“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…”

Zhang Xue returned to her room and looked out of the window. There he saw a magnificent set of buildings that were a wonder of modern architecture. Everything was built with the help of her master and even in his absence, the people living here were progressing at a rapid pace.

“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 desire 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 butted 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.

It was clear from the start that there were several nascent soul cultivators in that armada. One of them was radiating astonishing might while the others trailed behind him slightly.

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!