Chapter 4: Absolute Aegis Sect

After listening to An Xiao Mei’s explanation, An Shan could empathize with the little girl.

Actually braved herself coming here, her act deserved praise. Despite being afraid of punishment, and facing the fear going against his six Imperial Guardians, she made her stand nonetheless. In a way, this little descendant made him proud.

Nevertheless, this little twerp still needed to face punishment after.

“Alright, explain no more. Let’s go, show me the way,”

“Ah, ancestor! I’m afraid of height so—”

“Leave your nonsense behind.”

He put the turtle shell into his spatial ring.

Grabbing her by the back of her neck, he flew, she shouted. Going up the hole Xiao Mei fell from, he directed his sense to his front. Xiao Mei felt the tremendous force of wind coming up onto her, yet after a few second, there was no more. She realized her ancestor had covered it for her, thin layer of Qi covering her body. Few hundred metres up, An Shan sensed the entrance, close. Waving his left hand, the thick entrance which was the floor near the surface, slid open.

With him coming up, the floor quickly shut back.

It was dark, yet the spacious ancestral hall shone with golden majesty. It was as though Imperial Palace of ancient times… Yet he did not stop even for a glance, quickly flying towards the gate of the Ancestral Hall. Detecting his blood, formation after formation opened up for him, passing through unhindered. The large gate opened, allowing him out.

When he came out, he realized it was night time, and most importantly, fresh air!

Taking in the fresh air first time for a long time, being caressed by the natural wind, he was glad to be alive. The moon and the sea of stars greeted him up in the heaven, clearly it was already time for most people to be sleeping. He could almost hear the flute of his second sister, see the fiery red lantern of his third sister flying up into the sky, and the weird the flood dragon versus soaring dragon dances his sworn brothers did back then. All the while his late wife was smiling, looking at him under the pink blossoming tree…

“Hm?”

While scanning around him, he sensed some people flying right towards his direction. Five of them, at least Peak Heavenly-Stars.

‘The guarding elders? Come to think about it, how did Xiao Mei pass through them? Hmph, trivial,’

To him, it would be a waste of time explaining. Besides, he had his own plan. His figure disappeared through the air. Soon a thundering voice reached his previous location.

“Trespassing our ancestral hall, who dares!”

The five elders arrived, four men and a woman in robes. While all of them looked in their early 40s, they were older than they looked.

To their amazement, there was nobody to be seen. They looked around, puzzled. The surroundings around the ancestral hall were overall a clearing, filled with grass with only a few flower trees. The large ancestral hall occupied the most of the Heaven-Towering Peak, the forbidden-most area in Absolute Aegis sect. With cliffs on all sides except the front gate, there was no place for anyone aside from Main-Star stage elder or above to run off to. Anyone lower than the Main-Star stage, could not fly well.

Even still, for someone to escape them without any sign?

They clearly sensed someone just now, and they thought they had caught the culprit red-handed. The time difference was barely several seconds, yet it was as though the culprit disappeared in thin air. They expanded their Spirit Search all around, yet there was no trace whatsoever.

Was it a ghost?

“Weird, I thought it was her, that Qi Purification,”

“For a second, I sensed her here as well. Did she go in already? That was too fast,”

“That Xiao Mei! Really, how stubborn!”

“The gate’s open just now, right? I can’t sense anything anymore. She must’ve gone inside,”

The four of them turned to look at the middle-aged man with them. He had golden robe, with thick fur all around. Though his cultivation was similar to them, he was clearly of higher authority. A look of concern was evident on him. Wrinkles covered his face, he clearly had gone through rough times. He clasped his hands in respect, evidently asking them for a favor.

“Seniors, this time, the trouble truly was because of my, An Hong’s carelessness! I’m willing to accept your guidance later, but for now, I humbly asked for your help!”

“Patriarch, speak no more. Xiao Mei is like a granddaughter to us. Her fault is ours as well. If she’s here, we’ll find her,”

The lady elder said. The three others nodded, saying no more.

“An Hong thanked the seniors, I’m truly ashamed,”

These four who An Hong called seniors were Grand Elders, while he himself was the Patriarch.

While Patriarch ranked one level higher than a Grand Elder, that was in term of management seniority. Influence within the sect was not solely depended on rank. These Grand Elders were older than him. They were from the previous generation and had huge influence.

