It hadn’t been a task assigned to him, but he knew that creating a good relationship or direct business dealings for the Sect would reward him with contribution points so he had made an extra effort to get on Song Lu Tian’s good side. The man was also smart enough to recognize his involvement with Chong Xiezi and after then made the exchange their gathering ended. Sage left the room and started on his way out of the party. Thankfully, he got out without anyone noticing him, or at least nobody did so overtly.

After walking a few blocks away from the location of the celebration, Sage found another alleyway and hid the Universe Ring just as he did before, disappearing from sight and going into hiding for a few days. While he wanted to stay hidden for a month to make sure the heat from the Tang Clan was mostly gone, he felt that if he stayed hidden for that long without sending word to the Zhu Clan they would think he’d died or gone back on their deal. Most of the big clans were going to be partying for a couple days, so he picked a week as a good time. Cultivators wouldn’t take so long to recover from their celebrations, but some might stick around longer for fun.

From his time on earth, most people would only vacation for about a week. Any longer than that and they were usually sticking around for a whole season. Most had probably already been around for about a month or so anyways because of the tournament so they were probably eager to leave. After the week had passed he left the ring, this time with a bald head, green eyes, and covered in scars. Arriving at the Zhu Clan he merely told the guards his name and waited patiently. After a few minutes he was led inside, not noticing a number of people sitting across the street in a teahouse get up from their seats.

Before long, Sage was standing in front of a pair of huge doors once again. He heard some footsteps and this time he stepped over towards the wall and got well out of the path of the person walking down the hall. Said person actually stopped next to where he was waiting and gave him a look full of disdain. Looking at where he was standing next to the wall and very close to an expensive painting. Then glancing at him and scolding him with her eyes for being too close to the fineries.

Sage was immediately infuriated on the inside, but he kept the same calm and placid look on his face. Having changed his coloring with the Living Canvas technique, the girl didn’t recognize him, but he recognized her. The same crazy woman who knocked him down and then cursed at and insulted him for it last time.

Why is she here? Don’t tell me that…

The doors swung open and an attendant bowed and politely asked them to enter. Zhu Xiulan, Zhu Yating, Zhu Su and many others he couldn’t recognize were all arrayed in the hall. This room was twice as large as the one he’d first met the woman in and it was filled with easily a dozen members of the Zhu Clan as well as twice as many servants and guards. It was quite an impressive array. The women were seated along either side of the hall with Zhu Xiulan and two others to her sides at the head of the room. Behind and to the right of each woman there was a man standing calmly.

Seems like the powerful ladies of the clan bring the husbands in and have them as personal attendants and guards. Impressive.

He was only guessing, but it seemed like the weak ones married out to influence other groups while the strong ones married men into their clan. Ruthless to your own family members, but it would be powerful.

Should I start something similar when I revive the Lang Clan? Could I be that heartless?

His reverie was interrupted by Zhu Xiulan, “Did you get it?”

Sage bowed down low to the woman and passed a storage ring to the attendant standing next to him. The attendant brought the ring over to the Zhu Xiulan. After checking it, she smiled widely, “It seems that the Lang Clan has a chance in your hands after all. Well done.”

Then she looked away from Sage and over to the girl who’d crashed into him in the past, “Zhu Jiao. This is Lang Sheng. The last remaining member of the Lang Clan.”

She waved her arm and another attendant came out, carrying a silver tray with an envelope on it. Zhu Xiulan opened the envelope and nodded her head at the letter within. Then she passed it around to other elders.

“The Fortune Teller had already checked your names and birth dates, the marriage has been deemed appropriate. Once the Lang Clan has been re-established, we shall consult them once again for an auspicious wedding date.”

Zhu Jiao’s lovely face had been slipping further and further. She looked absolutely crushed. The confusion and sadness started to twist into rage, but then one of the seated women stood up and waved her hand. Some of the attendants grabbed Zhu Jiao and took her out of the room, leading her outside.

“The engagement has been made. The ceremony is now complete.”

Zhu Xiulan stood up, most of the others in the room joined her and the women all left the room. In the end only the first woman who had stood, the one that had Zhu Jiao taken away, was remaining. She pointed to some of the attendants and they moved two of the chairs in the room to face each other with a table between them. They then brought out a tea set and placed it on the table. She indicated for Sage to sit and slowly prepared the tea for him.

“My name is Zhu Ping. Zhu Jiao is my niece. Please don’t be harsh to her. She is a good girl, but too rebellious and lazy. As you can probably tell, those who don’t pass the tests will be married off. I tried to shield her from them as long as possible, but Little Jiao got out of hand and caused some trouble…”

Sage felt this to be quite a bit awkward, getting this inside scoop and some confirmation about his insight into the Zhu Clan’s affairs. Zhu Ping set her glass down and then all of a sudden Sage felt a terrifying force wrap around him. Inwardly he was terrified, Zhu Ping was at least of the sixth rank and she was wrapping him up with her aura. Two whole ranks of difference meant she could choke the life out of him with just her mere aura. Looking at her eyes, he saw she was trying to intimidate him. If his life was at risk he would attempt to fight back, but for now he merely kept a calm face and tried to resist the force as best he could.

“You will treat her with honor! If I find that you’ve hurt my niece in any way you will pay for it with your life. She may have to be married off, but there’s thousands of clans out there that would love to be connected to the Zhu Clan. Remember my words.”

After a few minutes the crushing power relaxed and Sage coughed a few times, wiping a few drops of blood off his lip. That strength had damaged him a bit internally, and he did his best to stay calm and look unaffected even though he was even more furious at this clan and also the ancestor who demanded he get a wife here.

“Zhu Jiao is very lucky to have such a protective and caring Aunt. I will strive to live up to your expectations.”

Sage bowed deeply to the woman. After she said no more he finished his tea then left.