After removing the puppet City Lord, Sage went to the Lang Clan section of the city. There was still some killing to do. He was pleased to see that none of the original powers of Lionheart Town had dared to encroach upon the territory again, but the groups that had installed a city lord had also set up shop on his territory. He quickly wiped out these few dozen people from the Artful Life Alliance and the Violet Light Sect. Whitestaff didn’t have many on her side, and the Fu Clan didn’t seem to care about this place any longer. He collected all their belongings and then left Lionheart Town.

Oh, I see.

On the Inner World, Sage had some of his subordinates sorting and cataloguing all the loot he gathered. Just after leaving they found some clues. Some of the people in the Artful Life Alliance were actually spies for the Fu Clan. There were a few bits and pieces among their belongings to clue them in. It wasn’t definite proof that Sage could use to smear them, but it was enough for him to believe.

None of that really mattered to him at the moment. If his enemies wanted to gather information on each other, what did he care? Sage traveled to that hidden cave in the woods where the Merciful Mollusk’s transportation formation was hidden and directly traveled to Golden Cricket Cove. Before heading to the Chong Clan, he stopped at a teahouse to gather information. From the rumors in play, there didn’t seem to be any major news about the Chong Clan, so he knew that they hadn’t erupted into open war at least. He didn’t want to make any direct inquiries, because he guessed the Chong Clan had agents everywhere. This was their city after all.

Since there was no open war, he wasn’t fearful of entering the Chong Clan. He didn’t have any special means of contacting the Xie faction directly, so he just walked up to the gates of the clan directly. Their unusual building style appeared once again and he calmly admired it once again. All of their buildings had roofs covered in grass and vegetation, and there were countless insects moving atop them. Sage didn’t have any reason to hide his arrival, and he had to use his identity in order to enter. If he tried to conceal who he was, then it would only make the factions suspicious of him. If they had very good information gathering, they might know about the Tiankong Clan and Sage’s time being protected by the Mount Song Sword Sect. If they didn’t, they might think he was all alone now after having Lionheart Town taken away from him.

Outside of Chong Xiezi and those she’d told, the others in the Chong Clan might not think anything of him. As a branch family leader, he was just a vote at the Clan meeting, while his actual power was nothing to speak of. The Xie faction on the other hand were now privy to some of his unusual methods, but he was already on their side. At least he had been. Hei Bai had come for him and Uncle Zhou, the giant scorpion companion of Xiezi’s deceased father, was caught in the crossfire. It was just like how he had lost King, and it happened because he had been there. If Sage hadn’t chosen to accompany Xiezi to visit the Zhu Clan, then Hei Bai would have had no reason to kill her Uncle Zhou to lay a trap.

Of course, that was fallacious logic and Sage wouldn’t accept such blame upon himself. Evil people would do evil things and even if those he cared for suffered for it, he was not the one perpetrating evil. They would say things like: If only you didn’t try to stop me, then those you cared about wouldn’t be put into danger. Those innocents, or your loved ones, died because of you. Sage wasn’t an idiot that would fall for such stupid claims. Should he just roll over and die so that the villain would leave his friends and family alone? Then, when he’s dead and the villain still kills everyone, would he just curse at them from beyond the grave?

Sage was saddened by what happened to Uncle Zhou, but he was also not to blame. That’s why when he was brought into the Xie main building and saw an aggrieved Chong Xiezi, he did not feel guilt, but only sadness. She was currently standing behind a mature woman, with her black hair pulled into a bun and with that sort of timeless asian beauty that made her age completely inestimable. She could have been 30 or 60, and neither would seem unusual. Yet, since she was a powerful cultivator, it meant she could be anywhere from 30 to 3000 years old for all he knew. In fact, he was even underestimating, since the greatest talents could live almost ten thousand years as a Nascent Soul.

In the past, Sage had only barely become a Nascent Soul, so he couldn't gauge how strong this woman was. Now that he’d grown more powerful, he could just barely sense her level. Peak Nascent Soul, an actual level 70. A single barrier held her back from summoning a heavenly tribulation and becoming a saint. Even so, there was no telling if she’d ever be able to break through that last wall in her lifetime. She wore a brilliant red dress, just like the others in her faction, the only ones that dared to ignore the standard uniform of the Chong Clan. The different factions chose to wear their clan uniform in different colors and with little flares of uniqueness, but the Xie faction did away with them entirely, just wearing red dresses with floral patterns.

Sage bowed to her, “Great Elder Xie,” and then towards the younger woman, “Sister Xiezi.”

A flash of anger appeared in Chong Xiezi’s eyes and then it faded away. She let out a sigh and the Great Elder patted her arm. That ageless woman suddenly seemed to take that spark of anger that Xiezi had let go of. Her eyes narrowed and Sage felt her aura rise, “You brat! You dare to show up here without remorse? Why aren’t you begging for forgiveness yet? Do you not realize the blade hanging over your neck?”

Sage nodded at the woman, and gave her an appreciative smile, “I have chosen the right side.”

Then, in something of a complete reversal, he bent forward and spoke with a challenging tone, “My neck is right here. Do you dare to chop it? If you think you have the ability, go ahead and try, but you certainly won’t like the consequences.”

A vast power surged out of the Great Elder. The air crackled the power of a law that Sage couldn’t quite pin down and he felt it gathering over him. While he was still bent forward with his head stretched out, he also gathered strength and two laws swirled in the air around him. The thermal power of hot and cold, along with the twisting sensation of corruption. The power of laws was not strength on its own, but a magnifying force. They both tapped into the laws of the world and compared them to each other, and Sage was not surprised, but the Great Elder was. Sage’s mastery of his laws was only rudimentary, but they were of a higher quality than her own, and there were two of them.

She was startled enough to blurt out her thoughts, “Two primal laws?!”