The council members had heard a few stories of this sort when they were preparing to return to the outside world, but it was a bit more impactful when told directly by their relatives. Sage had compiled much of the information on the world that he could remember, especially the Clan’s possible enemies and relations, so that the Clan members would know what they were dealing with in the future. For his children they’d heard about these things hundreds of years ago, so it was quite something to finally be able to confront one of them.

They also didn’t have a very good impression of the Chong Clan. The information was a bit jaded by Sage’s point of view and the Chong Clan were seen as incompetent leaders. If they heard about one of their branch clans being destroyed, they should have rescued the few that remained faster than their enemy could wipe them all out. Yet, they didn’t ever seem to do a damn thing and only contacted Sage when he was strong enough to do something for them. Even so, they wanted revenge upon the Fu Clan far more than the Chong Clan did. The Fu Clan might be the Chong Clan’s constant nemesis, but they seemed content with controlling neighboring provinces and just competing over minor benefits or sabotaging each other.

Even though Sage had made a deal with the new head of the Chong Clan, he knew that when push came to shove they would eventually give up. Once things got too difficult and their losses would be too great, they would likely quit and want to leave the field. That’s when the Lang Clan would come in to finish the job.

And if they can’t handle it, the Purple Mist Sect will.

Sage wasn’t leaving anything up to chance this time.

A few weeks later, Sage accompanied Yating and a few other important members of the Lang Clan to a meeting with the Chong Clan. They were all eager to know what was going on with all these new people, but no one from the Lang Clan spilled any of the details. All they needed to know was that the Lang Clan was much larger and had a new Clan head. Many of them looked down on bringing foreign blood into a clan, but others were impressed by Sage’s methods. It was not an uncommon practice to bring outsiders into a clan, even if they didn’t possess the same blood, they could still change their names and enter the clan. On the other hand, some found it very distasteful, diluting their heritage in order to bring more power into a clan.

Yating was a highly experienced business man, so for him this was just a slightly hostile transaction. He’d experienced many times worse in the past. Since he always had a Purple Mist Sect member shadowing him on the Inner World, he’d always had a sense of being protected and so grew immune to being intimidated. The pressure exerted upon them in this meeting room was barely enough for him to feel.

The Chong Clan had at least shown some of their sincerity as they weren’t being summoned to meet with a random attendant or handler, but to the meeting of the Chong Clan Council. The three elders of each of the five Chong Clan Factions as well as the leaders of each Branch Clan were all present. In addition to these twenty people, dozens of others were present in the chamber, just like Sage was here, these leaders had each brought along a few of their most important subordinates or partners. On paper, everyone in the room was related, at least distantly, but in practice each of the branches and factions had proven to not be very united.

This was especially apparent when looking at the representatives of the Jinxi faction as all three Elders were completely different from the last time that Sage had been here. He’d killed the former Patriarch in a duel, or so he’d thought. Then that same old ancestor had possessed his descendant and ambushed him. The assassination attempt failed and Jinxi Po, the former young master, was also killed. Still that old freak hadn’t been defeated and Sage stumbled upon him by chance on the Inner World. It was only then that he exposed the truth behind the ancient fellow. I wonder what they would think if I told them I still had the Jinxi Ancestor locked up right now?

After everyone that was supposed to arrive was in the room, the doors of the Chong Clan Hall were sealed up. It was just as strange as the last time he was here, since the room felt like a secluded grove in the middle of a forest, yet there was also a set of huge doors. Sage was pretty sure it was some sort of marvelous illusory formation, but he didn’t bother to worry about that right now. Instead he was busy examining the new Jinxi Elders.

It wasn’t surprising to him that the Jinxi Ancestor’s wife was no longer one of the Elders. Even if she was a peak Core Formation Cultivator, she still wasn’t a Nascent Soul. With her husband and Jinxi Po both dead, it would be more strange if she still remained on the council. On the other hand, Sage didn’t know much about her. There were equal odds of her feeling liberated from an oppressive family life or being overcome with so much grief it drove her to violent rage. Without knowing more he was only speculating.

The new Jinxi Elders were a trio of old folks. Two women and an old man were sitting in the three Jinxi seats. All three of them were also at the peak of rank five. Sage wasn’t surprised. As large and powerful as the Chong Clan was, they probably had dozens of people stuck at level 60 like this. In fact, while Sage was looking them over he found the three old folks to be smiling brightly at him. A little taken aback, he wondered what was going on. Especially since they didn’t look like snide or vicious smiles, but purely genuine looks. Then it dawned on him. That old fossil was always in charge, and now that I’ve gotten rid of him, they all get to be the boss.

Hoping his guess was correct, Sage was always happy to not have more enemies, but at this point he felt a wave of energy wash over him. He turned towards the source and saw that it was one of the Xie Faction Elders holding up a large silver bowl covered in strange symbols. The presence of magical devices with glowing symbols was nothing new, but these symbols did not coincide with any of the array symbols he knew of. A few of the people standing behind the Elder’s chairs suddenly broke into a run. Various colors of energy barriers sprung up around them and they used the energy to propel themselves away at high speed.

Unfortunately, they slammed against a hidden barrier formation that had already been activated long ago. These three tried to leave in different directions, but were blocked by the energy barrier.

“It’s already too late for you to escape.”

“Noo!”