‘I’ve come all the way here but I’m not sure if what these people are planning will work, or at least not if I don’t give them a nudge in the right way.’

After having a conversation with Sun Shen, the Moon Lily faction leader, he had a general idea of what was happening. In short, the Sun Lily faction along with three others wanted to wait it out while the Moon Lily wanted to ask for help from outside. For now, it was four against four with two factions withholding their vote.

‘I guess his plan is to present me to the other factions that are withholding their vote, it could work in theory but this leaves a lot up to me. Not like everyone has bought into the whole Golden Dragon persona, some still think that my sect had just been lucky or that we had help from the Azure Emperor.’

His side actually needed to get both of those factions that didn’t vote on their side or at least keep one from voting. If both continued to withhold the vote or if they each gave theirs to another side then nothing would be done. From what Sun Shen had told him the only person that could push a decision with equal votes was the Patriarch.

‘Apparently, this guy's position isn’t cemented so he usually doesn't favor any side out of fear of a backlash.’

Usually, the most prominent elder from one of the ten factions would be chosen as their leader. There was a strong right and left side leaning with these factions with only two being mostly neutral. This time around the Patriarch was chosen from one of these more neutral factions that had a more shaky footing. They were down on the totem pole and knew that sooner or later the leader would be replaced by a new one.

‘It’s a bit strange to be in a sect with a somewhat democratic approach to everything but even in this case, the one with the stronger first is right. Even the leader that is supposed to be the strongest can’t go against the mob. If he starts provoking those cultivator nuts with decisions that go against them, something drastic could happen.’

Zhang Dong believed that factions like the Sun Lily could do something to reel their leader in. They would probably not go against him directly as that would put their whole power structure at risk. Instead, they would probably go after the faction the man came from or for people that he was close with. They could do this by making their lives harder or outright assassinations at night.

Even if the Patriarch knew who did it they wouldn’t be able to move without proper evidence. Otherwise, the whole sect could collapse into a civil war, it was a balancing act between everyone to keep them from going ballistic. No one's bottom line could be affected out of fear of everything collapsing.

‘This might have been what became of my sect if I didn’t come back. It’s disheartening but sometimes a leader that can overpower the opposition is needed.’

His might couldn’t be challenged and everyone inside of his sect knew this. No one had been stupid enough to attempt a coup yet, the only ones that were from the Huo Clan were close but abandoned their desires after he arrived. This was thanks to Huo Qiang who didn’t pose a threat to Zhang Dong in the first place. He didn’t have any wish to become Patriarch and didn’t push for a switch in power. It was his father that was luckily below his son in strength that attempted this and thus was never successful.

‘They really like their tranquil places don’t they?’

The trip to the discussion was quite interesting. First of all he was given a large crane to sit on, it was quite majestic and an interesting way to travel considering he had already been used to flying or doing it on a sword. The ten valleys where the factions had their headquarters all pointed to a center plane, there he could now see a large palace surrounded by a marsh.

In this marsh, he could see many various birds walking around. There were cranes but also pink flamingos strutting around and hunting for some food. When he squinted he could feel that the water they were walking in was filled to the brim with spiritual energy and it was the same for the fish and frogs living in it. These various colorful birds radiated a queer power, they weren’t strong but packed with extraordinary qi.

‘Do they eat those birds or perhaps use their eggs for something in particular?’

He wasn’t sure but it wasn’t strange to use things like eggs to make pills or special dishes. Cooking was one of the great professions as well. A chef could produce something that was on the level of alchemical pills with the only drawback being that food spoiled a lot faster than pills did.

‘The pastry that they offered with the tea was quite rich in spiritual energy, it would have probably helped a lesser cultivator to jump a large realm or a few smaller ones…’

There were a few things that this sect exported, perhaps the baked goods were something they kept within the ten great factions. Nevertheless, he didn’t come here to make any deals for cookies or cakes. What was on the line was the early end of this war and him potentially getting the Dao of the Emerald Phoenix Emperor. While he didn’t actually think that would be happening any time soon if he could gain the trust of these people that option could open up in the near future.

