“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 ass-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 desired 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.