Finally, after hundreds of years, Sage could finally say that he had revived the Lang Clan.

At least in his own Inner World. All that was left was returning to the outside world and his promise to the Lang Clan Ancestor would finally be fulfilled. Without the ancestor’s interference, Sage would have stayed as a rampaging monster that would likely have been killed many years ago. That favor, along with the Universe Ring, had assisted him greatly on his path to this point and he was finally able to pay them back.

This long time spent on the Inner World had been many times longer than his entire life in the outer world. In fact, his Soul Clone had spent many times longer on the Inner World than this in the past, but this time was different. He had not spent the majority of his time in meditation or studying his own abilities. For hundreds of years he’d focused on raising a family and constantly monitoring their successes and failures. It was only after a few hundred years of this pursuit that he finally chose to step back and spend most of his time on research and training once again. After the comparatively rapid formation of three schooling organizations he finally felt that the clan was moving in the way he wished for it to go. He was tempted to take the clan to the outside world, but he held back, giving these organizations time to grow and mature. It wasn’t until Yiming, Suhan, and Yihan were all well over a hundred years old themselves that Sage finally took action. They were given a few decades to prepare for a great exodus.

The whole of the clan was finally told of the reason they had prepared so much and grown to such a level. Many believed they were preparing to overthrow one of the three kings and take over as one of the three top powers in this world, but those at the higher levels in the clan already knew the three kings were their subordinates and knew it couldn’t be that simple. Sage’s own children along with the highest leaders had all become privy to this secret over time, mainly so they could develop the clan with the proper goals in mind.

The top leaders of the Tiankong Clan returned one day after having been absent for more than a year. The clan members had wondered where they had gone, but it had been a pretty peaceful year. The formal partnership with the Mount Song Sword Sect had scared many of them, but it turned out quite flawlessly. The Mount Song Sword Sect expanded the area of their direct influence and the Tiankong Clan had a safe roost to always return home to. Many of them put their lives at risk by working so closely together with the fighting maniac sword sect, but they were treated quite well and their families protected.

A few days after the Tiankong Clan higher ups returned, they arranged a huge celebration for the whole of the Mount Song Sword Sect. During the event there were many famous persons showing their faces, even the famous Song Lu Tian. The most juicy gossip was that of Song Lu Tian spending most of the celebration with his friend, an outsider, along with the outsider’s two wives. A few were annoyed to not get the chance to worm their way into Song Lu Tian’s good graces, especially when the first person that tried to insert himself into the conversation was given a harsh beating by the man. Others who were eager to try a similar thing quickly discarded such an idea as they watched the unconscious and bloody man getting carted off to the medical building by some guards.

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The next day Song Lu Tian was high up and unreachable again. With his friend gone from the sect, the majority of the Mount Song Sword Sect were unable to see him once more.

It took Sage a few more weeks to cross through the border of two provinces and make his way back to Lionheart Town. Upon returning he was surprised by the level to which things had fallen. It was pretty easy for him to learn that the new City Lord was a puppet of the Fu Clan. There were wanted posters posted around the city for both himself and his close friends that had saved him from that large scale battle. It was too bad for them that there was only a single Nascent Soul on their side. The Shanshi Clan existed in a subordinate role to the Fu Clan, managing the city with their backing. The defenses of the town were even worse than when he was incharge. They’d broken the core part of the Seven Layer Barrier he’d erected and placed a terrible replacement of their own instead. Sage hid inside the body of a low ranked Chameleon Mantis with a body merely a foot tall, flying around the city to eavesdrop and examine the defenses. It was extremely easy to hitch a ride under the cart of a mortal and enter the city’s barrier without notice. Large scale defensive arrays were more like powered up versions of the city walls, aimed to defend against large scale threats and next to useless against a few spies or infiltrators.

The few days he spent in reconnaissance turned into a year of planning in the clan’s war room, and when they finally struck it was over in an instant. Sage didn’t even have to personally act, nor did the Dragoons come into play during the conflict at all. It took only a dozen from the Lang Clan to wipe out the Shanshi without suffering a single loss. Only two of them even suffered an injury, and the other clan members teased them for their carelessness. With the city under their control Sage quickly destroyed the terrible arrays of the Shanshi and rebuilt the Seven Layer Barrier around the city. Then, the vast majority of the Lang Clan finally returned to their ancestral territory. It was a great divide in the clan as not all of them chose to leave the Inner World.

Those that stayed were those that desired a life of peace and would take the roles of artisans, scholars, and researchers. Martial traditions would not be abolished, but those who wished to follow that path would learn that it would lead them to a far away place. They wouldn’t be allowed to have a family and train diligently till the time came for them to be called away to fight. Sage couldn’t always be at the Lang Clan, so those soldiers might train their whole lives and never get called to battle, but it was a voluntary choice after all. If they joined the Lang Clan in the outside world and left wives and children behind on the Inner World for just a few years, those wives and children could be long dead by the time those soldiers came back to see them. So anyone who wished to come to the outside world had to be ready to sever all attachments to their current lives.

That was why the vast majority of the clan was brought outside at this time to preserve all the relationships from being destroyed by time. Those who stayed behind would be forever separated from those who left. At the same time, Sage did not wish to bring everyone out. For one, it was an insurance policy. If he suffered another terrible situation he could send some of them into the Universe Ring before his death and preserve the clan again. Second, and most importantly, he wanted to use the immense time dilation to have his clansmen do research. The clan that remained on the Inner World had its goals restructured to greatly value intellectual pursuits over martial. The Clan that returned to the outside world was intended to bring the Lang Clan back to the world, while the one left on the inside were utterly safe and free to dedicate themselves to the pursuit of knowledge and build a utopian world.