Rex spent little time on theway towards Flying Sword sect. He could utilize his full capabilities to advance forward since he did not have to adhust to teh pace of anyone else. So, what was supposed to be a days travel, resulted in nice training job of four hours, leaving Rex standing before a valley that was littered with buildings, encompased in a solid rock wall that was patrolled by people at regular intervals. From his position he could see that it seemed to have quite tense atmosphere inside, judging by the serious looks of the patroling guards as well as the people rushing from one building to another, performing some tasks.

'What do do? What to do?' Rex pondered in his head, still thinking of how he wants this to play out. Were he some sort of a chinese xianxia protagonist, he would have to go on a proper extremination spree, after said sect had attacked his own little clan, and while a few motifs were the same, there were also stark differences. It was he who is the big bad in this case, so maybee he did not need to go the bloodthirsty route here? Rex stood there for a few moments, pondering, then decided to try a different aproach first. It not like he could not go back to the extermination path, should the need arise.

With plans made, he casually advanced towards the main gate of the fortification, not even trying a little bit to hide himself. He was going to starrt as a visitor, and hopefully as such he might stay for the full duration of his visit. Though he had a suspicion due to the attitude of the fools he ended back in Long-Shu, there was a large probability he would still have to perform some sort of a culling. Still, having decided on the more civilized approach he soon reached the gate, that was closed and with quite the amount of guards around.

"Identify yourself!" Called out one of the guards at the gate, as he noticed the approaching man who cassually strolled in their dirrection.

"Get your upper management here. We have some rather important things to discuss, and I would like to not start with violence if at all possible. Just tell them that some of your sect members had the misfortune to gravely offend a very powerfull entity, and said entity is quite displeaded with said action, thus the need has risen to figure out, were said members just particularily spoiled and arrogant fools, or is the problem deeper, and require more extensive solution."

The calm manner and teh words spoken slightly worried the guards, since there were few individuals, or powers, who could act with such calm and relaxed demeanor in front of their sect, so just to be sure, he sent someone to inform the higher ups. He was smart enough to dump the responsibility of the choice on those higher up the chain. It was better to be safe than sorry, especially with the rumors of the mercenary Neo that had reached them. While most of their sect considered them to be untrue, attributing the loss of almost half of the Tyrant Dragon sects elders to some sort of a failed raid into one of the dungeons, It was not unheard of sects overestimating their power and recklessly attempting a raid they should not have, resulting in the weakening, if not outright disbanding of said sect. Such mistakes were costly for a sect, especially when every sect had at least one nighboring sect who would always capitalise on their weakness to take over their territory. A fate that should have befallen the Tyrant Dragon Sect as well, had they not been in a war with the kitsunes, and due to the entire extermination of the White Lotus sect.

The guest at the gate had withdrawn a rather comfy looking chair from one of his space storages and was not leasurely sitting on it, waiting for whatever response would come from the sects side. He relaxed there, withdrawing some fruits he had gathered during his dive in the monster dungeon he visited before the snow one, enjoying their exotic taste as he waited. And, aproximately an hour later, he looked at the guard, who was listening to something another member was saying to him. From the light sweat on said newcomers face, he had made quite the run just recently. With the report finished, the guard captain turned to Rex, taking a few steps forward, and speaking.

"My apologies, due to recent disturbing news, our elders are preoccupied at the moment, and thus cannot meet with you. They ask you to wait in the nearby city, and come back in a few days, hopefully by then they can find time in their bussy schedules to recieve you. Once again, my apologies sir." he said and made a small bow towards Rex.

"Hmm, manners. Thats good. At least not everyone is stupid inside. Here, bring this to said elders. My patience with old senile coots is limited." Rex answered calmly as he withdrew a head from his ring and threw it near the guards feet.

"The matter is rather important, as you may have guessed." He added, seeing the shock of the guard at the familiar face. What laid before his feet was the head of Xin Xao, the successor of the Wind blade peak, and the man who boldy ordered Rex to kneel and beg for forgiveness. And without any delay, the guards pulled out a talisman and it burt in flames as the captain infused it with his mana. This was no longer a matter of undetermined importance, that could be decided by his dirrect supperiors, so the guard used the talisman he had for cases of emergency, used to notify the elders hall of the presence of some sort of a bigshot, who may have arrived unannounced. An action that those at the top of the power ladder in this continent would employ quite often. It was precisely that possibility why the guard had been as corteous as he was, not willing to risk kicking an iron plate.

