sectioned into several smaller training grounds. It made the inside look like it was divided into many fields for various sports that people were engaged in.

    ''There is a spatial formation in here.''

    The whole building was bigger than your average football stadium from the outside but inside it was more than ten times as big. It was like a mini pocket dimension which allowed them to probably save a lot of space and also make the formation not as hard. It did certainly not compare in the slightest to his dimensional regalia.

    Various shouts filled this large space and even without looking he could tell that people were doing combat training with each other. There were old and young cultivators exchanging pointers with each other in brutal combat.

    It was just as violent as in any other clan. People would get their bones broken and teeth knocked out. With good healing pills, there was no problem in mending wounds that would normally take a body months to recover.

    "Hey isn''t that young master Shen?"

    "Yes, and he is together with fairy Yanyu and young master Fengge."

    Long Shen was the oldest of the bunch with Long Fengge being the youngest brother and Long Yanyu being the middle daughter. All of them were prominent names in this city and were shown proper respect the moment they entered this training ground. They were quite noticeable as behind them there was a group of guards, some at the nascent soul level.

    "Please marry me fairy Yanyu!"

    "Lord Shen, please look this way!"

    "Young master Fengge, you look as stunning as ever!"

    Were one of the lines that he heard as it became quite nosy. It was somewhat strange to be on the other end for once. Normally he was the person that was in the center of it, here though he was ignored and pushed out as a circle formed around the young lord trio.

    If he could, he would take this opportunity to walk away. Due to how some of the guards were looking at him it was impossible. Even though the Emperor seemed to trust him, it was clear that his children and followers were more grounded.

    He couldn''t fault them for thinking that this whole situation was bizarre because it was. If he wasn''t in possession of the system and knowledge of the other worlds he too would be confused about the whole thing.

    "Please my friends calm down, today we have brought a friend from the far reaches of the empire."

    Long Fengge spoke up while looking to where Zhang Dong was standing. This caused the crowd to part way and bring the attention to him.

    "A friend?"

    The people started to look at him, Zhang Dong''s facial features were somehow similar to the Azure Emperor''s with the main difference being the hair color.

    "Lord Fengge, this gentleman is?"

    "Oh, how rude of me, let me introduce you to¡­ um, what was it again?"

    Fengge asked as if he didn''t find Zhang Dong''s name all that important. Who replied was his older sister that just giggled a bit.

    "It was Long Dong, brother."

    When he heard his ''true'' name being mentioned he wanted to cry. He could probably force his own sect members to stick to the old one but he probably wouldn''t be able to do the same here.

    "Yes, uncle Long Dong has been invited by our father, we were trying to show him around. He hails from the lower regions so we hoped we could show him the might of our brothers and sisters, would someone be willing to demonstrate?"

    The people started to look with interest at Zhang Dong but the moment the lower regions were mentioned they all somehow seemed dejected. He knew what was going on here as the other kids were trying to make him look bad.

    It didn''t take much to bring the other cultivators that were here to demonstrate some techniques during a fight. All of them went over to one of the larger training spots that looked like a small arena. On it he was somewhat forced to sit through a few boring matches between core formation cultivators.

    While the three youths sitting next to him probably thought that he would be surprised that their young warriors could fight like this. To him, this was child play as the people from his own sect were about at the same level as these youths here.

    "Uncle, you don''t seem that interested in the fight, is something wrong"

    While observing his mind did wonder about the troubles that he was facing. This didn''t go unnoticed as the three young masters were just waiting for something like this to happen.

    "If uncle is bored, why doesn''t he demonstrate his techniques to the juniors?"

    "That''s a great idea sister Yanyu!"

    There it was, the bait that he was supposed to take. He now had two options of either going along with it, or just ignoring the ???ky young masters but seem less in their eyes....

 Chapter 406

    "Please give me some pointers senior Dong."

    While the option to just deny the three young masters their fun was on the table, he decided to use this chance to test out this Long clan. Before he was blasted off to a different world he had sparred with the people of his own sect. He was somewhat curious if the people of his sect were on the level of the elites of this empire.

    There was no better place to test this out than in the Long Clan. It was supposedly the strongest power in this empire. Depending on the results he would have a clear understanding of the power limit of regular cultivators.

    The other empires would also be arriving, if he judged this by game standards he believed that the other empires would be a bit stronger than this one. Maybe not all but they needed enough strength to not make this fight too easy.

    Of course, it couldn''t be too hard either, as the person that created this world probably wouldn''t want their player to just die at an advanced stage of the scenario. At least that was what he hoped, when he was dying the system apparently didn''t offer him any life-saving measures. Instead, he was somehow able to live through it after it was hacked.

    "I can give you some pointers, but are you sure about this? What if you get injured in the process?"

    Zhang Dong replied to the man that was standing on the other side of this smaller battle arena. It was similar to the one back home and the ground was made of sturdy slabs made from high quality stone. It was a type of stone that could somewhat absorb Qi attacks which allowed it to last through a lot of damage.

    The three young masters that were the Azure Emperor''s children were trying to teach him a lesson. It was clear that they didn''t think much of him. This could probably be attributed to his lower perceived cultivation level as he was still just at the core formation realm.

    The opponent that was chosen to go against him was a somewhat young-looking man at the age of forty. Zhang Dong did have to give it to him though as he was already at the great circle level of core formation. It would be hard to find someone equal to this man in the lower or middle regions that was in the same age bracket.

    The trio was high up in a VIP booth as their types liked to frequent. He knew that there was probably a better way to go around this issue. If he brought it up with the Azure Emperor he might even give his kids a good trashing in his name. That wouldn''t fix the underlying problem of them thinking less of him, it would only fuel their pride and disdain.

    "Don''t worry ''senior'', we from the Long clan are known for our vigor!"

    Zhang Dong clearly caught the mocking tone of the voice when the man called him a senior. This was truly the main dysfunction of these young master types. They couldn''t even fathom that he could be someone dangerous as they only looked at the surface level of who he was.

    The only information given to them was that he was probably a core formation great circle cultivator from a small sect. They had the permission of the Emperor''s children so they also felt confident of them not getting reprimanded even if they hurt him. They probably also wanted to get in the good graces of these three young lords.

    "If that is your wish, please don''t regret it later, you can come to me whenever you are ready."

    Zhang Dong just gave out a sigh while beckoning the man over. He didn''t hide his boredom and lack of interest which clearly made the man that he was up against somewhat mad. Before he charged out though he looked for confirmation to the three youngsters that were overlooking them. They just nodded without replying while probably hoping for a good show to unfold before them.

    The man took a fighting stance with both fists closed. His body soon started glowing with blue flames that slowly encompassed his whole frame. It didn''t seem that he was taking any damage from these flames but the stone slabs they were standing on were sizzling under his feet.

    ''Interesting, it''s some kind of self-immolation skill, somewhat similar to what Huo Qiang uses but not as potent.''

    The flames that were covering his opponent''s body were giving out a certain unique radiance. It was clear to him that this was some kind of combined elemental dao. It combined divine energy with fire to produce this heavenly blue flame.

    While it was interesting it was far below his own holy lightning energies that he could clad himself in. These flames would probably fare well against demonic cultivators. The evil energies would probably burn up before they reached the practitioner''s body.

    "Senior brother is so good at controlling the Heavenly Azure flames, his bloodline must be very pure!"

    Without asking for it he now realized that these blue flames were something akin to a linage ability. Things like this existed in this world as well, strange powers that could only be activated through the clan''s origins.

    If there was any particularly strong ancestor with some heaven-defying skill he could pass it over to his family members. This skill would always be a bit weaker than what the original ancestor''s but it was something that was easily reproduced.

    It was somewhat a free skill that each member of the family could easily use just by being related to the ancestor. The lineage varied by descendants and could be awakened by people that had little to no blood that was of the ancestor. It was somewhat random and also caused some stress in the clans as people that didn''t possess a strong bloodline ability were looked down on.

    This point made him a bit curious, if he really was a member of this Long clan, shouldn''t he be able to utilize all of these linage techniques that the Azure Emperor had to offer. They would probably be all high tier manuals with the knowledge that could give him a chance to learn some new skills.

    His opponent performed a somewhat flashy movement technique that made it look like his body turned to flames. It then reformed behind him while some of the flames kept rushing at him. The flames took the shape of a raging bull which reminded him of his hot-headed friend.

    "I have you!"

    The victory was ?ssured as his opponent''s punch descended to the back of his head. The three young masters leaned in close as they wanted to enjoy watching Zhang Dong''s head get clobbered. But to their dismay, instead of connecting with the head of their uncle it passed right through it.

    "What?"

    The people that were watching from the outside were mostly unable to witness Zhang Dong''s fast movement. He just simply countered one movement technique with another that left an afterimage of himself behind. The moment the fist clad with blue flames connected with this afterimage it discharged a burst of electrical energy that went right through the defenses of this cultivator.

    "GUAHAAHHA"

    The man stopped in his tracks while lighting up like a Christmas tree. A jolt of bright golden light shot out of his eye sockets before a small explosion rocked the small arena. Almost instantly the man dropped down to the ground while his long locks turned to quite the large afro.

    "Oh, was that a bit too much? You must excuse me, I did lower my cultivation level to fit yours but maybe I miscalculated on juniors actual strength, it seemed to be below my expectations."

    Zhang Dong chuckled while looking at his opponent that was turned to a smoking mess. The white robe that he was wearing turned black as the attack clearly penetrated through all of the defenses that he could muster.

    "The Senior lost this easily¡­"

    The people from the audience were shocked while the three young masters that were looking for afar were angry.

    "This Zhang Dong isn''t that simple¡­"

    Long Shen muttered to his brother and sister that nodded. All of them were prominent cultivators of great strength and already at the nascent soul level. It was only the early stage but at the age they were it made him into the strongest at their age bracket if they ignored Zhang Dong that was actually younger.

    "That rascal, he was hiding his cultivation level."

    "Is he hiding more? Maybe that''s why father¡­"

    Long Fengge started talking while contemplating another plan. If the man turned out to be a formidable master then he would make them look like fools.

    "No, he is just a country bumpkin from the lower regions, his sect isn''t even that known, we need to continue!"

    The oldest interrupted as the discussion continued. Zhang Dong at this point in time was looking at the charred man before him. He could have just ignored him and let the Long Clan members tend to him but instead, he went with another approach. The stick was already given so why not give them the carrot now?

    He leaned down to the passed-out person and gently poked his forehead with his index finger. The man''s body gave out a radiant like which drew in the eyes of the people around here. All of them were somewhat inclined towards divine energies due to their bloodline skills thus they knew that this golden light was something similar.

    "What is this divine radiance?"

    They asked as the darkened body of the core formation junior was restored. The man instantly woke up and jumped up to his feet. He started to examine his body that was still filled up with this wonderful energy.

    "M-my bottleneck... I can''t feel it anymore... I... I must go cultivate!"

    The young man quickly bowed his head before Zhang Dong and jumped to the side. There he went into the lotus position to quickly cultivate. This caused widespread curiosity from everyone around, they could feel that their brother had gained something as the radiance continued to enter his body and his cultivation level seemed to be expanding rapidly.

    "..."

    "I will be senior Long Dong''s next opponent!"

    "Wait... I should be the next one, please give me some pointers senior!"

    "Get away, I''m going to be the first one!"

    "Screw off, it''s going to be me!"

    Soon the people started to fight between themselves, Zhang Dong just smirked slightly as his plan had borne fruit even better than he had expected.

 Chapter 407

    ''They sure are quick to change their mind whenever there is something to gain for them¡­''

    Zhang Dong wanted to shake his head at the group of cultivators before him. After they saw that he was somewhat able to aid in their cultivation growth they suddenly got more interested in what he had to offer.

    The point of no return wasn''t quite there as before a full-blown fight could break out and an oppressive spiritual sense filled the area.

    "Stop this shameful act this instant!"

    A womanly voice echoed through the area as the young lady called out from the top. She and her brothers were still not convinced about what he was capable of. It was enough for her to raise her voice to make all of the people here back away. While they clearly were interested in Zhang Dong''s holy element capabilities they were unwilling to go against someone from the royal family, at least not just yet.

    "It''s okay little Yanyu, your uncle doesn''t care, let them come, I''ll give them some pointers."

    Zhang Dong chuckled out loud while looking up at the young beauty. The moment he called her ''little'' he could see a small twitch by her left eye. It was clear that she wasn''t fond of him too much but he still was the senior here.

    "I could give you some pointers if you wish for it, you don''t have to be reserved, we are one big happy family are we not?"

    After being led around the compound and looked down on he was also slowly starting to be fed up with how they were treating him. The danger of going up against these three was more towards their guards but those would probably not act against him that was getting the Emperor''s favor.

    "You wish to give us pointers? Fine, this Long Fengge will be your opponent!"

    While the young lady was somewhat taken back by the proposition, the youngest brother was quick to jump in. It was clear that he was maddened by the words, in his eyes Zhang Dong was some kind of swindler unworthy of the ground that they walked on.

    The young man descended from the booth that the three were previously sitting on. All the other clan members quickly moved out of the way while bowing their heads. It was clear that these three young lords had the utmost respect from the people here.

    "Why isn''t it Little Fengge? I''m sure this will be a good learning experience for the both of us, you can come at me when you are ready."

    Zhang Dong just smiled at the young man before him, he was playing the benevolent uncle that just meant well. He noticed a similar twitch in the young man''s eye, it was clear that Long Fengge wanted to do nothing else than wipe the smirk from Zhang Dong''s face while using his fists.

    He took a good look at the young man. His hair was very long and his height was slightly above average. His face was quite handsome and he did look somewhat similar to the Azure Emperor. His father''s features were a bit more chiseled while this young man''s were a bit softer.

    ''I wonder how Jun will look when he is his age¡­''

    His son was quite young but was quite a cute-looking child. He hoped that he would develop into a handsome young man. The biggest problem here was if he would be able to reach that point as this whole war dilemma was giving Zhang Dong a headache. Then there was Wang Long that could be anywhere.

    "Then ''uncle'' I will begin!"

    Long Fengge shouted out while surrounding his body with the same blue aura as his previous opponent. This was enough to pull Zhang Dong back to reality as he still had to show to these youths that they needed to give him some respect.

    The technique was the same but it was of a different caliber than the previous one. He wasn''t sure of Long Fengge''s motives but it seemed that the young man wanted to use a technique that he had already seen against him. It was an improved version of it, he probably intended to embarrass him if he wasn''t able to take this move that he had already witnessed.

    This azure flame technique was somewhat denser this time around. It was clear to Zhang Dong that the nascent soul was adding to its strength and making it burn in a fierce deep blue. When he recalled the other man''s azure flames they were of a more pale coloring.

    ''I guess depending on the color you can measure the proficiency in the flames. By the way, Bob, are you done with analyzing the flames?''

    ''67% done with the analysis, more data needed for faster calculations.''

    Zhang Dong looked at the angry young man that was shoving his palm into his face. Before it collided with his face he managed to dodge it to the side. The palm strike caused a massive shockwave that was also consumed by blue flames. If he didn''t have a tough shield made out of golden light around his body he would probably receive some damage.

    "Hoh, those are some powerful strikes nephew!"

    Thus to gather more information he decided to play around with this young man that was only an early stage nascent soul cultivator. His fighting prowess would be actually closer to a middle stage master but not like Zhang Dong wasn''t much stronger than that.

    "Are the Azure flames ineffective?"

    The people watched from the sides while trying not to be blown away by the shockwaves of spiritual energy. Now with the addition of nascent soul energy, the whole arena started to rumble slightly. This caused a defensive formation to be automatically triggered that surrounded the part where Zhang Dong and the young master was sparring.

    Even though the Long Clan was a powerful entity, there weren''t that many nascent soul masters that exchanged blows in this place. This was a chance for the juniors to see real masters of the craft at work. Thus quite a crowd formed around the arena as everyone else that was sparring went right over.

    There were even some people using recording devices. Such treasures were quite rare outside but at the Azure castle, there were some people that had them in their possession.

    ''98%...99%...100%...''

    ''Analysis of the azure flames done, presenting the interpretation to the user.''

    Through his new Ai helper, Bob Zhang Dong was now able to inspect energy signatures in a more scientific way. Even though he didn''t possess the cultivation manual for this skill, he had enough of them to reference this data. With the help of his system, he would be able to create this technique through previous knowledge, at least to a certain point.

    ''Not enough data to create a full complete Azure Flame manual.''

    ''Not enough knowledge hm? Could you replace some of the divine energy parts with my holy energies?''

    Zhang Dong''s Dao of the Holy was above the one that this azure flame was using. His knowledge of the flame dao was also up there but not as quiet as his heavenly lightning. But, he did have a crafting abode where he could mix other techniques with each other.

    ''Do you wish to combine the Incomplete Azure Flame technique with previously established techniques? If so please choose the manuals you wish to mix.''

    While before leaving his world he needed to physically enter his crafting abode, this wasn''t the case since Bob appeared in his life. This Ai companion was not an integral part of his system and worked like an app. His functions mixed with some of the ones in the crafting abode and now Zhang Dong could mix his techniques through him.

    ''How about we mix in some of these¡­''

    There were a couple of high level techniques that he could mix these flames with. The base would be this new Azure Flames technique while things like his immortal grade cultivation method would be mixed to heighten the grade of this new manual he was making.

    ''Creating new technique, please wait a moment¡­''

    "Why aren''t you fighting back?"

    Long Fengge was at a loss for words as he continued to battle Zhang Dong that just dodged all of his attacks. He hoped to show off his improvements but instead, he was hitting nothing but air.

    "Enough of this!"

    Finally, he jumped back and the aura around him changed dramatically. The people that were watching gasped out loudly as they noticed that the young lord would be performing an attack that was only taught to the innermost clan members.

    "Could that be the Heavenly Azure Palm of Eradication? Will the formation be able to last?"

    The people that were here started to slowly inch away from the arena that the two masters were fighting with. Long Fengge was on one side and was already condensing his blue flames into his fist and it didn''t seem like he would be stopping. His older brother and sister didn''t seem to be doing anything to stop their younger brother.

    "Heavenly Azure Palm of Eradication? How about I return the favor to you, my nephew?"

    "What are you babbling about? Did you go crazy from fright?"

    Fengge called out while also seeing Zhang Dong take out the same fighting stance as he did. The others were also confused as it seemed that the man was trying to produce the same technique but to their surprise, there were no blue flames that they were used to.

    "Golden flames? What is that?"

    They were all confused as instead of the divine azure flames Zhang Dong was manifesting something different. The flames turned into a bright golden hue and continued to move towards his fist.

    "Get ready! Celestial Holy Palm of Obliteration!"

    Zhang Dong shouted out the name of the attack that he totally didn''t just come up with to mock his opponent. The whole area went bright and a massive boom reverberated through the whole large training ground. The blast caused many backup formations to be brought up to shield the core formation juniors in the area.

    People shouted in fright and the nascent soul bodyguards that were standing next to the young masters had to get involved. The exchange only took a moment but after the light subsided the winner of the exchange appeared before them.

    Zhang Dong stood in the middle of the stage with his fist raised. Flames of a golden coloring were surrounding it while his opponent was nowhere to be seen.

    "Ah, you must apologize to this uncle of yours¡­ I might have used too much spiritual energy¡­"

    Then everyone noticed poor Long Fengge or at least his bottom half. The young man''s clothes had been shredded during the exchange and his upper body was buried underground in a crater. Everyone had a clear view of his pale posterior that was now reflecting the golden light that Zhang Dong was giving out.

    "Haha, well then, who will face this uncle next?"

    Zhang Chuckled while looking up to the two remaining youths.

 Chapter 408

    "Let uncle help you to your feet."

    Zhang Dong reached towards Long Fengge''s ankle and yanked him out from the ground that he was stuck in. After their exchange, the young man was submerged under the now destroyed stone slabs that were supposed to last through almost any attack.

    "Up you go!"

    The moment the young man was pulled out there was a clear focus at a certain part. The young man''s robe had been blasted to nothingness by Zhang Dong''s golden flames. This then caused Long Fengge''s family jewels to be seen by everyone that was there.

    "Ack¡­ It''s Lord Fengge''s¡­"

    "Why does it lack any hair¡­ did those golden flames burn them off?"

    The women cultivators that were now regaining themselves started screaming out. Their young masters'' lower regions were fully exposed to them now.

    "Y-you l-let him go this instant!"

    Long Yanyu called out from the upper booth that had survived the blast. She was covering part of the face with her hand while looking down. Zhang Dong on the other hand just looked up at her with a big smile on his face. The person that he was holding flopped around like a ragdoll as he was tossed about by his ankle.

    "There is nothing to be shy about, we are all family here, aren''t we?"

    Zhang Dong could see that the situation was slowly spiraling in a certain direction. The two young masters jumped down and their bodyguards moved with them. From all sides, he could feel that people that were late stage and above were gathering. Even though he was having his fun, he still made this young master look bad.

    Most of the time this would be a death sentence to an outsider but for now, he had a large shield protecting him, that shield was the Azure Emperor. He looked like him and the golden flames that were surrounding him were very similar to the Azure flames that these clan members used.

    From what he discovered through his own prodding and with some help from Bob, these flames did require a bloodline. There was a certain pivotal component to using them, sort of a key code that was somehow integrated into his own body.

    He could only attribute it to being some kind of DNA requirement that this body he was given possessed. When he clashed with the core formation clan member he had Bob analyze some of his blood during the healing process.

    Then after comparing his body composition there were a few spots that were identical. He was truly related to these Long clan members. It wasn''t a soul bond as his inner shell belonged to him.

    The only conclusion he could come to was that this world''s scenario had been programmed in and the person that was Zhang Dong had been a secret Long Clan member from the start. With this information now cemented, he didn''t think that he should fear these people anymore.

    Instead, he could use this world''s logic to further his goal of defeating Wang Long and getting to the root of it. Who was making these planets with these game-like systems? Why did they allow people to run loose with no supervision and what really happened when they transcended the scenario.

    "You approach me with malice and disrespect in your hearts?"

    Fengge was surrounded by a golden light as he was healed by Zhang Dong''s energies. The young man had a couple of fractures after the exchange but he was not in any danger of dying. The infusion of his healing arts that had been improved caused the knocked-out Fengge to awaken.

    "What is¡­"

    Before he realized what was going on he was tossed by Zhang Dong towards his brother and sister that were coming this way. It was clear that the two wanted to intervene in this situation but their behavior was less than stellar considering that they were supposedly in the presence of someone above them.

    While in some cultures the offspring of the emperor or a king would be above anyone else of the royal family, this wasn''t true here. Him being part of the Long Clan was only one reason to respect him while his personal strength would be the main one.

    Thus he decided to act as a properly angry senior that had been disrespected for once. The golden flames that were around his body surged in all directions. A bright golden inferno filled the entire stage as his oppressive aura ballooned to staggering proportions.

    "Juniors, you dare dissect your uncle? Even after I graciously agreed to give you pointers?"

    Most of the people that were still on their feet were forced down to the ground while the whole training ground rumbled. Even the guards that were at the late stage of the nascent soul were shoved down to their knees as Zhang Dong''s aura exploded.

    The only person that was managing to keep a somewhat straight position was an expert that was at the great circle level. To Zhang Dong this was probably the main guard that was responsible for the trio''s wellbeing.

    "H-how dare someone like you¡­"

    "G-guards what are you d-doing, apprehend that man!"

    The oldest son and the sister shouted out in indignation. This was probably the first time where someone was exerting their authority over them. They were powerless to do anything by themselves which caused them to call out to their retainers. These people would probably listen to them over him as he was still an unfamiliar element in this whole Long Clan.

    This clan had existed for many millennia, its power structure was unknown to him. He did not know how these people chose their next Azure Emperor. Probably one of the two youths here were brought up to take the position. To some, this would be enough to see them on the same level as the Emperor. They would push their way into their good graces at all costs.

    From the oldest son of the emperor, a blue glint escaped. Some kind of strange seal appeared on his forehead and produced a blue shield that produced an image of a dragon''s head. It looked like the dragon swallowed up the three young masters but in reality, it was protecting them from his oppressive aura.

    "But young master, the Azure Emperor stated that the guest should not be harmed¡­"

    The man moved forward but still asked the question.

    "That was before he blatantly attacked us, now carry out your orders!"

    Long Shen shouted out while helping his confused brother up from the ground. The other nascent soul masters that were at the late stage also started to slowly get up from the ground. Even though Zhang Dong''s aura was immense, it could be canceled out if some effort was applied.

    "Oh? You would attack this¡­ Long Dong? Is this the renowned Long Clan hospitality?"

    "That is¡­"

    It was clear that these old martial artists didn''t want to have anything to do with this. They knew that their young masters could end this predicament with one head bow. Instead, they were being forced into a potentially deadly confrontation with a man that could be favored by the Azure Emperor.

    "Are you really going to let this continue for longer?"

    Zhang Dong found himself surrounded by a bunch of scary-looking cultivation uncles. While he was somewhat confident in his own strength, he wasn''t sure if he would be able to battle his way out if more people came.

    The various formations that were in place here also gave his opponents an advantage that he wasn''t quite sure of yet. Thus he decided to play another card, calling out to the person that was watching this scene play itself out.

    While others might have not realized it yet, he was well aware that somewhere the Azure Emperor was looking at them. He was also a father and he knew that no one would just leave their kids up to their own devices with an unknown element near them.

    "Oh, I see that you have good senses, my brother!"

    After a moment of silence, the voice of the Azure Emperor sounded through the whole training ground. Zhang Dong didn''t know where exactly he was hiding but he could feel some faint aura fluctuations around the area.

    At first, he just thought it was the formations but after analyzing the Azure flames of his opponents, he realized that this was a cultivator hiding. The first possibility would be that it was another powerful bodyguard.

    But he gave the fatherly Emperor the benefit of the doubt as he didn''t think he would let his kids just fight a yet unknown member of the family. During the exchange with the youngest son, he did finally spot the hidden Azure Emperor that leaked some of his power while probably ready to defend his son in a split second exchange.

    "It''s fine, stand down."

    The Emperor appeared this time without his wife, the moment he was there the guards gave out sighs of relief while bowing.

    "But father, that ruffian¡­"

    "That ruffian is your uncle Yanyu, did you see it? Those radiant azure flames¡­ no they were more similar to the celestial flames of legend!"

    Zhang Dong''s aura subsided but there was apparently something that the emperor noticed about them. He did add ''celestial'' to his punching technique but that was just a hastily put-together name with no deep meaning.

    "Celestial flames? But father only the hidden ancestor¡­ could it really be?"

    "Um¡­ hello?"

    Everyone promptly ignored his call-outs as they began debating what had occurred at this very moment. He knew that his golden flames weren''t all that special but to these people, it seemed that there was more to it.

    By the reaction of the young master trio, they were somewhat aware of these celestial flames. There could be secrets that only became clear to the innermost circle of this clan. It appeared that his little trick to garner attention had, in turn, worked to his favor. If he was taken as some reincarnation of the old ancestor, his status would probably rise even further, maybe even above the Azure Emperor himself.

    "How could this person be related to the great ancestor?"

    "You''re still talking like that? Go pay respect to your uncle or I will cut your allowance!"

    "But father!"

    The three kids started arguing with their father in front of everyone here. It was truly a strange sight to behold as they were not worried about hiding their emotions. The father was quick to smack the two sons around a bit for talking back to him. The daughter was the only sensible one as she didn''t raise her voice in the presence of her father.

    "W-we apologize to senior uncle¡­"

    Soon he had the three bowing before him while the Azure Emperor stood behind them with a raised fist. This apparently wasn''t the end of the journey as some more information was about to be revealed to him.

    He had planned to use this dramatic fight to teleport away back home after having his pride trampled on.. Now he decided to stick for a bit longer, maybe something that could get him through the hurdle that was this coming war and Wang Long waited for him inside this Long Clan.

 Chapter 409

    His first plan of acting like a benevolent senior had gone down the drain when the three young masters decided to send one to fight him. He then moved onto plan B where he would try acting offended.

    When everything was said and done he wanted to teleport out as it would give him an excuse. Now he was going with plan C as apparently, he was now closely related to the ancestor that created this empire.

    He did not think that this ancestor would wield golden flames like the ones that he had created to show off. From how things looked the ancestor should just have a deeper bluish color, how could he know that the ancestors ''Azure Flames'' had a tint of gold. Soon he would discover how the golden flames played into all of this.

    "There were two ancestors?"

    "Yes, most of our clan members are unaware of this fact but the first emperor had a brother."

    "A brother?"

    "That''s right, both of them were instrumental in establishing this empire, he went by the name of Aurulent Dragon."

    "Aurulent?"

    Zhang Dong just kept repeating some of those talking points while he and Long Qing sat around in a new room. After the debacle with his three children, he produced the golden flames. These flames apparently were proof that he possessed some kind of offshoot bloodline that didn''t belong to their prime ancestor but his blood-related brother.

    They have shifted into some kind of cript looking place with some murals on the walls. Even though he could tell that these walls were thousands of years old, the rocks were imbued with spiritual energy. The writings could be read and they depicted the last war in which the Azure Dragon empire was created.

    Zhang Dong could not believe that such a coincidence could be even possible. Did that Aurulent Dragon person manage to sire some offspring before he died? Did they mix with the other Long Clan members or something? Then he was supposed to be someone with an extremely pure bloodline to manifest these golden flames?

    This all sounded like a bad plotline in a novel. He had been turned into a chosen one that had no reason to exist. This was truly something that someone else could have come up with. The scenario was forcing this world to even react to the cultivation method that he chose all those years ago. Perhaps if he went with the purple flame variant the ancestor would have been the Dragon Pimp?

    "Wait, so this ancestor sacrificed himself in the battle of the empires?"

    "Regretfully so, the great Azure Dragon ancestor created this clan so that we would be prepared for the next war between the empires. The old text states that he was immensely worried that we would not be able to turn the tide without anyone to take his brother''s mantle, but now you are here, victory is now ?ssured!"

    His new ''brother'' was very enthusiastic about him being here. It was clear that he wholeheartedly believed in the old prophecies that the ancestors have left behind. Zhang Dong knew that those were probably all something the administrators of this world had put in place.

    He wasn''t even sure if something like a great war between the empires even took place. This depended if the people that made these worlds could alter the memories of people living in them.

    The only thing he could base a theory on was the Demon Lord from the other world that he faced. That one wanted to eradicate the whole population of the planet to start anew. IF that was the case then they probably couldn''t alter people''s minds that easily.

    This was a big relief as he was worried that there could be a time where his own family could turn against him. It seemed that it was better to kill everyone to start anew, these administrators could have a lesser grasp on these worlds than he might have thought.

    "Is there more detail on the war? Any battle records of the forces our ancestors faced?"

    While walking and looking at the murals Zhang Dong decided to play along. He couldn''t totally trust the Azure Emperor just yet but he needed some help for the coming war.

    "Most of them have been lost, I don''t know what or who will come through those bridges but I don''t think it will be a simple enemy¡­"

    The Azure Emperor moved his head down while talking, it was clear that he had been worried about this coming war. Zhang Dong could relate as he knew how stressful the position of a leader was. So many lives depended on him, one wrong order could cause thousands of people to perish.

    It was no wonder that he was so energetic when talking to his newfound brother. He was probably a person that from the Azure Emperor''s perspective could share the load with him. The second dragon had appeared to help him in the coming battle. By the logic of this world, this was a sign that the heavens were on this empire''s side.

    Zhang Dong had the urge to give the Azure Emperor a pat on the back but he didn''t really know him that well yet. For the time being, he needed to use this chance to gain more strength, and what better way, than to ask for some treasures?

    "Is this the crypt where the ancestors are resting?"

    "Ah yes."

    Long Qing snapped out of it and pointed to two statues that were standing at the end of this huge area. The two were about ten meters tall and reached all the way up to the ceiling. They depicted two cultivators that had similar facial features and both of them had dragon engravings on their robes.

    Below these statues were two large coffins that could probably fit at least three people into them. When he looked at them Zhang Dong noticed that one was a lot dustier. It was clear that the clean one had been used, probably opened up.

    "Those are¡­"

    "As you have noticed already, there are no bodies in these coffins, instead the legacies for both the Azure Emperor and his brother were hidden inside."

    "So, that one was the Azure ancestor¡­ so this one it¡­"

    "Yes, that one belongs to the Aurulent Dragon, just like the one I opened it will only react to a person that is a direct descendant."

    The legacy of the Azure Emperor was already pillaged from that coffin. Perhaps it was some kind of secret cultivation manual, or maybe some weapon that was placed there.