Asking for the sect’s glorious Grand Elders to participate in searching for his troublemaking daughter, he clearly was asking something unbefitting for them. Nevertheless, these four were his most trusted Grand Elders. While he expected their cooperation, for them not even voicing one protest, he felt even more guilty. Had they reprimanded him then and there, he would perhaps feel better.

As the direct descendant of the founding Ancestor, he was selected to lead the sect partly due to his blood. He was an able manager, and his personality was not half-bad, kind even. Nevertheless, there were Grand Elders and many elders forming factions within the sect, most of them clearly seeing him as lacking leadership. While his management skill was good, he was seen as lacking backbone, having had to bow down to outside pressure for far too much! He wanted to avoid conflict desperately, he was already a laughing stock to the whole cultivation world.

For the glorious Absolute Aegis Sect, former leader of the Continental Alliance, to bend down to others? For many within the sect, it was humiliating, frustrating! Their frustration originally came from the fact the outsiders were being too imposing, disregarding past relationship.

Yet having tried to avoid direct confrontation, their Patriarch had to bow to outside pressure for too many times. Their Patriarch’s weak foreign policy made even the most ardent loyalist of the sect hated him. Factions which were not evident before, started to appear in plain view, and they were going stronger by the years. The inner conflict within the sect was like a tight lid on a boiling pot, ready to burst open anytime.

Due to this, throughout the years, Patriarch An Hong had a lot of pressure.

Within this last decade, he was barely able to keep the sect together. Yet in these recent years, his youngest daughter, An Xiao Mei, became his new constant headache. This time, she really pulled out a big mess down onto him. In fact, he felt as though she was about pull off a big mountain down onto him!

If he mishandled her case this time, and it alerted the ancestors… Nevermind defending himself, he would not even have enough tears to cry. Thus, he spared no face, asking these four Grand Elders for help. It would be a disaster if this were leaked to those of elder ranks. With dissatisfaction in his leadership mounting, it would be easy enough for people other than these Grand Elders to speak without restrain, further marring his reputation.

For the Patriarch’s daughter to commit such a grievous crime, trespassing the ancestral hall? The seriousness of such act was akin to receiving a bribe of the second degree, affecting the lives of thousands of people! If an official did this, the punishment would be serious! He would be stripped of his rank, whipped in public a hundred times at least, and pushed for hard labor to pay back for the bribe ten times over!

Even if the perpetrator this time was merely eleven, it would still… No! Especially because she was underage, the fault lied directly on the parents! If this was leaked out, he would not have anymore face to remain as the sect’s Patriarch! Others would surely use this as a wedge point, to further chip off his already fragile reputation.

Who knows, some might even reported their dissatisfaction to the ancestors the next time they woke up. And that time was coming near! And if his dear wife knew he failed to look after her while she was out…

He dreaded the consequence.

‘Xiao Mei, Xiao Mei… Mei-er, I gave you the name for I wish you to remain pure and sweet… This humble father of yours never expected you to reach the Heaven… Why can’t you just stay put and be the sweet daughter this humble father dreamed of? Wuwuu…’

While he was crying within, the four went into the ancestral hall, leaving the Patriarch guarding the front gate. Any spirit search was nullified by the hall’s special formation, so they could not use that. Only ancestors had the authority to use their spirit search.

Ancestral hall was a special place, it ranked as number one forbidden place in the sect. It was a huge place, not only the place where the ancestors rest while cultivating in their Soul Severing form, it was more than that. It housed many forbidden skills, legendary formation, precious jades, secret records and mighty armaments from ancient past, from past Patriarchs and Ancestors, all the way back to their legendary founding ancestor, An Shan. There were even some powerful Soul Artifacts left, accessible only to their ancestors to be used during times of emergency. The few most powerful of them were made personally by their founding ancestor!

The price and value of such artifacts were truly heaven-shaking. Had even one of them was lost to the outside world, it could drive the whole cultivation world into frenzy, moving even the more powerful Imperial Clans into action!

Due to the importance and sensitivity of the place, only grand elders, direct descendants and those with special limited permissions could enter the hall unobstructed. If outsiders, no, even elders of the sect entering without permission, it would trigger a massive reaction from the hall’s ancient formations.

Not only it would bar the intruder, it would lock him or her up and trigger a sect-wide warning, alerting the elders and above of the incident. Seeing that their target disappeared into thin air, the only reasonable explanation would be that she already entered the hall.

