All three of the Xie Elders were beautiful women. Two of them looked to be twins, but there was another woman standing behind them that looked exactly the same. These triplets were all level 61, and were the old Elders that Sage first met on the council. One of them had given up her seat at some point and the Great Elder was sitting upon it. This third elder of the Xie had at one time stepped down from the council because the Jinxi Ancestor felt pressured by her. She was currently at the peak of the Nascent Soul level, just as the old freak had been, and so once the triplets broke through, she let the three of them hold the Elder seats.

She had only taken the seat back to cooperate with Sage and organize the duel that had ended with the old freak’s first death. After that event, the Xie obtained the ruling seat on the council and she became the Chong Clan’s new Matriarch. The Xiyi, the lizards, only had a single Nascent Soul among their three elders, which had previously made them the weakest faction, but after the death of the Jinxi Ancestor and the young master Jinxi Po, they no longer had any Nascent Souls left. At least that’s what they wanted everyone to think. The Great Elder of the Xie had gone into hiding at one point, so it was still quite likely that the Jinxi were hiding a Nascent Soul somewhere. Shoot, there’s no telling how many Nascent Souls any of the other factions are hiding either.

On the other hand, if they had so many powerful people, they wouldn’t be hiding them all, so Sage guessed there was only one or two secret Nascent Souls hiding in each faction. Perhaps the presence of these secret weapons was what kept them all behaving politely.

The three people who had tried to flee the council meeting were currently assaulting the barrier around the area frantically. The three triplets suddenly moved as one, waving their hands and releasing red ribbons from their hands. One of the triplets held the glowing silver bowl with one hand while waving the other. The other two women stayed in their seats while waving their hands. The three ribbons flashed through the air and swirled in unison around one of the people trying to escape. Terror flashed in the young man’s eyes and then he fell to the ground with a dull thump.

The second person turned around and dropped down to his knees, rubbing his forehead on the ground and wailing for forgiveness. The middle-aged man started to make excuses, “I did it for the clan! We will grow so much stronger if we team up with them! You have to believe me!”

At the same time the third person, a woman that looked like she was still a teenager, had turned around and started laughing hysterically. She pointed at an older man still standing behind an Elder’s chair and started screaming, “I won’t let you go unpunished! I only did it to get revenge upon you ‘Uncle’! You vile bastard. I curse you! I will not die peacefully and my vengeful ghost will haunt you for all eternity for what you did to me!”

The three flowing ribbons flashed over to the middle-aged man and the teenage girl. A moment after they flew away, the two people in question collapsed to the ground. Then the person that the girl had pointed out suddenly felt pressure and before he could say anything he too was a victim of the red ribbons.

At that point when it seemed like this strange event was over, the silver bowl glowed brighter and one of the older women in the crowd was suddenly covered with a bright silver light. She looked down and then towards the silver bowl that was being held up. The woman shook her head fiercely and lifted her hands up, “I didn’t do anything, I swear it! Please believe me!”

She wasn’t given any time to argue any longer, the red ribbons flashed past her as well and she swayed then fell to the ground just like the rest.

The red streaks returned back to the three women and seemed to swirl around their wrists. Only at this point did it become apparent that ‘ribbons’ were nothing of the sort. There, standing upon each of the triplet’s wrists was a small red scorpion. They had somehow moved fast enough to appear only as a streak of light, but also slow enough to leave a trail through the air that gave the appearance of a flying ribbon. Sage had no idea how such a thing worked, but then he realized he was mistaken. They weren’t moving slowly, they were just emitting a trail of energy that left a bright line in their wake.

The silver bowl’s glow slowly died down and the woman holding the bowl nodded to the Chong Clan Matriarch. The former Great Elder smiled and snapped her fingers. A portion of the barrier suddenly faded and a small squad of armored Chong Clansmen walked in and tied up the five fallen cultivators. Then they lifted them up and carried them out of the room. Once the guards left the barrier sealed itself and the Matriarch smiled, “Now that we’ve rooted out all the traitors in our midst, it's time to get down to business. First off; Lang Sheng, who is this? A new Branch Leader?”

Sage wasn’t expecting to come to attention so immediately, but he recovered quickly and nodded, “Greetings Matriarch. You are correct, this is the new Lang Clan Head, Lang Yating.”

The Matriarch as well as the others immediately recognized that no matter this new person’s origin they’d already taken the ‘Lang’ name, so they must be truly committed. Also, since this Lang Yating had already passed the test of the silver bowl that had rooted out a bunch of traitors, then this Yating was at least trustworthy. Whether or not Lang Yating was competent was another question altogether, and something they would worry about later.

“Good enough. Now then, shall we begin? There is an enemy we have been ignoring for far too long,” the Matriarch glanced over at the Jinxi Elders briefly, then continued speaking, “The Fu Clan have been a thorn in our side for hundreds of years, the product of an enmity thousands of years old. We have been at odds with them since I was a young girl. That was when we learned of their treacherous nature and started to suspect them. The Chong Clan will no longer suffer a treacherous snake as a neighbor.”

Some of the people in the room were surprised to hear the Matriarch’s words. News had spread in the clan of their preparations, but only those at the top were privy to who exactly their target was. Everyone in the room was someone valued by one of the Elders, but that didn’t mean they were told everything in advance.

Maybe the council already knew how many traitors there were and so they kept tight control over the information.

Sage was only guessing based on the expressions he noticed, since he had thought everyone already knew what was going on. They’d been brought the news by a messenger, so he thought the other branches had received similar notes as his own. He immediately felt a little more positive towards this new Matriarch. It was obvious he would always be told, as it was the condition he raised before dueling the old Patriarch. On the other hand, he was quite surprised to find out they’d kept it a secret from so many other leaders, but seeing the number of traitors he suddenly understood their concerns.

I wonder how that bowl works?

The Matriarch waved her hand and a huge holographic image sprung to life in the air in front of her. Sage recognized it as some sort of illusionary technique that she was using to make a giant hologram of the Fu Clan’s headquarters as seen from the air.

Impressive!