    "After the current Azure Emperor''s death, the contents of the coffin will return to their resting place and wait for the new Azure Emperor to appear."

    Long Qing continued with a story that made this quite the peculiar treasure. He had never heard of ones that teleported back to the place they were found when their user perished. If he had time he would have liked to take this coffin home to examine its secrets. With his knack for crafting he might be able to create something similar for his own clan members.

    "Now brother please, place your hand on the dragon symbol."

    Zhang Dong''s attention was brought over to a handprint. Around this handprint was a coiling dragon eating its own tail. The dragon was made from pure gold while the rest of the coffin consisted of some rare spirit minerals.

    "Place my hand there¡­"

    Long Qing nodded, his eyes were glistening with anticipation. It was funny as the Azure Emperor was a lot more interested in this coffin than Zhang Dong was. This probably was just a locking mechanism that would scan him.

    "Bob, see if you can open this coffin up if there are some problems¡­"

    He was convinced that this coffin was reserved for him when he was the original system owner. This system had gone through a few changes so it might reject him now. This would probably cause a lot of confusion and more problems if he would not be able to access the last part of the golden dragon legacy. It would also throw a wrench into his future plans.

    ''I hope this isn''t some elaborate trap¡­''

    Zhang Dong narrowed his eyes while looking at the coffin. He knew that there were some strange formations on it but they were above his expertise. This was truly something above the nascent soul level.

    It was a bit late to run now. If he didn''t get the help of the Long Clan the coming war would be hard on his sect and children. This would have been too much of an elaborate setup to just trap him so he didn''t think the Azure Emperor was trying to pull a fast one on him. Thus he did place his hand on the marking and got ready for it.

    "Hm¡­?"

    Nothing happened so he looked back at Long Qing that was standing right next to him with a smile on his face.

    "Oh, you need to activate your bloodline technique brother Dong."

    "Ah yes¡­ I knew that, was only testing you, brother Qing..."

    He turned towards his palm and slowly produced the golden flames that he created previously. His palm started glowing and soon the whole coffin produced a magnificent light.

    "... connected to old system lock... "

    "... error ¡­ unable to produce key¡­"

    "... please wait, attempting to recreate the key from old code¡­"

    Bob started talking to him while he was trying to act naturally. The glowing symbols on the coffin started shining brightly but the moment he wasn''t able to produce the ''key'' the glow started to die down.

    The moment it did he could hear the Azure Emperor behind him gasping out in shock. This was probably an indication that he had failed in opening the lock. Luckily for him, his Ai program didn''t let him down this time around and the bright glow returned.

    "...a copy of the key has been recovered, uploading data¡­"

    The whole room started to shine brightly and the statue that was above the coffin began to move. It started to open up its eyes while its head moved down to look at him. A bright ray of light descended on him soon after as he felt strong spiritual energy seeping into him.

    The golden core that he had created while reaching his new realm started reacting. This light was a surge of very pure holy energy which also carried some kind of hidden technique. Through Bob, he was able to receive it while also managing to increase his cultivation by a small step forward.

    Soon the radiant glow subsided while he leaned back from the coffin. When he did a few clicking sounds caught his ear, the closed treasure ?h?st was opening up to reveal its contents to him....

 Chapter 410

    "A book and a rusty sword?"

    Zhang Dong looked inside of the old coffin that was mostly empty. In it, he could see a somewhat rusted sword that might have been some kind of powerful weapon but had degraded over time. Next to it was a really old book that looked like it could crumble at any moment.

    "These items¡­ I''m not sure they are usable anymore¡­"

    He looked back to the man that was with him, Long Qing his supposed brother was looking over his shoulder.

    "The second ancestor tomb has never been touched before¡­ I thought it would preserve the treasures inside¡­"

    The answer seemed to be obvious, the heritage for the Azure Dragon part had been taken out many thousands of years before, thus it had survived and conserved all these years. The ones for the golden dragon on the other hand were not.

    Even then he decided to give the book and sword a scan with the help of his system, maybe there was still something that he could gain from this.

    Celestial Sword of the Ancient Dragon [ Degraded]

    Heaven middle grade

    Probably before it was placed into this coffin the sword was somewhat usable but it couldn''t fight against the passage of time. Even heaven grade weapons didn''t last forever and need to be reforged or repaired from time to time.

    "Maybe I can reforge it to something good¡­"

    Even though it was rusty, it was still a heaven grade weapon. The materials that it was made from were still rare, with his crafting expertise he might be able to fashion a new sword. He just needed to use it as the core for the new weapon.

    "Oh, are you perhaps a talented blacksmith my brother?"

    "Ah, I guess I know a thing or two about these, I might be able to strip this sword for parts and reshape it to its former glory, but I won''t know until I take it to my forge."

    If this weapon could be built up again depended on what it was made of on the inside. Powerful weapons in this world tended to have their own cores while the metals around it were more of a shell.

    The core mineral inside would produce a powerful Qi radiance that would keep the metals intact during combat. Only when these invisible barriers were shattered would the weapon break. Thus even when a blade from a sword like this broke, if the core inside remained undamaged it could be remade.

    "Your forge? Why don''t you use our Long Clan forge instead? I bet you''ll find everything you need there!"

    "You have a forge?"

    "Of course we do! Blacksmithing, pill making, formation creation, there is nothing that our Long Clan doesn''t excel at, we have vast quantities of knowledge in our grand library, as the ancestors'' descendant you will naturally have access to it all!"

    This actually sounded quite interesting as he could always use more knowledge. He was still mostly depending on the things he had gained from that expedition all those years ago. With the help of this Long Clan, he would probably be able to fill some of the holes in his knowledge, maybe even gain some resources for his current cultivation.

    What he needed to do was to gain more strength and knowledge for the coming days. His biggest enemy Wang Long at this very moment could be killing some unsuspecting villagers or beasts for more spirit points.

    With the help of the system shop that he had, he had access to many immortal grade techniques. The only edge that Zhang Dong had over his opponent was that he mostly specialized in certain things.

    When he fought against Wang Long the man seemed to use various random techniques that he probably didn''t put much thought into buying. Probably the only thing that person was interested in was if the skill or technique was high level enough.

    He didn''t worry if it meshed well with his current cultivation nor did he train himself in these techniques. This was something even his old system failed at, teaching him how to properly use the techniques he bought.

    For that he needed to slowly train them and only with time would they reach the next level. A lower ranked technique could overtake a higher ranked one if it was trained to perfection with ease. He did not think Wang Long would bother with something like that and he wouldn''t have enough time at this point.

    Even though both of them had been here for a while, Zhang Dong used some time to train himself. He and Huo Qiang sparred quite a lot. The other elders that were at the nascent soul level were also forced to participate so that he could progress further.

    "How about the cultivation manuals, can I see those?"

    "Why wouldn''t you? Your authority is not less than my own, you have been accepted as the honorable ancestor''s descendant, I am the Azure Dragon and you are the Aurulent Dragon!"

    "Aurulent?... how about we just go with Golden instead?"

    "If you so wish but first we need to get the elders approval, those old farts can be fussy about things like that."

    While the emperor was making it out to be somewhat simple, he wasn''t so sure about it. Zhang Dong didn''t believe that there wouldn''t be some pushback against him becoming some kind of Golden Dragon descendant. This put the whole Azure Emperor in a tough spot as there was someone at the same level as him, at least in theory.

    Normally there would be some kind of war for succession as there was no way for two kings to coexist with each other. Long Qing seemed a bit too nonchalant about it, it was as if he didn''t really care but this could also just have been an act.

    With the looming war over their heads, he could have just been acting friendly as he still needed the Golden Dragon''s power. This something had probably something to do with that Goliath thing they previously mentioned. It might have been some superweapon that required both of them to use it.

    Zhang Dong wouldn''t be surprised that at the end of this war, this Long Qing could turn out to have been the real villain from the start. Maybe that was how the previous Golden Dragon died, killed by his own brother after the war was won.

    "Yes, that makes sense."

    He nodded while placing the sword that was in his hand into his spatial ring. What now remained was the old-looking book that was still in the coffin. While it was still holding out, he wasn''t sure if the pages wouldn''t crumble to dust if he tried opening it up.

    Luckily Zhang Dong was still in possession of his system and scanning books was something that he was good at. Thus he gently placed his index finger on the book with applying a minimal amount of pressure to initiate the scanning function.

    Divine Celestial Dragon Manual

    Immortal Grade Middle

    His system was quick to examine the book and just as he had thought the pages started to turn to dust almost at the exact moment when he interacted with this book. This manual was probably not really meant for anyone to read, only someone with a system''s scanning feature would be able to gain its knowledge.

    ''Interesting¡­ it describes the golden flames in more detail¡­ it also has various other techniques that implement those golden flames¡­''

    The old book was quite thick and there was a lot of knowledge in it. The bloodline technique that he created previously was of a lesser grade than this one. This manual would be a great addition to his current holy cultivation method, maybe with its help, he could even go further than before.

    ''Celestial huh? Got me hoping that it was above the immortal grade¡­''

    "No¡­ the sacred text from the ancestor¡­ now we will never know¡­"

    Long Qing shouted out in horror as he saw the manual crumbling into dust after Zhang Dong poked it with his finger. It was clear that even though this man acted a bit goofy, he was still a cultivator at heart. Seeing a precious cultivation resource just vanish into thin air was not something that he could even bear.

    "Oh, it''s fine¡­ I uh¡­ I heard the voice of the ancestor, I think he had blessed me with a vision of this manual¡­"

    While he didn''t really need to mention the fact that he had received the ancestor''s treasure, the fact that it was in his brain could keep him safe. Even if the others betrayed him, they would probably try to get the information out of him first which could later give him an opportunity to escape.

    "You did? But how¡­ I don''t ever remember my ancestors ever reaching out to me like that¡­"

    "Uh¡­ maybe it was some kind of safety for when the manual was too damaged to be of use?"

    Long Qing pondered this question while Zhang Dong tried to go over the manual in his head. Thanks to it being scanned with his system he was able to go through it much faster than by just reading it manually.

    "Oh¡­ are those¡­ they seem more radiant than before¡­"

    He decided to show off by manifesting a tiny golden flame orb in front of his index finger. These flames were a lot purer than the ones he previously produced and they had a kind of buffing function.

    "This feels rather refreshing!"

    Long Qing felt energy rushing into his body when standing in front of this golden light. Zhang Dong could also feel it, this technique seemed similar to the divine spells in the other world he was in. This was quite well suited for large-scale battles if he could buff his side by just giving off some of his aura.

    ''Hm, maybe the Golden Dragon was the healer while the Azure Dragon was the attacker?''

    As he looked through this Celestial Dragon manual he noticed that most of these techniques that were described in it were used to aid others. Other ones were meant for dispelling demonic corruption and battling evil energies.

    ''This will be useful against Wang Long for sure¡­''

    With a new manual in his brain and a potential new strong weapon in his spatial ring, Zhang Dong felt like this was a useful journey. Now, what remained was to gain even more by using the resources that this clan could offer him. If what the Azure Emperor was telling him, the other elders would not have the right to stop him, even if he went slightly overboard¡­

    "Well then my brother¡­ you said that you have a big library¡­ could you show it to me?"

 Chapter 411

    "What is he doing?"

    "Shhh be quiet, what if they hear you? You want to be sent to the lower regions or something?"

    "I know¡­ but what is he doing now?"

    "I don''t know¡­"

    The two people from the apothecary faction of the clan were looking at what was a new face in the Long Clan. He went by the name Zhang Dong or Long Dong and at this very moment, he was sticking his finger into a life-giving elixir.

    They had never seen a method of examination like this. What healing experts would normally do was to scan the contents of the elixir bottle with their spiritual sense. This madman on the other hand went around sticking his digits into the high quality elixirs for some reason.

    This wasn''t the first section of the clan that he had visited. There were many other clan members standing outside of the apothecary building talking with each other.

    "He went through the entire library just poking the books with his finger and running around like a madman!"

    "At least he wasn''t interested in the beast tamer faction¡­ but he did pat down all the formation scrolls¡­"

    "Oh, be quiet, he is walking out¡­"

    Zhang Dong left the apothecary guild that was responsible for keeping all the medicine and pill formulae. Some of the elixirs were made by specific masters that had their own secrets but with a little poke, he was able to scan for the ingredients that they were made. When comparing it to his vast library of knowledge he was able to deduct the manufacturing method almost perfectly.

    ''Formations, pills, blacksmithing¡­ I think I got all the major ones, what is left is¡­''

    With his current level, he was able to scan everything really fast, he had gone through the library to gather all the hiqh quality martial arts manuals. What was left now were a few monuments that implemented knowledge in a slightly different way.

    After going through these pockets of great knowledge he was able to gather many heaven grade manuals. A handful of half-step immortal manuals were also kept hidden away at some places that he now had access to. This trip had really been very fruitful and he continued towards the next destination while munching on something.

    "Wait¡­ what is that man-eating¡­ could that be?"

    He ignored the chatting people while devouring a piece of fruit packed with divine energy. This was the same fruit that he had eaten previously, now on the other hand he was handed them all by the clan. Thanks to being the Golden Dragon''s ancestor''s true descendant he would be naturally given everything that concerned holy power.

    Regretfully almost every technique, formation, or secret art related to that ancestor had been lost to time. Mostly what he could find were some lesser copies that some other branch families tried to hold on to. But with the help of the manual from the crypt, he could somewhat upgrade these lesser techniques if he wished to.

    "Bring me to the ancestral pillar!"

    "Yes, my lord!"

    Zhang Dong gave out an order to a person he was lent by the Azure Emperor. The man was the guide that explained every important part of this clan to him. Where he was going now was a secret place that only the members of the Azure Dragon line had access to.

    He was already in the giant blue crystal tower that overlooked this floating city. Probably if the Golden Dragon ancestor survived past the wall, there would have been a golden tower next to it. Luckily the place they were heading to had some old knowledge that survived from the past war.

    "So this is it, an interesting way to preserve their techniques¡­"

    The area where he was was large and the ceiling was quite high. The most characteristic thing about this place were the many various pillars. Some were square, some were oval while others were just large boulders that didn''t even reach up into the ceiling.

    At first, he wasn''t sure what to make of this place. After further examining, he noticed that there were various clan members meditating in front of these large pillars. Each and every one of these rocky structures was scratched up by something. When he got closer he realized that these were no simple scratches, no they were sword strikes.

    Each pillar told a different story as it was carved up by various sword techniques and dances. This was a very archaic way of preserving swordsmanship through the ages. Instead of books, they would use hard stone slabs into which they would etch the knowledge with their weapons.

    This was a somewhat difficult way of learning the proper sword stances but there was a certain perk of doing it like this. Each sword strike that caused a gash on the rock would carry some of the sword master''s sword intent.

    Through looking at those sliced-up pillars the student needed to piece the art together and interpret it for themselves. This gave various effects and produced many versions of the skills.

    "While it looks somewhat inconsistent it does preserve it better than old texts."

    ''But this is a problem¡­ I can''t absorb this into my library¡­.''

    Even though Zhang Dong gave one of the pillars a poke he wasn''t able to just analyze it. There weren''t any words here that he could copy and the sword intent was only part of the puzzle. He would somehow need to recreate the movement of the person that performed the sword technique to piece everything together.

    While thinking about what to do he noticed a certain young man. He had seen him before as he was Long Shen the oldest brother and son of the Azure Emperor.

    "I see that you are keeping up with your studies little Shen."

    "...Little?"

    The young man was performing some kind of sword dance before the center pillar of this chamber. Around him were various other students and children of other various powerful elders that hailed from the Long Clan.

    Zhang Dong appeared right next to him which caused the young man to fumble during the dance. The technique that he was performing utilized quite a bit of spiritual energy so ending it prematurely caused his sword to fly into the distance.

    "You should be careful with that nephew, I''m not sure you should be damaging ancient clan pillars like that¡­"

    The sword flew off and embedded itself in one of the other pillars and caused everyone to look this way.

    "That was because you¡­"

    Before continuing Long Shen realized who it was. Even though Zhang Dong wasn''t liked he could see that the young man had learned his lesson. At least that''s what it looked like on the surface but he could tell that he was not someone that was liked.

    "Please, I''m in the middle of my training, why are you here uncle?"

    "Oh, I''m just looking around, what are you trying to perform, a dance?"

    "The Heavenly Azure Swordsmanship is not a dance!"

    He sounded offended when Zhang Dong called his technique a mere dance. Shen was quick to turn around and resume his training, it seemed that he would rather ignore him now than continue the interaction. Thanks to this Zhang Dong got a good idea of how to try his system''s new AI feature.

    ''Bob, can you compare this Shen fellows sword dance to the cuts on this large pillar¡­ could you also perhaps produce a holographic image?''

    ''Initiating holographic projection¡­''

    While he was in the other world and cultivating his soul he had some time to play around with his new AI partner. His function to automatically use the crafting abode to upgrade skills was only one of them.

    While Long Shen continued his dance Bob started scanning his movements along with the sword gashes in the large pillar. With the combined input the helper app was able to piece together the technique that he was performing.

    ''Sword technique detected, incomplete¡­''

    While the young man seemed competent and was already a nascent soul master, it seemed that he wasn''t able to fully paste together the sword dance that was in this pillar. This was only natural as most people wouldn''t even be able to properly make one good move out of these pillar scratches.

    ''Can you put together the full technique for me?''

    Bob went to work as he scanned the pillar for the right technique. As this continued Zhang Dong discovered that there were various other sword strikes and skills embedded in this one pillar, some of them were quite hard to see as they overlapped with other sword strikes.

    "Why is he just standing there like that¡­"

    "I don''t know¡­"

    The other students that were there were curious about this new person that even Long Shen needed to abide by. For some time he remained stationary while just looking up at the pillar filled with knowledge.

    They didn''t know that the person was pasting together a long-lost art and was doing it at an alarming pace.

    ''That took a while¡­ that''s a bit of movement but it''s also a half-step immortal level technique¡­ should I try it out?''

    This was no book so reading this type of monolith wasn''t easy. After about an hour he was finally done and would probably be able to do the same with the other pillars at a faster pace.

    "What is he doing now? He took out a sword? Is he going to perform a sword dance?"

    One of the clan members asked while finding Zhang Dong''s stance very similar to the one that Long Shen had. When the Azure Emperor''s son saw what his uncle was doing he instantly stopped with his training. From his standpoint, there was no way of Zhang Dong being able to perform the correct set of movements only after glancing at the stone pillar for an hour. He was ready to mock his uncle after he failed but then he noticed something that he didn''t expect.

    "T-those movements¡­ is that really the same sword dance the young lord was studying?"

    "It looks somewhat different and the movements are sharper¡­"

    An aura of golden flames washed over Zhang Dong''s body as he performed a few movements of this new sword art. This was nothing simple as it was the first technique that he was trying to perform that actually went over the nascent soul limit.

    Sweat formed on his brow and his hands felt heavy. The amount of spiritual energy that this trance like swordsmanship swallowed up was staggering but it could certainly not be denied. Even though he wasn''t performing any attacking strikes his movements caused the whole place to rumble.

    "Oh god, did he achieve the sword heart?... is he moving past it¡­ how is that possible?"

    "A genius of the sword!"

    Everyone cleared out of the way as the sword energies that continued to gather around Zhang Dong''s body would be able to slice any opponent that came near them apart in a matter of moments.. This was truly the pinnacle of swordsmanship that could not be reached by buying skills alone.

 Chapter 412

    "You see, I told you that he is the true second descendant."

    A rather happy-looking Azure Dragon was standing together with three elders and looking at his new brother performing a mystical sword dance. His movements weren''t anything that these old men and women had seen before, it was truly a long-forgotten sword art that they were witnessing being born anew.

    "Did he really reach enlightenment by just spending only an hour in the secret chamber of sword intent?"

    "What the Emperor says must be true then, no one other than a true descendant would be able to grasp the ancestral sword techniques¡­ doing it this fast only shows us how much of a genius he is¡­"

    "I still can''t grasp his true strength¡­ his cultivation method is bizarre, he seems like a core formation junior but is much stronger, could it just be the aurulent flame''s unique Qi?"

    "The evidence is hard to deny but we should still be careful, this man has not been brought up within the clan, we do not know where his duty lies¡­"

    The three here were the grand elders of the clan. After the Azure Emperor, they possessed the most political might in the whole clan. If the Emperor ever perished or died of old age they would take up his duties until a new one surfaced. To them, Zhang Dong was a big wild card which they didn''t know if they could trust.

    "Are you worried that he might side with the other factions?"

    "The possibility isn''t zero, they will surely try¡­"

    Now if for instance, they gained the favor of someone that was on the same footing as the Azure Emperor it could mean civil war. While Long Qing didn''t seem to be worried about his new brother''s loyalty, the old elders were.

    "You three worry too much, even the old texts mentioned the appearance of the true disciple and that he would usher in a new age of cultivation!"

    "Yes we do, but what if in this new age of cultivation the Long Clan doesn''t exist?"

    Long Yingjie, the oldest of the three grand elders, asked while feeling the ground rumble. Zhang Dong was finished with his sword dance which left some of the pillars in bad shape.

    "He managed to damage the ancestral pillars¡­ he truly is strong¡­"

    "Stop worrying, we need my brother for this coming war! During the battles we will deepen our bond as we are warriors at heart!"

    The three were still skeptical but it seemed that their leader had made up his mind about this new element. What would need to follow was a proper inauguration to the sect and presenting him as the second true descendant. This would probably get some pushback from the Azure Dragon faction.

    "Well, I''ll leave the paperwork to you elders, you know I''m not that good with these things."

    Long Qing laughed out while strolling towards Zhang Dong who was somewhat sweating after performing the new sword technique. The three elders just nodded as they knew that their strength was mostly in politics while Long Qing was still the most powerful warrior here.

    "While my husband tends to our newest family member, let us discuss the coming crisis, shall we?"

    The Empress spoke up as she made herself known. Long Yingjie bowed to this woman. While she was all smiles he knew that she had a lot more power here than one might expect. The emperor would constantly ask her for approval on difficult decisions and she was always able to sway them.

    While this was going on Zhang Dong looked at his shaky sword hand. The weapon that he pulled out of his spatial ring was a lower heaven grade sword. But after performing some of the movements this item was filled with cracks.

    ''I just performed a couple of sword movements¡­ what if I actually tried to use a more powerful offensive move?''

    This swordsmanship wasn''t something easily mastered. It required a lot of spiritual energy that even a nascent soul master at the great circle stage would not have. He didn''t despair as with his new cultivation method he was a master at such a level.

    His cores were still unfilled as they constantly wanted more energy. The seed that he was nurturing had grown slightly and he felt his power increasing as the seed grew. If this continued he might even be able to push slightly past the limits of what a nascent soul master would be able to contain.

    ''I need to gather more spirit points and upgrade this sword style¡­ Only powerful techniques that I can somewhat master can get me past that deficiency¡­''

    While his strength was comparable to the pinnacle of the nascent soul, he lacked one component. This was a soul beast, this was something unique to that level and he was unable to summon his soul dragon that once aided him in battle.

    This put him at a disadvantage against other nascent soul masters. It would be as if he was constantly going against two opponents at once. The only way to get past this deficiency was to be stronger than his opponent or somehow seal the opposing soul beasts.

    While the beast were mighty and could act on their own, they were still condensed soul energies. Zhang Dong''s soul core had already proven how well it could absorb those kinds of energies. Maybe with more training, he could point it towards the soul beast and absorb them even when they belonged to cultivators at his level of power.

    ''This clan has provided me with a lot of holy energy, I need to gather more lightning and souls now to put everything into equilibrium.''

    After eating almost every nirvana fruit his golden core had expanded to a larger size than his other cores. It would be impossible for him to absorb more holy energy before nourishing the other two cores. If he tried he risked cultivation deviation which could cripple him outright.

    "See Shen, I told you that you should respect your uncle! Maybe if you pay your respects he will even teach you some sword techniques."

    "Father¡­"

    Long Qing appeared once again with a big smile on his face. When he heard that he was supposed to teach the brat sword techniques Zhang Dong frowned slightly. There would be some ?ss crawling required from this Long Shen for him to get anything out of him now. His opinion of these three young masters was somewhat low but it didn''t mean that he would be opposed to it if they apologized.

    "Hm, maybe if he kowtows a thousand times and calls me great senior uncle, I might think about it."

    Long Shen recoiled in disgust at what Zhang Dong offered. It was clear that he was a prideful one who would probably not be easily swayed by techniques.

    "I don''t need any help father, I can achieve mastery of the ancestral sword arts by myself!"

    "I don''t think your son has much of a sense of humor, my brother."

    Zhang Dong just shrugged while looking at Long Qing. The Emperor just laughed while also being somewhat surprised. There weren''t many people that talked to him in such a casual way.

    The man in question had gone through every important point in this large crystal tower. If he was frank he would probably want to leave at this point. His wife was also constantly calling him every thirty minutes over his system as she was deathly worried that he was being tortured or something.

    It didn''t look like he would be able to just ditch everything now. He probably needed to go meet with all the important elders of the clan. Then his true identity needed to be announced to the entire clan and then through the entire empire.

    This would offer him the freedom to roam the realm in search of Wang Long. With the Azure Emperor backing him directly no sect could close their gates to him. Due to this, he decided to go along with this process as he did need the help.

    When everything was done he would gain access to every single teleportation gate in the empire. He could produce an empire-wide witch hunt for Wang Long, any information that could bring him closer to where the man was would be rewarded. This loose end needed to be tied up before the other nations attacked.

    ¡­.

    In another location¡­

    A large man with his ?h?st bear was sitting in a large throne room. Behind him, lava was pouring down from the ceiling and lighting up the entire chamber. The heat was truly immense but the man sitting there didn''t seem perturbed by it.

    In his hand, there was some kind of leg of an unknown creature. While looking at a bowing man in front of him the large man opened up his mouth to present quite elongated sharp teeth that ripped into the piece of meat he was holding.

    "Speak."

    "Oh great Demon Emperor, I bring news from the world boundary, the time is upon us."

    "Hoh, is it time for the legendary hunt? You better not be lying to me, shaman!"

    "I would never, oh great Demon!"

    The man prostrated himself before this man that seemed to be at least three meters tall. He wasn''t the only person here either, many others were down on their knees, faces lowered into the hard volcanic rock that this place was made of.

    "Finally, sound the horns, we prepare for the great hunt! We will gorge ourselves on the flesh of our enemies and reach the apex of creation!"

    The man stood up from the large throne that was made from various bones of unknown creatures. His footsteps caused the whole place to shake as he descended with a massive flaming cleaver over his shoulder.

    There were various other scenes like this playing out at almost the same time at other locations. Various leaders were being informed about the coming time. It was as if each and every one of them had a different prophecy guiding them towards the coming conflict.

    The millennia they spent preparing for this day were finally going to be of use. The battlefield was beyond the borders of their lands. For some, it was called the great hunting grounds, for others the celestial lands of legends. Time was running out for everyone, the war that was to rock this whole planet was close....

 Chapter 413

    "My brothers and sisters, we have gathered today to greet a new member of our family¡­"

    Zhang Dong was sitting to the side while one of the elders was giving a speech. Long Qing, his supposed brother, was down on his throne together with his wife. The kids were all properly dressed and to the side while the older generation was presented to the masses.

    The Long Clan was quite advanced for the setting. It had similar holographic technology to the United Element Sect. Thanks to it they were transmitting a proper image to some of the larger cities around the empire.

    While he didn''t really want to do this, it was important to get his face out there. The Long Clan was giving him and his sect free advertisement. By confirming that he was now part of the royal family there would not be any closed doors to him.

    "Thus I would like to introduce everyone to our Azure Emperor''s brother, Long Dong the Golden Dragon!"

    With some persuasion, he was able to go with the golden dragon title instead of the one the old ancestor had. This didn''t matter as much as no one besides the core family members even knew that he had existed. The information had been long forgotten and only existed in the locked library.

    With his name now spreading through the lands he would probably have the trouble of ever being called Zhang Dong ever again. He would have to cope with being Long Dong from now on.

    "Thank you elder Yingjie for those eloquent words of introduction but this is not the time for pleasantries, I must implore everyone to be vigilant in these coming days as there is a villain that plagues this land and he goes by the name Wang Long¡­"

    While the people that were listening to this introduction were a bit confused, the members of the Long Clan had been informed beforehand. They also agreed that someone like Wang Long needed to be stopped and they couldn''t really stop Zhang Dong from speaking out.

    To him this was the most important problem they needed to tend to, more important than the secret war effort that was starting in the background. Almost no one besides the Long Clan and the Heavenly Crane Sect knew about this problem. The smaller sects had been kept in the dark as they weren''t seen as very useful.

    From Zhang Dong''s perspective, this was a faulty mindset. He knew well that a united sect or land was far more deadly than one that was not. His sect was proof as with the help of formations even the lower leveled cultivators could combat the ones in a higher realm.

    If it was up to him, he would have spread the knowledge through the lands to at least prepare the border regions for the onslaught. He was informed that the areas where the bridges to the other empires were supposed to appear the Long Clan had set up fortresses.

    Even with those in place, he wasn''t sure if the Long Clan was expecting to go through a proper fight. With the eradication of the Soaring Dragon Sect, victory was more unlikely. The Azure Emperor was in high spirits though, it seemed that this hidden treasure that they had in store was supposed to be the ace to bring them victory.

    The only problem with that was they weren''t willing to show it to him just yet. The elders were quite against Long Qing showing him this Goliath. It looked like they wanted to wait first, which made some sense.

    There was a part of them that was convinced that their cultivation had improved with their advancement. They believed that those other empires were probably at most at the level of the two grand sects. In their opinion, they would probably be able to achieve victory with conventional tactics and their own strength.

    "This demonic cultivator is extremely dangerous, that is why I The Golden Dragon from the Long Clan implore you to not face him alone, you will be rewarded for any information that might bring us closer to his apprehension¡­"

    Zhang Dong continued with his speech. He knew that the regular cultivators in the empire had no chance against Wang Long. They would just feed him more spirit points if they confronted him. Thus he only required them to point him in his general direction. He was also someone with a system and probably the only person that could handle him in a one-on-one scenario.

    "I will personally dispose of this demonic cur, thus I implore you to report any strange occurrences¡­"

    As he continued he listed a few particular things about Wang Long''s characteristics. One of them was how he liked to force himself upon young and beautiful women. The other was his soul beast, while he could disguise his face it wouldn''t be that easy to change his draconic soul beast.

    While the information traveled through the whole empire, he expected Wang Long to also see it. This couldn''t be helped but might also lower the body count of the victims. After knowing that there was an empire-wide manhunt for him, he would probably try to hide somewhere safe.

    There was a certain shadowy place for people like Wang Long. It would probably be the first one that he would attempt to make his own. But if the man was smart he would avoid any obvious places where demonic cultivators met.

    "Live long, prosper, and may the Qi be strong with you¡­"

    As with his own sect, he ended the speech with a few chosen words that stuck with him from his previous world. The response to his speech was met with lukewarm stares from the Long Clan populace.

    He didn''t really mind this as this was quite the big exposition pill to swallow. They were getting a new high elder that was on par with the current Azure Emperor. At least on paper, the two should have the same amount of power and prestige.

    Reality was often disappointing though, Zhang Dong didn''t fool himself into believing that the people would just accept him. It would probably take many years or something like the expedition he went through with his Zhang Clan to prove himself to them.

    After the speech took place and he was inaugurated as the Golden Dragon, he noticed a change in his system. The part that had changed was his faction display. While he was still listed as the leader of the United Element Sect faction, he was now also a member of the Long Clan faction that had a separate tab.

    There was not much on that one as besides the Azure Emperor that was next to him on the faction tree, there was no one else. This was probably all due to him not having a favorable relationship with anyone besides his new brother.

    His approval rating was also not fully maxed out and only 70%. Before he showed that he was the actual true descendant the approval rating was probably lower. The elders that were here didn''t seem to trust him enough to show up on the faction tab, the queen nor her children appeared on it either.

    ''I guess everyone is just putting up with me due to Long Qing¡­ I wonder if they would accept me as their new Emperor if anything happened to him¡­''

    This was something that he expected people to think. He was a powerful cultivator on the level of the Azure Emperor. From their standpoint, it wouldn''t be surprising if he pointed his sword at Long Qing. It was actually a very natural event as all of the cultivators here had progressed in mind.

    The spot on top of the empire would be a natural place for them to go for if they were in Zhang Dong''s position. Thus everyone that was on the Azure Emperor side were on guard as they didn''t know when the Golden Dragon would make his move.

