The Violet Light Sect is one. Zi Mei was a subordinate of the Violet Light Sect, but she still got King killed, so that should also count as one. The Artful Life Alliance is half gone, but only the weaklings so it doesn’t really count. That’s only two down, and many more to go.

Sage purposely refrained from attacking any more of the Artful Life Alliance groups for the moment. He wanted them to be afraid. He wanted them to not know where he was going to strike next. The longer they had to wait, the more terrified they would be. There was a delicate balance to be had. If he disappeared for too long, they would relax and just think he’d died, or they might think he was the one afraid of them and denounce him as a coward and weakling. For the Artful Life Alliance, he still didn’t know how many Nascent Souls they had and so he aimed to draw them out by using fear. He wanted to make them scared enough to stay constantly on guard against him. With enough pressure, it would cause the weaker members to want to flee. If they felt truly threatened, only the most loyal and elite organizations wouldn’t have rats ready to trade secrets in order to flee the sinking ship.

On the other hand, the two other groups at the top of his list, the Fu Clan and Whitestaff were far more difficult targets to handle. Whitestaff’s location was completely unknown and if he couldn’t find her, how could he take her out?

The Fu Clan on the other hand, was a true first rate power, the equal of the Chong Clan, the Thundercloud Sect, or the Mount Song Sword Sect. Sage had some confidence in taking them down, but it wasn’t a certainty. He was pretty sure all the first rate powers had far more strength then they let on. They had all been around for a very long time and there was no telling what sort of secrets or treasures they could call upon. On the surface, first rate powers were said to all have at least three Nascent Souls, but he knew for a fact that the Chong Clan had at least fifteen of them and they’d been the enemy of the Fu Clan for a long time. If the Fu Clan was weak, wouldn’t the Chong Clan have wiped them out already?

Even so, Sage felt he could still take them down, but what he was truly fearful of was ‘the man behind the curtain’. He wasn’t foolish enough to think that Hei Bai had organized that attack upon him all by herself. How much clout did an old woman leading a Slaver Gang have? After being chased to the Shou Empire by groups he’d barely even heard of, all working together against him, he was pretty sure there was someone higher up calling the shots. He still didn’t know anything about them, but until he knew what was going on, he still had to keep power in reserve.

So, in order to take on the Fu Clan, he needed to rope in some assistance. The first choice for such being the Chong Clan, but in order to recruit them he’d need to solve that budding civil war. That was why Sage terrorized the Artful Life Alliance and then traveled to 10,000 Wave Province to take down the Violet Light Sect in Red Jungle County. He had to get involved in the Chong Civil War, and was just handling ‘errands’ along the way.

Sage was wearing a tall conical bamboo hat. It kept the rain off his shoulders and did a decent job concealing his face. This particular style extended halfway down his face and had a rectangular opening on the front for him to look through. It was a hat, umbrella, and mask all at the same time. He entered the wide open gates of a large city, passing through the thick wall and was glad for the transition from muddy roads to wet streets. Outside the city, the roads were made of packed earth, but the streets inside were paved with tiles.

He made his way to a restaurant and removed his large hat and traveling cloak. Then he sat down and bought some of the locals drinks to catch some of the local gossip. They bragged about local geniuses and beauties, but Sage wasn’t really interested. He finally gave them a little guidance, “What about the man in charge? Is this a good place to live? My wife has been urging us to move.”

“Oh! Well, you came to the right place! You should know the County Seat is the best place to live in the whole county. Anyone who can afford it would want to move here. The Lai Clan are pretty good to us.”

“Psh, if they were so good, then why would my sister have gone missing. Those bastards are negligent. How can they let people just get grabbed off the street?!”

One of the men slammed his fist against the table in rage before the man sitting next to him quickly covered his mouth and dragged him away. The first man that spoke looked around fearfully, lowering his voice as he continued, “You didn’t hear that, got it? Nobody said anything bad about the Lai Clan. Right?”

Sage nodded. It truly was a world where the strong oppressed the weak.

After having a meal, Sage rented a room at an inn which he used as a cover so he could go into the Universe Ring. He took a shower and got a fresh set of clothing before sleeping on the bed in the inn. He didn’t want to be away too long in case anyone spied on him during the night. The next day he traveled down the largest streets in this city towards the center. In front of him was a sprawling compound which had a large sign board that read ‘County Seat’. Walking inside, he passed people waiting in line at official government buildings and made his way towards another gate that said ‘Prefect’s Manor’ above it.

He handed a few dozen Spirit Stones to the leader of the gate guards, and passed through the gates. Then in the waiting room he met with an attendant that was given a few dozen Spirit Stones. After a few more minutes someone with a higher rank arrived and Sage handed him a Storage Pouch full of Spirit Stones, “I need to meet with the Prefect to discuss a very lucrative deal.”

“Of course, Sir! Only an illustrious and magnanimous person like yourself is worthy of meeting with our great County Prefect.”

After a few more pleasant words, Sage found himself waiting in a very expensive sitting room sipping tea. A half-hour later, the doors to the room opened again and the official that brought him here returned with a dozen armored guards. The guards lined themselves up on the sides of the room and then a rotund man entered the room with two others behind him. The man in the lead looked like the stereotypical overweight rich man. He wore so many gaudy rings and necklaces that it looked like he was trying to make up for how plain his official prefect robes were. It seemed he just couldn’t stand it if others couldn’t immediately tell how rich he was. Waiting at his right shoulder was a giant of a man, with a physique that could rival Song Lu Tian. The man wore the same style of armor as the guards, but had a larger chest badge than the others. To the prefect’s left, there was a bookish man holding a stack of Jade Tablets.

The official bowed to the Prefect and then introduced the man by his side, “Lord Prefect, this is Mister Hui.”

Sage gave the Prefect a bow and glanced down at the man’s large waist, “Lord Prefect, it is my great honor to meet such a successful man.”