“Can it be avoided? What proxies are involved?”

The simplest way out of a proxy war was to abandon the parties involved. It really wasn’t all that honorable, but he was merely asking questions after all.

“The Chong Clan rules over 10,000 Wave Province. We have direct control over the most valuable resource in the province, Breeze Shells, and the entire clan is responsible. They wouldn’t dare to mess around with that industry, but there are also valuable resources gathered from each of the counties. In Red River County, the Ruby Riverstone is the most important resource and it is supposed to be managed by the county Prefect.”

“Let me guess, the Prefect is dead and now two groups are fighting over the position?”

“Close. The Prefect is infirm, and he has two sons that are looking to inherit the job.”

“So, the Jinxi are backing one of them and the Xie are backing the other? I’m guessing the winner will get to skim more of the output off the top?”

The Great Elder nodded her head this time, the situation wasn’t that complicated to decipher after all.

“I see. Does that mean there are some rules to this war and there is something I can do to contribute?”

“You seem to be far more impatient than Xiezi said you were. Neither side is allowed to supply any manpower to this conflict, only material goods. The Jinxi want to show off their superiority in this conflict and get us to back down. You’re said to have equipped many soldiers with weapons, and we need tens of thousands of weapons right now. Even if they aren’t the highest quality, such a large quantity will definitely make a large impact.”

Sage nodded, “I can easily supply hundreds of thousands of weapons, and just as many suits of armor. I also have many crossbows that can threaten Foundation Building cultivators in high numbers.”

The Great Elder perked up at his admission and she even reached out to grab Xiezi’s arm in her excitement. This taskmaster of an old woman looked quite excited, at least until Sage spoke again.

“It’s too bad I’m not going to give them to you. A proxy war is a foolish idea. You’re just wasting resources to pay people to fight for you. It's already territory under your control, the Chong Clan should just evaluate them and pick a winner, or let them battle it out with their own capabilities.”

“You impertinent fool! If we don’t stand up to them, they’ll use this as an excuse to reduce our share of the Clan’s resources. Without those resources, the younger generation will fall behind theirs and it will only be a matter of time before we are surpassed. We may be on somewhat equal footing in the Clan at the moment, but if our younger generation struggles it is only a matter of time until more Nascent Souls emerge to throw off the balance of power.”

Sage chuckled at how flustered she had suddenly become. It reminded him of when this same woman had given that scorpion a tongue lashing. Sage smiled and held up his hand, “Slow down. Did I say we weren’t going to stand up to them? I said that a proxy war is a waste of time and resources, I didn’t say we should just roll over and let them win.”

“You think if we give up this fight and focus on the next one, we’ll have a better chance? Are there some secrets involved that I don’t know about? Where are you getting your information from?”

Sage laughed again, “I know next to nothing about Red River County, let alone the Prefect or his children. You misunderstand. We shouldn’t be wasting time on games. We simply need to directly confront the Jinxi.”

“That’s not how this works. If you don’t follow the rules,” as she spoke, Sage interrupted her, “Enough already. Do you hear yourself? What rules? Is this an official rule for the Chong Clan? Is this how the factions of the clan are supposed to resolve their differences?”

“It’s not part of the,” the Great Elder is now glaring at him, but Sage doesn’t care. He holds up a hand again to interrupt her once more, “It’s a tradition, not a rule, right? The Lang Clan has a copy of the Chong Clan rules as well, so unless they changed them in the last few decades you should know this is all unsanctioned backroom negotiation. Some old fogies made up a game to gamble over their differences. Major decisions like the distribution of resources on that scale have to be decided over official council meetings.”

“It may not be in the official Clan rules, but if we start going against tradition, then so will they! They will target our other properties and start undermining our businesses. Disagreements have always been determined like this using a third party to prevent council votes being deadlocked.”

“Is that so? If they’ve always been like this, then why isn’t it written down in the Clan rules?”

“The Clan rules cannot be changed.”

“What?”

Sage was not expecting such a response. The Chong Clan has had the same rules since it started? What sort of nonsense is that? How can they adapt to the times? No wonder the Great Elder is so adamant about traditions. They must treat them as new rules to follow.

Bothersome, but not too big of a hurdle.

At this moment Xiezi, who had been quiet up to now, finally spoke. She saw that Sage was up to something so she volunteered some information, “If you don’t let them solve it this way, it will lead to a war among the factions. So many young people will die. We Xie are not as numerous as the others, please don’t push us into losing more lives.”

She was still shaken up from the loss of her Uncle Zhou and Sage was reminded of King. He was also not eager to lose any of the Tiankong Clan in the future so it wasn’t as if he didn’t understand her position, but he was also tired of toying with the lives of others. He couldn’t help but catch something about what she said, “Young people will die? Can your Elders not protect them? Are you that badly outnumbered?”

The Great Elder shook her head, “Internal disputes are resolved by the younger generations. We cannot afford to lose our strongest members squabbling over resources and minor disagreements.”

“So, let me get this straight. You old folks do the arguing, and then make your descendants battle to see who is right?”

“The disputes are usually over resources that will be used to raise those descendants.”

“They’re fighting for themselves in a roundabout manner, then?”

“Indeed. You also seem to forget that such a conflict is rare. As I said before, it is usually solved without anyone in the Chong Clan coming to harm.”

“Right, the proxy war. Well, in my opinion, this ‘tradition’ is a hot mess. A complete and utter farce and I don’t want any part of it.”

The Great Elder did not look happy. She was on the verge of calling up her Qi, but then she saw Sage was just as ready to fight as she was. He had a fierce look in his eyes and she knew that any further threats would start a conflict.

Sage could tell she wanted to scold him, but had become too angry to say anything without cursing at him. So he continued, “I am not going to help wage a wasteful proxy war, expending resources to multiply the number of people killed. I’m also not going to have the young members of the clan kill each other because two old people can’t get along. Call a council meeting, we will solve it there.”

As she started to object to his suggestion, he brought out his token signifying he was the leader of the Lang Branch Clan, “I’m using my status to call for a meeting of the Chong Clan Council. Would you like to help me announce it, or shall I go find someone else?”