Chapter 412 (1/2)

”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.