Chapter 369 (1/2)
”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.