During this first decade of growing their faction, Baron and the rest of the gang had to give up a lot of time and effort to raise it to what it became. All their hard work and sacrifices had come to fruition. However, now that they were a big enough faction, their enemies would start to move. Namely, the Vesper faction. All of the high-tier factions were bound by a pact to not suppress any factions that were in its infancy, a standard that not even the Vesper faction dared to ignore.

That was in the past, now, the Vespers could do as they pleased and it would certainly be a big problem for Under 1 Banner. The governing faction, the Sun Alliance, would not be able to do anything were this situation to actually occur, this was the reason that the Vesper faction was allowed to get away with so much in the past.

There was one saving grace for the many factions being suppressed by the Vesper faction though, soon, the leader of the Sun Alliance would be back. It was extremely unlikely that the Vespers would be so bold as to do what they were currently doing in front of the leader of not only the strongest faction in the Chinese community but practically the leader of the entire Chinese community. Very few strategists on planet 4 would. News of his return spread like wildfire after Li Guang announced the news just after the Sun Alliance tournaments.

Of course, Zheng He was not so foolish as to think he would be able to continue all of his mostly illegal and immoral practices with the absolute overlord that was Sun Tzu in the fray. He could only stifle his frustration and give the orders down the chain to ease up on the extortion, debt collecting and whatever else that he had his men do. If and when Sun Tzu came back, the order was clear to make everything they’ve done look minimal. The leader of the Sun Alliance did indeed have the power to disband a faction at his hands. However, this was something only used in the direst of circumstances. Something not to be taken and used all willy nilly.

Sun Tzu’s rule on the matter would reign absolute and there would not be a single soul or body of souls that would be able to change his mind. That being said, he has only had to disband one faction since he became the overlord of the Chinese community and that decision came after almost a month of effort to try and resolve the matter using different means. Many people inside the Chinese community saw him as a fair and just ruler, but many more saw him as a tyrant mad with power.

That rumor was that he was the one that did in Zhu Ge Liang’s faction and made Zhu Ge Liang disappear overnight. These two were the best of friends and very close allies as well. After the disappearance, Sun Tzu took over Zhu Ge Liang’s position as the overlord of the Chinese community as well as integrated the two factions into one.

Quite a few people within the community believed that Sun Tzu was in the process of doing the exact same thing but with the other remaining three great elders, Wu Qi of the Middle Kingdom faction. Why else would Wu Qi be inactive for centuries and his close aides and elders refusing to say anything? It was a true mystery to all but those who were involved in the conspiracy.

Rumors, gossip, and much more such nonsense tended to spread like wildfire throughout the Chinese community, and it was a common thing for most communities. Accusations, drama, and tensions between the many factions and communities seem to be the most popular things to talk about. It is for this reason that news got around so quickly, but more importantly, why there was just so much misinformation, bias, and bending of truths that led to many negative views of just about every faction.

Even some of the more virtuous factions were able to have their good reputation destroyed in just a few weeks or months. The news system that was implemented within the community was just not enough to keep up with the massive reach of the conventional meetings that many of the citizens of the Chinese community regularly did with their friends and allies.

Originally, this system was put together by Sun Tzu himself and he made sure to make it as self-sustaining and useful for everybody as it could possibly be. A few hundred years ago, this might have been enough for the population, but certainly not now. A new change was needed in order to accommodate all of the newcomers. Many of these issues were sent to Sun Tzu, as he was in other communities for the better part of the last millennia, it was a given that there were multiple issues that were piling up.

The inner-circle members, as well as the upper echelon, were not really authorized to do anything to solve these problems. As such, conditions would continue to get worse until Sun Tzu returned. Although it was something that infuriated a lot of people, it was done in order to prevent any corrupt people from abusing power. Perhaps a smart system would be to have Sun Tzu in the Chinese community all the time, but that was certainly not the case now.

Li Guang was sick of this system and his master’s long journey. Not to mention all of the other members of the faction who were getting a little wary of each other and the situation of the Chinese community. And especially those who were constantly getting taken advantage of by other people as well as some factions like Vesper. Many people desperately wanted a change, and therefore, the approval rating of the current overlord of the Chinese community was at an all-time low. Well, anyone would be in the same situation if they left such huge responsibilities behind with no way of anyone else really being able to take over.