    ''I bet after they gather more information people from the opposing factions will try to contact me¡­''

    Zhang Dong on the other hand didn''t want to have anything to do with the inner struggles of the Long Clan. He just wanted to use their help to get past the coming hurdle. They were something that he needed, if the war was really coming he might even have to move his own sect here.

    He didn''t want to admit it but this flying fortress was probably better suited for a prolonged defensive. After reading through some craftsmen books that were here it would take some time to get his own sect up into the air along with the whole city. The problem as always was a proper power source which this flying city apparently had. It was something hidden away quite well as even with his senses he could not tell where it was.

    "That was an interesting speech my brother, I see that you really wish to get to this Wang Long."

    "Yes, I would sleep much better if he vanished from these lands."

    "Come, this is not the time for such matters, we need to feast!"

    "Well¡­ about that¡­"

    Zhang Dong stopped before his new brother. Long Qing was clearly not taking things as seriously as he was. Now that he had done what he came here for there was nothing keeping him here. His family was waiting for him at home as well, his disciple was still in the ship that they left behind.

    "Is there something bothering you brother?"

    "I have to return to my own family, I have already overstayed my welcome but don''t worry we shall meet again, for now though¡­ I''ll have to bid you all farewell."

    With a quick clasp to his fist and a bow he just vanished. Golden dribblers of lights were left behind as he left the people here quite shocked.

    "Instant teleportation?"

    "H-how? It shouldn''t be possible without the proper knowledge of the formation¡­"

    They were all shocked as the grand formation that was in the city didn''t allow anyone to teleport in or out. If they attempted they would be struck down by the defensive features but this Golden Dragon apparently was able to get out as they could not feel his presence anywhere else.

    "Ha Ha! My brother is full of mysteries of his own, don''t worry elders, we should trust him!"

    The Azure Emperor just started laughing while everyone else was left with question marks above their heads.

 Chapter 414

    "What did I just watch¡­ Did that guy really include quotes from old movies in that speech?"

    A man covered head to toe by a stylish dark robe was looking up into the heavens. There in the clouds was a grand projection of a face that he knew. While listening to the long-winded tale he placed his hand to his cheek where he still remembered getting hit by the person that just finished talking.

    Wang Long was his name which he chose as a joke. Now after being the reason for his own sect''s downfall he was taking it easy in one of the largest cities that the empire had to offer. The projection came as a surprise as he had never seen anyone else use these sorts of treasures in this world. At most, they had theater plays or musicals that were not recorded for later use.

    "Are we going to have two emperors now?"

    "How can that happen?"

    "So is this Golden Dragon just a part of the Long Clan or something?"

    "It doesn''t matter who he is you fool, he is clearly someone important so keep your mouth quiet if you see someone from the capital!"

    Wang Long was sitting at an empty table at a certain costly inn. After his plan of eradication was fruitful he was at a loss. To him, this was a game but one that was not that easy to play. There were no map markers pointing him to his next destination. In his mind, he needed to find the right NPC to show him to the next stage of this ''game''.

    While he was deliberating on his next move the speech happened. For the time being, he was hiding his face behind a certain skill that he bought from the system store. It was a demonic technique that made people perceive it to be different even when directly looking at it.

    This technique performed the same act as the one Zhang Dong was using but it was fundamentally different. The other one actually altered the person''s body structure at the molecular level. Which had its advantages and disadvantages.

    The only reason Wang Long went with this type of technique over the other was that he was quite vane. He did not want to change the perfectly crafted face that he possessed. If he did he felt like his new persona could crumble and that would remember his previous appearance before coming to this world.

    ''Look at those idiots talking... ''

    While sipping some expensive wine he continued to listen as after the speech was over, he was part of the news.

    "But that Wang Long is clearly a no good maniac."

    "You''re right, how could someone kill everyone from their own sect? Does he have no remorse for his own family?"

    "It was also the Soaring Dragon sect¡­ how do they expect us to deal with someone that could do that?"

    ''I did switch my alignment though¡­ where do demonic cultivators even go?''

    Wang Long was not someone that planned out things too well. This was the first time that he was truly alone even the place that he was in now wasn''t that far away from the Soaring Dragon Sect grounds.

    With the money that he took from there, he could actually live a life of leisure which made him regress to his old ways. In the city that he was in he could live in a good hotel while they delivered women to him. There wasn''t that much of a difference, with some spirit stones he could make almost everyone do his bidding.

    His main goal was to shut down his true opponent that was Zhang Dong. For now, he feared attacking his faction base even with his current improvement. He had no allies and no particular place that he could call his home.

    Zhang Dong had clearly gone for the faction building option that he had previously ignored. Now after his first loss he took some time to examine this part of his system tab. But without actually having a faction of his own, he could not test anything out.

    ''Do I need to create my own faction now? As a demonic cultivator it would probably be best to take over an evil sect¡­ but is there one that can go against that bastard?''

    While he mostly ignored the political and geographical lessons that his old sect tried to force upon him, he did know who the Azure Emperor was. If Zhang Dong had managed to trigger the emperor''s favor he would need to somehow counter it.

    At first, he thought that his only option would be to just drain people for spirit points and increase his battling capabilities. But luck was on his side as one of the NPC''s that he was eavesdropping on gave him some critical information.

    "Where do you think that murderous Wang Long vanished to? You don''t think he could be staying in our Fragrant Jade City?"

    "How would that make any sense? Who would be stupid enough to flee to the closest large city they can find?"

    The man telling this burst out in laughter while Wang Long''s face contorted into anger. It seemed that even this nobody knew that it would be unreasonable for a demonic cultivator to flee to the closest big city next to the crime scene.

    "We would have known if he passed through here, those demonic cultivators are cruel bastards!"

    "That''s true, we would have probably all been dead if he passed through here, or taken prisoner for some grotesque experiments!"

    The two old men shivered a bit as they knew that the evil cultivators liked making pills out of humans. The larger the cultivation of those humans the better the pill came out.

    "If I was him¡­ I''d probably head to the Eternal Dark?"

    "Oh, right there is still that place¡­It would make sense if he went there..."

    ''Eternal Dark?''

    Wang Long perked up at the mention of something he wasn''t quite aware of. He strained his brain which had been enhanced by the system. Even though he did not like learning new things, his memorization capabilities were superhuman.

    ''Oh yeah, now I remember¡­ it''s some kind of area at the fringes of the empire¡­''

    It was surrounded by dark clouds and acid rain. The Qi was corrupt and would suck away the energy of any cultivator that didn''t study demonic energies. It was filled with dangers and monsters at every corner.

    ''This could be it¡­''

    A lightbulb went off in his head, it all started making sense to him. If he thought in gaming ways, this was the perfect place for him to conquer. The righteous cultivators could not venture into these lands that were filled with many dangers. He on the other hand bought an immortal level demonic cultivation manual that was perfectly suited for it.

    ''I just need to go there and create my own demonic sect! No, wait. Why do I need to create it? I''ll just take over one of them!''

    Wang Long had seen how Zhang Dong managed to make his own faction stronger. He attributed everything that his enemy achieved to his system. Thus he believed that if he took over a sect there he could dump spirit points into this new faction.

    Through this, it would become stronger and act as his new army of demons. With his cultivation being over Zhang Dong''s and a large army of demonic cultivators and beasts, he would be victorious.

    ''That idiot isn''t even using his system right, the evil factions are always stronger and easier to farm.''

    Zhang Dong was clearly going with the good factions. The holy energies that he was using were proof of this. Wang Long knew that due to this his enemy couldn''t just go around killing people. Thus he would only be able to farm spirit points by converting spirit stones.

    On the other hand he went with the more morally gray faction at first but now he was switching to a morally corrupt one. He could even kill people from his own side and no one would probably bat an eye.

    ''I don''t need them to like me, if they fear me they will be forced to respect me and dedicate their life!''

    "This is it, this is what I will do!"

    The people that were having a conversation about the Dark Lands looked over to where Wang Long was seated. His outburst was loud and somewhat obnoxious which caused everyone to scowl at him.

    "What are you looking at?"

    Instead of apologizing though he started them down with anger in his eyes. The men instantly turned their heads to the side as Wang Long had a somewhat imposing air around him.

    "That''s what I thought!"

    Like a strutting peacock, he moved his chin up while standing up. Everyone went quiet for the time being after they noticed that the man that stood up was not hiding his Qi. It was truly immense and overbearing but thanks to Wang Long''s special disguising technique the people here didn''t perceive it as demonic Qi.

    "Hey there old man, I have a question for you¡­"

    Wang Long after the prolonged walk ended up directly in front of the two men that were discussing.

    "P-please s-senior I didn''t mean to offend."

    "No need to be scared, I just wanted to ask you about what you were discussing, Eternal Dark was it? Where can I find this Eternal Dark?"

    The two men were now lowering their heads while panicking. But this was not the first time that they interacted with a scary cultivator, if he asked them a question they just needed to be respectful and give him the information.

    "Ah yes the Eternal Dark, you just need to go towards the¡­"

    Wang Long just smirked while looking at his system map feature that as more information was given to him continued to fill up. Soon he had the correct path towards his destination.

    "Good, this will do."

    The old man was given a pat on the shoulder before Wang Long left the premises. The moment he was down on the ground and outside the large expensive inn, he heard a dinging sound.

    Hong Fung has been slain, you have earned 1 spirit point.

    When looking up to the tower he could see a dark green cloud bursting out through the windows and eating its way down through the whole structure.

    ''Damn low leveled shits, I need to get to a higher leveled place than this!''

    As he departed the screams of his victims filled his ears but to someone like him that didn''t see them as anything other than spirit points their pleads went unanswered.. What was on his mind now was the next stage of this game which would consist of gaining even more power and his own personal army.

 Chapter 415

    "I thought I got over my stage fright already."

    Zhang Dong was sitting in his own quarters back at the Argonaut flagship. He had specifically used his teleportation feature to show to his new allies that he was no simple cultivator. Even now they were probably wondering how he was able to escape from their teleportation blocking formations.

    In reality, he wasn''t that sure either as this was a feature of the system that was above his current knowledge level. It was clear to him that the teleportation feature had to be at least immortal grade or even further beyond that. What was above the immortal level even he didn''t know as his old system store never showed him any techniques above it.

    When remembering his old store he also remembered Wang Long. With the speech given he would be probably receiving a lot of false information about other demonic cultivators. Luckily there probably weren''t that many demonic cultivators at the nascent soul level which would narrow the search.

    While he hoped that he would be able to flush Wang Long out he didn''t like his chances. Thus he consulted the only person that he could.

    ''Bob, is there no way of tracing Wang Long?''

    ''Not enough data.''

    ''Isn''t there some way to track other system users? Don''t they possess some kind of unique spiritual energy signature or trail? There must be something, when the items they buy from the store, there always was a strange distortion in space, can''t we track that?''

    ''Calculating¡­ proposition is feasible but requires Qi fingerprint of the target user.''

    Zhang Dong nodded as this was along the lines that he thought it would go. Bob would be used as a bloodhound to sniff out Wang Long, for this, he needed to find a place where his opponent had been. One place was his own sect where they battled with each other but he wasn''t sure if Wang Long accessed his store there or not.

    "If I can''t find a traceback at home, I''ll have to go to the Soaring Dragon Sect¡­"

    That was probably the area with the largest concentration of Wang Long''s energies. Apparently, the demonic energies that he transferred into it were still swirling around. No one below the nascent soul level could safely enter it.

    Even the masters at those levels couldn''t hold out long without some kind of demonic Qi protection. Luckily Zhang Dong came equipped with a massive amount of holy energy that would just filter the environment out for him.

    "Come in."

    "Master."

    Zhang Liu entered through the automatic door to give a small report.

    "We should be at the Sect in a couple of days, Master but..."

    "But?"

    Zhang Dong asked as he saw Zhang Liu fidgeting around.

    "Don''t worry if you have a question you can go ahead and ask your master, I won''t bite."

    He chuckled slightly as after spending some time with his male disciple the young man seemed quite distant. This was probably due to how much time had passed since the last time the two saw each other.

    "Ah¡­ then¡­ I think you should go ahead and up¡­"

    "Go ahead?"

    "Yes, we will be fine Master! So you can return!"

    Zhang Liu started to awkwardly shout the sentences out at the end as if he wanted to get his point out at the fastest possible rate.

    "Oh¡­"

    Zhang Dong could have directly teleported back to the sect but decided to stay in the flying ship for one main reason. He was there to protect the people inside as he did not know if they would be attacked by some unruly anti-Golden Dragon faction.

    While he had been introduced as a true descendant and blood brother to the Azure Emperor, this didn''t mean that everyone accepted him. He could see some loyal subjects trying to remove him out of fear of him causing a revolt. He had teleported away to safety and probably no one knew that he was inside this ship but he was still worried.

    "The other sect members also agree, I''m sure Master has more important tasks to carry out, you don''t need to worry about us, we will arrive safely!"

    "Heh¡­"

    He could only smile while standing up from his seat. There he went over to Zhang Liu and gave his awkward pupil a pat on the shoulder. He wasn''t sure what had happened for these past five years but he hoped that there would be enough time for more pleasantries later.

    "You''re probably right if they wanted to attack as they missed the best chance they had¡­"

    They were already out of the Long Clan territory that wasn''t all that large, to begin with. They clearly didn''t care about any other spot than what was around their floating city.

    "Well then Liu, I''ll leave the ship to you... oh, right I almost forgot¡­"

    He placed his finger on Liu''s forehead and injected some of his knowledge that he had gathered through the years. When parting his techniques to his students he didn''t take into account that he would be gone for that long. He didn''t like to push too many advanced arts onto them before they were ready. While he did leave many books and notes this impartation technique was far superior as always.

    "Master!"

    "Yes I know, you should study hard. If you continue like this you might be able to reach the nascent soul level soon."

    It was kind of funny how little time it took for a person to reach this fabled realm. With the help of high-quality techniques, it was not hard to do it before reaching the age of forty. This only showed him that there was something wrong here.

    If a person could progress this fast, why weren''t there any immortal level masters around? It seemed that going past the nascent soul level was impossible for the regular people of this world. It didn''t seem that anyone would get anywhere if they didn''t have the system''s help.

    Even with it around it would require an astonishing amount of spirit points to achieve the breakthrough.

    ''This war scenario is looking more and more like just a scripted spirit point farm¡­''

    To him that had a whole sect and family to worry about this wasn''t such a good thing. On the other hand to someone like Wang Long that didn''t care about anything else by himself, it would be free points left and right. He could attack each of the fighting empires until he got powerful enough to face Zhang Dong.

    ''I really need to find this maniac before this can happen¡­ the other option is to get my faction stronger¡­''

    How far Wang Long could go by farming spirit points from this war was unknown to him. From what he remembered the cost of immortal grade techniques and cultivation boosts was quite staggering. It was to the point of killing hundreds of nascent soul masters for one of those store-bought items.

    "I will make you proud Master!"

    "Oh right and one more thing¡­"

    Before leaving Zhang Dong looked at his disciple with a somewhat scolding look.

    "You should really stop letting Nuana walk all over you¡­"

    After returning to this world he noticed that his disciple was still somewhat at the mercy of his wife''s younger sister. She acted all cutesy with him but he had Liena to keep her in check. In Liu''s situation, there was no one, he needed to man up and not let her walk all over him.

    "Nuana? W-we are doing fine¡­"

    "Didn''t look that way to me¡­ she didn''t have trouble knocking you out before¡­"

    Liu slumped his shoulders while flopping his head down. Because of his mishap, Nuana was put in danger.

    "Here, you can use this mirror to train."

    Zhang Dong pointed to the mirror that was in these private quarters.

    "The mirror, Master?"

    "Yes, I want you to look at it and imagine that you are talking with Nuana."

    Zhang Liu wasn''t sure what this was about but not like he could refuse a direct command from his master. Even less after he had imparted some new knowledge to him. Thus he moved in front of the mirror and tried imagining that he was looking at Nuana.

    "Okay, now Imagine that she is trying to get you to do something that you dislike."

    "Something I dislike?"

    "Yes anything, does she give you some unreasonable requests?"

    "Well¡­ she does like to travel a lot¡­ to the point of me not being able to cultivate¡­"

    Zhang Liu gave out a sigh as he remembered a couple of the conversations. All of them he capitulated which pushed his progress back. The only way he dealt with Nuana''s approaches was by hiding himself in hard-to-access locations with the hopes that she wouldn''t be able to find him before he was done with his training.

    "That will do¡­ Now repeat after me¡­ I will not go with you, I must train, now leave!"

    Zhang Liu rubbed his head while staring at the mirror as he felt somewhat silly saying these words. But as this was just him looking at the mirror, it didn''t pose much of a problem even for him.

    "Louder! Put some heart into it!"

    "I will not go with you! Now leave me be!"

    Zhang Dong was a bit surprised as his disciple started out right shouting at the mirror as if it was a true enemy. He could see some pent up frustration in Liu''s motions as he had his fist clenched tightly.

    "Oh hey Nuana, when did you arrive?"

    "Liu, how could you say something like that!"

    Zhang Liu looked to the side and saw Feng Nuana just standing there with tears in her eyes. The moment he saw her his anger subsided and he quickly started apologizing. This caused him to get smacked in the back of the head by Zhang Dong as he had failed the test.

    "Huh? Master."

    The moment he got clobbered the Nuana he was apologizing to dissolved into the scenery.

    "Can''t tell the difference between an illusion and the real Nuana? You still have much to learn¡­"

    Zhang Dong chuckled as he saw his disciple drop his head in defeat yet again. But now after his little prank had gone through he seemed to have reached an epiphany.

    "Well, I''ll leave you to it. You need to clear out demons like this or the demonic cultivators could use illusions like this to get to you."

    "Yes, Master!"

    "Good, then I''ll see you back at the sect, there is much I must discuss with the elders."

    Thus he clicked the system''s teleportation option to get back home. There he just wanted to flop into his wife''s ample bosom and sleep.. REgretfully being the Patriarch he had his obligations that needed to be fulfilled first.

 Chapter 416

    ''Well, that went better than I expected¡­ now what?''

    After going through the Long Clan, raising his holy energies to a new level, and giving his disciple some pointers, Zhang Dong was back in his secret lair. It was the same room he teleported to when the Soaring Dragon Sect was attacking through which he could look at his territory without being bothered.

    While he wanted to do nothing more than to return to his family, he needed to think. What would be the best plan for the coming future that was more uncertain than ever. Zhang Dong wasn''t sure but he needed to make a decision. The other elders could make propositions but in the end, it was him that needed to make the decision. A decision that would dictate if more people would die or not.

    ''What options do I have¡­''

    He started to pace back and forth while looking at the monitor screens. On them, there were many sect members running around. The city had been freshly destroyed and the rubble was still being cleared out. The city populace was also still scattered in all directions while some sect members were with them for protection.

    ''If those bridges between empires open up, then the common people are at risk¡­''

    The first problem was with the normal people that just wanted to live their lives. Not everyone cared for this war between empires as not everyone was a cultivator. In reality, the majority of people in the world were in the ''mortal'' category while the ''immortals'' were a vast minority.

    But in a world where one cultivator could without effort eradicate thousands of lives with a wave of their hand, it was obvious who was in charge. What the mortals could do was flee to the outer reaches where the spiritual energy was low and cultivators were sparse.

    His sect was in such an area that posed a problem of its own. It was a very well-established sect with many resources and good technology. It would probably be a prime target for any attackers from the other empires.

    Luckily the escape mechanism of the sect had not been used yet. They would be able to flee to the designated locations if their formations fell to the attack. Thus some would probably want to remain here and wait it out. The grand formation was powered by the spirit vein under their lands, it was much more powerful than regular formations at a close level to the one that the Long Clan had.

    When he looked from the point of the game, the Long Clan flying city was probably the last bastion of defense. From what he knew, the Azure Emperor was sure that even if they lost all of their lands, the flying fortress could not be breached.

    Some would probably prefer this turtle tactic. Most of the cultivators just cared about their own lands and sects. If the rest of the empire was eradicated in this war, it didn''t matter at all. After a hundred years they would just repopulate them again with their own branch families like the last time this happened.

    It seemed to Zhang Dong that the Long Clan flying city was something to act as a safe point for the system holder. From there they could leave and farm for spirit points in a world filled with battle. Then maybe within those hundred years they would achieve victory and amass enough points to get to the next level.

    ''Maybe the longer this war lasts the stronger the enemies will become¡­ something like a horde mode in games, they will just keep coming in waves, some of them bringing bosses that you''re supposed to defeat?''

    He could only speculate on the true way that this new phase would play out. If the enemies just came in waves then having a good well-protected fortress would be the best option. But the big question was if this sect that he had created was enough to push back the impending doom or not.

    If the spiritual formations fell in the coming onslaught, then he would be responsible for many deaths of his own people. It might have been better to just move their base of operations into the Azure Emperor''s castle.

    ''There is one problem, I don''t think they will just let me move the entire city into their territory¡­;

    While the Azure Emperor treated him like a blood brother, he wasn''t the only one there. Zhang Dong could see them only accepting the innermost sect members without letting him bring over the common people that would be left out in the dust.

    The lands that he controlled were also vast, much more than Spirit Spring City. There were various other similar metropolitans with millions of people living there. They were run by small clans that had trouble even producing one core formation master.

    He was unaware of the scope of the attackers but how things were now, he believed them to have many cultivators at similar power levels as nascent soul masters. Saint Emperor and Saint Emperors from the Emerald Phoenix empire would probably swarm them. Without nascent soul cultivators to patrol the lands the cities would be in shambles.

    ''The sect had improved a lot though¡­ they should have a good chance of defending the lands¡­''

    One good thing that came out of Wang Long''s attack was that he had forced his sect members to progress further. Now his sect probably possessed one of the largest forces in the empire. The number of early-stage nascent soul cultivators they now had was staggering, probably enough to give the big three a run for their money.

    ''If I ask the others for their input¡­''

    While looking at the motivated masters already training and improving their newly gained cultivation, he knew what they would want. The people from his sect were born in difficult times, it was an eat or be eaten kind of world. They would probably want to rise up to the challenge and prove themselves, gain experience through battle as well as new resources to go further beyond.

    "But there are more important things in this world than blind pride."

    While he knew that his people would dive into the midst of battle the moment he ordered them, he was conflicted in asking. His gaze turned to a certain screen on which he saw two children. They were in the process of a fight which was somewhat surprising.

    On one side was Zhang Xiu, her eyebrows were at an angle as she was yanking what looked to be some kind of child-sized doll. On the other side was Zhang Jun whose face was filled with tears. There were no ?du?ts in the room; the two were as their mother was away ordering some sect to reposition some furniture.

    As their house had crumbled to dust after he revealed the flying fortress built under it, they needed to relocate into a new mansion. One of the elders agreed to relocate elsewhere as they took over one of the larger mansions at the main sect.

    This was the first time that Zhang Dong saw his kids interacting without ?du?ts being there. It seems that Xiu was in charge as she had no trouble shouting at her brother who was desperately trying to hold onto the doll.

    ''Wait that toy¡­ is it?''

    Being a big nerd back in his old world, he always enjoyed large robots. Thus not knowing what his kids would like he created two small robots, one pink and one blue. One of these robots was now being pulled from both sides by his children, it was the pink one that he had given to his daughter before leaving.

    ''Wait¡­ wasn''t the other one here¡­''

    He had almost forgotten all about it as he had lost his entire spatial ring and all the items there. Luckily some of his creations were here, right in this room that he used to get away from it all. In one of the spatial rings here he found it, a half-meter tall toy robot. It had a little blue shield in one hand and a little gun in the other.

    While this looked like a toy, it was actually a functional puppet with some armor over it. It could carry out basic commands and even fly around. The little blaster it had in its hand could shoot out a blast of spiritual energy. These blasts would produce a nice light show but would not cause any harm even to a child.

    The other one that he gave to his daughter had a more feminine shape and was red. It had a similar armament and function as this one as he hoped that they would order them around to perform battle moves. He hoped to improve on these toys later but as he was in a rush this was all for now.

    It brought a smile to his face that the last toy that he made for his daughter was still being used. But as he was reminiscing about the past, he saw on the screen that an accident happened. The toy was made from softer elements and was not really built to resist that much pulling. Soon one of the arms that was being pulled snapped away causing both of the kids to fly in opposite directions.

    ''Oh¡­ she looks really mad¡­''

    Xiu was left with a one-armed battle bot toy, while Liu was left with an arm. The older sister''s previously mad face started watering up as well and it seemed that her brother was in for a beating.

    While he thought this was a normal reaction from his daughter''s side, he wasn''t sure why his son was so clingy too. The toy that he made was not something that was made for him, he still had some attachment to it. At first, he thought that his son didn''t care that much about his father but maybe he was wrong about that.

    ''I guess it''s time to act like a father for once¡­''

    He gave out a sigh while his heart rate increased. A whole year had passed since he had to act as a father. Before it was quite easy, his daughter was just a bundle of energy that was quite attached to him.

    Now it wouldn''t be so easy, she was much older and he also had a five-year-old son that didn''t know him at all.. This might have been the hardest enemy that he would face to this day, being a parent.

 Chapter 417

    "What did you do!"

    "I¡­ I didn''t mean it¡­"

    An angered girl was looking at her younger brother who was holding a part of a precious gift. It was the girl''s only reminder of her father that had vanished five years ago. Even though the father had returned to them, the toy robot still had a huge sentimental meaning.

    "I''m sure that it can be fixed¡­"

    Zhang Jun, who had been left with the arm on the ground, started to slowly move towards his older sister. Before he could try to attach the dislocated arm Zhang Xiu pulled away.

    "No, you''ll just make it worse, don''t touch it!"

    Xiu quickly smacked Jun''s arm away with all her might. But this also caused him to drop the robot arm that he was holding. The two looked in shock as the toy part flew into the distance. Though these two were still children, their strength was already immense. Their bodies came from a nascent soul master which somewhat enhanced their inner Qi and body as well.

    They were still children though, they didn''t really go through proper training yet. Jun was quick to turn around to try and catch the arm but so did his sister. Both of them tossed each other at it which caused them both to collide with each other.

    "Ow¡­"

    "Oof¡­"

    Soon they realized that they were both down on the ground. Jun also felt that he landed on something harder and as he tried to get up, he heard a crunching sound. With shock plastered all over his face, he quickly tried to remove himself from the floor.

    "N...no¡­ I didn''t mean to, it''s because sister wouldn''t listen¡­"

    What the two kids discovered was a broken toy robot arm. While previously it might have only required a quick glue job, now on the other hand, the elbow joint was also broken. The fingers that were actually operational were also a bit cracked as this toy was made from rather soft materials that imitated plastic more than metal.

    Zhang Xiu looked at the broken part that didn''t look salvageable. Then she turned her head to the person that was responsible for it. Her brother was standing there and prattling on that it wasn''t his fault. She didn''t want to hear it, thus she raised her fist up towards him with the intent to strike him.

    While Jun was only five, his sister was still older. While no proper training was given, she performed some breathing exercises to enhance her Qi already. If the smack that was flying towards him connected the young man would probably feel it the next day.

    But as the small fist was about to land on little Jun''s cheek it connected with a strange bubble-like substance. Instead of hitting his face, Xiu''s fist bounced back. This rebound caused her to float into the air while also being surrounded by a shiny transparent bubble.

    "Now, now, you two shouldn''t be fighting over trivial things like this."

    The two children heard a man''s voice call out from afar. Soon they saw the bright white hair and chiseled jaw of their father as he floated their way. The moment Jun saw Zhang Dong approach he went silent, his head dropped as he evaded his gaze. Xiu on the other hand burst out in tears while squirming around.

    "But daddy, he¡­ he destroyed the toy that you left me!"

    "Oh? He did?"

    Zhang Dong glanced towards Jun who was trying not to look at him. He then slowly approached the young boy that was floating in a bubble of his creation.

    "I-I didn''t mean to¡­ I just w-wanted to help¡­"

    For once he tried to explain himself to the father that he never knew. Finally, he gathered up some courage to look at the man that was approaching him. The young boy expected to see a stern look of disapproval but instead, he saw a big smile. The confusion continued as he felt a large hand being placed on his head, then his hair being messed up by some rough petting.

    "Is that so? Good going then."

    "Good going?"

    Both Jun and Xiu were confused as they floated down to the floor. The bubbles that were holding them in the air soon burst and they both landed on their posteriors. While Jun was just confused, Xiu was still mad. She looked at the destroyed robot arm that she cherished and was close to bursting out in tears.

    "But daddy¡­"

    "Now, there is no need to cry, it''s just a toy and toys can be fixed, just wait a moment and daddy will fix it."

    "Daddy can fix it?"

    "Yes, I''m the one that made it for you, I wouldn''t be much of a craftsman if I couldn''t fix the items I make."

    Zhang Dong laughed out in a gentle fashion while pointing his finger towards the cracked robot arm. With a little wave, it was brought over towards a nearby table. The rest of the pink robot was brought over here as well and the kids were a bit astonished to see the parts floating around while being covered by a golden glow.

    "I guess this will be the first time for both of you, let me show you have daddy crafts treasures. First, we bring out the materials, in this case, I don''t need much, just enough to cover the damages."

    Zhang Dong placed the cracked robot arm next to the toy along with a grayish clump that looked similar to clay. When he turned to look at his children they seemed to be really interested in this procedure which made him smile even more.

    "But daddy¡­ how will that gray thing fix it?"

    "Hah, just watch, this quite a handy item, it''s called cheytine, while it might look like everyday clay, it can do much more¡­"

    "Chyt¡­"

    "C..ine?"

    While the two tried to repeat the name of the mineral that he was using, he continued with his crafting presentation.

    "When a craftsman reaches a high stage in his craft, they are able to create treasures without the need of any proper tools like hammers. First, we produce flames and toss the cheytine in¡­"

    He continued by producing a bright golden flam with his hand. The gray clump of cheytine was then tossed into it along with the destroyed toy''s arm. This caused Xiu to flinch as it looked like her father was further destroying the toy that was made for her.

    "No need to be scared, these are special flames used for crafting, they do not destroy, instead they create."

    It didn''t take long for the items to melt and bind with each other. With another wave of his finger, the liquid that was created started changing shape. Soon it took the appearance of the robot arm, now without any blemishes or cracks.

    The two kids had their eyes glued to this phenomenon. While they had witnessed other people perform blacksmithing, they had never seen someone craft items in this way. This technique was something only a nascent soul master would be truly capable of.

    It also required pristine concentration and the exact knowledge of what the craftsman was making. If for a fraction of a second Zhang Dong''s attention was brought elsewhere, the process would be ruined and even an explosion could occur. For someone with his experience, this was as easy as breathing.

    The rest of the pink robot floated next to the now repaired arm. Soon the shoulder joint was connected back into place and the toy was back to its previous form.

    "There we go, good as new. X-Warrior 1, perform the salute!"

    "It works!"

    Zhang Xiu moved towards the toy and picked it up from the ground. She started to twirl around while holding it above her head while laughing. Then at the end of the spin, she placed the toy on the ground and grasped her father''s th??h.

    "I love you, daddy!"

    "See, there was no reason to cry or be angry at your brother."

    Zhang Dong placed his hand on both Xiu and Jun''s heads and ruffled them both up. While Xiu was giggling around, the younger boy remained silent. The boy was still somewhat reserved but there was a change. During the moment that he was repairing the toy, he noticed that Jun''s eyes were quite sparkling. It was clear that he was interested in the process but probably didn''t know how to express his interest.

    "Now, don''t you two have something to say to each other?"

    He stopped petting them, the two children looked at each other, Jun moved his head down while Xiu pouted while turning her head to the side.

    "Now don''t be like that, accidents will happen, the toy can be easily replaced but you can''t replace your family."

    After a moment of pouting the two finally managed to reconcile.

    "I''m sowwy¡­"

    "Me too, I''m sorry¡­"

    Zhang Dong just nodded while smiling, this was not over yet as he was still holding out on one last thing. While Xiu was happily looking at her toy, Jun continued to steal glances towards it.

    "Hey Jun."

    The moment Zhang Dong called out to him, the small boy flinched and almost fell on his behind.

    "No need to be afraid of your father, I brought something for you."

    "Something for me?"

    "Yes, here."

    With a small wave of his hand, Zhang Dong brought out the other toy robot that he was holding in his spatial ring. The gift was placed on the ground close to the pink toy robot that belonged to Zhang Xiu.

    "This is X-Warrior 2 and it''s yours."

    "Mine?"

    Zhang Jun looked at the blue robot that was standing on the ground. It was a bit bulkier than the pink one and clearly crafted with a more masculine look in mind.

