Sage collected the members of the Purple Mist Sect and used the Red Comet to hurry back to the main battlefield. He was supposed to be a sort of reserve and they had already been on the way underground before he left. Once he arrived back at the entrance to the underground caverns he spotted large numbers of Chong Clansmen flowing in and out of the cave so he flew directly inside and signaled the Chong Clan guards with his Clan Token. He flew over the largest crowd and then followed the sounds of battle to reach the front line.

The red leaf took him over to a huge tent and he landed in front of it, hopping off his magical device and storing it away. Then he showed his token to the guards in front of the tent and walked inside. He took a look around at the situation and frowned when he saw two of the Xie Triplets crying in the corner. The two of them were clutching a silver bowl covered in array symbols and caressing it with grief. Sage glanced over to Xie Bian, and the Chong Clan Matriarch shook her head. He sighed as that meant they had already suffered a loss. The third of the triplets was likely already dead.

Walking over towards the Sand Table, he saw a map of the tunnels that the Chong Clan had already explored and cleared. Most notably there were markings that showed all the side tunnels had collapsed as well as some notations of losses which he assumed were from traps.

“It doesn’t seem to be going well.”

“They have set up layers of offensive and defensive formations defending the main tunnel. Every side route is filled with traps and rigged to collapse at some point. We can’t leave any of them untouched because we can’t let them have a way to escape or strike us from the back. They know this and are using it as a way to whittle our numbers down. Because of our Insects, the traps and cave-ins have to be very elaborate but they’ve still inflicted damage to our forces.”

“What about?” Sage tilted his head towards the Xie Twins and Xie Bian sighed, “They made another stand and that old bastard sacrificed the other three Nascent Souls on his side to deal us a terrible blow.”

Across from him he noticed that Wu Yun, the cloud surfing Wu Elder, was missing an arm and one of the Wa Elders was pale and coughing constantly. For them to still be so injured it meant they had taken some terrible wounds. As rich and powerful as they were, if it was simple physical injuries they could have been healed with some Alchemical Pills. It meant something was wrong with them on a deeper level that the pills couldn’t restore.

“So, only the Fu Patriarch is left?”

“Him and thousands of disciples that are sacrificing themselves to power arrays. They’re immolating themselves to overload the arrays. We’ve suffered a terrible number of casualties. They fight us tooth and nail to kill off our insects and we move in when they’re on the verge of death, but then they destroy themselves to overload the arrays and take our cultivators along with them to the grave.”

“That’s why we should bring the Branch Clans in.”

“We can’t sacrifice the branches or they will not only take our glory but harbor resentment against us.”

Xie Bian coughed, releasing a loud sound that startled the two Elders that had just jumped in and started quarreling with each other. The first was the Wu Elder who lost his giant winged centipede, while the second was the old man from the Wa that was way stronger than he looked. Sage found that outwardly the old man had the same slim body as the other cultivators at the table, yet he was actually a rare Body Cultivator. Sage was pleasantly surprised to see that even with one of their number gone, the Wa maintained their stance as mediators and seemed to care for the common good. At least in the Chong Clan.

After being disturbed from their argument by Xie Bian, they remembered what spurred this discussion and looked over to Sage. He smiled slightly at them and then fixed his gaze upon Xie Bian, “So, are you prepared to ask for my assistance once again? The new Lang can handle this problem and I assure you we won’t harbor resentment.”

Sage pointedly left out the mention of the other thing they were worried about. If the Lang Clan were to step in, they wouldn’t be doing it out of kindness. Xie Bian also realized what he was implying and she glanced down at the table. Since he had what felt like an eternity to analyze each of her facial expressions and movements of her eyes, he determined that she was calculating their losses and how much they would lose if they were to continue this war of attrition with the last remnants of the Fu Clan. Then she fixed her eyes on Sage’s, “What is the price for the Lang Clan’s blood?”

“Can the Chong Clan rule two provinces at the same time? Do you think the others will allow that?”

“You want Lucky Star Province?”

The combative Wu Elder, who was still in a terrible mood after losing his partner insect jumped in, “Didn’t you lose control of a single city multiple times? You overestimate your ability!”

Sage ignored the Wu Elder and stared at Xie Bian, “The Lang Clan will take control of Ten Thousand Wave Province. The Chong Clan will rule Lucky Star Province.”

“You want us to give up our own province? Are you trying to rebel? Even if you beat Jinxi Jao, that doesn’t mean you have a chance against the Chong Clan. You want to challenge everyone in this room?”

Xie Bian had her eyes locked with Sage’s, but with this interruption she frowned and broke the stare to fix her glare upon the Wu elder, “Wu Xiang! Are you in charge, or am I? Sit down and close your mouth.”

Sage continued to be impressed by Xie Bian. He could see the fury in her eyes, yet she’d refrained from using any deeper insults. She was quite marvelous at controlling her anger and carefully choosing her words. Most cultivators were already pretty excellent at controlling their emotions in this regard, but Sage had said things that truly struck at these people’s most sacred of beliefs. He was asking these people to leave their home, and not just their family home, but one passed down through hundreds of generations. It was made even worse because to them he was like a man who’d already had his own home foreclosed a few times and yet still acted like he had the capital to buy theirs.

Wu Xiang followed Xie Bian’s instructions and took a step back. He also surprised Sage in that the fury in his eyes suddenly disappeared. The man didn’t cross his arms or move away in a huff. Given the man had a creepy centipede mask over his face he now became impossible to read once again. The man’s shoulders weren’t even bunched up or tightened, he looked perfectly calm and placid while taking a seat and using a mote of Qi to warm a cup of tea as he took a drink from it.

“The other provincial powers will never let you control two provinces at the same time. They will likely say nothing and then plot against you in the dark. It’s likely they’ll even join hands to put a puppet of their choice in charge and then demand an equal share of the benefits. If you aren’t careful, not only will you not keep Lucky Star, but you’ll lose Ten Thousand Wave as well. Since it is already destined, you should simply give up on Ten Thousand Wave altogether. You’ve already had access to everything valuable in the province for thousands of years now, so Lucky Star Province and its new resources should be far more valuable. Replacing the Fu Clan’s puppets in the counties and cities will certainly be a huge source of wealth as well. If this is all true, then the only real question is deciding who you give Ten Thousand Wave to when you leave.”

“So, in exchange for your blood, you will be the new owners of our territory? Suppose you can live up to your end of the bargain, won’t you just lose Ten Thousand Wave? One Nascent Soul cannot control an entire province.”

“Let the Lang Clan worry about that. If we fail, isn’t that a perfect excuse for you to take it back again?”