Zhu Gao's reaction was good, but it came late. As the initial battle between Bai Qi and his ambushers was about to start, even before anyone involved knew that the situation would end like this, two powers were already inquiring about Bai Qi's wellbeing from the [Eastern Inscription City] City Mansion.
[White Grove] Sect and [Yuxuan] City had acted to invite Bai Qi to visit their powers, even if acting through their younger generation. In the end, the result was that Bai Qi decided to go to [Yuxuan] City and then visit the former power, which was an acceptable result for both. No matter what plans they had, both powers, since the moment of acting, were already cooperating, and so, even if Bai Qi had taken a position of not getting close, even traveling to [Dongpo] city by himself, the decision-makers in the groups sent by the powers sent an experienced Warrior King each to prevent Bai Qi from getting into trouble before they could officially receive him.
For the [White Grove], it had been Lei Su, an 8th level Warrior King, already considered as a future sword Empress, her path of the sword nearing the 9th step, just a bit short of what even renowned Warrior Emperors from non-sword-path powers had achieved.
As for the [Yuxuan] City Gao clan, they had sent Zhu Chen, a 9th level Warrior King. While not known for his prowess, he was still a peak being in the Warrior King realm, and from the Gao clan consideration, his family relationship with the [Dongpo] Zhu's, no matter how botched because of a few incidents from years ago, which had led him to leave both the clan and city, would actually serve to cover for Bai Qi in the case of some incident.
While there was no attachment between the two powers, they were still allies for this task, not to mention that they both responded to the same 1st tier Overlord's vassal. So, Lei Su and Zhu Chen cooperated with no trouble outside of some bickering and, with their cultivation and power, prevented any Warrior King from going after Bai Qi during his journey with ease. They were even somewhat impressed with the latter as they did so, as Bai Qi, even if being just a 6th level Warrior Lord himself, released pressure that was sometimes comparable even to a newly ascended Warrior King and dispatched over half a dozen of advanced, even two peak 8th level Warrior Lords with nothing but his own strength.
{With no treasures or weapons, could we have done the same at the same level?} Asking each other the same question, both experts acknowledged that they could not, and so, as Bai Qi approached the [Eastern Inscription City], they were already immersed in their mission of protecting him.
Hearing his words about the taxes, even Zhu Chen, someone who still harbored feelings for [Dongpo] city, felt them to be the truth. After all, even the far more prosperous and known [Yuxuan] City asked for, at most, four low-grade spiritual stones when required, usually taking no more than two from a cultivator intending to enter the city.
At that time, Lei Su pulled him back, citing that they should not show themselves if there was no danger. Funnily enough, a moment later, as the arrogant young master of the city appeared, it was Zhu Chen the one to hold back Lei Su, knowing well that the [White Grove] had not only sent but already lost people in the war, preventing her from razing down the gates to ask the current ruler, Lady Liao, in just what form her robbing people would help the war effort.
Not that either of them wasn't ready to intervene if the [Dongpo] clan attempted to do something against Bai Qi, left in their care. For personal reasons, they had even wished for such to happen if not for Bai Qi's created incident suddenly being hijacked by the leader of the biggest caravan before the gates, one that later, as they moved towards the gates, flied the banners of the [Pan Trade Company].
From there, the entire event would deescalate, which was something good for the two experts, as they wouldn't have to reveal themselves. Still, it turned out to be their worst nightmare. With the young leader of the [Pan Trade Company] caravan throwing out crystals enough to cover everyone outside the gates and even more, the gates became chaotic just a moment later. With neither of them able to display their cultivation, as it would reveal their identities, both Zhu Chen and Lei Su lost track of Bai Qi as he entered the city an entire teacup of time before they managed to squeeze in!
With their cultivation, they would have no problem covering over half of the city with their auras and locating Bai Qi. Still, doing so, they would not only reveal themselves to any Warrior King present but also clash with the defensive formations and arrays of the city, forcing themselves to reveal their identities openly, which would destroy all of the leadership intentions of following after Bai Qi stealthily. Coupling that with Zhu Chen's worries about the [Dongpo] young master, or in his words, idiot, reaction, they decided to visit the City manor, revealing themselves only to a few and forcing the current leader, Lady Liao, to help them.
After all, what could a 6th level Warrior King do against such a power as themselves? And even if the always-secluded Warrior Emperor came out, what could he do against powers that counted with cultivators above his level?
----------------------------------------
Dongpo Liao, or Lady Liao, was never meant to rule. Her father, a cultivator of true strength and attainment, had brought the weak [Dongpo] clan from the earth to the skies, reaching the Warrior Emperor realm in under 100 years, and not only getting the city from which he was originally as a land to govern but obtaining resources as to build a true clan. But in the end, suppressed by every power around, he would go into full seclusion, leaving everything to his daughter, Liao, not even caring about how she would manage it.
_______
The founder of the local power known as the [Dongpo] clan's only regret in life would be that his clan wasn't capable of reaching the skies alongside him, as even his wife, whom he had loved dearly and would never forget, failed to give him a worthy heir. Oh no, she did give birth to two girls, flesh and blood of his, but with Yuanchen dying just a few years from birth and Liao'er, the second and last child, one that caused even a cultivator as Yan'er, his wife, to die, incapable of reaching anything but the top of the mid-level Warrior King realm, no matter how much resources he invested, or how much of his Emperor blood and cultivation he shared, Dongpo Ao had felt his life to be worthless.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
This latter provoked a depression that made him sloppy in the cultivation way, and the clan that had just become a 3rd tier power declined even faster than usual. Granted, he did subjugate all the other clans in the city and nearby lands, even the so-proud Zhu clan, but even with all of the combined forces, the [Dongpo] clan and city would lose battle after battle.