    "Yes it''s yours, daddy made it a long time ago but never had a chance to give it to you before he had to leave¡­"

    While Zhang Dong tried to explain himself, his young child didn''t seem to care that much. He was more focused on the toy that was standing in front of him than on the explanation.

    "Why don''t you give him a command, it reacts to the same ones like the one that your sister has."

    His plan was to create more of these toys later as he did love when these types of robots combined with each other. For that he would need to make at least two more, maybe one for himself and one for his wife. Then they could have them combine with each other to form the ultimate toy robot.

    "C-can I?"

    "Sure you can, it''s yours now, how about you play with your sister?"

    Xiu looked at the blue robot that was there and then back to her own. Luckily for Zhang Dong she seemed to prefer the more girly looking model while her brother was taken in by the blue one.

    The kids finally started giving out some voice commands while their father looked over them. This small moment of peace would be burned into his mind, helping him through the dire times they were heading in¡­

 Chapter 418

    "Is everything alright?"

    "Ah yes, sorry I spaced out a bit there¡­"

    "You have a lot of nerve to space out when such a beauty is right next to you!"

    Zhang Dong chuckled while hugging his wife closer. It was the dawn of the next day, after catching up with his children it was then time for his wife. One night of passion later he woke up with many thoughts crowding his head. Which continued all the way until the next day.

    "The meeting is going to start soon, we need to get up¡­"

    After a night of p???sur?, it was time to get back to work. While he had gone through his decision in his head, he still intended to listen to the people he was responsible for.

    "Do we really have to?"

    To his surprise, Liena that most of the time was the proper cultivator in the relationship, wanted to skip the boring talk with the elders.

    "It hasn''t been long since you have returned, the children need their father."

    From a family standpoint, it would probably be better if he remained at the sect ground to build up the relationship with his son and daughter. Regretfully the people from the other empires would not wait for that, neither would Wang Long. His biggest enemy remained at large and he had no idea where to search for him.

    "I know but if we don''t act now, their future will be at stake."

    "I know¡­"

    Liena nodded as he had clued her in about the coming war as he was returning from the empire. The other elders had also been informed via Zhang Liu that was close to returning home.

    After a few moments, both of them put their robes back on. Zhang Dong''s gaze focused on his wife as she was just as he remembered her. Five years did nothing to diminish her beauty probably before she reached the age of five hundred it would be hard to spot a wrinkle.

    As he was the Patriarch everyone was already waiting for his arrival. The meeting chamber was still the same as the sect wasn''t damaged in the Soaring Dragon Sect ?ssault.

    Things had changed a bit though, with his absence the power balance had been shifted towards people like Huo Qiang and his Huo Clan. While he had feared that something like this would have happened, he was thankful to his old friend that he didn''t succumb to the allure of power.

    With Zhang Dong gone it wouldn''t be hard for the Huo clan faction to take over. They did have the most nascent soul level masters and also the strongest one of them all. They would be crippling the sect though as they knew that Liena would not give up her position without a fight.

    In a sense, the fear of other sects attacking during an infighting process had worked in favor. Without enough power to force the other side to capitulate without a fight, it was quite hard to change the status quo.

    ''I guess having factions at a similar level is good for keeping order but this only works if they are close to equal¡­''

    In his sect there were mostly only two factions, the one that he was the leader of which was the Zhang Clan and Feng Clan factions. The other faction was on the Huo side and their allies that prefer doing things the old-fashioned way, by the sword or fist.

    "Senior brother Dong, when will we spar again? I need to show you all the new tricks that I have learned in these past five years!"

    "Qiang, this is not the place for this!"

    Before Zhang Dong could greet his old fight buddy, his wife placed herself between the two and started glaring.

    "It''s fine, Liena."

    Before they could continue their comedic routine of shouting profanities at each other, he decided to grab his wife by her waist, pick her up and place her on the nearby chair to the side. The other Elders weren''t quite used to something like this, seeing their powerful Matriarch being handled like a child was not something they were expecting.

    "Haha, that''s my senior brother!"

    Huo Qiang was ecstatic after seeing his shouting partner being put in her place. It totally evaded him that Zhang Dong was only doing it to keep both of them quiet but it was just easier to do it this way. If he wanted to shut Qiang up, he would probably have to give him a good thrashing in a spar. Then he would gain a few months of silence before the next challenge.

    "Why you¡­"

    "Okay everyone, quiet down, we have a lot of things to discuss!"

    Before his wife could retaliate he forced his aura through the whole chamber. This caused his voice to travel everywhere as well as showing that his cultivation realm was the largest in this room. The moment he did it, he could see some of the elder''s faces dropping down but mostly from the Huo Clan side.

    "As you might have heard¡­ there has been a recent revelation concerning my true roots¡­"

    "Yes, I would have never thought that you would turn up to be related to the Long clan, should we start calling you Long Dong now, Dong''er?"

    Zhang Jin with his somewhat younger-looking face and more vital energy commented as most people here were already aware of the Golden Dragon title.

    "That won''t be necessary, I will always be part of the Zhang Clan."

    The elders started murmuring with each other at his declaration. Normally a cultivator would quickly abandon their family name to join such a prestigious clan. They didn''t actually know that the only reason that their Patriarch didn''t was because of the naming.

    "I would wish to discuss the plans for the future, as some of you might know, a war is awaiting us¡­"

    While some of the inner circle elders knew about everything, there were still a lot of them that didn''t know what was happening. Zhang Dong quickly explained about the coming century-long war that would turn the empire upside down.

    At first he thought that they would be scared and try to run, but he had underestimated these cultivation nuts. Instead of fleeing, they seemed interested in the lands beyond the borders. The more he explained the more they were convinced to join the war effort and get stronger.

    "I say that we just wait here, there is no reason for us to fear these ''empires'', our sect is strong and now we even have the protection of the Azure Emperor himself, there is nothing we have to fear!"

    Surprisingly Huo Qiang''s father spoke up in favor of the war. Most of the elders nodded at this point as everyone felt confident in their power. It did help that quite a bit of them went through a drastic change.

    After Wang Long''s attack, he did boost them to new heights at the cost of most of his spirit stones and remaining spirit stones that the sect had. They would probably need to restock on those before attempting something similar but with him there, they were even more confident.

    "I guess you all have made up your mind?"

    The discussion didn''t even take more than an hour as everyone was in favor of fighting. They also wanted to expand their lands after the fact that they were so strong. They wanted to take back the lands that previously belonged to the Dark Palm Sect. With no fear of retaliation from the two sects that were occupying this land, they were resolute in taking it back.

    "I to wish to reclaim that land, Qiang, could you take a couple of our ascended brothers there and ask them to return the lands that we should have received?"

    Even he believed that they should have been given those lands. The ones that killed the Patriarch were them and not the other sects. They weren''t even given a speck from their treasure room, they were only left scraps that the other three sects didn''t want.

    "Now you are speaking my language brother!"

    "Wait, Zhang Zhi keep Huo Qiang company, make sure that he doesn''t go overboard, I don''t want a bloodbath to happen."

    Before Huo Qiang could leave Zhi was given an order to be a chaperone. They would also first send quick letters to notify that the other sects needed to leave the lands. But to be sure that they left most of their treasuries behind, he needed to send a proper battle-ready force of nascent soul masters along with the declaration.

    "As you command Patriarch!"

    Their United Element Sect was now a force to be reckoned with. The number of nascent soul masters that they had was staggering and if they managed to get their hands on a few spirit stone mines, it would only increase further.

    "Before the Heavenly Crane Sect can move in, we need to claim some of the lands that used to belong to the Soaring Dragon Sect."

    This was another big issue, what would become of all those resources. Their sect was also run by the Soaring Dragon Sect that was not there anymore. What would normally happen in this situation would be that the next strongest sect would get it all. This would be the Heavenly Crane Sect along with the Long Clan, but now they were in the conversation too.

    While their real strength was yet unknown, they had some accolades that would make people think twice before they attacked them. The first one was them defending themselves against Wang Long that later managed to eradicate his own sect. The next was that their Patriarch was Long Dong, the sworn blood-brother of the Azure Emperor.

    Just by being ?ssociated with the Emperor, their Sect would gain prestige at the same level as the big three powerhouses. While Zhang Dong didn''t intend to manage all of that land, he would still like to receive the taxes in the form of spirit stones from these lands.

    ''I won''t even need to rob those spirit stone mines, they will send everything to me but I have to be fast about it¡­''

    "Everyone listen up, we can''t waste any more time, we must get control of the most important lands, I need you to list the places with the largest spirit stone mines to me, we will start with those!"

    It was time to act, there was no way of knowing when this war would start. Wang Long was also waiting for him in the shadows, while his sect worked on taking over the other sects he would visit the Soaring Dragon Sect or at least what remained of it....

 Chapter 419

    "You can''t do this, we need to discuss it with the elders..."

    "Oh? Who is going to stop us? We can discuss everything with these!"

    A rather imposing-looking muscle-brained cultivator with red hair was hovering in the air along with three other ten nascent soul masters. All of them were hovering over what used to be the Dark Palm Sect main sect. Around them were many peeks which were producing a certain light.

    "If you think that your protective formation will last for long, you are mistaken."

    Besides The ten nascent soul masters, there were also some large ships hovering in the air. These ships were smaller versions of the Argonaut but were not much behind it. The whole area was surrounded and the protective formation that was pulsating with energy would not last for more than a day.

    "Elder Qiang, please calm down, the Patriarch has ordered us to offer them a branch before we act."

    "So that''s why he told you to come here¡­"

    Huo Qiang looked to the side where Zhang Zhi was floating about. The man was respected by him as he was probably the fourth-strongest person in the entire sect. His choice of weapon was a strange single-edged blade that Qiang would find hard to evade.

    "If elder Qiang would allow me to speak."

    Qiang just shrugged and flew back while Zhang Zhi took center stage. He soon opened his mouth and with the help of spiritual energy made his voice echo through the whole area.

    "Fellow Daoists from the Yinglong Pavilion, we have come to claim what was rightfully ours. Years have passed since our Patriarch had defeated the Dark Palm Sect''s leader, we are grateful that you have temporarily kept watch over the lands that rightfully belong to our United Element Sect. Now as our Patriarch has ascended to his rightful place at the side of the Azure Emperor you can relinquish this burden back to us¡­"

    After the debacle with the Limitless Sword Society that lost their leader after Zhang Dong slew him, they together with the Dragon Gate Sect moved in to distribute most of the lands between themselves. This was the center of their power base here though and rich with treasures.

    Zhang Dong ordered a swift occupation by force but not like he wanted to become some kind of bloody despot. He would let everyone keep their lives and some of the treasures if they just packed up their bags and left. Zhang Zhi''s words just let the other sect keep some face as it made it look as they were just safekeeping the place for Zhang Dong from the beginning.

    Now that it was known that he was the golden dragon and at a similar standing as the Azure Emperor, there was no shame in bowing their heads before him. It would actually make it look like this Yinglong Pavilion was in cahoots with the United Element Sect which would make the other sects fearful of them.

    "Ah yes¡­ that''s right, we were only safekeeping the treasures for the honorable Golden Dragon, the brother of our honored Azure Emperor!"

    After some back and forth the elders finally capitulated. There was just no way that they could go against a force this big without any backup. The cultivators from the United Element Sect could also teleport people onto their ships, even Zhang Dong could appear to eradicate them.

    There was enough information to back up the rise in power of this sect. Everyone also watched the royal broadcast which could not be faked. What remained was to hope that they would at least keep their lives.

    ¡­.

    "I see, good going Zhi, prioritize spirit stones and other treasures that store spiritual energy over weapons."

    "As you wish, Patriarch!"

    "Everything is going as planned, Liena is clearing things out at the borders, if everything goes well we can siphon the spirit stone tax towards our sect instead of the Heavenly Crane."

    After nodding he took off towards his next destination to which he was going solo. The war was approaching but Wang Long was the more important target. His enemy was a murder-happy individual that saw these people as nothing more than points to further his cause.

    Luckily Zhang Dong was knowledgeable about the system Wang Long was using. There was a large change in spirit point gaining after getting closer to the nascent soul level. Wang Long would find it really hard to gain anything from low level cultivators, even core formation masters would probably be giving him meager gains now.

    This was probably in place to encourage the system holder to go after stronger opponents closer to their own level. Farming points by killing mortals and low level cultivators would probably give fewer points than killing one nascent soul master.

    ''I hope that''s the case¡­ but not like I ever tried killing any of the non-combatants.''

    He could mostly just speculate as he never went through a massive killing spree. The system could have some kind of feature that could still absorb the energy from a massive massacre. Before any of that happened he needed to get to Wang Long, while his sect brothers were getting more resources he was flying towards ground zero.

    ''It sure is fun to be free like this¡­''

    With his current cultivation, he could fly at the speed of a great circle nascent soul master and the best thing was, that no one would stop him. As he rocketed through the various border regions of the other sects everyone just bowed their heads. The word had already spread and his golden dragon status had given him enough prestige to almost go anywhere.

    Yes, almost as when he arrived closer to what used to be the main area that was occupied by the Soaring Dragon Sect he found his first barrier.

    ''Someone placed a barrier here?''

    It was a literal barrier made from energy behind him; he could see some dark clouds gathering everywhere. The zone of demonic energy was further inside and this formation was certainly keeping it from spreading outside.

    "Halt, Identify yourself!"

    A small group of cultivators approached him, one of them was a nascent soul master at the middle stage and he had about ten core formation cultivators with him to boot. The robes that they were wearing was something he had seen before.

    They belonged to the Heavenly Crane Sect that now after the Soaring Dragon Sect''s demise was crowned the number two power in this empire. While the smaller and middle sized sects would push open their door for his new status, this sect was a bit different. They saw themselves at the same level as the Long Clan.

    "Oh? Do I really need to introduce myself, I did proclaim that I would search out the one named Wang Long, did you perhaps miss my inauguration speech, junior?"

    The man he was talking with was actually many times older but his cultivation would be considered lower. Zhang Dong was now the Golden Dragon so he needed to act like one. While this elder was probably held in high regard in his own sect, Zhang Dong did not really need to answer to anyone besides their high elders or Patriarch.

    "Y-you dare? J-junior¡­"

    The old man was taken aback by how he was speaking but before he could react one of the core formation cultivators next to him quickly whispered something into his ear.

    "This is¡­ I must apologize but I didn''t expect someone of your status to arrive at this forsaken land."

    "But why would the esteemed Long Dong the Golden Dragon grace us with his presence?"

    "Ah yes, I need to get there, so could you lower this formation for a moment, I wouldn''t want to destroy it."

    Zhang Dong smiled a bit while pointing towards the lands that previously were populated by many other cultivators. The dark smoke that covered the area was making it hard to see anything so he would need to get closer to examine it further.

    "You wish to go past the formation¡­ but the Supreme Elders¡­"

    The man moved his head to the side as it seemed that he was in some trouble. The Supreme Elders that he mentioned probably ordered him to keep everyone out. They probably didn''t foresee that Zhang Dong would arrive here so fast after he made that speech. They might have counted on him to just be all hot air and not follow through his claims but now he was here.

    "Don''t worry about your Supreme Elders, If I see them I''ll put in a good word for you."

    "But that wouldn''t really¡­"

    "No need to thank me, now please, I don''t have all day, the more we wait here the more potential victims could appear, I must examine this demonic presence that lurks inside."

    He knew well that there was a lot of peacocking involved in situations like this. The two parties were not against each other as they were in a truce. They still had their boundaries and them letting him just pass here would be a slight hit to their face.

    "Could you please wait honored Golden Dragon, I will inform a Supreme Elder and ask for permission this instant¡­"

    "Ah, that''s troubling indeed¡­ you see, the more we wait, the longer the madman remains in the empire. If you aren''t willing to let me pass, I will have to be somewhat reasonable¡­"

    As he spoke the other cultivators could feel a progressive increase in his power levels. While at first he seemed to be someone at the core formation level, his power exploded well past the nascent soul master that was here.

    "Senior please¡­"

    "I''m sorry but you have prattled on long enough."

    Without giving these people any more time he bolted towards the protective formation. Due to his formation master knowledge, it was not hard to find an adequate spot to just slip through. A small Zhang Dong sized hole was left behind but with a wave of his hand, he mended it in an instant.

    "Well then, I''ll be seeing you my fellow Daoists."

    The group of cultivators just looked on as Zhang Dong blasted into the distance and quickly vanished into the dark miasma.. On their minds was only the scolding that they would receive for not being able to stop this madman from going into a deadly zone filled with malicious beings.

 Chapter 420

    "He really did a number on these people, there is nothing left¡­"

    Like a light bug going through a dense dark bog, Zhang Dong continued to fly towards the center of this disaster. Dark Miasma was everywhere, it blocked out the sun and made the air toxic. If he didn''t have his holy aura around his body, his clothes would start to dissolve.

    The lack of fresh breathable air was also a problem, luckily he knew a technique to purify it as he went through the area. It was an old one that almost any demon hunter knew, the days as his persona flowed back into his head as he tried to compare this area to some of the demonic outbreaks he had inspected in the past.

    ''I have never went through demonic Qi this thick before, it must be feeding on the spirits of the dead¡­ their souls are crying out in rage¡­''

    Souls were very much a reality in this world and depending on how a person died they could turn into decrepit souls of the dead. These souls were skewed reflections of their former selves. They had jumbled memories of their lives but mostly what they focused was on the moment of death.

    The demonic techniques would only enhance the rage in these souls and would help them be created. These phantoms would be formed in places of massacres and could cause harm to regular people that did not know how to protect their own souls.

    These decrepit souls were broken, thus they longed to be whole again. There was only one thing that they d?s?r?d and that was to eat the soul energy of others. If they gained enough they could even gain sentience yet again. They would turn into powerful demonic creatures with a proper form, even humanoid ones that just ?usted for more soul energy.

    "Here they come¡­"

    For someone of his level of cultivation, it was not hard to pick up these demonic souls. Some of them looked like purple wills of wisps with human faces on them, while others had already consumed each other to form some larger horrors.

    Luckily Zhang Dong had a lot of practice against foes like this. They were just the type of being that he could easily dispatch just by absorbing their energies with the help of his soul core.

    As he stopped a glowing orb in the middle of his ?h?st appeared. It started spinning around to create a vortex of energy that started pulling the souls into it. Unless these decrepit souls managed to turn into proper demonic beings, he could just siphon them dry.

    At the Long Clan, he was able to gain a lot of holy energy and a new technique. Here on the other hand he could increase the size of his soul core. Even though he was making good progress it didn''t bring him much joy.

    Many people died here, millions of lives had been lost just because Wang Long wanted more power. In a sense, it was his fault as if he never pushed his enemy''s bu??ons he would probably not find himself backed into a corner.

    At the time he didn''t know though nor did he predict that the maniac would go through something like this. His main goal was to protect his own sect and family. It was regrettable but he already made peace with himself that he wouldn''t be able to save everyone.

    Thus any of the decrepit souls were absorbed into his body. This was only residual soul energy, the person it belonged to was already dead and had probably entered the reincarnation path.

    At least that was what the people of this world believed in, what actually happened to the dead he was unsure. With beings able to pull his soul into a world like this, he wouldn''t be surprised if there were more than one answer.

    ''There are a lot of them¡­ I must be getting close to ground zero.''

    The further he flew the more of these souls came out of the woodworks. They were all promptly absorbed by his soul core which slowly gained more power.

    Finally, he arrived at a large gate, or at least what was left of it. The symbols for the Soaring Dragon Sect were there, cracked and hard to read. When he arrived there he also started hearing strange wails which didn''t sound like the souls.

    "Zombies?"

    The living dead were quickly drawn to the light that he was producing. In the miasma, he could see ugly creatures that inhabited dead human corpses. The decrepit souls invaded these shells to create monsters that now wandered these lands.

    ''How many of them are there¡­''

    Zhang Dong didn''t expect to see this many monsters here. He expected to see some kind of ruin covered by miasma, instead, he saw jumbled-up messes of flesh wandering the streets. They were quite strange, not that familiar to regular zombies, they were much thinner. It was as if they were su?k?d dry by something before turning to nothing but skin and bones.

    ''It could have been some kind of absorption technique¡­''

    This was his best guess, Zhang Dong could absorb various energies like lightning. This could be the same for Wang Long that had switched to a demonic cultivator. These techniques focused on robbing people of their life force and transferring it to the demonic cultivator.

    It wasn''t surprising that his opponent went with a technique like that, it would give him a lot of power fast. This world was filled with life, this Empire was many times larger than the planet that he had come from. He would be surprised if there were a trillion people living here as there were many cities that housed a hundred million residents.

    While the miasma was thick, Zhang Dong could peer through it if he concentrated. Thus he used his spiritual sense to scour the land in all directions and only discovered more destruction and death.

    It had not been long since this place was destroyed; it didn''t seem that even the Heavenly Crane Sect had checked things out here. The people that were patrolling were probably temporary guards. He wouldn''t be surprised if they rushed a team of higher cultivators after he appeared there.

    They were probably looking into the demonic energies and hoping to get to the potential Soaring Dragon Sect stash later. But he knew that his opponent Wang Long would probably have lifted anything worthwhile like spirit stones.

    ''He was only the grandson of the Patriarch, this doesn''t mean that he knew every hidden treasure that some of the other elders could have kept hidden away, there could be places hidden away that he didn''t get to...also¡­''

    Zhang Dong thought that there could be potential survivors. Judging how untrusting most of the high leveled cultivators were, it wouldn''t be strange for them to create something akin to a secret lair. In those hidden away places, there still could be people, some family members of those elders that could have run there.

    ''I need to do something about this miasma¡­ it''s screwing up my sensors¡­ but first, Bob scan the area, this demonic energy should have Wang Long''s handprints all over them, create an energy profile for him!''

    "Affirmative.''

    After getting Bob it felt like he had a chip inside of his brain. With his help, he could do some things that went over the old system. What he now needed to do was to fly around and gather more data, this took him to a large hole that was too uniform to not have been created by some kind of explosion.

    The demonic energies were the strongest here, dark lightning and poisonous rain filled the hole that was at least five kilometers in diameter. He could feel an opposing energy to the demonic one that has not yet vanished.

    ''Was this the last confrontation¡­ this energy probably belonged to a great circle nascent soul master¡­ maybe the sect Patriarch?''

    He tried looking around to find a body but there was nothing but empty space here. Some terrible technique went off here that disintegrated everything in a wide radius. It was as if someone scooped the earth out of here.

    ''Energy signature of target stored in the database.''

    As he was looking around he heard Bob finish up on the scan. A new tracking option in his system appeared with Wang Long''s icon.

    Out of curiosity, he activated the new feature but he quickly turned it off. This was due to the whole area turning red the moment he gave it a test run. The whole space was filled with Wang Long''s evil energies, it was normal for the system to pick color everything red.

    ''I got what I came for, but I can''t just leave this place like this¡­''

    It was time to clean things up. With Wang Long''s energy fingerprint in his database, he could start the hunt. Before that could happen he needed to clear out this demonic energy that was messing with his detective work.

    Zhang Dong placed his palms together and he started to concentrate. A burst of holy energy erupted from his body, it spread in every direction while he remained in the epicenter of this wide-open chasm.

    ''First, let me get all of these decrepit souls before I continue.''

    Without opening his eyes he created a large vortex that radiated pure life energy. The beckoning effect on these life force-hungry souls would be immense. In no time, a swarm of them appeared from all sides.

    The souls that grabbed ahold of the human bodies could not be absorbed. If the decrepit soul bonded with the flesh too much then purifying it would be the only way. Only creatures that kept most of their soul form would be ripe for absorption.

    ¡­.

    "What is the meaning of this, couldn''t you have held him up for a few hours?"

    "My apologies but he just jumped in through the formation, it was like paper to him¡­"

    The elder that Zhang Dong met before he entered the tainted land was now being chewed up by another old man. There was a whole large force of nascent soul masters here now, it was clear that they came to investigate the inside of the formation but were a bit too late.

    "E-elder¡­"

    As the leader was shouting he heard someone call to him. When he was about to reprimand this junior he noticed it as well. Inside of the formation, there was some kind of strange light shining through the miasma.

    "W-what is that?"

    All of them had to cover their eyes as the glow only intensified and spread all the way towards the edges of the formation. Soon they witnessed a power they would never forget¡­

 Chapter 421

    "How could this be?"

    "The demonic mist, it has all vanished¡­ look elders¡­ the demonic creatures, they are dying¡­"

    Cultivators from the Heavenly Crane Sect looked on from behind the protective formation as the golden light subsided. When it did, they could see the old landscape and the creatures that roamed it. Now without the demonic Qi swiveling around, they were succumbing to the holy Qi instead.

    "This strange spiritual energy¡­ it really was the Golden Dragon¡­"

    The elder that arrived after Zhang Dong''s appearance was now scratching his long beard. At first, he didn''t believe his junior and thought that the man that went inside must have been an impostor. Now, on the other hand, he wasn''t that sure.

    "This complicates things, the blasted Azure Emperor probably sent him here to clear out the sect and take all the knowledge and treasures for himself, this won''t do, we must investigate!"

    "But Senior¡­"

    One of the other nascent soul elders called out but the main elder just raised his hand.

    "I know, we will not engage in anything stupid as a battle with the Emperor''s sworn brother, this doesn''t mean that we will relinquish all of the knowledge and treasures that was left over by the Soaring Dragon sect, he is but one man, even if its the Golden Dragon he can not possibly go through something as large as the Soaring Dragon Sect."

    "Ah, Senior is wise!"

    Everyone started nodding at each other. It seemed that the Golden Dragon did most of the work for them. The miasma was gone and the monsters inside were dying. They were human cultivators so the holy energy inside would not hurt them, it would be the opposite it would actually invigorate them instead.

    "My brothers, it has not been long since the one called the Golden Dragon came here. This grand purifying magics that he has used has probably drained him of most of his Qi. While he rests we will come and take the treasures for ourselves yet, if you meet this Emperor''s Brother do not engage him in battle, even if he is weakened we don''t know the true extent of his might!"

    With so many people on their side, they hoped to quickly go through the rubble and take some of the Soaring Dragon Sect''s secrets with them. Manufacturing techniques of fabled artifacts, pill formulae, and maybe even some hidden techniques that they could make their own.

    ¡­

    "Whew¡­ that took more out of me than I thought, good that I absorbed all of those dead souls beforehand¡­"

    Zhang Dong was floating up in the air while looking at a giant hole in the ground. Now that the miasma was gone he could see the entire sect or at least what was left of it.

    The hole in the ground was truly deep and even with the thick mist gone, it was hard to see the bottom. It made it seem that the explosion was in the shape of a column instead of one that went equally in all directions.

    ''It''s as if it was stuck in a different dimension or something¡­''

    While gathering his strength he started looking around. His system map was brought up as he was interested if he would be able to see a blacked-out spot. Regretfully he didn''t, which told him that there was no dimensional cube here.

    It seemed that Wang Long was not directly transported here. From what little he knew, Wang Long had started out as a young master but not one that was favored over the other ones quite yet. Only after he took the spot of his character and used the system did he start rising in the ranks. Thus it was possible that his arrival spot was at some branch city.

    He achieved what he came for, Wang Long''s energy signature was implanted in his system. Before leaving though he took up the lotus position and started spreading his spiritual sense in all directions. This would help him check if there was something that he had missed and also allow him to rest momentarily.

    ''I seem to have some visitors in the distance¡­ still have some time until they arrive.''

    The first thing he noticed was the large energy signatures that were coming from the direction that he arrived. It was clear to him that the cultivators from the other sect were here to check things out. The Heavenly Crane sect was somewhat on the same standing as the Long Clan, so he would not be able to talk them down with his newfound status.

    ''...This is¡­''

    While searching for possible pockets of spirit stones he discovered something else. A faint life signal that was quite hard to make out. When he prodded more and double-checked with his system map it was clear that there were survivors there.

    Without thinking much about it, Zhang Dong popped a few recovery pills that he took from his sect and descended towards that area. Where there were people there could be some treasures but also maybe other answers to where Wang Long had gone.

    A golden light surrounded his whole form and quickly changed to a drill. This allowed him to burrow underground to reach an open cavern.

    "These walls are thick, did Wang Long failed to discover the people hiding inside, or did he just not care anymore?"

    Zhang Dong mumbled while walking towards the area where he felt the faint life signal. This whole place was surrounded by several formations that made discovering anything with spiritual sense difficult. If he didn''t reach a new level with his cultivation he might have not been able to discover anything.

    "This looks like¡­ a vault?"

    When he arrived the first thing before his eyes was a large circular slab of metal. It looked like a huge door to a vault. The walls had many characters and runes on them, the whole place was quite intricate and created from resistant metals.

    "It looks quite sturdy but there is some damage here¡­"

    After his little holy nova that covered the entire city, almost all of the creatures were eradicated. Even the ones that were previously in this corridor but before he came here they were still probably banging on this large door.

    "It seems that the creatures that were outside were able to destroy parts of the mechanism, even if the people that were inside wanted to, they would not be able to come outside a strange design indeed"

    At first, he thought that this might have been some kind of panic room, but one that locked people inside lacked reason. It was as if this was designed to lock itself if anyone used force from the outside. This gave him an idea that instead of a panic room, this was some kind of treasury.

    "Let''s see¡­ this should do it¡­"

    Zhang Dong looked around and with a wave of his finger produced some spiritual energy. This energy combined with the damaged materials on the ground which started to float into the air. Soon the broken parts that were dislodged from the walls were being pieced together.

    The scratches and bite marks were obviously created by the monsters that previously filled this tunnel. After his arrival, they all had turned to ash and even when they were this deep underground they succumbed to the massive holy energy output that he was able to produce now.

    Even with his expertise, it wasn''t that easy to piece this thing together, he even had to use some of his own crafting materials as the spirit runes were too damaged. But he was still able to repair this mechanism and with one last wave of his hand, the large vault-like door was now opening.

    ''This is¡­''

    "W-who goes there!"

    "Lower your weapons, I am not here to hurt you."

    Even when he called out to them in a gentle voice it didn''t calm their nerves. It seemed that they were stuck in this reinforced prison without any way of knowing what was happening outside. Probably as Wang Long was destroying the sect, the women and children were rushed here.

    "Please calm down."

    He could only repeat himself while floating forward, this indicated his level of power somewhat as no core formation cultivator was able to fly. When he glanced again he counted about fifty people, the strongest of them was an older woman at the nascent soul level; she looked quite tired and also injured. Even then she remained at the front with a large glaive in her hands.

    It was clear that they didn''t trust him at all, who would? He was some kind of unknown person walking in after they spent weeks being locked away. While this tightly locked vault could keep the monsters and decrepit souls away, it probably didn''t dampen the sounds that much. Having to listen to the wails of undead creatures outside was probably not something he would want to sleep to.

    While he was trying to calm the women down he took some time to look around. The inside of this vault was well lit and some of it was clearly shifted around. But the main reason behind this vault was obvious, books filled with knowledge and various weapons were everywhere.

    ''It really was some kind of treasure vault, probably belonging to another elder¡­ maybe this granny?''

    It didn''t seem that the people here were very trusting of him, which wasn''t much of a problem. If he was in their shoes, a strange good looking cultivator that appeared out of thin air would look like a trick an enemy would play.

    Luckily for Zhang Dong he didn''t need to be very political here. If he showed his overwhelming might and that they had no chance against him anyway, they would have to calm down. Thus he lit up the place with his overwhelming holy aura to show that he was not someone that needed them to stand down. No, even if they resisted they would have no chance against him.

    "Now let''s all calm down and put away those weapons."

    The nascent soul granny found herself unable to move and the large two-handed glaive fell out of her hand. Everyone quickly realized that they were at the mercy of the person that just appeared but for some reason, they felt that he was not someone that they should fear.

    "Good that''s better, now¡­ I want to ask you a couple of questions if that''s fine with you?"

 Chapter 422

    Zhang Dong nodded to the old lady that had calmed down a bit after he entered the chamber they had locked themselves in. These people were still from the Soaring Dragon Sect, the information that he gave them was hard to swallow. It was understandable as finding out that their sect that was at the top of the whole world, had ceased to exist.

    "Elder, this man has to be lying, how could our sect fall? This doesn''t make sense, we need to leave and get more information."

    One of the younger ladies here looked at him with anger in her eyes. It was clear that the juniors didn''t believe him but the nascent soul granny that was here did. When he opened up this vault he felt her spiritual sense bursting through it. She probably scanned the entire area outside and already knew that the whole place had been destroyed.

