Chapter 418 (1/2)

”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 pŀėȧsurė, 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 ȧssault.

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!”