In fact, from all the 18 duels during the last 100 years under the patronage of the [Delicate Forest Palace], only one fought by the later exiled Zhu Chen, and one of the six fought by Dongpo Ao, the [Regal Blue of the East Inscription], they would prove superior to other 3rd tier powers, losing land after land, mine after mine, and resource after resource.
Suppressed from the outside and suppressed from within, as most of the losers would actually blame Dongpo Ao's leadership and not their weakness, the previously called genius cultivator could only seclude himself to save whatever was left from the initial lands granted to him, all while passing all the ruling rights to his daughter.
A daughter that would go and frolic with every genius that she could catch with hope, but in the end, would end with having a child with someone that, before, could not even step on the mansion's stairs. That man, Zhenchu Wei, ended up being killed by Dongpo Ao himself, as he caught the former trying to rob the clan's treasure, where he had secluded himself. And from that moment, the previously known genius shut himself up entirely, not leaving the newly established [Palace of Seclusion] for over twenty years.
_______
Just barely reaching fifty years, Dongpo Lian could be called a blessed cultivator, as she had reached the peak of the intermediate Warrior King realm. When one considered that she had reached it when she was barely 30, she could have been known as a genius in the entire region, if not that most of her cultivation, starting from the 3rd level of the Warrior Lord realm, had been nothing but infused blood and cultivation from her father. Which later, as many tongues said, had affected him so much that he had to seclude himself - in place of ruling the city he had been granted. Ironically, even when she had no chance to advance because of the given cultivation, she had done the same for her untalented son, making her a joke in the eyes of the true martial cultivators.
Granted, she wielded some power, but how much was her own? And how much of the latter she held now that she had forcefully brought her only son from the Sage realm to the Warrior Lord realm? No one would know. After all, Dongpo Liao hadn't fought anyone by herself, preferring to command the city's other cultivators over the last seventeen years.
In any case, Dongpo Lian had at least some qualities of a ruler. And even now, when she was requested by two cultivators that surpassed her and from powers that could snuff out the entire clan without much trouble, even if being just 3rd tier vassals as the [Dongpo] clan, she still maintained her dignity, sitting on the City Lord's seat and looking over Zhu Chen and Lei Su as her position commanded, even if she knew that the two could deal, and with ease, with anyone in the city, except her secluded father.
"Lady Liao..." Zhu Chen began, even giving a salute, as it should be, considering the status of an envoy and an acting city lord, no matter the cultivation, but he was interrupted.
"A traitor dares to speak in this hall?! I would have you executed if not for respecting our allies of [Yuxuan] City and the [Gao] clan!"
"Lady..." Zhu Chen was older than Dongpo Liao's father himself, having started his cultivation 132 years ago. While he had some differences, most stemming from the Zhu's following the so-weak [Dongpo] clan and his own defeat at the hands of the former, which had made him leave with a scandal, he wasn't ready to be berated by a young, in his eyes, girl who held no authority. Still, he was here with a mission, so he swallowed all his anger and attempted to reason, only to be interrupted again.
"Silence!" Seeing that Zhu Chen was somewhat suppressed, and considering it because of the previous events, some of which she was only privy to and never seen, Dongpo Liao pressed over again, interrupting and sending a condemning glance to the old cultivator, not knowing that she wasn't suppressing him but actually nearing his line of respect for her father.
{Lord Liao, while this man, Zhu Chen, is undoubtedly a traitor, he has come here as a representative of the [Yuxuan] city's Gao's, so we should hear him out, nor we attract trouble to your esteemed self!} After a brief pause, Tan Gou continued {The woman near him, the one that introduced herself as Lei Su, is a renowned young elder of the [White Grove] sect, and if she comes with him, it means that there's an important matter for two of the strongest 3rd tier powers in the area next to us. We should hear them out, at least. Please save your anger and majesty for later, as soon as we finalize the plan, we will not have to hear such lowly beings!}
Hearing Minister Tao's transmission, the man she had allowed to run almost all of the city's matters, Dongpo Liao returned to reality. No matter how mighty she was, both of the powers represented by the people before her could currently erase the [Dongpo] clan from existence. And with their participation in the [Great Forest] regional war effort, the two powers wouldn't even be scolded for it!
Not that it stopped her from thinking,
*Cough*
"But even if you are a traitor to the Zhu clan, you have come in the representation of an allied power of ours, so we have to hear you out." No matter how much she fumed internally, Dongpo Liao knew that at this point, no matter how she could verbally suppress the traitor of the Zhu clan, she had to hear him out, not to mention the other powerhouse representative, "Miss Lei Su, I have long heard of your achievements, and only the issue with the representative of the [Yuxuan] city could have made me forget about your graceful presence."
"Drop the act, Lady Liao. We have arrived together, and it is clear that we have something to ask from you. But you still acted as if we were nothing. Do you truly want me, or my companion, to notify the masters that sent us here about the [Dongpo] clan behavior and poor manners?" Thinking that Zhu Chen should be able to negotiate himself, knowing that her abilities in anything but combat and weapons were deficient, Lei Su had kept silent.
But now, as Zhu Chen had been humiliated several times and was close to exploding, she acted, releasing her aura and berating the host, even breaking the unspoken rule of not showing strength inside another's house. Not that she cared even for any repercussions, as in just a few days, Lord Lei Gao, the guardian of young master Guiying would arrive, and the Lord was an actual Warrior Emperor, one of the three that the [White Grove] had cultivated in preparation for becoming a 2nd tier vassal!