‘It would be nice to end this war faster but confronting the last boss without my troops could be suicide.’

Zhang Dong had gotten a lot stronger than before but he couldn’t just one-shot an emperor-level threat. While he thought that at this point in time he could beat them in a fair one-on-one confrontation this didn’t mean that he would get one. This opponent was very similar to the cultivators that lived here and these experts were very guarded.

First, they would throw their underlings to test out the waters before engaging. If the Emerald Phoenix Emperor concluded that Zhang Dong was someone that he couldn’t handle directly, he just wouldn’t. Either they would retreat or use other means to get ahead, this by using a powerful treasure or tiring the foes out by having them fight multiple strong opponents at once.

This approach of course could be copied by Zhang Dong but he wasn’t willing to sacrifice the people from his sect as easily as the other Patriarchs did. However to everyone involved this wasn’t really a strength but a big weakness. A general couldn’t feel bad for their soldiers when out on the field of battle. They needed to take into account losing a few to save the many, sometimes sacrifices needed to be made.

Zhang Dong on the other hand put himself in danger multiple times. Over and over again he would put his nose into places that he shouldn’t. Considering that he was the leader of a massive sect now he should have enough people to do it for him. His biggest weak point was that compassion for the lives of others, even now he put himself in a spot that he could easily be trapped in.

Only with the system aiding him in an assured escape would he actually be able to escape from a place filled with nascent soul masters and powerful formations. There was always a possibility of enemies working against him. Perhaps when he arrived at the meeting place his brother would be there to capture him and along with the ten grand elders here, he would probably be able to.

‘Doesn’t seem like he is here though, lucky me…’

Of course, his fame that was rising was still new and he wasn’t taken quite as seriously as some might think. Thanks to this no one expected him to be brought to this assembly with the Heavenly Crane Sect on the line.

“Welcome sect brothers and sisters, we have gathered here today to contemplate the future of our Heavenly Crane Sect, last time we weren’t able to come to a consensus but now that some events have unfolded we must be prepared to make a final decision. Will we send our warriors to deal with this scourge or will we wait?”

Finally, all of them were there. The place might have been a palace on the outside but inside it was another lovely garden filled with tranquility. There was a shallow stream of water connecting to a middle pound at which the Patriarch was sitting. Behind him were two men wearing masks and radiating tremendous amounts of energy. To Zhang Dong’s knowledge, these two were called left and right guardians and could potentially be the way of moving these people.

‘So that’s the two… they are indeed at the cusp of the nascent soul level, well perhaps if I’m lucky I won’t need to do anything, let me wait for Sun Shen to make his speech.’

The ten grand elders and leaders of their factions were seated on the ground with everyone else behind them. Each faction besides the leaders could bring two other people. The Moon Lily side that he was with decided to bring him and Sun Shi along. This of course raised a few brows as no one knew who he was and why he wasn’t turning his head down when looking at their leader, Tao Guan.

He could feel some of the piercing gazes falling on his face. The two guardians that were next to Tao Guan were of course trying to get a feel of his power level. Their spiritual sense that was prodding at his cultivation was bounced away. As he was playing the Golden Dragon he needed to act for his position. In this large open space, only Tao Guan was at his level of status, if he turned his gaze away it would mean weakness. This was known by everyone and thus they were weary of a person that would dare to do this.

“Leader Shen, would you be so kind to introduce your friend, I’m sure every leader is eager to know.”

“I was about to, Leader Zhong. I just didn’t want to interrupt the Patriarch’s speech.”

The two old men looked at each other and sparks started flying. It was clear to Zhang Dong that the two men hated each other's guts whenever talking about the Sun Lily faction Sun Shen always did have a frown on his face. It was some kind of long-lasting grudge that most didn’t even remember why it started.

‘I guess this is it, better have that system window open just in case…’