Unlike the previous hour long wait, just ten or so minutes later, exquisitely dressed elder appeared outside, inspecting the person thathad caused the distress of the guard captain. An archon, but not one he recognized, though for some reason those eyes of his felt somewhat familiar. His full attention was soon drawn towards the head on the ground, causing his eyes to almost pop out of their sockets.

"What is the meaning of his?" He asked in a cold tone of voice, having regained his composure rather quickly, a rather pleased smirk barely escaping his controll. While a dirrect successor, teh youth was despised by most of his peers from other peaks, and he was also not liked by most other elders of the sect. Still, no matter the trash he was, Xin Xao was still a part of their sect, so he had to play the part.

"As I said previously, your sect has managed to offend a rather powerfull entity, and as such, I am here, to determine, if the act was the fault of his alone" Rex said in teh same calm manner as he pointed to the head on the ground "or an act on orders of your sect. As you may have guessed, depending on the results of my investigation and your response, said entity will have to take apropriate measures. Now, you have already wasted more than an hour of my time and I am starting to loose my patience, waiting out here."

"Is that a threat sir?" questioned th elder, not noticing any change in the speakers tone of voice, but noticing the implication in his words.

"Warning, for now." was the response he recieved and considering the optiones he had, the elder decided it would be much easier to deal with it within the defensive array of their sect, if it came down to a fight with this powerfull entity. And capturing its messanger would also be much easier to do in the same said enviroment. Thus, the elder invited him inside, apologizing for the lack of decorum on the side of the gate supervisor, promising a reprimand for said man. The guest calmly stood up, retrieved his chair back to his space storage and calmly joined the elder as they entered the sect grounds.

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As the elder led Rex towards a meeting hall, he innitiated a light conversation, while still fully alert and on guard. Even then, the guest showed no signs of taking the innitiative to attack, and calmly responded to the elders simple and non intrusive questions, asking some of his own, in a similar manner, at one point remarking that this elder, at the very least, has shown enough tact and decorum towards him, painting their sect in a much better light. During their twenty or so minute walk in a casual tempo they had arrived at the building the elder was leading them to. It was a rather large few stories high simple building, with a single large main room with a massive table in the middle. The seats around it were arranged seperating the two sides. Clearly one side was theirs, while the side closer to the exit was reserved for the guests.

Their talk had left the elder thoughtfull. Rex had not hidden the reason for the successors death when inquired about it, revealing that the youth had been on quite the power trip, not only attacking said powerhouses messanger and injuring it, but also forbiding said messanger to heal using external methods, promising even greater suffering should he not obey their command. And said youth also went on a tangent, one that was recorded and would be shown to their council, once the meeting would be underway. The elder did express his displeasure with the now deceased youth, indicating that the man in question was not liked by many, but they could have done nothing as it was the business of each peak to controll and discipline their own members. The elder wisely acted with caution. Who knows, he might even earn some goodwill and a rather important connection.

As they entered the meeting hall and took their respective seats, Elder Wu, as the man had introduced himself along the way, sitting down in his own seat and Rex taking a seat on the guests side near the middle, Rex spoke to the elder.

"I have to say, it is quite nice to converse with wise and capable men, instead of having to deal with the hot headedness and stupidity of youth. Surely you must have similar thoughts."

Elder Wu chuckled, retorting "But sir feels quite young himself, clearly I cannot make the same deduction as you have acted with calm and purpose far above what your age would imply. Has sir used some treasure or medicine that maintains your youthfull apearance despite the age? It clearly feels that you have the energy of a youthfull man."

"Well, yes, I do act above my age, but there are always outliers among the masses."

They kept conversing for a few more minutes when they were served some tea by some servant girls, and a dozen or so minutes later still the hall was entered by a dozen or so other elder men, one of which seemed furious and barely in controll of his rage, clearly the master of Rex latest victim. The head was now in the possesion of the elder Wu, who presented said head to the fuming peak master, asking the other elders to take their seats and await the messangers explanation and reasons. With the leders and their sect leader in their chairs, all attention on Rex, he glanced around the room, then spoke in the same calm manner as before.

"Two SS class, one middle one innitial tier, the rest ar middle to high S class entities. As for the reason I am here with the head that was returned to you just now, here is the details."