    "Be quiet, what this man says is probably the truth¡­"

    "But grandmother¡­"

    The lady that was questioning his words referred to the granny quite closely. They were clearly related but not like he had time for pleasantries.

    ''Bob, scan all the books in the area.''

    With his increase in cultivation, some of Bob''s features were enhanced. Now he did not need to do it by hand or focus either, his Ai could just absorb all of the techniques that were in this room by himself. While there were various heaven grade texts here, they didn''t really add that much to his knowledge.

    A few new pills here and there along with variations of preexisting battle arts. After already going through so many libraries with knowledge Zhang Dong noticed certain patterns in the skills. As long as a person was versed in the various elemental Dao''s they could add that knowledge to other techniques to get the same effects.

    A palm that produced a smoldering inferno could now be easily altered to cause a frost nova instead. While it was easy to him, to a regular cultivator from this world it would be unfathomable. But as his knowledge grew so did his Dao''s of the elements in which he was now over 50% in all of them.

    Even the Dao of dark energy was something that he could make his own, he just chose not to go into it too much as it clashed with his holy attribute. While he could freely study opposing elements like fire and water, this wasn''t quite the same for holy and dark. These elements were highly repulsed by each other.

    If he had a small amount of dark energy in his body and activated his holy techniques. The light would feed away on the darkness until there was no Qi left. It was really hard to isolate these two energies and even keeping them close to each other could cause a massive backlash of untold proportions.

    "I won''t stand in your way, you may leave and search for the remnants of your sect if you wish for but I''ll be taking these if you don''t mind¡­"

    While he had already absorbed the knowledge from this place, there were still items that he could use to further his own cultivation level. There were some stones and weapons with lightning elemental energy imbued into them which he could still absorb along with some other goodies.

    He waved his hand and the items in question started shining before rising up into the air and slowly floating towards him. The young lady that was previously looking at him with slanted eyebrows looked quite enraged by this fact. Luckily before she could say anything her grandmother waved her hand to force her mouth down.

    It seemed that the younger generation was quite sheltered here. They didn''t know that they were in no place to make any demands with him. If any other powerful cultivator than him was here, they could easily kill them or do other dastardly things. From their standpoint, they should be happy that he was just taking some of the treasures and not even examining their spatial rings.

    "I''ll take my leave then, the area should be safe now."

    He did not have time to take care of these survivors. They were together with a nascent soul elder which should be enough to guarantee their safety. Even though the main Soaring Dragon compound was no more, this didn''t mean that the entire sect was now gone. There were some remnants here and there, also some branch sects that could take them in.

    ''This granny would be able to form a sect of her own in the lower regions so they should be fine.''

    Before leaving he decided to fly around the destroyed city once more. He managed to find one vault which meant that there could be more buried treasures here. While searching for more loot he felt the old woman leaving the shelter with her juniors. They did remain in one spot though as they were probably quite shocked to see that not much had been left.

    The previous monsters that roamed the area were mostly burned up but some of their bodies were still evaporating as he was scanning the area. His search revealed a couple of pockets of hidden away troves which he promptly flew towards.

    Spirit stones, magical talismans, and more books with techniques were discovered by him. This time around though, there were no other survivors so he decided to just pocket everything he could get his hands on. While most of this would be useless to him, the juniors from his own sect could use the materials for themselves.

    For Zhang Dong at his current level going through a huge sect like this didn''t prove much of a problem. After about twenty minutes he had scavenged everything that possessed a spiritual signature. Anything that could be absorbed was instantly devoured while everything else would be given to his sect members. It was finally time to leave but before he could there was a small commotion.

    "Elder Zixin, it has been a while. It is truly unfortunate what has happened to your Soaring Dragon Sect but don''t worry, we from the Heavenly Crane Sect will be glad to escort you out from here¡­"

    In the distance, he spotted a large group of cultivators, some of them he recognized as the people that he met when entering this place. There were a lot more of them here now, they were also quick to intercept the women and children that were just looking for more survivors.

    After going through here he was not feeling any other life energy. He was more than convinced that there weren''t any other survivors. The holy core that he had was very receptive to life signals and along with his system minimap, he was able to perform a thorough scan of the entire area. From the millions of people that lived here, the only survivors didn''t amount to a hundred.

    "Elder Guanting, I will have to refuse your generous offer, we only wish to search for our sect members, there could be more survivors."

    "Elder Zixin¡­ I''m afraid I will have to implore you to leave this to my sect brothers, we will perform the search instead then we will be glad to escort you out of this horrible area, our Heavenly Crane Sect will accept you with open arms¡­"

    "...That won''t be needed, we will be fine there are some branch sects that we will stay at instead you don''t need to¡­"

    The old man that was talking to the old woman seemed somewhat angered that he was getting talked back to. Before the old lady could finish talking he raised his aura which made her back off for the time being.

    "I don''t think you understand the gravity of your situation¡­ there is no Soaring Dragon Sect anymore, those branch families you speak off have no foot to stand on as they won''t be able to stand up against even the middle-sized sects, you will come with us!"

    It didn''t seem that the old man from the Heavenly Crane Sect would take a no for an answer. He wasn''t sure what their intention was but this group of survivors was composed mostly of women and children. They might hold them hostage or have the urge to integrate them into their own forces.

    They were all strong cultivators for their age, after signing a soul-binding contract they could become part of the Heavenly Crane Sect. They could also be sold off to their members as potential brides. It was quite the catch for that sect as they were getting free cultivators without having to invest any resources into them.

    ''It doesn''t look good for them but should I really get involved¡­''

    He had already wasted enough time here, the red trail of energy that he could follow now was there. But, he knew that if he left things like this it would bother him for the entire trip. Thus he decided to clear things up between these two parties as quickly as he could.

    "Excuse me, is there a problem here?"

    "Huh? What¡­ where did you¡­"

    The people only realized that Zhang Dong was here when he chose to. With some skills, it was possible to blend into the surrounding without radiating any spiritual energy. Now everyone was looking up at him while he was radiating a gentle light from above.

    "Ah, the renowned Golden Dragon, my brothers have informed me about you fellow Daoist but whatever do you mean? I don''t see a problem anywhere."

    The leader replied while the core formation masters scattered to the sides while riding their flying swords. Only the nascent soul elders that were with him dared to stay, it was five against one but not as he cared.

    "Oh really? Elder Zixin was it?"

    "Ah yes."

    The old lady was a bit perplexed that Zhang Dong returned and appeared out of the blue. It was clear from how the Heavenly Crane Sect elders were acting, that he was not someone they could easily offend. In reality. he wasn''t that sure as his fame was quite recent so some of these cultivation nuts would probably still try to check him.

    "Do you wish to return with these fine gentlemen to their sect, or would you rather just leave the city instead? I have taken care of the dark miasma so you shouldn''t have a problem getting out and about this protective formation¡­ I don''t think it''s really needed anymore¡­"

    He proclaimed while pointing his finger into the sky. There the dome-shaped barrier was still surrounding everything from all sides. This thing required a lot of spiritual energy and resources to create but it would be quite easy to turn off.

    "W-what is he doing¡­ take cover!"

    The nascent soul elders were quick to back away as they could feel an unreasonable amount of energy behind this finger attack. Even more, after a beam of bright light escaped from it and collided with part of the protective formation. As if it collided with glass this bright beam attack caused the barrier to break into many tiny pieces of spiritual filament that crumbled into dust soon after.

    The resounding explosion caused a massive shockwave to hit the spot everyone was in. But while they had to brace themselves for it, the one performing the finger technique just floated there without a worry in his mind.

    "There the way is clear, well then did you make a decision?"

    He asked while smiling at the scared cultivators below him, the question was posed but the people here didn''t know if he would take no for an answer.

 Chapter 423

    "There it is, the trail is fading. I need to hurry."

    Zhang Dong was speeding through the night. He had managed to clear things up with the Heavenly Crane Sect. After his little light show they were more than happy to let the group of Soaring Dragon Survivors go.

    They were clearly mad at him but there was nothing to gain for them here. They could either let them go or fight the man that was the Azure Emperor''s brother. No one really wanted a war between any of the big three.

    From what he could tell, his brother didn''t really care about this Heavenly Crane Sect that much. It seemed that he was confident in them being able to battle the other empires even on their own. Zhang Dong wasn''t that sure about that, not with Wang Long looming in the darkness.

    The ladies were quite happy to leave but a bit confused about his motive. He wasn''t surprised about that as there wasn''t really anything he would gain from it. But to him they had suffered enough, he had also nabbed some of the treasures from their sect as collateral so it was not like he didn''t receive anything in return.

    It was unknown to him where they were going, a branch family, maybe a secluded hiding spot only known by their sect? For this reason, he had to wait another twenty minutes to keep the Heavenly Crane Sect busy. With five nascent soul masters here, it would be hard for the granny to speed them away by herself. With a little warning to not chase after them, he then flew away while leaving the salty cultivators behind.

    ''I hope they will be fine but that''s not something I should worry about.''

    After one last thought towards the unlucky Soaring Dragon Sect members, he returned to the problem at hand. Wang Long''s trail was quite visible as the demonic Qi that he possessed was easy to follow now.

    It took him through the vast lands of this empire thanks to which he had some time to sightsee. Even though he had gone through some adventures it was still astonishing just how large this world was.

    Beasts, humans, and spirits inhabited every part of this lively world. While dangers lurked at every corner there were pockets of civilization more unique than the next one. While flying he could see some farmers, hunters, and people of the wild. Even though they were close to the place where the demonic explosion happened they were still going on with their lives as if nothing happened.

    But his mood was soon soured by the knowledge of what was to come. Soon these lands would run red with the blood of these peaceful folk that had no power to protect themselves. Not everyone was a cultivator that knew the risks and was happy to take them.

    The people that would suffer the most were the mortals. They would be ignored, the cultivators that once ruled them would quickly abandon their strongholds if an enemy that they could not handle arrived. They would not inform the locals about the impending doom, they would just flee first while probably hoping that the people that they used to rule would serve as a distraction.

    Zhang Dong was aware of what would transpire. His sect was in the midst of claiming some strategic locations, cities with high walls or ones in mountains with natural protection were very sought after and prioritized.

    He expected a lot of refugees to arrive at his lands after the fighting started so he also ordered his people to cultivate more food. Crops that were easy to grow and high in nutrition were prioritized over ones that could bring in more money. This could last for decades and the ones that had the means to sustain themselves would be the ones that survived.

    ''The trails lead to this city...It doesn''t look like he traveled that far¡­''

    The red trail brought him to one of the largest cities in the area which was quite close to ground zero. There was quite a high concentration of the red trail at a certain large building and when he arrived there he could still feel a faint demonic aura.

    Of course, when he appeared in a city this populated he didn''t go unnoticed. When up in the air he could feel about ten people traveling his way, this time around though there was no nascent soul elder with them.

    "We greet that honored Golden Dragon, brother of the Azure Emperor!"

    "Oh?"

    Zhang Dong was a bit surprised, the people here knew who he was. Word of his appearance at the old Soaring Dragon Sect location must have spread through the land. This should have been somewhat confidential information but someone along the line must have blabbered.

    "If senior informed us about his coming we would have prepared a feast worth of your noble name!"

    "Ah, that won''t be needed, I won''t be staying long but you could help me by answering a couple of my questions."

    "It would be a p???sur?."

    The elder that he was talking to was quite cordial and he continued to bow his head while Zhang Dong descended down to what looked like to be the crime scene.

    "This demonic energy, it hasn''t been fully cleared out¡­ could you tell me what had transpired here?"

    "With haste my lord!"

    The old man was quick to turn to his helpers, it didn''t seem that he was really aware of what had happened here. This was quite normal as not everyone kept tabs on everything that happened in their city. Not everyone had a faction system that was able to monitor even the smallest crime outbreaks.

    They worked quite fast and within ten minutes they brought over someone that was a witness. It was a person in their early thirties, while bowing they gave him their part of the story.

    Apparently, there was a strange explosion, people started running out of the hotel covered in puss and blisters. It was a horrifying display, the man shivered as he described how the people''s faces started melting before everyone. Luckily the demonic technique that was used here didn''t spread to people outside the building but anyone close was affected by this strange affliction.

    "So that''s what happened¡­ your hand¡­"

    "It''s nothing my lord, pay no attention."

    The man had a bandaged up hand but while the others couldn''t see it, he could. There was invisible demonic Qi radiating from it along with Wang Long''s unique Qi fingerprint.

    "Take off those bandages."

    "No my lord¡­ you don''t need¡­"

    "Didn''t you hear what the honored Golden Dragon said, you dare refuse!"

    While Zhang Dong didn''t want to sound like another cultivation nut, he had no time for games. It was clear that the man was trying to hide his arm from everyone here. The people that had escorted him here were quick to shout at the person with a low cultivation, clearly afraid of what Zhang Dong would do if he felt dishonored.

    "There is no need for shouting."

    He raised his hand and with a wave of his hand, he caused everyone to be silent. Then with another wave he made the witness float over towards him. His bandages were unwrapped by an invisible force and his disfigured arm was brought to light.

    Some people that were looking from the side started gagging. The arm was black and the skin looked necrotic. There was a pungent smell along with blisters filled with pus, some were in the process of popping even now. The bandage seemed to be somewhat special as it kept the pungent smell from seeping out.

    "I see, the demonic corruption has started progressing, if we don''t do something about it, then this man will die¡­"

    "N-no please my lord, show mercy I have a family to feed¡­ please don''t cut off my arm!"

    The man started screaming as if Zhang Dong was going to butcher him on the spot. Demonic corruption was seen as a hard affliction to cure. One required special pills filled with divine energy which were quite costly and hard to come by.

    Without them around, the easiest way would be to slice off the afflicted flesh as then the corruption would stop spreading. It seemed that someone was trying to help this man when they put the bandage on.

    Lucky for him, Zhang Dong was probably the only person capable of instantly healing this mangled-up arm. Thus he pointed out with his finger and a gentle light flew out from it. When it collided with the demonic appendage the man that it belonged to was horrified. In his eyes, the scary elder was trying to murder him right there but death''s sweet embrace didn''t arrive.

    "T-thank you senior!"

    After his arm was healed the man broke down into tears. If Zhang Dong didn''t move away he felt that the person would start kissing his feet.

    "That''s enough, you there."

    "Y-yes honorable Golden Dragon?"

    Zhang Dong pointed to one of the people that had guided him here. It seemed that he would need to stay here a bit longer. At first, it seemed that the demonic affliction didn''t spread to other people but now it was clear that it was just slowly progressing. If he didn''t do anything about it, many more people would slowly deteriorate like this man''s arm.

    "I want you to make a city-wide announcement, do you have some large gathering place? Use it to gather the people and I mean everyone, I don''t care from where they come from, tell them that it''s an order from the Golden Dragon!"

    The only way to cure this was by his holy energy but it would take too long. He wasn''t sure how much of this demonic Qi had spread and how many people were infected. The fastest way would be to gather everyone in one spot and then use his radiant aura to cure them.

    Regretfully he was not strong enough to cover the whole city in it. His power had increased but not to the point of his healing arts being able to cure everyone here.

    ''Did that maniac do it on purpose to keep me here¡­''

    He pondered if Wang Long was crafty enough to pull this off. His enemy didn''t seem that intelligent and mostly driven by his emotions. The possibility was there as something like this was the perfect stopping block for someone with Zhang Dong''s morals. Even though it wouldn''t take him that long to cure it, he would be giving his opponent more time to hide.

    ''After I''m done with this, I''m going to kill that bastard¡­''

    He clenched his fist while looking up to the place where the demonic aura was still stuck too.. First, he needed to cleanse it and then the people that were afflicted by it.

 Chapter 424

    "This isn''t going as well as I thought it would¡­"

    "Oh, what was that oh honored senior?"

    "Ah, nothing¡­"

    Zhang Dong gave out a sigh after being stuck at another location. His goodwill was biting him in the behind once more as he was stuck healing more people along the way. He wasn''t sure if Wang Long was doing this on purpose but it was certainly working in making him lag behind.

    After getting out of that large city he continued to follow the trail of red. While most of the time it was a straight line in one direction, sometimes Wang Long rested in various settlements. Just as with the first city, some locations were then corrupted with demonic energy. He didn''t outright flatten the large cities but there was always something for him to cleanse left behind.

    It also seemed that his new enemy was using his skills all over the place. Sometimes he would find a trail of dead plants left behind Wang Long''s flight path. Other times there were large holes in mountains that were clearly attacked by him. They all radiated demonic Qi at various levels which showed that Wang Long''s proficiencies in the various techniques were all over the place.

    He apparently had a hard time keeping the evil Qi from not affecting the area while also not being able to control it when performing attacks. This went all in line with what Zhang Dong thought. Wang Long was clearly over-relying on his own system, the key to his victory might be this as he took some time to practice his battle techniques after he lost the system store.

    ''That is if I ever reach him in time¡­ I think I know where that bastard is going, this complicates things¡­''

    "I''ll bid you farewell then."

    The group of people bowed before him while Zhang Dong flew away. After healing some villagers that were affected by demonic miasma, he was on his way towards a certain desolate area. It was a famous lawless zone that he had heard about when he was performing bounty work as his demon hunter persona.

    It was in the far northern reaches of the empire. From what he knew, the first one had to go past a wide desert filled with monstrous sandworms. It was devoid of all life and covered in faint demonic mist. Past it was a large body of water named the sea of death.

    It apparently had many sea creatures lurking in the deep. The water in itself was poisonous to the touch and constantly radiating demonic Qi. It was mostly impossible to get through it without some kind of flying treasure. Any ship would just be pulled down into the deep by monstrous creatures.

    Then when someone was finally able to pass through these two natural barriers they would arrive on a large island. This was the true land of the demonic cultivators, it wasn''t as big as the empire but would have enough space to house a few middle-sized sects.

    It was of course in a constant perpetual war. The demonic cultivators weren''t very agreeable with each other, they constantly fought for the spot of the next Demon Emperor. But with how little trust there was, it was almost impossible. Without someone dominating them all with pure might, it wasn''t feasible.

    ''I guess I''m in luck¡­ Wang Long is probably going to become the next Demon Emperor¡­''

    While there weren''t any potential evil emperor candidates before, now they had a prime candidate coming their way. Wang Long''s achievement of clearing out the entire Soaring Dragon Sect was probably known by the people living there. Some of them would welcome him with open arms as their new leader but others would need to be convinced.

    His counterpart would probably oblige with that. Killing every single demonic cultivator would not make him bat an eyebrow. The carnage might already be taking place as he flew there. This complicated things as Zhang Dong was losing one of his advantages, which was having an army.

    While the demonic cultivators could not be trusted, there were ways to bind them. Evil contracts and rituals could secure their loyalty if Wang Long was smart enough to use them. With their lives on the lines, these monsters in human form would toss themselves into battle for their master. Unwilling as they might be, they would have no other choice.

    During his travels he didn''t just space out, he was still involved with his sects business. With his system, he could reach out to his faction members like Zhang Zhi who were in the process of taking back some strategic locations.

    "Is Huo Qiang giving you any problems?"

    "Elder Qiang has managed to compose himself as his position required."

    "Oh? That''s surprising, I guess he had grown up somewhat since those five years ago."

    Zhang Dong reached out to his number one fan Zhang Zhi. He was informed that the Dark Palm Sect area had been liberated from the other sects. With the number of nascent soul masters and his new title, it seemed that the middle sized sects agreed to capitulate without putting up a fight.

    Luckily the United Element Sect had a good reputation for being one of the better righteous sects in the Empire. The other sects actually somewhat believed that they wouldn''t get stabbed in the back when they lowered their protective formations.

    "Good, be sure to occupy the spirit stone mines. I want them to be quickly mined out to the last spirit stone! Don''t forget to place at least one nascent soul master at that expedition ground."

    With the old Dark Palm Sect lands in their grasp now, he could revisit that secret ground again. He wasn''t sure if he would need to go through the test phase again but there were probably some secrets remaining there that were worth looking into. His sect had enough people to easily go through those tower defense stages now he believed that they would be able to get through it with minimal casualties.

    After he ended the call with Zhi he continued with his chase, even though he knew where his opponent was going now this didn''t mean that he didn''t decide to go elsewhere. Maybe if he was lucky he could get to Wang Long before he vanished into the dark criminally underbelly of the empire. Tracking his demonic Qi in that sea of evil energy would also be harder even with the help of the system.

    But the journey there was long and even with his top speed, he would need another week to reach the border. So his journey continued and with it more affected people that Wang Long had gone through. With the constant slowdowns, a few more days were added to his journey.

    Finally, he was now at the last large settlement closest to the demonic lands. This area was ruled by one of the more morally ambiguous sects. It wasn''t that evil sects were banned from existing on the entire continent, only when they gorged themselves too much on the evil arts were there actually problematic.

    "Wait honored Golden Dragon let us guide you to the evil lands!"

    Just like with the other places this one was somewhat affected by Wang Long''s evil Qi. After such a long journey Zhang Dong was feeling somewhat tired. Even though at his level he didn''t need to sleep at all, the stress from the impending doom was getting to him. At the question of one of the cultivators he just nodded, with them in tow he headed for what was supposed to be the entrance to the land ruled by evil and corruption, the Eternal Dark.

    He wasn''t really sure about this small group of cultivators that were coming with him, but they were probably just trying to kiss his behind as always. To them, the brother of the Azure Emperor was a nice ticket into a higher position. Regretfully for them, Zhang Dong had no time for politics. While they were talking he just continued to mumble and nod while just looking at his system screen and preparing for the coming battles.

    "So, this is the desert?"

    Finally, after some time had passed they arrived at the first barrier, the desert.

    "Yes my lord, this is the Evil Desert of the Damned, various demonic beasts and spirits wonder about these dead lands. Are you sure you wish to go beyond it?"

    "Evil spirits? That won''t be a problem¡­ but what''s that¡­"

    While looking at the vast empty land that was covered with sand and storms, he spotted something. At first he thought it was just a regular storm but it looked somewhat strange by how it remained stationary.

    "Does the senior need an explanation?"

    One of the random cultivators that he picked up along the way asked him after seeing Zhang Dong starte into the distance. With a nod of confirmation, the man continued to speak.

    "The maps aren''t very detailed but this place is very close to the northern edge of the empire. That torrent of dark energy in the distance is the great divide, no one knows what is beyond it but some speculate that it''s just another zone created by the evil cultivators."

    The man continued with the explanation but Zghang Dong knew well what was behind this wall of energy. One of the other empires was there but for now, they remained behind the barrier. Wang Long had taken one of the more roundabout paths towards his destination as he needed to go to the northeast if he wanted to reach his true destination now.

    "I will take my leave then, you can go."

    He didn''t really have time to thank these people, he already cured some of their own so he didn''t feel like he owed them anything. The people just bowed while slowly floating back but as he was about to plunge himself into the desert he felt something.

    His eyes were drawn back to the barrier between the empires. It wasn''t much but he felt a decrease in spiritual energy and the storms filled with a mish-mash of elemental energies started to die down.

    "No¡­ it couldn''t be¡­"

    This didn''t look good but he thought that there was more time. To check he opened up his system map to look for something. His visit to the Azure Emperor gave him knowledge of the spots where some of the bridges should appear. He quickly overlayed these spots against his map and to his dismay this was one of the locations where a link between Empires was supposed to be formed.

    "What is that¡­ this has never happened before¡­"

    The small group of cultivators that were with him spotted the change in the storms as well. The wall of energy that would even mangle up a nascent soul master started to subside. It was as if the sea of energy was parting in the middle to create a path.

    "Shit¡­ I can feel something¡­ it''s approaching."

    He looked at the group of people that was with him, they were still staring at the phenomenon taking place. Zhang Dong on the other hand knew that there was a potential war battle ahead of him.. Thus he checked his spatial ring and brought out his sword which he placed on his hip for now, first he needed to see, maybe if he was lucky these invaders wouldn''t be bloodthirsty.

 Chapter 425

    ''Are those people? They look kind of off¡­''

    Zhang Dong was forced to wait as the chaotic storms of elemental energies slowly cleared out. The path that was left was about one kilometer in width. When he strained his eyes he could see some strange flying objects coming his way, it was clear that one of the bridges between the empires had opened up.

    ''Is this the first one¡­ or are there more appearing now?''

    He had no way of checking for this information, probably the only one that could answer his question was the Azure Emperor. They did possess a magical map of the entire empire in that one secret location. While the Long Clan was added as a side faction, the people there didn''t trust him enough for him to communicate with them.

    The only person with an approval rating over 50% was the Azure Emperor. But even he had clear doubts with Zhang Dong, their relationship had just started which was understandable. Even between family members, the number would mostly cap out at 60%.

    Even with his enhanced vision, he had trouble picking out their forms but then, he finally saw them. From afar they looked like normal humanoids but then the large teeth became apparent.

    The person that he spotted was about two meters in height and his skin was dark yellow. His hands were covered in wraps and he was wearing something similar to a tank top shirt. Thanks to this he could see the exposed bone spikes that were coming out of his arms.

    Then there was the face, the man had no hair at all instead there were some kind of strange dark bumps. His mouth even when not opened showed off a large amount of sharp yellow teeth that grind against each other constantly. It didn''t seem that this person was quite able to close it as the abundance of teeth made it impossible.

    ''Is it some kind of demonic cultivator? I can''t sense any evil energy from them¡­ it feels more like Dao of earth.''

    There were other humanoids of this kind there that varied in appearance somehow. They all lacked hair and had those spiky bone appendages protruding from their bodies. He even spotted some that had a more feminine shape but still had no hair on their body. The closer they got the more they radiated earthen energy and the skin looked dried up and leathery.

    "W-what is that? Why are those people coming from beyond the wall? Quickly send a message to the sect, we might be under attack!"

    The people from the sect that he came from finally noticed that there was someone moving through this parted storm. From Zhang Dong''s perspective, their sect would probably take the brunt of this attack and by the energies, some of these attackers were radiating, it wouldn''t be easy to defend.

    The flying objects that they came from varied. Some ships were clearly made from bones of beasts while other were actually living ones. There was one in particular that stood out, a large flying worm that had some kind of strange building on its back. This creature radiated might at the level of a nascent soul cultivator and there were more coming from that building.

    ''They don''t look like the type that would be willing to talk things out, but I shouldn''t judge a book by its cover¡­''

    Zhang Dong was willing to give these people the benefit of the doubt. Though they might look like monsters out of a horror movie, it might have just been due to how their part of the empire was created. Maybe there were other ways to go about this war, there was no rule that he needed to defeat every empire.

    Some could be willing to work things out and not shed the blood of others. The cultivator types were motivated by resources that were all finite. If there was a way to share some of them to evade conflict then he was willing to haggle a bit.

    Regretfully it would quickly become apparent that at least this group wasn''t willing to talk. While he was waiting for them to get closer the people from the sect that escorted him here made a break for it.

    They could clearly feel the pressure that some of the beings here were giving off and decided that fleeing was the best option for survival. Contacting their sect was one thing but surviving this was another. They didn''t even look Zhang Dong''s way when they decided on this as he was clearly only an outsider.

    But the people that were approaching from this bridge between empires were quick to notice this. The person that he noticed at the front turned his head towards the group of fleeing cultivators.

    He moved his hand towards his own shoulder and quickly yanked out one of those spikes that was sticking out. This bone spike increased in size in a matter of moments and soon it was clear to Zhang Dong what he was about to do.

    The toothy person then took out a spear-throwing position. The right arm that he was holding this bone spear with started getting bigger. His muscles bulged out to strange proportions before he launched this projectile towards the fleeing group of cultivators.

    Once thrown the bone spear produced a sonic boom and was quickly closing the gap. They clearly heard the resounding boom behind them but when they turned around it was already closing in on them. Before it fully reached them the spike burst into many slightly smaller ones, each one heading for a cultivator''s head.

    "N-no!"

    Not long after the initial sonic boom was heard it was followed by another strange sound. A certain white-robed cultivator appeared right out of nowhere between this small group and the flying projectiles. Without raising his hand he let them collide with the spirit shield that was surrounding his body.

    The bone material was quite sturdy but even it wasn''t able to pierce through Zhang Dong''s natural defenses. They crumbled into tiny pieces that bounced off to the sides, when they collided with the earth below they caused small explosions.

    ''Hm¡­ about the strength of a middle stage nascent soul master, nothing I can''t handle.''

    Zhang Dong just stood there and gave out a sigh. He had a decision to make, either he continued on his previous journey to follow Wang Long. If he did that, he would probably have to abandon this sect. They would probably all perish under the onslaught of these unfamiliar beings.

    Then there was option two, in which he would remain here and hold them off. He wasn''t sure if there was more of them coming but normally a scouting troop would be sent out first in situations like this. Only after clearing out a path for the main forces'' arrival would they venture forth through this bridge in full force.

    ''If I take care of the scouting party¡­ they might halt their advance for a while, it would also give these guys time to evacuate. Would I have been able to get to Wang Long if I didn''t get distracted¡­''

    This was a truth that he would have to live with now. Maybe if he ignored the damage that Wang Long had done along the way, he could have gotten to him before these people arrived. Now he opened a path to more trouble.

    ''No, I can just look forward, I knew that I couldn''t save everyone.''

    He turned his head towards the group of people behind him.

    "What are you waiting for, get out of here if you don''t want to die and pass on this message to the other sects, the empires beyond the barrier have come to take outlands, now begins the time of war."

    The other sects had no idea who these people were, if he didn''t inform them of the other empires they might think that it''s just another demonic sect or something.

    "Empires from beyond? War? What does elder¡­"

    "Stop talking and go, I can''t protect you and hold them off at the same time."

    The cultivator that he was talking to, which was the main elder, quickly shut his mouth. Without replying he quickly zoomed into the distance and the people with him did the same.

    As they retreated, there was another large booming sound from the bridge.

    When he turned around the sky was slowly getting blacked out by a large amount of these bony projectiles. All of them were aimed at him instead of the group that was fleeing.

    "You guys are quite the impatient lot¡­"

    He at least thought that after blocking one of the projectiles they would think twice about attacking the cultivator capable of just bouncing it off with his aura. It seemed that these beings were as bloodthirsty as they looked.

    ''Wish I had my dragon with me¡­''

    Thus he reached out with his hand forward and quickly produced a magical diagram in the air. It was in the shape of a circle and had various strange symbols that looked like runes on it. This magical circle quickly started to spin around while giving out lightning energy, before the rain of fast-flying arrows hit him, the magical spell erupted forward.

    A massive blast of lightning energy flew forward in a wide cone. The moment this energy collided with these bony spears they started crumbling under its might. The conal attack didn''t travel far as Zhang Dong''s focus was on defense first. Before that group of elders made a run for it, he felt like it would be best to not let any of these projectiles through.

    This time around, the scale of his technique was quite grand. It seemed that these attackers were not fully braindead berserkers, after he managed to protect himself a second time. The large flying creature halted its advance and all the other flying ships also came to a halt. It was clear that now they were taking him as a serious threat.

    ''Are the big boys coming out to play?''

    After the bone rain subsided he started feeling beings with stronger spiritual energy emerging from the stronghold that that huge worm creature was carrying. While Zhang Dong was somewhat confident in his own abilities, he was not sure where his limits were at this moment.

    His cultivation realm was quite new and he did not know if these beings followed the same rules as people from this empire.. It was time to test if he was really ready for this coming war.

 Chapter 426

    ''They do have me outnumbered quite a bit, that is¡­ if I allow them to get here¡­''

    Zhang Dong floated in the air while the smoke subsided. The bone spears that were thrown his way were now nothing but smoke. These organic projectiles produce a strange-looking smoke after their destruction but it didn''t seem that it would be lethal even if he let his spirit shield down.

    It seemed that the diplomatic approach was off the table, perhaps if he demonstrated some of his might to these attackers they would deem it smart to retreat. Some luck was at his side, even though this bridge was about one kilometer in width there wasn''t that much space for this army to move.

    "You can''t move to the sides, now can you?"

    A decision was made to produce a large wide-area attack. Before they could attack him again Zhang Dong''s aura exploded. Golden lightning bolts started to coil themselves around his arms and slowly traveled towards both his hands.

    He slowly opened up his hands, his fingers spreading appart while a small orb of light appeared between them. The more he concentrated the larger this light became, from a tiny dot it expanded into something the size of a basketball. The energy was hard to contain but as he charged up he continued to compress this round sphere of light.

    The cultivators that were fleeing could feel it, something was happening. Most of them were too afraid to look back, but even without doing so they could see the light bursting from behind them.