Unfortunately, the troublemaker this time was a direct descendant. The formations within the hall would not obstruct her. With their spirit search nullified, they had no other choice than to search inside directly, with their eyes and ears. Silently, the Patriarch clasped his hand in prayer to heaven.

Praying, that the situation would not escalate further.

‘Please… Let this case not be known to the ancestors, please! The One in the Heaven above, this lowly one will really stop ogling young maidens if you fulfill this lowly one’s wish! I swear!’

A soft, faint voice pervaded the sky.

“There it is,”

A small finger pointed to a small house with wide courtyard. It was quite isolated, built on top of a towering mountain, away from all residents of the sect. It was made that way, in order to contain whatever accidents which might happen.

An Shan was up there in the night sky. His right hand seemingly had the little girl attached to it like glue. He had changed his white robe into a dark one, and before this, he had changed Xiao Mei’s pink robe into a black one. The pink one was too eye-catching. It was better not to be sighted for now, he said. Being high up in the sky, Xiao Mei’s complexion was a bit pale, but she followed his order of not looking down too much.

Seeing her being a little calm, he let her go.

“Ahh, ancestor—”

A bit panicky, she soon realized that she could fly!

She turned to her ancestor, knowing well it was his work.

“You won’t fall, so don’t worry even a bit.”

“Y-yes, Front-gate Ancestor!”

“Would you stop with the weird name already?”

“Then… Turtle Ancestor?”

His face twitched. Since he came out from a turtle shell, it made sense to call him turtle ancestor. Well, that was her logic. Patience, An Shan, patience.

“…Just ancestor is fine,”

“Ah, okay,”

“This defense formation,”

He observed. It was a simple defense formation, at least for him.

Any elder from his time could form this with just the help of some core disciples. This one was enough to contain an explosion of five Sub-stars, from inside and out, no problem. It was more than enough for this case. However, it was desirably better not to let such an incident from happening. Within the house, he sensed a lady, a Peak Heavenly-Star cultivator. She was sitting still beside a girl full of sweat, lying on a mattress, writhing. Though the lady remained calm outward, he could tell her soul was restless. From Xiao Mei’s explanation, she should be her friend’s Master. On her waist, he sensed a familiar feeling.

It was a Grand Elder’s token, just as Xiao Mei said.

‘Hm, from the five back then too. I sensed four Grand Elders’ tokens, even the Patriarch. Aside from the eight, none of them I sensed so far reached Titan-Star stage, pathetic… Of the ancestors, none is in Soul-Titan stage. I know it’s hard, but this is weird. What happened during my sleep anyway? How long have I been sleeping?’

When he scanned the ancestral hall before, he did not recognize any of the ancestors. Had it only been five hundred or so years since his Soul Severing, he ought to recognize one or two at the very least. In the end, how long had it been, for his sect to be so weak?

This kind of quality, there was no way it could contend with any of the Imperial Clans. To lead, you ought to have the charm, interest and strength all together. Even with these limited information in a few minutes of waking up, he could already guess his sect’s current position in the world affair.

Add to the fact that it was once the leader of the whole continent, people would harbor a lot of dissatisfaction. It was not only from purely malicious intent, disappointment as well.

His sect, Absolute Aegis sect, was his pride and joy. He had built it from scratch, organizing and making it into the best sect in the continent in merely thirty years. He put a lot of work into it, enabling his new sect to contend with those thousands and ten of thousand years old Sect. Before the final battle, he left so much inheritance, so many legacies for the future generation. He even left his Divine Scripture intact, accessible for all to see. And now he had woken up, it turned out his descendant could not even keep the sect in its rightful place!

How heavy a blow was this on his heart?

Angry, disappointed, annoyed. Now he felt dizzy, his soul was barely put together afterall. It was good that he did not have heart problem, else this old man would already suffer a heart attack! While his body was fine and healthy, he still felt weak, he wanted to sleep. 

Sleep, and forget it all, damn it!

‘You youngsters… You youngsters… Where’s your filial piety, huh? They said a rich family crumbled when the third or fourth generation became spoiled, too used to luxury for them to use their brain well. There must be some truth in that. Hmph, pathetic fools!’

Do you guys even work?!

“Oh well, first things first. Xiao Mei, we’re going in. Shut your mouth, else I’ll kick you out,”

“Un!”

As much as it annoyed him, he put that aside for now.

Now, it was time to help his little great great granddaughter’s friend.

…

 Chapter 4 ‘Absolute Aegis Sect’ End