Then Rex proceeded to shortly recount the actions of said group towards his messanger, the lawlessness their hired mercenary group created in the city as well as the way they acted once Rex was there to administer punishment, at the end enev playing the recording he took. With that all out on the table, he asked the elders present.

"Now, tell me, how should this act be percieved? Since from where I stand, that seemed almost like a declaration of war, however due to the fact barely any of your members have any idea who I am and the zero agression towards me here so far, I should deduce that it was the act of a loose member, and not the act of the entire sect. Do note that I dont really care which one it is, as long as I recieve your stance about the matter. The one responsible for the lack of discipline of the said loose cannon should be punished as well, and if neccesarry, I can carry out said punishing myself."

"Ow, and if you are wondering why I am here conversing, do not be decieved into thinking that it is because you can stand up against me, becasue you cant. If I wanted to, I could wipe your sect off the ground here and now, however, since I have already sown enough chaos with the destruction of White Lotus and the weakening of Tyrant Dragon sects, albeit due to a contract and not a choice of my own per se, anihilating yet another sect would cause unnecessarily large increase in the chaos in the region. So, I am being extremely kind to the region with this diplomatic approach."

Rex words caused a moment of deadly silence, the elders understanding that they are in the presence of the reknown Neo, as well as severity of his words, thruthfull or not. Elder Wu, wanting to lessen the tension in the room, asked.

"So, we can asume you would prefer not to cause more chaos, but will do so if pushed to such an outcome?"

"Indeed. It is quite annoying when weaklings like your deceased succesor decide to disregard any and all rules of civility, or just outright act out in the presence of their betters. I do hope yours, and the other sects will teach humility to their never generation, lest another tragedy happens."

"Right, while on the subject, note that Long-Shu is now under my watch, be mindfull when visiting." Rex explained with a neutral facial expression, something that had not changed during this whole conversation, unnerving some of the elders. He was alone in the territory of a potential enemy, and yet there was not a trace of worry or nervousness in his body language or voice. On the contrary, it seemed as if this whole event was nothing more than a past time for him, as if he could make it dissapear with a snap of his fingers. Elder Wu felt a chill run down his spine at the mere thought of what such prospect signifies.

"Go ahead, feel free to discuss the solution among yourselves. Better yet, I can leave the room for the time being if that would make the discusion easier. But once again, do come to a decision in a timely manner. I have a few other tasks to attend to while on this continent of yours."

"There is no need for that." Spoke the sect master, and a barrier was activated that encompased the sect elders, sealing their conversation away from Rex's ears. And he just relaxed in his seat, withdrawing a few more fruits from one of his storage spaces and starting to snack on it. As he waited, he was testing the different types of fruits collected and rating their tastes based on his prefferances, making his own list to note and stack up on the best ones. As he waited, a servant was called by him, refilling his tea cup a few times over the lenght of the hour Flying Sword sect was bussy with their own deliberations.

Finally, the barrier broke, the expressions on quite a few elders dark, but Rex noticed that elder Wu was rather calm, implying they have not decided on declaring him as the enemy of their sect.

"So, what decision have you come to, regarding the little conundrum we have?" Rex asked, still as nonchallant and relaxed as ever. This visit was nothing more than a game to him, something to kill the time as well as to send a friendly warning, should they be villing to listen, since he ahd the power and skills to utterly anihilate them.

"The first order of business." The sect master spoke and bowed towards Rex after he had stood up from his seat. "We sincerely apologise on behalf of your sect regarding the actions of our former disciple. We hope that sir would be willing to forgive us. We naturally will find an apropriate gift to show our sincerity. Secondly, regarding the punishment of the ones responsible for said offense." He exhaled and sighed

"Master of Xin Xio has expressed his dissatisfaction and demands a duel to the death, for killing his student, regardless of your reasons. As such, we believe that sir ahs the rights and the chance to punish said offender in any way you deem apropriate during the duel, since the ned result would not change. Is such and outcome satisfactory?"

Rex looked at the barely contained early stage SS class elder, clearly the master in question, shrugged his shoulders.

"Sure" he spoke "You ready, or need some time to say goodbye to your people?" Rex added as he looked at the fuming elder.

The elder gritted his teeth, his anger almost palpable in the room "Lets go then.. Its time to put an end to this charade." the elder inquestion grunted, stood up and moved towards the exist of the hall.