    "T-this¡­ what kind of terrible attack is that¡­ we must flee! We will surely perish if we don''t get far enough!"

    While Zhang Dong was mostly paying attention to his attack, out of the corner of his eye he could see his targets reacting to this turn of events. While they were quick to attack him beforehand, it seemed that they were now scared. Some of them even started to quickly increase their speed to get past the tunnel, it was clear that they were intelligent enough to know what his intention was.

    Some of them were in luck as Zhang Dong did need some time to charge up this attack but most of them were still stuck in that bridge. It was somewhat in his favor that he appeared in this location at this point in time, it now gave him the perfect opportunity to blast these invaders.

    The sphere of energy was now rumbling and pushing against his palms. He had trouble holding it in place, the energy wanted to burst through. But, this wasn''t the end of his technique, before he released it he looked forward. His eyes glowed and along with this sheen a magic circle formed in front.

    This magic circle was followed by another larger one and then more. They numbered about a hundred magic circles that formed a sort of compact cone that was aimed at this gap. Only when the circles were formed did he point this orb of spiritual energy forward to release a blast of concentrated spiritual Qi.

    A torrent of force exploded, it submerged everything in a golden glow that was a combination of Zhang Dong''s holy and lightning Dao. The screams of his enemies were quickly silenced by the massive sound of explosions that followed after.

    Zhang Dong''s hands trembled slightly as he continued to pour all of his spiritual energy into this attack. His wrists were touching together while he pointed his palms at the magical circles that continued to enhance this ranged attack.

    From the outside where the group of fleeing cultivators was, a massive hurricane sprung forth. It was as if a nuclear explosion went off in the distance. Any plant life and trees that were there were uprooted in a matter of seconds.

    It didn''t take long, he wasn''t able to keep pumping out Qi without any end. After about fifteen seconds at the maximal output, he started to feel weaker. He couldn''t just gas himself out at the first attack thus he started to end it, the bright light started to subside and the radiance vanished after half a minute of the initial explosion of energy.

    As always there was now a giant dust cloud covering the whole area. His beam attack had grazed some of the earth below and created a large crater in its wake. His aim was true as he managed to push his attack into the middle of this wide passage.

    While the bridge was one kilometer in width it also possessed a ceiling. The attackers couldn''t just flee upwards to evade the attack and after the smoke had cleared he was glad to see that he had managed to deliver a devastating blow to the beings that attacked him.

    ''That''s quite the devastation¡­''

    This was probably the most devastating attack that he had ever delivered, the casualties were immense but without his old system, he would not be able to capitalize on points.

    Just a moment ago the tunnel had been swarmed by many flying objects big and small, now, on the other hand, only one remained. It was the gigantic flying worm that was similar to the native sandworms living in this area. Even though it was there, it was clearly injured.

    While he couldn''t see it well, he was sure that the cultivators that were on the giant work had used all of their might and resources to somehow protect themselves from this wide area blast.

    Even though he wasn''t able to kill them all, this wasn''t a concentrated attack, in his mind, it only proved that his opponents wouldn''t fare too well against him. If they b?r?ly took his long-ranged technique, how would they fare in a close-quarters combat situation?

    ''They didn''t give me much of a choice but what will they do now¡­''

    At this point, he wished that they would just retreat after his first ''warning'' shot but instead, a blast of yellowish energy traveled his way. It came from within the crumbling fortress that was on that flying worm that was somehow still holding itself together.

    ''Won''t give up that easily huh?''

    Without thinking much about it, Zhang Dong propelled himself to the side. There was something about this yellowish energy that he didn''t like. It flew past him and collided with the soil behind him. While they were close to a desert at this side there still was some plant life.

    But the moment this beam of light collided with the grass, he noticed a strange effect. At first, he expected the ray of light to produce some kind of explosion, instead, it caused the plant life to be petrified.

    It seemed that his opponents had some tricks up their sleeves. Now instead of bone spears, he was pelted by these strange yellowish rays that could turn things to stone. Without wanting to check if he could resist this strange effect, he continued to dodge.

    From what he could tell, he was getting ?ssaulted by multiple attackers. They were quickly approaching him and he knew that they wouldn''t allow him to fire off another one of these blasts.

    "I guess you don''t want to talk this out huh?"

    Zhang Dong called out to the beings that were approaching him, they had abandoned the large worm and quickly pushed through the bridge to arrive on this side.

    "The outlander is strong but not strong enough!"

    One of the strange toothy beings shouted out. His voice was somewhat hoarse and carried a lot of animosity behind it. It did seem that these people had some intelligence but were clearly motivated by violence. Surprisingly they spoke the same language as the people from this empire, which meant that they clearly understood what he had said but decided to ignore him.

    What was left of the army with thousands of warriors and flying ships, where six mad-looking humanoid monsters. They were all above the early nascent soul stage with their leader being comparable to a great circle master.

    ''This cultivation is somewhat strange¡­''

    While he could feel strength radiating from these people, it was more compact. The way they bolted towards him and used spears from their bodies as weapons was also telling.

    ''Body refiners?''

    While Zhang Dong was a dual cultivator with both body and Qi, most people stuck to one. These beings clearly had strong bodies, their skin looked hard as rock and they could even produce weapons from their bodies that would be considered high-rank weapons.

    Even now as he was examining them, these monsters were grasping for those bone appendages and converting them to weapons. One of his enemies created a spear, while another dual blades. Another one produced a bow that looked like a combination of ligaments and cartilage for the string part.

    ''I see, after seeing my ranged technique they decided to close the distance. They do have some battle sense at least.''

    He had to give it to them. They quickly identified that Zhang Dong was a strong opponent with some powerful ranged attacks. While they were body refiners their strength lied mostly in close-range hand-to-hand combat. Regretfully for them, Zhang Dong was a dual refiner with quite the hard metal-like body that wouldn''t be easily broken.

    It was now six against one but he could feel other beings on the back of that large creature that was still moving forward. He wasn''t sure but his instincts were telling him that the worm had some meaning. It would be best if it didn''t manage to get through the tunnel, if this was really just a scouting party then perhaps that worm and fortress were part of a base that these monsters were trying to ?ssemble.

    "So, you are determined to die here?"

    He asked once more but he was not given a reply. Instead, he could see a change in one of the monster''s eyes. It was a strange sight as the middle of its pupil opened up and the strange yellowish ray of petrification was shot out.

    Only now he realized that this was not a beam of light but instead some kind of strange liquid that these people shot out of their bodies through their eyes.

    "That''s kind of gross...I''m not the kind of guy that likes to get covered in strange eye liquid on the first date¡­"

    Zhang Dong was quick to dodge this high-pressure eye attack but the moment he did, his opponents pounced at him from all sides.. It was finally time to unsheathe his sword, even though these people were high-level body refiners he was confident in being able to cut them down.

 Chapter 427

    "What''s happening, what was that explosion of spiritual energy? Did the Golden Dragon get angered by anyone?"

    "No Patriarch, invaders!"

    "What nonsense? Are the demonic cultivators invading us?"

    "No, it''s something else they come from beyond the divide, the Golden Dragon decided to intercept their forces he referred to them as ones from another empire, he spoke of a great war coming!"

    "Slow down, explain yourself!"

    The group of elders that had escorted Zhang Dong out of the sect had managed to return. They were all sweating bullets as they even used forbidden techniques to increase their speeds to run away. The large technique that he had used was seen even all the way here and the ensuing shockwave had even destroyed some of the buildings that belonged to the common people living in this city.

    While these elders had given a transmission that they were being attacked, the people from their sect did not truly believe that some enemies from another empire appeared. Only now after they had arrived and were behind their grand formation they could somewhat give a proper report.

    "So¡­ you are saying that these beings attacked you and the Azure Emperor''s brother is now facing them in battle?"

    "Yes, Patriarch!"

    Like in any other sect, they were now discussing their next move. After the large explosion of spiritual energy, they had no idea what happened. It was a really tremendous amount of Qi and they feared that the Golden Dragon might have already been dead.

    The Patriarch found himself in a dilemma. It was as if he was between a rock and a hard place. From one side there was the Azure Emperor that could blame his sect for his brother''s demise if he died. Would he eradicate them if he found out that they didn''t go aid him and just left him to some savage attackers?

    On the other side, there were the unknown attackers, they seemed strong enough to make someone like the Golden Dragon use a powerful attack like that. They could not have been normal enemies and it was clear that the Long clan that this Golden Dragon belonged to knew something. The whole bit about them being from another empire and that a war was approaching could have been actually true.

    "Damn out bad luck¡­ call out to all the elders, everyone get ready we might be going into battle! We do not know who these people are, but we must heed the Golden Dragon''s words, if this is a force from another empire more could come! Ready the flying vessels, if they dare invade our lands we will answer them with violence!"

    While the Patriarch made preparations for a bloody battle, Zhang Dong was still battling it out with the smaller group of beings that were on the level of nascent soul cultivators.

    "GAH¡­"

    "You guys don''t know when to quit!"

    A toothy head went flying after being slashed from its body by a sword covered in golden energy. The first ones to suffer a casualty from this six-man group were the attackers from the other empire. They made the ?ssumption that their soft skin opponent wouldn''t be able to compete with their hardened bodies at close range. They soon discovered that his body was no less softer than the sharp sword that he was wielding.

    It didn''t take him long to kill the first one but out of the corner of his eye, he was still looking at the giant worm in the distance. After his attack, it had slowed down significantly but it was still going. He feared that on that fortress that it was carrying was some kind of teleportation formation, perhaps after his enemies had enough time, they would be able to call forth more of their brethren.

    ''I guess it''s time to test that swordsmanship of mine.''

    While one of his opponents was dead, it was only the weakest. The five that stood now against him would probably not make the mistake of taking him lightly anymore. But there was one thing that Zhang Dong knew about these sorts of battles and buy how these monster-like beings were fighting, he was going to exploit it.

    One of them charged at him with a bone blade in his hand, it descended with lightning speed onto his head. This wasn''t his only problem, at the same time a spear user decided to perform a quick thrust from behind. Their aim was precise and it only took a fraction of a second for the weapons to reach their targets.

    But after another large explosion, the spear user''s face contorted into confusion. He felt that he had pierced through someone''s flesh but it was too similar to someone of his own race. Then when he looked at his bone spear, he noticed that it didn''t go through its intended target. Instead, it slipped under Zhang Dong''s armpit and pierced the shoulder of his own ally.

    Instinctively he tried to quickly yank the weapon back to perform another attack but when he tried he was unable to. It felt like this spear was being held back by some kind of vice that was connected to some kind of huge mountain, he could not budge it at all.

    To the beings doing this mistake would cost him dearly as when he was struggling with pulling out his spear, his opponent didn''t wait. Instead, he found him using that glowing sword. The blade''s aim was true and it connected with his abdomen. This wasn''t over as the moment he was pierced by the sword a massive torrent of energy was injected into his body electrocuting him from the inside.

    This of course brought a certain amount of status. Just as he thought, a person of high standing and power would not be able to work in a team too well. Even though they had him outnumbered five to one, he could still win by using their own allies against them.

    The attack might have seemed coordinated but in reality, both of the fighters weren''t used to each other at all. The strike that was coming from behind him was used to his advantage. He just needed to shift a bit to the side and the dual-wielding monster from his front side was pierced by an attack he did not expect.

    ''They have no idea how to fight in a group."

    This was the biggest weakness of cultivators that focused on themselves too much. They had no idea how to work with others. In such a confrontation where they needed to work together to combat a common foe, they would falter.

    While the enemy that he electrocuted started falling he moved quickly to the side. The person pierced by the spear was momentarily stunned after being hit by his own ally which gave him ample time to perform his attack and dodge when those dual blades came his way.

    "And so it was four!"

    Zhang Dong shouted while encompassing his entire body with a golden sheet of energy. This energy diverged towards his shoulders and back area. Soon after two golden hands sprung out, each one of them holding a sword of light. The white blade that he was holding in his right, quickly doubled as he was now ready for battle.

    He tossed himself into the fray while his opponents flew at him. With four arms and four blades in hand, he found himself able to combat even four nascent soul-like beings at once. But the longer the fight continued the harder it became, even though these enemies weren''t used to fighting with each other, Zhang Dong knew that with each passing second they would improve.

    The fight turned brutal, after two of their allies had fallen before Zhang Dong the remaining four seemed to go into some kind of strange berserked state. Their muscles bulged out and their already large bodies increased in size. It was clearly some kind of technique that these beings all had, they had clearly increased in specs but this didn''t mean that they would be victorious.

    "You put up a gallant fight but ¡­ you have no way of winning, give up now and I might spare your life, that is if you answer some of my questions¡­"

    Zhang Dong looked at the toothy monster, one of his arms was missing as he had cleaved it from the shoulder down. Instead of red blood, it was green and even as they spoke the cut-off limb was slowly healing and reassembling itself.

    After facing off against these new enemies he was now aware of some differences between the races. They were clearly not humans and could regrow their limbs. They had a similar organ to a heart but it was in a different location. The best way to kill them was to chop off their heads, as humans they still possessed brains in the same location and could not live without them.

    "You are strong outlander, but you will not stop us! We are many, we are the swarm, we will feast on your flesh!"

    The monster could communicate but he certainly didn''t want to be taken in for questioning. While Zhang Dong would rather bring this person in to get some answers, there were more crucial things to take care of.

    While he was distracted by these six enemies the huge worm had managed to crawl its way to this side. Its head was now slowly sinking into the ground right next to the entrance as it seemed that it wanted to bury itself here. The only question was, would the fortress go underground with it or would it remain outside like some sort of temporary fort.

    The man with more teeth than jaw tossed himself towards Zhang Dong. A fast exchange of two masters brought along another explosion. Two of them passed each other in a blink of an eye.

    A small gash appeared along Zhang Dong''s cheek. It was as if someone took a nail and ran it through a car. This scar burst into golden flames soon after as it started to heal up, but the wound on his opponent was much deeper.

    "Damn idiot should have surrendered¡­"

    "What is that thing doing¡­"

    Zhang Dong quickly turned to the giant worm which managed to bury itself underground. The large castle-like structure on its back now looked as if it was built here. The moment it was in place he felt some kind of strange vibration that burst forth from it.

    Without thinking about it he tossed himself towards this strange construction.. It looked like this structure was attempting to do something and before it could be fully activated he needed to destroy it.

 Chapter 428

    "I don''t like the look of that¡­ I need to hurry!"

    Zhang Dong''s form blurred as he increased his speed and bolted towards the large fortress in the distance. After the strange worm burrowed into the sandy earth the fortress began giving out a strange buzzing sound. It didn''t take him long to realize what was happening as a beam of light shot out from the middle tower of this fortress.

    This beam shot up for several kilometers before splitting up. It was then that he truly knew these beings were trying to set up a protective formation here. This beam started forming a dome and probably when it connected with the ground it would be hard to enter.

    He was somewhat able to measure the power of this protective shield that was being formed. Even for him, it wouldn''t be that easy to break through and this was probably not the end of their plan. If he was correct in his theory, the main plan for these attackers was to create a base.

    To establish such a base in this world of his a protective barrier was only one component. The second one would be a large enough force to keep any opponents at bay. This could be achieved in two ways here.

    Either they believed that the shield would last long enough for more reinforcements to come through the bridge, or they had some kind of teleportation array in the fortress that would soon be activated. If they could summon more of their kind here, then perhaps they would be able to defend this position.

    Zhang Dong''s figure blurred and his after image was leftover behind the dome shield that quickly descended down. His true form on the other hand made it just in time. The barrier forced itself down into the ground and it was clear that tunneling under it would not work.

    "Made it and here comes the welcoming committee, they still had this many left?"

    The moment he burst into the range of this strange fortress the guards that were stationed here started gathering. He wasn''t afraid though, the quality of these warriors was nowhere near the ones that he faced outside, that is beside one.

    What ensued was quite the one-sided slaughter. These toothy beings tossed themselves at him like madmen while screaming out in rage. But with a big difference in power, Zhang Dong only needed to swing his hand once to produce enough spiritual energy to make his attackers explode before they could get anywhere near him.

    They still managed to slow him down and he had a suspicion that this was their aim. He could feel that inside of that fortress there was some kind of higher power along with strange energy fluctuations that were similar to what he felt during the times a teleportation gate opened up.

    "Get out of my way."

    He bolted forward while the toothy enemies tried to stop him but with such a big difference in strength, they were all sent flying to the side. Their flesh was burnt by the holy flames that surrounded his body and turned to paste due to how fast he was rocketing forward.

    Even then, the monster-like people did not stop coming. It was as if they were mindless drones with no mind of their own, their only purpose stopping him before they could activate the teleportation device inside.

    This time around, instead of a bony spear a large hammer flew his way. At first, he saw no reason to block or to move out of the way but the moment it collided with his flame barrier he had to perform an evasive maneuver to the side. The large hammer when colliding with his Qi was able to somehow erase it from existence and continue to fly unperturbed by it. It was clear that this weapon had some strange properties.

    "Who the hell are you? The last boss?"

    Zhang Dong felt the weapon graze his cheek as he utilized one of his movement skills that let him change his position. His joints and body cried out in pain at the sudden movement but with some of his healing arts, he was able to quickly mend the tears to his ligaments that ensued.

    The large hammer that looked like a two-handed weapon made an arc and quickly returned to the person that used it. Quite a large one appeared, this one was clearly superior to its species as it was a lot larger at about three meters tall. Its body was covered in even more spikes but the most characteristic thing about it was the large dark horn coming from its forehead.

    "You shall die here outlander, you will make a fine addition to my collection!"

    The large being growled while talking, its strange-sounding deep voice would probably make most cultivators shiver in fright. Zhang Dong on the other hand wasn''t that impressed but it seemed that this opponent was more at his level.

    "You''ll probably won''t just move out of the way and let me destroy the thing that''s behind that large gate?"

    Without answering the monster lowered his head slightly while pointing with the horn towards Zhang Dong. The moment that horn was aligned with his head, he quickly stepped to the side. In a moment a ray of concentrated energy collided with his afterimage and with the spot that his face was in just a fraction of a second ago.

    This was the second time he was forced to evade and it was time to fight back. When the ray of dark energy passed by him, he raised his hand and pointed out with his finger. A ray of concentrated Qi flew forward while spinning around like a drill while pointing at the monster''s head.

    His opponent raised its weapon to intercept this shining force and like a truck flew towards Zhang Dong''s position. It was clear that this weapon would be a problem, its Qi canceling properties caused his finger attack to be dispersed without causing any damage at all.

    After a couple of exchanges it was clear that this monster wouldn''t be going down as easily as the other six that he faced. Both of them jumped back and stood still while glaring at each other. Zhang Dong looked at his fist that collided with the hammer the monster was holding. It was really hard, he didn''t feel that he would be able to crush it with his current strength.

    Even though his body was more metal than flesh, he could not keep his knuckles from sustaining mini-fractures. Without his healing capabilities, it would have probably not looked too good for him. Without being able to surround his body with a layer of Qi to further protect it, he was receiving some damage.

    ''But, not like this creature is doing much better.''

    He evaluated the situation and noticed that there was something off about his opponent. The horn was giving out some strange energy signatures and the longer the fight took, the more the monster''s body started to darken. There was a patch of unhealthy-looking black skin going from its forehead and increasing slowly as the fight continued.

    ''Is it using some forbidden technique to boost its stats? Or is that something else¡­''

    There was no way for him to know this opponent''s biology. It was not a regular cultivator but from his perspective, his opponent was slowly running out of time. The problem was that he was also. This being was probably only trying to buy some time before some reinforcements arrived, if they did he might have to retreat.

    "Sorry, but I don''t have time for this¡­"

    When his Qi and body weren''t enough, it was time to use his sword arts. A golden sword appeared in his arm; its radiance caused this whole area to become as bright as day.

    At first, the monster wasn''t impressed, its own weapon was clearly superior to the small flimsy longsword that Zhang Dong was holding. But then it felt something, the radiant glow died down, and instead a strange humming noise was heard.

    Zhang Dong didn''t make any flamboyant movements, he just grasped the hilt of the sword with both his hands while holding it above his head. It was as if he was trying to perform a practice swing. But to his opponent, it didn''t look that way.

    It was as if time stopped for him, instead of the small human that he was fighting he saw an image of a giant. It was as if he was holding a sword as big as a mountain above his head and it was clearly going to be swung his way. Out of panic, he bolted forward, in his mind the only way to survive was to kill before he was killed.

    In a fraction of a second it happened, Zhang Dong swung down his sword while unleashing a torrent of sword energy. The monster as previously tried to swing its hammer towards the focal point of this attack. Both of them collided, but this time instead of the hammer canceling out what was thrown its way and crumbled instead.

    While the weapon was able to cancel out spiritual Qi, it could not do the same against concentrated sword intent. This Dao of the sword worked on different principles and continued to go forward along with this practice like swing that Zhang Dong was performing.

    The being along with its hammer found itself being sliced apart into two perfectly equal parts. And as the image before its eyes parted to the sides he saw a somewhat gassed-out Zhang Dong.

    The fortress before him was not better off, it was sliced apart by this simple move that integrated his whole sword Dao into a single swing. While the move was powerful it was hard to use and perhaps if instead of going towards him like an idiot the enemy would have dodged to the side, he would have been unable to use it.

    ''Shit¡­ I don''t think I can use this one repeatedly¡­''

    Zhang Dong almost tripped forward, both his hands shaking. His body was crying out for help as he felt that some of the bones in both his hands had broken the moment he finished the swing.

    ''I don''t have time to stand here¡­''

    A golden sheen surrounded his body as he started to heal himself, while he defeated this monster it wasn''t quite over....

 Chapter 429

    "I guess it stopped when I cut it¡­"

    Zhang Dong gave out a sigh of relief as he discovered that he had managed to destroy the device that was used for teleportation. After cleaving his last opponent in half he continued deeper into the large fortress that was now sliced into two parts.

    This wasn''t all, the huge worm beast that had carried this thing all the way here was also dead. It wasn''t giving out any life signs and his spiritual sense was also not picking out anything. Everything that was here was now dead and he was the last survivor.

    Only thanks to surrounding himself with a barrier of golden flames that could burn away anything that came close to him was he successfully able to not be covered in blood and guts.

    The carnage remained outside as it seemed that everyone that was here decided to rush him. The reason for it was probably the huge enemy with the hammer behind them, they could either die in battle with him or get turned to minced meat by him instead.

    Now he was looking at something that seemed like a teleportation gate. With the help of his Ai helper, he was able to successfully identify this alien technology.

    ''This looks somewhat organic¡­''

    Zhang Dong picked out a strange tube from the ground that was connected to the teleportation gate. At first, he thought it was a power cable, or for fuel but inside of it was some strange green liquid that seemed more like blood.

    ''This almost looks like organs and veins¡­ I can even feel some faint life coming from this, but it''s fading quickly¡­''

    The battle mostly took place in the courtyard of this large fortress. The huge one-horned boss also charged at him before he could really enter into the whole structure. His sword strike left it destroyed and after looking around for a moment he found a certain room.

    "Is this a heart?"

    On the ground, there was some kind of deflated organ covered in more green goop. It was radiating his sword intent and was clearly damaged by him. This seems like the power room but it had collapsed unto itself along with most of the fortress.

    Without thinking too much he used his spiritual energy to raise the rubble around this section. The damaged organ was then floated over and deposited into his spatial ring. Now was not the time to examine these things but he needed to take some samples and have his sect members examine them later.

    To his surprise, these monsters didn''t seem to have any spatial technology. He didn''t discover any rings or bags that could carry more items. Maybe they didn''t feel like they needed anything like pills and more weapons to carry around if they could produce them from their own bodies?

    The boss that he had sliced in half was also deposited into his spatial ring along with a few other body samples that weren''t too damaged. There was also a strange sphere on a platform made from bones and with some of those veins attached to it. He could feel some strange energies coming from it, thus it also made its way into his belongings.

    "How did they build this thing¡­ did they disassemble some beasts or somehow grow this organic mass?"

    This place was strange indeed but even more baffling was the mystery behind building it. From the outside, it looked like a pile of bones, but on the inside, it clearly had organic components, even things that looked like organs and a circulatory system.

    While he was continuing with the examination he noticed that he had new visitors. They were fast approaching and there was quite a big group of them.

    "It must be the cavalry? Fashionably late to the party, aren''t they?"

    He was not in any danger as the new arrivals came from the same sect that he visited today. It was clear that after the elders escaped they rallied the troops to defend themselves. While he wanted to compliment their resolve, they would have been dead if they tried attacking these monsters alone.

    They probably brought about thirty to forty percent of their forces here while the rest remained on standby. It was normal for them not to give up without a fight or measuring their enemies'' might. These monsters were body refiners so their combat abilities were hard to measure with spiritual sense as the amount of Qi they possessed wasn''t that high.

    "Body refiners¡­ no wonder there isn''t anything here that can store spiritual energy¡­"

    After wandering around for a few minutes and scanning everything his hopes of getting some loot were crushed. The only bounty was the strange hammer that he sliced in half, its spiritual energy disrupting capabilities were interesting and clearly, it was due to the material it was made from. Besides it, there was nothing else of much value that he could spot.

    "They don''t need to craft weapons as they can just use their body parts and don''t use pills or spiritual stones to increase their strength, this will be an annoying enemy¡­"

    For Wang Long, this might have been a nice opponent as they would drop spirit points for him. But to him they were somewhat worthless, that is unless he figured out a way to utilize these organic components that they were using.

    Without anything interesting to do, he decided to go outside. This didn''t go unnoticed as he was quite the beacon of golden energy.

    "I-it''s honored Long Dong, he still lives!"

    The moment he appeared outside the cultivators that were approaching quickly stopped in mid-air. While he was playing the Golden Dragon persona he was still not used to being called by that name.

    "Ah¡­ yes that''s me¡­ the Golden Dragon, and I have a long d... I mean, I am Long Dong."

    "Ma He, greets the Golden Dragon, we came as fast as we could but it seems that our help was not needed."

    The man was quite respectful as he bowed a lot lower than usual. Zhang Dong just waved his hand as he had no intention of staying here too long.

    "Yes, I have managed to destroy the base of these invaders but I''m not sure when the next attack will occur, as you can see the way for them is open."

    He pointed towards the tunnel that was about a kilometer in width and three kilometers in height. While this might have looked like a grand victory, he didn''t really defeat that many people. These forces were about the level of a stronger middle-sized sect and might have been bolstered for the purpose of establishing a base of operations.

    "I wouldn''t want to alarm you but I''m not sure if your people will be able to survive the second attack, worry not, I will contact my brother¡­ he might be able to send some reinforcements."

    This was too far away from his own sect that had just secured the lands that they were owed. To defend this location he would need to place at least ten nascent soul masters along with Huo Qiang and Zhang Zhi to have a chance of defending it. They would also need to create protective formations and defensive siege weapons.

    "But honored Golden Dragon¡­"

    "I know, you don''t seem convinced but the enemies I faced were above your current level, there aren''t that many cultivators in this empire that would be able to battle on equal footing with them."

    While he wanted to convince these people that it was unwise to stay here, he could not control their actions. The biggest problem was that he had eradicated all of the enemies, which could give an impression of them not being all that strong. In actuality without someone at the great circle of the nascent soul realm, they had no chance of survival.

    "You should better heed my warning, but I will not stop you if you want to remain here. If you decide to remain, this would probably be a good spot to place any long-ranged weapons that you have, while in the bridge between our empires the enemies have limited space to maneuver, they will be an easy target. Though after their first failure, they will probably come in larger numbers."

    His opponents were clearly not expecting someone like Zhang Dong to be waiting for them. There weren''t many cultivators or weapons that could create such a devastating wide-ranged attack as he did. If they had some way to relay information back to their leaders, they would probably consider the same thing happening again.

    ''This fight has taken more out of me than I thought¡­''

    While he looked fine from the outside he was running on fumes. That huge magically enhanced attack almost instantly drained him of half of his spiritual energy. Then he had to fight off many opponents and use a devastating sword art that injured his own body in the process.

    He had been a bit hasty in this battle as he was racing against time. This had now left him out of gas to continue his journey forward. The desert and then the wide dead sea filled with many monsters was still waiting for him.

    ''Shit, do I really have to postpone this?''

    The reason he came here was to find Wang Long. But he felt that if his other opponent popped out at this very moment he would probably have to flee. With how much Qi he used up he would need some time to recover. Anything related to spiritual energy was already consumed as he needed it to bolster his system and then feed his three cores.

    ''These guys didn''t even have any nascent souls, they are a terrible match for me.''

    Regretfully he would need to retreat for now but this wasn''t the end. Thanks to his system he would be able to create a teleportation point that he could use later on. It would cost him dearly as this was not part of his own lands but it needed to be done.

    ''If I''m lucky those monsters will take some time to return, I might be able to come back and set up my own defenses here.''

    "I will have to bid you farewell then, I hope that you and your people survive this, we will need any help we can get to get through this war."

    With a few chosen words to Ma He he started retreating, first he needed to find a nice hidden location for this teleportation point, and then it was time to contact his dear brother, the Azure Emperor.

 Chapter 430

    "What do you mean they are all dead?"

    *crunch*

    A somewhat peculiar crunching sound was heard by several people in this large chamber. A huge demonic-looking man was holding a bloodied head along with the body that was now just dangling around. He then promptly engulfed it in a blaze before throwing it to the side where everyone could see it.

    "You there, answer me!"

    "Y-yes my Emperor, as the previous high shaman stated, the tribe that was tasked with the mission to the outlands had fallen in battle¡­"

    "What tribe was that again?"

    The man called the emperor moved forward while the other person continued to talk. With each footstep, he took the ground and continued to shake along with the other beings that were here.

    "It was t-the Terakota Tribe, they w-won the honor by c-combat¡­"

    "So, you are saying that something in the outlands proved too much for the Terakota Tribe? Thought that their chieftain was better than this¡­"

    The large emperor looked to the side. There he saw various humanoid creatures that varied in all kinds of ways. All of them had their heads lowered, no one dared to raise their voice as everyone knew how much of a temper this Demonic Emperor had.

    "Did the outlanders predict their arrival and sprung a trap?"

    "W-well my Emperor it was¡­"

    The shaman that was talking started stumbling over his own words while the Emperor continued to glare. He knew that if he angered this being of great power, he would be the next one to get his head squished and popped like a watermelon.

    "Don''t waste my time shaman."

    "Y-yes my Emperor, w-why don''t I show you instead."

    The shaman was wearing a dark robe and his face was also hidden behind it. From inside of his sleeve he took out something that looked like a large insect with a gem on its back. When the Emperor saw it, he instantly knew what the shaman was doing.

    "Good."

    He said while walking back to his throne and sitting down. Then after he was in a comfortable position the shaman placed the large bug on the ground. This insect moved into the center of the chamber before the gem on its back started to give out a green light.

    It was a recount from their travels with multiple angles as if there were various cameras at the fortress. The shaman made sure to not bore the emperor so the image played right before the scouting party was attacked.

    Without saying anything it continued to play, all the way from when Zhang Dong fired off a large beam of spiritual energy towards them all the way until he cleaved the Terakota Tribe chief in half.

    At the end, all the people from the other tribes that were here were shocked. Every single one of them had a similar horn protruding from their head. The Terakota Tribe leader was not inferior to anyone from them in any way. They all believed that they would not fare much better against the frail-looking outlander that he had faced.

    "Are you telling me that they were defeated by one man?"

    "Y-yes my Emperor¡­ there were other outlanders there but they quickly fled the scene while this bright one remained¡­"

    Without saying anything the Emperor took out a certain weapon from the side. It looked like a giant cleaver which handle was made from some molten rock. He raised it up into the sky while a giant oppressive aura exploded in all directions. Then without warning, he turned around to swing his massive weapon once.

    A large torrent of strange energies traveled forth towards the volcanoes and mountains in the distance. It didn''t take long for this attack to connect with the rocks in the distance. With one swing of his huge cleaver, the mountains were no more. All of the living beings on them ?r??n?d out in fear and indignation at their demise.

    "This bright one¡­ he will make a fine trophy for my wall, rally the tribes spare no men, I want that gate! Failure is not an option!"

    The Emperor declared while hefting the massive blade that was covered in lava over his shoulder. He looked out into the distance with a giant grin on his face, it seemed that this hunt would be more interesting than he anticipated.

    While his enemies were scrambling around to resume their invasion, Zhang Dong had teleported back to his own lands. Along his travels he had created some save points that he could teleport to but there was a limited number that he could use with his current system.

