Sage went to meet with the messenger immediately after having heard where they were from. The person waiting for him was someone that he felt like he hadn’t met with in a lifetime. She was wearing a hanfu, which was a long robe that overlapped in the front like a kimono might, except it was usually belted very simply with a rope or sash rather than a thick belly band. Additionally, the hanfu usually had a different style and color from the waist down so it looked like two pieces. Usually this bottom half was wide and voluminous, like a skirt or dress and there were even styles that were pleated on the lower half or that consisted of many layers of diaphanous silks or satins that gave off a very fairy-like feeling.

For this woman in particular, her hanfu had more of a refined and business-like feel to it. The lower half was a deep crimson color of silk without any pleats and embroidered with a few trios black roses on the sides and back near the lower hem. Upon her upper half, she wore a long black coat with a narrow high collar edged with lace. The coat itself was in the style of a certain uniform. The Chong Clan.

“This humble one greets Chong Xiezi. It has been a long time. Are you here as a punishment or is this my chance to repair our friendship?”

Sage bowed his head and saluted her with a clasped fist. Then he gave her no time to leave things cordial, rudely jumping straight to the point. She bowed and saluted in turn and he could see a slight flash of violence in her eyes that quickly faded away.

“When we first met, you saved my life. Then your enemy murdered my uncle. That makes us even.”

She stopped there, pausing for long enough that Sage chose to speak up, “Does that mean we were never friends? You only treated me kindly because of a debt?”

Outside of those two major events, they’d only spoken a few times. She had warned him of the different factions in the Chong Clan and tried to recruit him for her own. There was also the time when she witnessed him being chased down by Fu Zedong, but had been powerless to stop him from eventually being killed for his intervention.

She seemed to recoil slightly from his accusation and then shook her head, “That’s not it. I am merely stating that we are even so that you know I don’t owe you anything and to explain why we can no longer be friends. Whenever I see or think about you, it only reminds me of my Uncle Zhuo. I wanted you to know why. You deserve at least that much. I know that if I continue to remain friends with you, it may turn into a heart demon for me in the future.”

Hearing her state things like that, Sage let out a sigh and gave her another bow, “Very well. Let us get to the other matter at hand then. You’ve brought a message?”

She lifted her chin and took a powerful and dignified pose once more. Xiezi brought out a traditional Bamboo Slip and unrolled it, reading it out for Sage, “The Chong Clan calls upon the ancient covenant and calls upon its Branches to prepare for war.”

Such a short statement wouldn’t take a Bamboo Slip of such size, but what followed were detailed terms and requirements for both parties as well as the date by which they were to be ready by. The sensitive nature of these terms and requirements were what necessitated sending a messenger in person rather than just a Flying Message. If the messenger were to be intercepted they could destroy the slip before letting it fall into enemy hands.

Sage smiled widely and served Xiezi some refreshments while he sent a messenger of his own to summon the Lang Clan Council. Having experienced the Chong Clan Council, Sage found it to be an interesting inclusion in a Clan, since it created a separation of powers. Having one absolute ruler would be great if that ruler was great, but it was just far too easy for any one ruler to misuse their power, even if just a little bit. Even worse, if that single ruler was a tyrant, then they could easily drive a whole clan into the ground. Having a council helped divide some of that power by requiring them to vote for certain important matters. Just like the Chong Clan this proved to just turn into a bunch of factional wars or bribes, but compared to just letting a leader run wild however they wanted, it was worth the hassle for good leaders to make sure everyone else was on board with their choices.

Also, it was a way to give some power to the oldest and strongest members of the Clan. Otherwise, they might get resentful at their lack of voice or inclusion and if they could avoid it, why would they want to give any Clan members a reason to consider becoming a traitor. While Yating was the Clan Head he didn’t really have any concerns over misuse of power, but perhaps in many thousands of years when Yating stepped down and Sage had left, who knows what might happen?

A few hours later, the council had finally assembled and Sage brought the message from the Chong Clan to them. Xiezi was brought into the council meeting only to repeat her reading of the main portion of the message. Then one of the more enthusiastic members of the council, one of Sage’s great grandchildren, took up the message and read out the rest of it in detail. They collectively came up with questions to ask Xiezi and then she was respectfully escorted out of the room and sent on her way by Sage. On the way out, she seemed to have a lot of questions of her own, but Sage gave her clipped answers and sent her on her way. There weren't any rules on who he could invite into his Clan, or even appoint as a new head. At the most, the Chong Clan could summon the new head for a meeting as they’d summoned him in the past. How could the Chong Clan ever imagine that these thousands of people were all his descendants? It had only been seven or eight years since he saw them last.

He returned to the council meeting and they started hammering out the details of this first action as a clan in the outside world.

“Father, how should we handle this? We’ve been gathering intelligence for the last few years, but this is still a whole new world to us.”

“As I’ve said before, we need to keep the Clan’s origin secret. Before establishing yourselves here, everyone must only mention it as their ‘homeland’ and never give any specific details. As for this matter, we will let the Chong Clan take the lead. The Lang Clan that was massacred was their subordinate family, and it is their duty to seek revenge for their own people. As for our own forces, don’t send more than half to the field, and only act when necessary. Let the Chong Clan suffer a little for their arrogance, but we can’t let any ineptitude or unwillingness on their part lead to failure.”

Sage looked around at all the nodding faces and continued to speak, “Even if none of you knew them, and most of them weren’t very kind, they were still your ancestors. The Lang Clan brought about its own downfall by making too many enemies for no reason, but the Fu Clan kicked us when we were down. When they heard of the Lang Clan being destroyed they found and killed every last one of the Lang Clan members that were operating around the kingdom to try and wipe out our line to the last. They’ve come after me to finish the job several times, and I narrowly avoided death on more than one occasion.”

Everyone had a solemn look on their faces, for most of them on the council were his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Yating nodded to his father and then smiled to the council members, “We will do to them what they tried to do to us. Soon, the Fu Clan will no longer exist in this world.”