    ''I need to call him¡­''

    He gave out a sigh before tapping his system screen, on it was one of his new faction members, the Azure Emperor. While he did retreat from the pursuit of Wang Long, he still would like to ask for some help. In his mind, the talk could go in any direction but he hoped that Long Qing would see it his way.

    It all depended on how fast they could rally the troops and head to that place. Zhang Dong was even willing to go back there to act as support. The somewhat narrow passage would not be that easily crossed if they managed to create a base of operations there. If they managed to plug that hole, it would save them a lot of resources later on as they would be able to control one point of entrance.

    "Greetings, can you hear me?"

    "... brother Dong¡­ is that your voice? Where are you?"

    It was clear that the Azure Dragon was surprised by the voice in his head. From what he could tell, Long Qing was probably looking around for the hidden Zhang Dong that was talking to him.

    "Ah, I''m not at your location, I''m talking to you thanks to a certain technique of mine. You don''t need to actually use your mouth, you just need to think and I''ll be able to hear your thoughts, that is if you want me to hear them."

    While Zhang Dong could communicate with people through his system, this didn''t mean that he could hear their thoughts. Unless the recipient didn''t think of the words that they wanted to relay to him, he would not be able to hear them.

    "Oh? Let me try then¡­ Can you hear me like this?"

    "Yes, loud and clear, also don''t worry no one else is able to hear our conversation, it will remain private."

    "Oh really?"

    There was a small pause but soon Long Qing was back to talking, this time around to someone that was with him.

    "Are you there?"

    "Yes, did you hear that my wife? No?"

    Due to this system feature not being able to pick up sounds of others or at least not until the Azure Dragon''s devotion rating went up, he couldn''t hear the conversation that they were having. It was clear that he was together with his wife, who was probably asking him some questions.

    "She won''t hear me."

    "Did you hear that my wife? Really not? But he is being so loud¡­"

    "As I said¡­"

    "You did what? Did you hear that honey? My brother managed to intercept a scouting party from the other empire and wipe them from the face of this empire! Didn''t I tell you that we could rely on him!"

    "Could you listen to me for a moment¡­"

    "Ah yes my brother, Haha! I''m a little distracted!"

    Zhang Dong was afraid to ask but it wouldn''t be surprising that he contacted the Azure Dragon while he was having some fun time with his wife.

    "Anyway¡­ would it be possible to send some of the Long Clan elders or convince the Heavenly Crane Sect to send someone over there? I think if we manage to control that location we would be able to minimize the damage to the empire¡­"

    "Minimise the damage?"

    The Azure Emperor asked as if he wasn''t sure what Zhang Dong meant.

    "Well¡­ if we are able to block the progress of those beings, we won''t suffer that many casualties?"

    "Haha, why would we suffer any casualties?"

    "But the sects that are located there will be¡­"

    "Oh? I see that my brother is a compassionate one, don''t worry, they can retreat further into our lands where we will use them to bolster our own forces!"

    Zhang Dong was a bit shocked by this reaction but it did somewhat go in line with what a regular cultivator thought. In their eyes the only important part was their own faction which was the Long Clan. It didn''t seem that even the Azure Emperor cared all that much about his subjects that lived outside the Long Clan area.

    "But we could get valuable information about our foes? We could have their weapons examined and maybe get some treasures?"

    "Treasures? That could be useful¡­ but I''m not sure if it will matter at this point in time."

    "What do you mean?"

    Zhang Dong asked but there was something telling him that the news wouldn''t be good.

    "Well, while you were battling the invaders, more of the bridges had opened up. The one you discovered won''t be the only one coming from that side so I''m not sure if we would be able to defend such a remote location away from our clan."

    The Long Clan had a map that showed them every bridge that appeared and would later appear. Thus they already knew about the arrival of the enemy. Even without Zhang Dong telling them to act, they were probably already scrambling around to bolster their defenses.

    "So that means?"

    "Yes, I don''t think I can spare any soldiers but if you need some personal guards I could send over some elders, I''m sure they will be honored to accompany the Golden Dragon!"

    "Ah, that won''t be needed¡­"

    Zhang Dong shook his head in disappointment as it seemed that he needed to abandon that location. Even if he built a base of operations there, the enemy could pop out a thousand miles away after a day. It wasn''t wrong to bunker up at your own sect where everyone had most of their resources.

    "Is that so? Don''t worry my brother, this is only the beginning. Everything is going according to plan!"

    "It is huh¡­"

    ''Would be nice if I heard it first¡­"

    It seemed that he would need to retreat for now. Instead of helping the other sects, it would be better to defend his own lands where everyone he loved and cherished was. With that in mind, he ended the conversation with his brother.. While he didn''t like it, he would need to be a bit more selfish this time around.

 Chapter 431

    "So we are here, in the lands of the unknown..."

    A man with an extensively long beard floated around while holding a staff made from wood. At the tip, there was a large round blue orb that this staff wrapped around. The old man looked out into the distance, his eyes shining brightly with a blue hue as he examined the situation.

    "Grand Wizard, we have managed to transport the magical gates, we can proceed."

    "Ah, Sir Basil. Make sure that the regiment of Paladins is ready, we have some visitors, I don''t know if they are hostile, I will greet them first while you make the gate ready, we might need some reinforcements."

    "As you command, lord Argus!"

    A man dressed in shiny white armor made a salute to the floating man. While it didn''t look that the knight could fly on his own, he was mounted on a horse with wings. Both of them radiated a strange energy that was similar to Qi yet different.

    The man referred to as Argus floated forward. With his magical capabilities, he noticed a group of twenty people flying this way. They didn''t seem to be simple humans as most of them were flying on swords with one, in particular, standing out.

    ''This place is very peculiar¡­ The mana here is very thick, casting spells should be quite easy. This might really be the promised land of magics that the legends have foretold!''

    Argus smiled to himself but his expression quickly turned sour. While his men were down on the ground and preparing the grand magic for protection, potential enemies were approaching.

    "Identify yourself, from which sect do you hail from?"

    The old man flew forward to intercept the approaching natives. He was sure to quickly put some distance between himself and the place where they had come from. They had traveled through a wide tunnel of energies that was quite wide.

    At the part that they came out, the land looked somewhat devastated. All to the sides were massive elemental storms that even this grand wizard had no hopes of subduing. But, when all of them looked ahead they spotted lands with lush forests and ample water.

    "I welcome thee, my friends, I mean you no harm."

    Argos smiled at the group of people but he never let go of his grand staff. The people that flew over stopped before him but were clearly on guard. He did not know them or how they would react to his magic but if it was possible he would rather not get into conflict with them.

    "Friends? Who are you? This is the territory of the great Crimson Blood Spider Sect! You don''t look like a member of the other sects¡­ are you a rogue cultivator?"

    The men that he was talking to had a certain air around them. Their robes were pitch black and on the back, they had a red insignia that looked like a venomous spider. Argos could sense the killing intent that these people were radiating, it was clear that they weren''t the gentle type.

    "A cultivator? Like in a garden? No, my name is Argos, I come from a faraway land and I would wish to¡­"

    "Silence! Do you think we are fools! Did you think we wouldn''t sense those people? You dare!"

    Before he could even start, the diplomatic approach had fallen through. He didn''t know how but through means unknown to him one of the people there could sense the paladins working in the distance.

    Normally as a grand wizard, he would know if something like that happened as there would be mana used. These people on the other hand felt somewhat different, they weren''t using mana the same as he was. It was clear that they possessed powers alien to him, but this didn''t mean that he was frightened.

    "My friend, just calm down I''m sure we can¡­"

    "Silence, you will come with us or face our poison."

    A shroud of green miasma started surrounding all of these people while Argos remained calm. He could not go with them, it was clear that if he surrendered then he would either die or be imprisoned by these natives.

    "I''m afraid I''ll have to refuse your offer¡­"

    He replied but as soon as he did, the natives that were flying on the swords bolted towards his position. There was something strange with the rings that they were using. Argus felt something akin to spatial magic as they swished their hands to produce weapons.

    Regretfully for the attacking cultivators, there weren''t dealing with the average magus. The moment they tried getting close they found themselves being repelled by an invisible barrier. Even though they tried, any attacks performed against this mana-barrier were useless; they even received a rebounding effect that caused damage to them instead.

    "I guess it can''t be helped, go to sleep."

    The floating wizard pointed out with his staff and performed a very quick chant. The moment he was finished a strange violet haze appeared around the core formation cultivators that were trying to attack him. It covered their faces and in a matter of moments, they were in a deep slumber.

    "What is this technique? Watch out brothers, this old man isn''t that simple!"

    Argus swung his staff around and quickly disabled every one of the sword-flying cultivators. But then when he attempted to do the same to what looked to be the leader his spell was repealed.

    Soon a battle ensued between the two old men, one slinging strange poisonous arts that when touching any of the flora quickly died. The cultivator from the Crimson Blood Spider sect was astonished. Tried he did but he was unable to pierce through that mana barrier that was produced.

    His enemy on the other hand didn''t have any problem pelting him with long-ranged attacks. They all had a strange feeling to them, similar to Qi yet different. Soon enough he found himself engulfed in a massive ball of flames and had to retreat. Luckily for him, the old man that he was fighting with didn''t seem to be interested in chasing after him.

    "I will remember this, you will rue the day you met me!"

    But as he was escaping, he felt something. There was something coming his way, even though he noticed it, it was too late. A golden bolt of energy pierced through his ?h?st without any resistance whatsoever.

    "H-how could this be¡­ how could a nascent soul master like me fall so easily¡­"

    The poisonous cultivator could feel it, his nascent soul had been irreparably damaged. Somehow this attack could even affect his soul and it was clear that he would soon die. Before the darkness took him, he glanced towards the point from where this attack came.

    "Argus, you are too soft, we can''t let any of these savages live, they will clearly alert their allies and come in bigger numbers."

    The old wizard looked at the dying man that promptly fell down into some bushes. Then back to the man dressed in full plate mail armor with only his helmet missing. His looks were quite stunning, long locks of golden locks and a chin that could cut diamonds.

    "Lord Lucius¡­ so I see that the Golden Braves have managed to get through the gate."

    This wasn''t the only man dressed in golden armor, several others started popping out and quickly dispatching the men that he put to sleep.

    "Wait¡­"

    Argus shouted out but the men in golden armor ignored his calls.

    "Wizard, don''t forget that you are only here to give aid, you are nothing more than an advisor."

    The man named Lucius proclaimed while also shouting to the group of golden knights to leave one man alive.

    "One is enough, we will question him, make yourself useful Wizard and make him speak with your magic if you do now wish for this savage to suffer."

    From here he could see that the people from his side were slowly entering through the teleportation gate. While his reason for coming here was to pursue knowledge, the kingdom he was a citizen of wanted something else. They d?s?r?d riches, power and prestige.

    ¡­..

    "We greet the Golden Dragon!"

    "Ah yes."

    Zhang Dong was now back in the flying city of the Azure Emperor. With some guidance, he was now on the way to the secret room that he had visited before. After the talk with his brother, it was clear that the Long Clan did not see it his way.

    His reasoning for teleporting here instead of his own area of influence was one. The map that the Long Clan possessed showed a detailed representation of the empire and the bridges between them. He didn''t really have enough time to examine it when he was here the first time.

    ''Bob, I need you to examine that map and if you can copy it to some extent, I can''t keep returning here to look at it.''

    ''Affirmative.''

    Now with the help of his new title the gates to the Long Clan were open to him. He could wander through the halls unimpeded to some extent that is. When confronted with some of the grand elders or the Azure Dragon faction they didn''t seem to like him that much.

    "How may I help you?"

    This was his second time here but he did not really know the way towards that area. At the time being, he was standing at something similar to a reception area.

    "Ah yes, could you fetch one of the high elders? Tell them that the Golden Dragon, Long Dong is here, best if it''s someone that could show me around¡­"

    Previously his brother the Azure Dragon showed him the way but as the war effort was slowly underway. He needed to know his way around this place, maybe even gather some allies if there was a reason to retreat here with his closest of kin.

    "Oh wait, never mind, I see someone that can do it instead¡­"

    Zhang Dong looked to the side and spotted someone familiar.

    "Hey there, Long Shen was it? Mind giving your uncle a small tour?"

 Chapter 432

    "What? Won''t give your favorite uncle a hug? Have you been practicing your swordsmanship? Maybe if you do, you will be able to be as good at it as your uncle!"

    "Y-you¡­"

    Long Shen, the oldest son of the Azure Emperor, looked quite dejected after Zhang Dong shouted out at him. There were other people around this place and also around this young master. They of course knew who the Golden Dragon was so they could not say anything without being talked to.

    "What, you are so glad to see me that you are at a loss for words?"

    Zhang Dong moved closer while somewhat strutting as if he was in a rush. His nephew recoiled in horror as he clearly wasn''t sure what to do. Previously he attempted to embarrass Zhang Dong but it all came to bite him and his siblings in the end. Now this man that his father held in high regard was before him again.

    "Don''t be so stiff, are you worried about what happened in the past?"

    "Well, I¡­"

    "Don''t worry about it, we are family are we not?"

    Zhang Dong slammed his palm against Long Shen''s back which made the young man stagger forward. The people in the back gasped out in shock as they couldn''t believe it. They somewhat expected their young master to recoil in anger but instead, he just fixed his clothes without saying much.

    "Y-yes, we are family¡­ Did you want something from me, uncle? If not, then I will be on my way¡­"

    "Actually, I do need some directions and I think my cute nephew probably knows his way around this city!"

    "C-cute?"

    "Yes, now could you show me the way to one of those three elders? I think one of them should be able to guide me further."

    The three old bags that wh?n?d to the Azure Emperor were probably the best bet of him getting to that map chamber.

    "One of the three elders? Ah yes¡­"

    To Zhang Dong''s surprise, the young master didn''t seem that against showing him around. Either he was feeling forced due to his status or perhaps he had become a better person?

    ''Probably closer to the first one, he isn''t that good at hiding his emotions.''

    While he wanted to tease the man some more, it would be better to not go overboard. He didn''t want to waste any more time than he had to. If he continued to alienate Long Shen they might get into a fight which he would probably win but could leave the Azure Dragon''s son unable to continue.

    "Ah yes, Elder Laixie should be close by."

    Without further ado, the two left while the young master''s company removed themselves. While they could stick around him when someone like the Golden Dragon appeared they couldn''t just follow if he didn''t tell them that they could.

    ''Elder Laixie? It''s probably that old woman.''

    Both Zhang Dong and Long Shen were nascent soul masters, it didn''t take long for them to cover a lot of space. Even then it was somewhat hard to maneuver through the large crystal tower that housed hundreds of thousands of people in it. While it was quite gigantic from the outside, it was even larger on the inside.

    The elder that he was looking for was in one of the many chambers that had spatial technology on it. The area on the inside of it was many times larger than he had expected, it was somewhat similar to what the spot he met the Azure Dragon was.

    The only difference was that it was obviously a fake environment. He could feel that the sky was just an illusion as well as the sun that was shining down on him. The whole place looked like a vacation villa with a forest around it but even though it seemed that it stretched for many kilometers it was about one in diameter.

    ''I guess something like the Dimensional Regalia isn''t easily created even for the Long Clan.''

    Keeping in mind that he was going to the residence of one of the top three elders, it meant that they probably were granted access to their clan''s most treasured technologies and magics.

    "This is where the elder lives, I''ll excuse myself then¡­"

    "Ah yes, have a nice¡­ and he is gone¡­"

    Zhang Dong was stuck looking at the spatial magic and integrated formation that he didn''t react to that well. During this time that took only a few seconds, Long Shen decided to remove himself from the area. When using his spirit sense he could feel his nephew rocketing away at full speed.

    "He must be shy¡­"

    "Hello, is anyone here? Is Elder Laixie here?"

    He talked while walking towards the building on the small hill. The people that lived here probably realized that he was here as he felt something scanning his body for clues as he entered. Of course, it wasn''t able to as he shrouded his body with a thin layer of protective Qi. The people here knew that someone entered but they didn''t know who exactly.

    "Who are you? Long Shen already left?"

    The voice that he heard belonged to the elder that he had met for a short time. Surprisingly she was the only person here and didn''t even bother to come to greet him.

    "Yes he did, it is me, Long Dong, you know, the Golden Dragon¡­"

    While the woman didn''t tell him that he could go in he continued to slowly walk towards this large mansion. The woman was a top elder of the clan but she was in theory below him in status. Even though it was only on paper, she would normally have to lower her head before him.

    "I don''t think we had an appointment¡­"

    He continued to move forward, the gate was wide open and on the inside, he saw the old woman wearing a more traditional robe. She was tending to her garden of spiritual herbs but mostly just looking at some that were radiating Qi.

    "Yes, I must apologize for that but I need someone to help guide me, I would like to¡­"

    As he tried to continue he saw the old woman look at him sternly. She moved her finger to her mouth as if she wanted to tell him to be quiet. Then he also realized that she had been whispering while looking at a certain closed flower.

    "That flower is¡­ a spiritual sunrise lily?"

    Now that he looked back to the fake sun above, he could spot that it was certainly more red than usual. After adding two and two together it was clear what the woman was doing.

    "Ah, is the elder Laixie trying to grow the sunrise lily?"

    "I see that the Golden Dragon is very knowledgeable, you probably know that this flower needs to be brought up in near silence and tranquility to develop the sunrise seeds inside."

    "Ah yes, they are quite the rare seeds that can be turned into various elixirs to nourish the fire aspect."

    "Yes, I''m not sure what you came here for Golden Dragon, but I must remain here because this is a critical point in the life cycle of the sunrise lily."

    He could tell that the old woman was nourishing the plant with some of her Qi. This also explained why this place was deserted a loud noise could cause the flower to not produce any seeds. It took many years to just grow one flower as it wouldn''t bloom if there were more of its kind around it.

    "That is true but¡­"

    It was clear that he wouldn''t get the woman to budge from this place. Then when he tried to explain himself the woman continued to sush him. It didn''t seem that the war that was here made these elders worry too much for some reason. They were certainly convinced that even if all failed they would be safe in this fortress of theirs.

    Thus the only way to make this old lady move was to bring this flower to bloom. Thankfully with the amount of knowledge that he had gained he would be able to do such a thing. The biggest problem would probably be to make her agree to it.

    "Ah yes¡­ her isn''t that the Azure Dragon? oh no, why is he wearing that alluring dress?"

    Zhang Dong pointed into the distance behind the old woman. She of course was taken aback by something so preposterous but was also unable to not look in that direction. The notion of seeing the handsome Azure Emperor in some kind of dress was probably too much. While curiosity got to her, he quickly went for it.

    "There is no one there¡­ wait w-what are you doing!"

    The old woman screamed out in shock as she saw Zhang Dong quickly pluck the flower from the ground. To her knowledge this would certainly make the plant die, it was something that she had nourished for many years but before her eyes, it was now gone.

    "Oh don''t you worry, just give me a second I''ll have it bloom before your eyes."

    She was furious with him and even though he said that it would be fine, she pulled out a sword instantly.

    "I don''t care who you think you are!"

    "Now let''s not be hasty grandma, just give me a moment¡­"

    The flower was out of sight in his hands as he started nourishing it with a combination of select elements. He was sure that it would work even after plucking it from the ground but the old woman went crazy.

    "Hey now, that was dangerous¡­"

    He dodged a swing from her blade while flying away. The woman started chasing him around this area and he was even forced to leave it. Soon the whole crystal tower where the main long clan was based was in an uproar. Mentions of their grand elder chasing after the emperor''s brother quickly reached everyone.

    "It''s hard to concentrate like this, if I didn''t know better I''d think you really wanted this lily to die!"

    "Stop with the excuses!"

    They flew long and wide. Even other elders and clan members started chasing after them but soon they all stopped as a strange phenomenon occurred. The area was covered in a crimson-like haze that resembled a rising sun.

    "T-this is¡­ the rising of the heavenly lily? But it was only a regular sunrise lily¡­"

    The old woman stopped flying while her jaw dropped, from within the palms of the man she was chasing an unbelievable phenomenon was taking place which prompted her to pass out on the spot.

 Chapter 433

    "H-how¡­"

    An old lady was clutching a radiant flower with seeds that were pulsating with a strange power. After chasing a man that hailed as the Golden Dragon for destroying her treasured herb, she was now left speechless. She didn''t know how but the Sunrise Lily that could be used for various pills and elixirs had transformed almost before her eyes.

    "It''s a Heavenly Sunrise Lily¡­"

    "That''s why I told you to wait¡­"

    Zhang Dong was standing in front of the old woman that continued to stare at the glowing flower. It was so bad that he even had to give the old lady a poke on the shoulder to wake her up from her trance.

    "You should better put that flower into stasis, even though it has bloomed it won''t last forever you know."

    "Ah¡­ you have my gratitude."

    The old lady quickly used a special technique on the flower that would help it last longer before putting it into her spatial ring. Afterward, she looked at him with a strange glint in her eyes.

    "I must apologize for my previous outburst, I let emotions cloud my judgment, please accept this apology Golden Dragon."

    Laixie clasped her hands together while bowing her head quite low. There were various people looking out from the side. The two caused quite the ruckus in this large crystal tower that housed most of their inner clan members.

    "Elder Laixie admitted her wrongdoings?"

    "S-she is showing allegiance to the Golden Dragon?"

    Most of them didn''t know what was going on. This one was one of the top three elders in the whole clan. They had only seen her bow her head before the Azure Emperor, now she was doing it before his so-called brother. Not many people had really accepted the new player in town that was Long Dong but now after seeing one of the elders bowing before him, they were starting to take him seriously.

    "Ah yes, it''s fine. Don''t sweat it old girl but I didn''t really come to you for the flower, I need some directions you see¡­"

    The old woman nodded but wasn''t sure what Zhang Dong''s request was as she didn''t really give him time to explain himself.

    "Directions, where would you like to go?"

    "When I first came here, my brother brought me to a chamber with that map, could you show me the way there?"

    "You wish me to direct you to the secret war room?"

    The old woman started rubbing her chin. It was clear that the area with that map was not just something that everyone could visit. But he was convinced that his status should help him gain access to that area.

    "Ah yes, now I remember, you had left quite abruptly after the speech, the Emperor was planning to give you access to the War Room. Very well let me guide you towards it."

    ''It seems like I was worrying for nothing.''

    Apparently, he was already granted access to this war room. He feared that he would be denied it, but after further consideration, he had already seen the map when the Azure Emperor gave him a short tour.

    When leaving that area they just walked to another teleporter that let them outside which was also the reason why he didn''t know where it was exactly. He did check his system map but not like he could bust through the walls of this tower, the long Clan would probably see it as treason or something.

    Thus he headed out while following after the old lady. This time around he was sure to pay attention to where he was going. The old woman guided him through what was the giant crystal tower, both of them ended up in some kind of strange large chamber with quite the high ceiling.

    There were actually quite a bit of people here. It looked to be some kind of hub and in the distance, he could see people getting on teleportation platforms. They quickly disappeared while covered in blue light. Zhang Dong had to give it to the Long Clan, while his own sect was somewhat advanced they didn''t hold a candle to them in scope.

    ''They must be using a massive amount of spiritual energy to run all of these teleporters, then there is that protective barrier and god knows if not more¡­''

    His first opinion of this place might have been faulty as they did clearly build this place to last. It was clear that this was the reason why no one was taking the war that seriously. Perhaps they even had some way of fleeing that made them even more confident.

    "Greetings Elder Laixie, what brings you here today¡­ and isn''t that the¡­"

    "Yes, this is the Emperor''s brother, Golden Dragon Long Dong."

    While he had grown accustomed to saying his new name, he still found it strange when other people said it out loud. It was even more peculiar when this name came from an old lady like this.

    "I''m sorry honored Golden Dragon, We didn''t expect that you would grace us with your radiant self today!"

    The people behind a counter that the old lady brought him to started prostrating themselves before him as usual. He just waited for all the ?ss-kissing to end before his guide could continue.

    "Please give the honored Golden Dragon his identification treasure, it should have been prepared beforehand."

    "Oh?"

    Zhang Dong was a bit surprised but it seemed that moves to accommodate him had already been done. Perhaps he should have stayed a bit longer here but if he did, then he would probably not been able to intercept those invaders.

    "Ah yes, let me see. Here you go, please place your hand on the crystal orb."

    The clerk that was here brought out a light blue orb that fit more with a wizard than a cultivator setting. He looked at it, then scanned it with his spiritual sense and discovered that it was some kind of scanning device. There didn''t seem that there was a problem with it, thus he just placed his hand on it.

    To his surprise, it worked in a similar fashion as the scanners at his own sect. He could feel that this item was trying to read his spiritual sense in some way but if he so d?s?r?d he could just block it.

    "Ah yes, we have your identification crystal with us."

    After the orb did its scan the person behind the counter went to a side room. He could hear sliding doors opening which then were followed by silence. After about five minutes the person returned while holding a small yellow crystal in his hand. On it was the symbol for the Golden Dragon which clearly belonged to him.

    "It does seem like it''s for me, I reckon these will allow me access to the teleportation arrays around this crystal citadel?"

    He asked while somewhat knowing the answer. Others were moving around this area and when they attempted teleportation they always brought out similar-looking crystals. They were all blue and somewhat uniform in design, it was clear that his was a bit more special.

    "That''s right, just hold your crystal in front of the seeing orb and you will be able to use it."

    With the crystal in his hand, he turned to the old lady that came with him. He was somewhat aware of what this item would help him do but it was always best to ask for confirmation.

    "Let me explain, everything that is important is locked away. There are several layers of protective arrays that seal off the most important places to any non-main clan members."

    The old woman continued to explain while they went towards the largest teleportation station in this area. It was supposedly the only one that would allow him passage into the war room. While he was curious why the Azure Emperor was able to get him there without going through this one area, it was clear that it was due to his title of Emperor.

    This area was watched and any teleportation attempt would be logged in the clan database. Even his first attempt and the destination that he was taking was probably going to be marked down. Even this golden crystal would probably not allow him to go unseen.

    He was greeted by more cultivators as he approached the console. The old lady gave him some instructions while also telling him that he should be able to visit the war room all by himself now through this place.

    It was a strange feeling as he was able to somehow connect through his spiritual energy to this system. In his mind he could see several places that he could access thanks to his golden crystal. But even with it, there were some places that he was not allowed to venture into, most of them belonging to the other three elders and the Azure Emperor.

    Finally, after digging through it he selected the war room. With nothing else to do, the old lady bowed again before removing herself from this area. It didn''t seem that she was bothered by him visiting one of their secret locations anymore but that was probably due to there being many nascent soul leveled elders guarding it at all times.

    ''So here we are¡­''

    Once more he was back in this place, the biggest difference was quite obvious. The moment he appeared two nascent soul masters gave him the stink eye. But the moment they noticed his face they quickly turned away.

    ''I guess my fame travels fast.''

    It was clear that someone like him would be known around this place. Being a new big player in town he would garner interest from a lot of people.

    ''There it is¡­ this doesn''t look good¡­''

    What he was interested in was the map though, even though there were more guards the map was paramount. Just like before it was there and shining but there was a big difference to the one that he previously saw.

    There were various red areas on it, each one at the border. When he moved closer he focused on the place where he tracked Wang Long to, there too he saw the red mark, it was clear that these were the tunnels leading to the other empires.

    ''There are none around the area of my sect though¡­''

    He noticed that down to the south of the empire where the location of his city was, there were no closeby red marks. Only at the north, east and west sides did he spot the bridges. The closest one that he could see was the southeast one that would align with the empire of cultivators that he visited for a short time.

    ''Okay then, Bob get to work, we need to analyze this map before anyone kicks us out.''

    He ordered his Ai while placing his hand on the large table in the middle of the room.. From it a holographic map was being projected, if he could figure out what made this thing tick he wouldn''t need to rely on this Long Clan as much.

 Chapter 434

    ''Well, that cost me an arm and a leg¡­''

    Zhang Dong looked at his ever-dwindling spirit point pool. After teleporting all over the place and finally scanning the map he was running on reserves. Luckily it was a worthy investment as now he would be able to copy the design.

    It was something that he didn''t fully understand, the map was connecting to something in this world. It wasn''t satellites but something similar, it was receiving information that created this display. Without his AI there would be no possible way of him accessing this outer source.

    Bob gave him a roundabout explanation of how this worked. They were in a sense just using the Long Clan maps password while accessing this database on the outside. There didn''t seem to be any firewalls or roadblocks that prevented two of these maps from existing at the same time.

    Zhang Dong''s best guess was that whoever created it either didn''t believe that anyone would be able to copy the design or didn''t care. Besides a system user, there would probably not be anyone capable of doing this. The system users were part of this whole predicament and perhaps there even was a way to buy a similar map on the system store.

    ''That about covers it¡­ should I go or look around some more¡­''

    There were other people in this room with him, while at first, they did seem somewhat unwelcoming after a while they just started ignoring his presence. With the war having started they probably had other things to worry about. But for some reason, they didn''t really seem to be panicking too much.

    ''This war room is a bit too silent¡­ I''d expect there to be some grumpy-looking general shouting at people and ordering them to move out¡­''

    The Long Clan''s main area was right in the middle of the empire. The enemies were flowing in from all directions and there seemed to be more than just three empires flowing in. From what he could tell there were five or six of them.

    From the east side came the ones that he interacted with, the toothy ones. From the west side, there was the Emerald Phoenix Empire that he had visited before. This empire came from the upper east side while from the bottom east there were sightings of strange men in golden armor. Then from the north, he also heard of two distinctive camps being formed.

    Zhang Dong''s city was in the southwestern regions. There he would either meet with the monster-like people that he already tousled with or another empire altogether. In his mind, it would be better to face off against opponents that he had already met.

    They were all body refiners that weren''t that great at attacking from range. Those bony body spears might have looked deadly but in reality, it would be hard to hit a very mobile cultivator from range. The best way would be to keep distance as they were clearly more suited for close-quarters combat and pelt them with a vast array of ranged attacks.

    "So, about that Goliath thing that my brother mentioned¡­"

    "I apologize but this is not something I can give you information on Golden Dragon. The Azure Emperor is the only one that can answer your question and at the moment he is away."

    Before leaving he was also interested in this thing that the Azure Emperor mentioned. From the name, he figured it to be some kind of large beast or construct? Maybe it was some kind of huge flying ship that would make his Argonaut look like a child''s toy? Regretfully no one was willing to disclose any information and he was not too keen on hanging out with his brother that much.

    While Long Qing seemed like a cheerful fellow to hang around with, he wasn''t much different than other cultivators. This he proved by denying aid to him, it was clear that he only cared about his own city and the people living in it.

    The map in this chamber clearly showed the movements of the invaders but they were just waiting. From what he could tell, they were anticipating the middle-sized sects and the smaller clans to all be forced back towards the middle of the empire.

    Probably after gathering all the nascent soul masters under their own banner would they start their counterattack. He wouldn''t be surprised if the Heavenly Crane Sect along with the Long Clan forced the smaller sects to act as meat shields.

    They would probably send out some of their nascent soul masters to direct them. Only if the situation became dire, would they act and offer up some of their own resources. This wasn''t a bad plan but this depended on the strength of their opponents. If they waited too long, the enemies could become too powerful to resist and at that point, they would have lost most of the middle-sized sects.

    ''What about me¡­ I can''t just fly around and rescue people¡­''

    Zhang Dong found fault in this tactic but he also couldn''t deny it. As a leader himself, he knew that everyone was working with limited resources. They couldn''t just offer up aid and put their cultivators at risk to save other sects. Without knowing if the other party returned the favor later it was better to not risk losing your devoted sect brothers.

    ''I guess I''m not that much better than these guys¡­''

    After giving out a sigh he remained in this chamber for a moment to look around. Besides the map, there wasn''t really anything of note. Without having any allies in the Long Clan, there was not much he could affect.

    He could either try waiting here to convince his brother to help out but he was sure that he would be told to take his people and move them here. But they would probably only allow him to bring the most elite members from his sect and family. The rest of the citizens would be then left to fend for themselves.

    "Well, tell my brother that I''ll be returning to my own sect."

    The man he was talking to looked to be in charge here. He was not one of the three high elders that he met before. Luckily he was taking his status as the Golden Dragon seriously.

    "I will pass on the information so that it reaches the Azure Dragon''s ear, but it would be faster if lord Golden Dragon visited the Azure palace himself, the Emperor should be coming back soon, it shouldn''t take more than a week."

    "A whole week?"

    "Yes, because of the coming invasion we must be careful of anyone trying to infiltrate our area, only the Emperor has enough skill to see through disguises."

    "Ah, is that so¡­"

    In this world filled with disguising techniques, some of the prominent cultivators could even be replaced. If such a thing occurred they would be sitting on a time bomb without knowing when someone would stab them in the back.

    ''I guess I could just call him with my system¡­ but not like he can show me his superweapons while he is out¡­''

    Zhang Dong had gone through all the books and through some of the clan''s secrets. He did not know everything but it would need to be enough. Without any proper pull here, there was also no way of prying away some of the clan''s resources out.

    For the time being, he would need to rely on his own people. They had been taking over the lands of the once active Dark Palm Sect, now these lands were theirs.

    "I''ll be leaving then."

    After checking everything out he decided to use the teleportation station to get out. The crystal they gave him was also very interesting and Bob was already trying to examine it. It would require more spirit points to crack so for the time being it was put on the backburner.

    ¡­

    "Husband, you have returned? Are you alright? Have you been eating enough?"

    After getting out of the war room, Zhang Dong went to a more secluded location and teleported back to his new home. He used the faction teleportation to arrive at the location of his wife. The moment he popped out, Liena jump on him as if she was afraid that he was a ghost or something.

    "Eating? Well, I didn''t really have time to make any stops but don''t worry, I had somebody nourishing pills with me."

    He could only smile while petting Liena on the back. During his chase for Wang Long, he made many stops along the way but not to take a break. For someone of his caliber, this would be enough as at this point his body was far removed from regular humans. He could survive months, perhaps even a year without eating anything.

    "How are you though? Have the kids been good?"

    "The children? Yes, every day you are out they ask me where you are¡­ I''m slowly running out of excuses, you should go visit them if you have the time. You do have time now, right?"

    "Well¡­"

    Zhang Dong gave out a sigh, he would really like to enjoy his time with his children and lovely wife but he couldn''t. There was so much going on outside that he didn''t know if they would have a home to return to the next day. Any of the empires could pop up in their lands and it would end in a bloody conflict.

    "I''m not sure I will have that much to spare in the coming days, you know what is at stake yourself¡­"

    Everyone had been informed about the state of affairs. The evacuation of the sect didn''t go through last time so they didn''t need to worry about that anymore. Their citizens from the city started flocking back though as they were left in the forest area to survive in tents while battling beasts in the wild.

    "I know but at least show that you are alive, it will mean a lot to them."

    Zhang Dong nodded as he knew that to his family he was gone for five years. He had returned only recently and they were probably worried that in the coming war he would vanish yet again. His relationship with his kids had been somewhat rekindled but he knew that if he wasn''t there again it would quickly deteriorate.

    Thus he made a decision to go see his children while also contacting various members of his sect via his system. Someone like him that was a powerful cultivator could easily multitask so playing patty cake with his daughter and talking to Huo Qiang at the same time wouldn''t be that hard.

    ''So, you have secured it?''

    ''Yes, it looks the same as it did. Will we be going through the tests again? I don''t think we can enter it at this point, will the juniors be tasked with this?''

    Huo Qiang asked while looking at a familiar ruin. It was the same one where he and Zhang Dong met for the first time and also the place where part of the Dark Palm sect just vanished.. Now it was in their territory and waiting to be explored again.

 Chapter 435

    ''That will be enough.''

    ''Are you sure Patriarch? We could still take over more of the lost lands?''

    ''No, this will do, the more land we have the harder it will be to defend. The spirit stone mines will do nicely and also remember to take any thunderstones that you find.''

    ''As you command, Patriarch.''

    Zhang Dong closed the connection with Zhang Zhi that was wrapping up their hostile takeover. Most of the Dark Palm Sect''s old lands had been reclaimed by his people. He was not interested in the cities though, what he wanted was access to the secret ground he once visited.

    There he hoped to find some help to get him past this coming crisis. If not help then perhaps some answers concerning the true nature of this world that he was in. With the secret ground now being in his own territory and his new status as the Golden Dragon, there was no one to stop him.

    "Daddy?"

    "Ah sorry, did I space out?"

    He looked down, there in his ??p was his young daughter. She wasn''t the only person he was with, his son was playing in the courtyard with the new toy robot. It seemed that the youngster wasn''t as scared of him anymore.

    "Hmph! You should pay more attention!"

    Zhang Xiu puffed out her cheeks while turning her head away from her father. The two were playing some cards, a game that he himself brought into this world. His child was quite smart but even she couldn''t beat someone that was using spirit sense to peek at their cards. That is if he actually used to win but instead, he let the child be victorious instead.

    "Haha, daddy was just sad that he lost so much, you''re just too strong Xiu."

    Xiu started smiling brightly after getting praised by her father. The little girl was quite fond of challenging people to various exercises. He didn''t know where she got it from but whenever she lost in anything she would pester the person for a rematch until victory was hers. Thus it was better to surrender unless he wanted to have her cling to his th??h to constantly ask for another go.

    "Why don''t you go play with your brother while mommy and daddy talk?"

    "Okay!"

    "Are you really going to try to enter that secret ground by yourself?"

    "I see that word goes around¡­"

    "Did you really think you could hide this from me?"

    Zhang Dong gulped as he didn''t really want to tell his wife that he was placing himself at risk. The place he was going was sort of a no man''s land. After the Dark Palm Sect discovered it and even after their downfall other sects and clans attempted to claim it.

    Even though some of them managed to get past the initial part just like the Zhang Clan did, it was a dead end. Each time when it was finished there would be a giant suction force su?k?n? people through a large gate. Afterward weeks, months, and then years would pass without anyone coming back.

    Due to this, the area had been deemed a hazardous zone, no one was allowed to enter it. The sects had lost many nascent soul elders to the strange trap. They were unable to figure out if they were doing something wrong and Zhang Dong had a suspicion that no one besides him could actually get past that locked gate.

    "I will be fine, I will just teleport back here if something goes wrong."

    "You didn''t ''just'' teleport the first time you went missing."

    "Well¡­ that was a bit¡­"

    "Different? So there are places that you can''t just get back from!"

    His wife narrowed her eyes at him while he turned his head away. It was true the system he was using wasn''t omnipotent. The place he was going to was built by a previous user that was somehow able to hack it. It wouldn''t be strange if that person knew a way to keep him from teleporting out of there but in Zhang Dong''s mind, the danger was minimal.

    It was that secret ground that set everything in motion. The first cube that he absorbed set him free of the system that was now different. His theory was that he was probably the only person that would be accepted by that immortal abode. The whole place was probably made as a test for his kind. Only people with an altered system would probably be allowed to fully enter it.

    "I''m just going to check it out a bit, I''m not going to use the testing ground, I hope to find a side entrance¡­"

    Zhang Dong started to explain himself to Liena. She knew that he wasn''t just a regular cultivator, his old name was also revealed a long time ago/ In his mind the testing ground was just bait to get system holders in. There might be a different entrance that he could go through now.

    "Fine, go and leave me and the kids again, we will be just fine!"

    "... Don''t be that way my wife, I''m not doing it for selfish reasons, I think the knowledge there could help us through the coming war."

    Liena puffed up her cheeks in a similar fashion to her daughter which made Zhang Dong chuckle. While he knew where she was coming from, it had to be done. The mysteries buried in that strange place could help them through this coming event and this might be also the last time he would be able to examine it. When the war started there might not be space to maneuver, it could be even destroyed during the fighting.

    "Fine, but you better contact me regularly!"

    Finally, his wife gave in as she knew that there was no way to stop him from going. But he would certainly not put himself at risk there. The situation was not so dire for him to grasp at straws yet. He was strong enough to battle with the toughest nascent soul masters on the continent already. His cultivation was constantly increasing and with more spirit stones coming over, he would only continue to progress.

    Thus after having a moment with his wife and kids he set out to the place where it all started. To his knowledge, the secret ground was later named the ghostly immortal''s abode. It was rumored to have been created by a long-dead cultivator and everyone that tried to venture past the gates had never returned.

    Time was of the essence so he used up the last of his spirit points to teleport to Zhang Zhi''s location. Thankfully his most trusted retainer had been tasked with securing spirit stones for him.

    "Zhang Zhi greets the Patriarch!"

    While the samurai was not surprised by him just popping out of the blue, the other sect members were. The moment they saw their silver-haired leader they dropped their heads. Not everyone was used to seeing him but Zhang Dong had already gotten used to how much he was revered in his own sect.

    "At ease, I think you have some spirit stones for me?"

    Zhang Zhi nodded while handing him a spatial ring. Inside there were many large and small spirit stones along with thunderstones that were just crystallized lightning energy. With these in his position, he could finally resume nourishing his cores. After absorbing so much holy energy and soul energy he was only missing lightning to make a small jump.

    "I will be entering the secret ground myself, make sure that I''m not bothered by anyone."

    "T-this¡­"

    Instead of a resounding ''Yes Patriarch.'' he received a lukewarm response. Zhang Zhi apparently didn''t agree with this plan and he knew why.

    "You don''t need to worry, I''m not going to be taking any tests that this immortal''s abode offers, I''m just going to see if I can find a side entrance, if I can''t find anything I''ll just return."

    "As you wish."

    It was clear that Zhang Zhi was opposed to letting him just wander in there on his own. But the other cultivators would just get in the way. Then if he found a side entrance, he wasn''t sure how the abode would react to non-system users like his sect members. They might find themselves whisked away like all the other nascent soul masters before them.

    After taking the spatial ring he made his way towards the secret ground. Even before entering it he could feel the presence of a formation here. It had been created to keep lower leveled cultivators out but for him it was childsplay.

    Soon he ended up at the exact location where his old clan ship arrived. Zhang Dong stopped for a moment as the memory had been imprinted in his brain. On one side he remembered his now-wife Liena sticking out her tongue at him. Then in another location was Huo Qiang that was surrounded by women and alcohol.

    "Time really does fly, I didn''t think I would be returning here."

    In all honesty, Zhang Dong would rather spend his time with his family than be out adventuring. If it wasn''t for the impending doom he would just be homemaking toys for his son while trying to catch up.

    "Before this all started I never thought I would have my own kids¡­ I guess some good came from this strange world¡­"

    He shook his head to snap out of it. This was not the time to reminisce about his old life that he hardly remembered. The old him from earth wasn''t there anymore, his new persona of Zhang Dong had since taken over while Matt was now a distant memory.

    ''Bob, be sure to scan the area for any potential entry points.''

    ''Affirmative.''

    "Still looks as gloomy as I remember¡­"

    He passed through the entrance, the place was deserted. It was clear that no one had enough courage to make another trip. But with his knowledge and the help of his little AI partner he was sure that there was something he could find here.

    ''Hidden entrance point found, forwarding data to the map.''

    No sooner did he enter the abode that he received a message from Bob. His system map was marked by him instantly, it seemed that there really was a way to enter for him. Now it remained to be seen, was there something there to help him or would this be a dead end.

    I''ve decided to pause ******* for the next month which means that my stories will be on hold for about a month. If you want more info please go to the ******* link.

    .*******.com/posts/61615744

 Chapter 436

    "Are you sure we are going the right way?"

    ''Affirmative, the entrance is exactly 457,45 meters north-east.''

    "Ah yes, sure it is¡­"

    Zhang Dong looked at the red marker on his minimap. While what Bob said might have been true he was calculating the distance in a straight line. At this moment in time, he was walking through some dark corridors filled with cobwebs.

    This part of this secret ground was unknown to him as he had never visited it before. The last time he was here they were all shoved into the testing chamber and teleported away. All the other passages were blocked off by the Dark Palm Sect cultivators. Finally, after all these years he was able to examine this place in detail.

    There was actually a series of corridors under the whole structure. When looking at his map he was now somewhere under the trial chamber. Apparently somewhere under here, there was a secret entrance that the Dark Palm Sect didn''t discover.

    "Some of these tunnels had been dug up, probably they were trying to find another entrance like me."

    It was clear by how it looked down here that the Dark Palm Sect and perhaps the sects that came after it were excavating this site. There were half-finished tunnels everywhere, it was clear that they tried to dig their way behind that large chamber door.

    "This rock structure¡­ No wonder they were itching to get in."

    Zhang Dong punched one of the walls after injecting his fist full of Qi. The ground shook but instead of the wall being smashed into pieces his knuckles were injured. The material that the walls were made with was clearly something above the level of regular cultivators.

    The stone was incredibly hard but not the same as the one that he discovered at the cube location. There was also no dark spot in his minimap which confirmed his theory that this was something else. The person that made this structure was probably someone with a system like him. It was possible that he either bought the knowledge on how to build this place from the system store.

    He arrived at his destination. Many tunnels were leading to this large cavern that had been dugout. He could see at least half a kilometer of nothing but white walls from left to right. The cultivation nuts clearly didn''t give up lightly and tried to find some kind of weak spot here but weren''t able to continue.

    ''This makes it seem that the immortal abode is here and it doesn''t just teleport us to some kind of distant location.''

    These white walls spread in all directions. He could feel some spiritual energy that was reinforcing them and absorbing any hits that he delivered. In most cases, such structures required some sort of power source to keep their effects. But it could also just be some special material.

    "It should be somewhere here¡­"

    He floated up into the air, the walls were quite smooth and uniform in all directions. On the ground, he could see some destroyed tools such as pickaxes that were probably used to attempt a breach. With the help of his minimap marker, he was finally able to find the entrance spot.

    "Well then, do your thing, Bob¡­ I don''t really feel anything out of the ordinary here¡­"

    After pressing his palm on the smooth wall he tried to examine it with his spiritual sense. There wasn''t anything that he could spot, it was clear that without the system he would be unable to venture any further.

    ''Interfacing¡­ please wait¡­''

    Zhang Dong felt a bit apprehensive about overusing Bob. It was still unclear to him what this AI program was. For the time being it was helping him, without Bob he would have been unable to return from that other world. But this also didn''t mean that this being wouldn''t somehow betray him in the future.

    There were stories of cultivators leaving a slither of their being in items. Then they would use some occult means to inject them into other cultivators. Slowly they would grow in power and finally at a certain juncture they would strike. When the cultivator was at a weak point they would try to overtake their very soul and body. What if Bob was leading him into certain doom and the person that made him would try to take over his body?

    ''That''s a possibility but with how big my soul has gotten I''m not sure if they will have it easy¡­''

    This was a possibility though it was somewhat far-fetched. For the time being, he could only throw this reasoning to the back of his head while venturing forward. As he was worrying Bob finally was done with his interfacing and a strange sound of pressurized air came from the wall.

    ''...Task complete, opening¡­ please stand by.''

    He flinched slightly as a door appeared before him. It opened upwards while accompanied by screeching. It was clear that this opening had not been used for quite some time, even some dust had crept in.

    ''I guess here goes nothing¡­''

    It was finally time to take the plunge inside, he couldn''t really see much as there was no light. Even though he tried to use his spiritual sense to see what was inside he couldn''t see anything past the entrance. There was probably some kind of high level formation blocking him from peeking inside.

    ''Well, I found a side entrance as I told you, I''ll be going inside now, I''m not sure how long it will take me.''

    ''Please be careful.''

    As he ventured forward he made sure to inform his wife as he promised. He wasn''t sure how long it would take him or if he would be able to use his system to communicate with her after entering his place.

    Finally, he propelled himself gently forward and vanished into the darkened room. As soon as he was inside the entrance closed behind him. Now on the inside, his golden aura lit the way forward as it was clear that the space he was occupying had not been used for many millennia.

    ''The air in here is stale¡­''

    He found himself in another corridor to the side he could see something orb-like stuck to the wall. It was some kind of round crystal that he was somewhat familiar with.

    ''Bob¡­ Can you turn on the lights?''

    After a moment these round objects that were embedded in the wall started to flicker. Even though they were clearly unused, they still were in working order. The path forward continued to be illuminated before him and in the distance, he could see a fork in the road.

    ''Before that¡­ can you hear me?... hello¡­?''

    Zhang Dong frowned as what he had feared came true. He could not contact his wife or anyone else from his sect. It was clear that this person that made this was going against the person that made the system. Thus it was natural that he would have something in place to block it from interfering.

    Even then he had hoped that thanks to Bob he might be able to contact his wife and others. But even with the hacked version of the system he could not. Perhaps he would need to gain full access to this immortal abode before he could send his message.

    ''Are you still working Bob?''

    ''Affirmative, all systems are nominal. The faction function is being blocked, do you wish to examine the issue?''

    ''Yes do that while I look around.''

    At first, the corridor was mostly empty with the same sense blocking walls keeping him from peering outside but soon he ended up at a fork in the road. While he could see the end of the path he came from, this one stretched for far too much for him to see.

    There were three paths he could take, one leading forward, one to the left, and another one to the right. He looked up in hopes of finding some kind of sign but there was none. It was clear that whoever made this place didn''t care about intruders knowing their way.

    ''Everything in here is made from this strange material, I can''t sense anything¡­''

    He could only narrow his eyes while floating up. The corridors were about four meters wide and ten meters high which allowed him to see further in. While two of the paths were the same there was something he spotted on the right side. Instead of the white walls, he noticed something out of place which made him decide on this way.

    ''Is that¡­ glass?''

    It was somewhat surprising but he was sure that he was seeing a reflective surface from a distance. After arriving at the spot, the thing he discovered put things into perspective.

    "Wait, isn''t this¡­ I''ve been there before¡­"

    What he saw was not a room or anything but a wide expanse of land. It was a forest area, the same exact zone that he was sent to when he was taking the trial with the other core formation cultivators at that time.

    What he found was a window that gave him a clear look down but the distance from the landmass below was quite tremendous. There must have been some kind of spatial formation here as there was far too much land down there.

    Below him was the vast area where he met his wife and Huo Qiang. The memories of battling strange monsters and the trials with the seven sins folded his mind. He quickly recalled some key landmarks which were actually there. The only strange part was that there didn''t seem to be any monsters around.

    "Maybe only when the trial gets triggered from the outside do the monsters appear?"

    This place probably took up a tremendous amount of spiritual energy to run. It would be smart to turn it off while there are no people taking the test. The area was also shrouded in darkness and only thanks to his enhanced vision and ability to see in the dark could he see anything.

    He was at the right place but where should he go? The paths continued in various directions and there was no way to know where to go. His minimap was also not showing him the way as the system blockers extended past the communication blocking.

    "This might take a while¡­ but perhaps I should go in the direction of that final trial?"

    Without knowing where to go, he decided to go towards the zone where he faced off against the pride demon. There he found all of the current books and scripts that made him what he was today.. Perhaps there he would find some more answers.

 Chapter 437

    "It''s not as big on the outside as it is on the inside, a strange sight to behold¡­"

    While floating through the wide corridor Zhang Dong spotted more windows into the trial grounds. They were spaced out by somewhat a large distance but this distance seemed to expand by at least ten times when he peeked to the inside.

    This was the first time that he saw this kind of spatial formation that was divided. While he traveled a hundred meters in the corridor it was as if he went through a whole kilometer on the inside.

    He continued to look but there were no of those monsters to be seen. The inside was in some kind of stasis that would probably only be removed when a group of cultivators came to challenge the test.

    Then finally after going in one direction he came before a door. It was not closed to him and he didn''t need to use Bob to hack it either. After entering through it he found himself in another area with more windows. There he could spot areas that he had already visited, ones that he faced of the seven deadly sins-themed bosses.

    Like the other areas, there was nothing in the rooms and the signs of combat were gone. He tried to recall those days, some of them were spent battling the monsters. He could clearly remember damaging the surroundings in some of the fights but it seemed that this place could somehow repair itself.

    "Is someone living here that repaired it? or is there some kind of formation that can put it back into place?"

    Even if there were some type of beings doing the repairs he expected them to be more like the monsters. The easiest way would be to create some automatons that performed restorative efforts after a test was done. From what he knew, the tests couldn''t be carried out constantly. This place clearly needed time to repair itself for the next batch of combatants.

    "Should I try breaking through it¡­"

    After tapping on the glass a couple of times he realized that it was also made from some strange material. It was not as hard as the walls though and would probably be unable to resist his punches. The trials didn''t allow nascent soul masters in them so these windows might not have been made resistant enough.

    Thus he arrived at a flight of winding stairs that brought him up, there he also discovered the library from where he borrowed most of his current knowledge. All the books were still there and if other cultivators were here they would probably already be busting through the windows to get to those old scriptures.

    But this didn''t seem to be the end so he continued to go up. The whole place was giving him a strange feeling. He clearly wasn''t able to see these glass windows when he was on the other side but from here he could peek inside of the testing ground with ease.

    It was as if someone or something was watching them battle for their lives for their amusement. But perhaps this was something of an age long past, this whole place looked deserted. There was no sign of anything living going through these corridors, the whole place was probably just operating on some old directive.

    "That''s quite a drop¡­"

    He continued to go up the stairs for some time but they didn''t seem to end. It was clear that he had entered through another spatial formation that extended this tower of stairs even further. But without any directions, he could only continue and finally after about an hour of traveling he arrived at the end.

    "Only the worthy may pass?"

    There were actual words written above this chamber, their meaning didn''t really matter but there was something peculiar about it. The words were not in mandarin, no they were in English.

    After coming to this world he had seen some strange mix of cultures that didn''t fit the theme of this world. He realized that this was probably due to many other system users shaping their cities to fit their more modern style. Seeing English words was not out of the ordinary but it also made it obvious that they were meant for people like him.

    Thus he took a step forward and placed his hand on the large door ring. The moment he did, he could feel an outward force scanning his body. Before he knew it, there was a click, and as he started pulling the door quickly creaked open.

    "This room¡­ Is that a beanbag chair?... This¡­"

    The room wasn''t that large but it reminded him of his old apartment. There was a gaming chair right next to a desk with three large curved monitors. Nothing was turned on but the PC that the monitors were connected to would probably have some nice RGB coloring.

    This room reminded him of the secret one that he made at his own sect. It seemed that whoever lived here had a similar longing for their old life as a gamer. To the side, he could also spot a large bed and a projector next to it probably used to watch movies or perhaps spy on the people performing the tests.

    "I guess this is the place where the system user hung out?"

    The chamber wasn''t too big and there were some windows there. When peeking out of them he had a clear view at the last area where his old Zhang Clan did their tower defense session. But after going around a couple of times he couldn''t really find anything, it seemed that he would need to turn that computer on to see if it worked.

    ''Bob, can you sense something?''

    ''Negative, unable to connect.''

    "Hm¡­ oh, haven''t seen this in years¡­"

    Hidden away to the side was something that he used to be familiar with. It looked like an old console but in actuality, it was a router. Even though he wasn''t that pedantic about his man cave where he only placed monitors in, the rest wasn''t really fashioned to mimic the look of technology from his old world.

    But this wasn''t the time to reminisce about his old life. The person that he was before was now only a small part of his persona. His whole family and sect depended on his next few decisions and he needed more information to decide.

    The computer along with the router were turned on by him and even though these things were quite old, they did work. He saw a strange logo on the monitor that looked like some kind of crystal flying sword which was probably the calling sign of the person that created all of this.

    It didn''t take long for the PC to boot and place him in the operating system, but there was a little problem.

    "Password? Hey, Bob could you¡­ wait¡­"

    At first, he wanted to have Bob use some of his magic to hack into this system but he noticed a question sign to the right side. On it was a tip for the password. He grabbed what looked to be a gaming mouse and placed the cursor over this question mark.

    "Guess What Came In The Mail Today?..."

    He had to pause for a moment before realizing that he probably knew what the answer to the password was. He slowly hovered his fingers towards the keyboard that was lit up like a rainbow and started typing.

    "This guy sure is something¡­"

    Zhang Dong wanted to facepalm after writing in the password. The person he was dealing with had a similar juvenile sense of humor as he did before. But he wasn''t sure if the person ever expected someone to come here and look through his computer.

    He was greeted by a background of a rather voluptuous lady dressed in some ribbons that covered most of the naughty parts in a strategic fashion. There wasn''t really that much on the desktop that he could see besides a few folders and what looked to be executables.

    There was no use staring at them so he started clicking away. The first thing he clicked was an icon of a camera, it took only a moment for it to show him some kind of software with hundreds of small icons.

    When clicking one he was shown the inside of the training ground that for now, was devoid of much movement. Luckily the plants were still alive and there was some kind of small breeze so he could see some small amount of movement.

    After clicking through it he was sure that this was the monitoring system. While he found all of the places that he visited before he could also see the outside of this secret ground. He could even see Zhang Zhi in the distance patrolling the area and unaware that he was being watched.

    There were also some chambers that he hadn''t seen before. One of them looked to be something like a dining area, then there was a large pool with crystal clear water with waterfalls. But even after clicking through place after place, he didn''t discover any signs of life or any leftover automatons that could tell him what had happened here.

    "This one¡­ I think this is behind that large gate¡­"

    At least the secret to what was behind the door that su?k?d those cultivators in was revealed to him. He clearly recognized the other side of it which led to a large teleportation platform. There wasn''t anything in there, it seemed that anyone that was su?k?d in had been teleported to another location.

    "Not much to find here¡­ what does this folder have¡­"

    He turned his attention from the camera system to one of the folders that was named ''Old videos''. After clicking he found a massive amount of old footage that came from other trials. There was even footage of people dying or being su?k?d into that teleportation chamber.

    Then after fiddling through some of that footage he found a subfolder. It seemed that this was what he was looking for. After going into it, he found some recordings and from the thumbnail, he could see that the person was sitting in the same chair he was in.. It looked to be some type of video diary of the person that created this place, it was finally time to see what this was all about.

 Chapter 438

    "Testing, one¡­two¡­three¡­ Think it''s working¡­ this feels kind of strange."

    Zhang Dong was looking at a person in an old video. There was some kind of date on it but it didn''t make much sense to the system they had now. This made it seem that this was recorded before the current dating system was put in place.

    ''The current dating system dates back to a hundred thousand years, it probably started right after the last war between empires. If the timer gets restarted every hundred thousand years, there is no way of knowing how old this is.''

    First, he took a good look at the person that was recording himself. Just like any other system users that he had seen, he was quite handsome. It was clear that the people chosen for this position wanted to make themselves look the best and he was the same.

    The person looked more like a traditional cultivator but he wasn''t that young. His hair was a mix of black and silver that had appeared due to age. Either the person had gone with the elder option in his e-mail or he had just spent quite a bit of time in this world. But judging that it would probably take many years to build a place like this, he was sure it was the latter.

    He didn''t look as old as some of the elders, at most he was about fifty. But it would be hard to tell his true age with just the appearance. Nascent soul masters lived to around a thousand years and depending on their cultivation they could keep their youthful look even into their older years. This person had the system with them, so even here he could already be nine hundred.

    "I did it, I have managed to create this testing ground. With it I will be able to find more people like me, by that I mean people with a system! I know that you are out there, I can''t be the only one¡­"

    It seemed that this person was really the one that figured out the secrets of the system but as it was starting to get to the good part, the video was cut off. Zhang Dong realized that this computer was quite old and even if it looked fine from the outside there was a limit at which data could be stored.

    When he tried to click the next video after it, he was shown a corrupt image with no sound. Other ones wouldn''t even start playing and Bob was also unable to reconstruct the corrupt data.

    ''It''s already a miracle that this thing didn''t crumble into dust, it''s at least a hundred thousand years old¡­''

    Without much to do, he continued to go through the many videos one by one. Finally, he was able to play a part of it, in this video, the man looked a lot older. His skin had some wrinkles and his hair was now almost fully gray. His eyes also looked tired, it was as if he didn''t sleep for some time.

    "Log number 59¡­ ah whoever cares, not like anyone will ever see this¡­ but anyway¡­"

    The man gave out a sigh while leaning back in the gaming chair recreation.

    "I have been unable to discover any other people like me, it has been many thousands of years, no one was able to finish this trial and no other system could be discovered. I have been putting myself into stasis to prolong my life but there is a limit on how much time I have¡­End log"

    The video cut so he continued to the next one.

    "Log number 245¡­ I''m getting tired, so I went outside to stretch my legs¡­ my old sect is no more, I don''t recognize anyone¡­ I don''t think anyone from my bloodline is alive anymore¡­"

    "567¡­ It has been a hundred thousand years¡­ the war cycle has repeated¡­ but no other of my kind has appeared and I know the reason. I have made an error in my calculations, unless I cut off from the source no one will come¡­ without a new system user the empire has no chance of winning, they have retreated into the center but they will survive¡­ I know what I must do¡­"

    "569¡­ I know how to remove myself from the system but I''m too old to survive the procedure. Only when close to death is this possible and by prolonging my life artificially I will certainly die, I must leave this in the hands of someone else. I have updated the trials but I''m unsure if it will work¡­ there are too many variables that could go wrong¡­ I have decided to ascend."

    "571¡­ I am planning to ascend today, this will be the last time. Even after living for this long, I do not wish to die, I am afraid¡­ I know that something is waiting for me, I don''t know what it wants and why it created this game-like world, I know that there are others like me but I''m unable to travel to them at this point, I only hope that the person watching this can meet me on the other side¡­"

    "The ascension to the immortal realm is impossible for anyone other than a system user. I made a discovery, there were several realms between the immortal realm and the nascent soul realm that had been stricken from history. Without this knowledge, it is impossible for regular cultivators to bridge the gap. The step from the nascent soul all the way to the immortal realm is certain death."

    "Only if you give yourself to the system, is ascension possible but what awaits on the other side, I don''t know¡­ After ascending you will be forced to leave this realm, it will be unable to contain your new realm and reject your very being. I hope that I''m wrong and what waits for me on the other side is not certain death but I''m out of options, I have no way of prolonging my life anymore so I hope this message reaches someone who can pave a new path¡­"

    After going through all of these videos he had an idea of what had been happening here. Each video showed the man being older and older. It seemed that he was using some type of device to halt his aging, something akin to cryogenic sleep.

    The man would put himself to sleep for thousands of years and come out on certain occasions to check if the testing ground brought any system holders out. He also spoke about altering the system but being unable to fully cut himself from it. He was still connected which was the reason that he was unable to find any other system user.

    This made him remember that fateful day when he was cut away from the system. He must have been injected with this man''s program but only when he almost died did it sever him from the source. He had almost died back there but he was somehow able to survive which was a miracle of its own. The person here was unwilling to go through the process himself and chose to ascent to a higher realm.

    This was a very widespread trope in the xianxia world. There were certain limits to the world the main protagonist always found themselves in, after reaching that ceiling what remained was to go through it. This would be done by reaching a higher realm of power and then ascending to a brand new world.

    Then they would find themselves somewhere with more realms and new locations to discover. Their adventure would continue again where they would have more time to progress and go against stronger foes. It was like a perpetual adventure where there was no one to it until the person became a full-fledged god-like being that could do whatever they wanted.

    "This timeline, he ascended somewhere around the time there was a war between the empires¡­"

    The Azure Dragon had informed him that the battle had been mostly lost in the old days. Only by sacrifice and bunkering up in the previous capital were they able to last through it all. This would mostly mean that this person built this secret ground two hundred thousand years ago and it lasted to this day when the new war had started.

    Somehow this man had probably been victorious in his version of the empire war. Then he figured out how to hack the system before attempting to make contact with other system users. He was probably trying to gain some allies to figure out what everything was about.

    Zhang Dong was unsure of the extent of this man''s hacking capabilities. He was unable to totally strip himself of the system but it didn''t seem that any of the watchers were utilized to get to him. Perhaps because he wasn''t causing any world-ending calamities or altering the rules of the world, there were no repercussions.

    When he visited the world of sword and magic, he was a being that affected the power balance. Perhaps only when someone past the nascent soul level threshold would the system mods become alert. His current enhanced core formation realm might be a problem now because if he ever made it into the higher realm, it could go against the rules.

    "I guess I''ll have to prepare¡­ but this doesn''t really give me any answers¡­"

    These revelations weren''t anything new to him. In some sense, he knew more things than this person as he had actually visited another world. It was apparently a miracle that he was even alive after the incident in this trial.

    But it did bring up some questions, what was waiting for him out there. If he reached a new realm here would he be forced to leave his family and friends behind? It was apparently impossible to sustain oneself in this world after attaining the immortal realm. What was waiting out there for him? It could be just another world to explore and have fun with or death.

    "Not like I want to be immortal¡­ if I can see my kids grow up and have their own families¡­"

    He gave out a sigh as he didn''t really care that much about living for longer than a thousand years. What he was fighting for was his new family, if he could ?ssure their survival then it was enough. But if this world could be erased at a snap of a finger was also a possibility.

    For now, he decided to look around some more. Perhaps there would be more information about the coming war. The person that created this testing ground certainly said that they went through their own adventure.. If he could find some new weapons to aid him in the coming battles, then it would still be a very fortuitous encounter.