“Good work, I knew I could count on Elder Zhuao!”

Zhang Dong might have looked like this White Tiger Clan elder but he was unsure about his mannerisms. He only saw the man for a few minutes before snapping his neck so there was not much to go off of.

“How about that Xia Yanmei?”

“Don’t worry young master, everything has been arranged, they will be disposed of by my men…”

This seemed to have been the plan. This elder Zhuao feared Zhang Dong the most so he wanted to deliver the killing blow himself. The rest of the Snapping Turtle Clan weren’t as important, none of them had the strength to go against anyone close to a Martial Master’s level.

“Splendid! I’ll be sure to mention Elder’s name to my father!”

“To the lord?”

He answered while trying to sound ecstatic. Thanks to going through this library he had an idea about the power dynamics of this clan. The name of this young master was mentioned in one of the newer scripts.

His father was in line to be the next Patriarch while at the current moment the grandfather was still in this position. He was a Martial Grandmaster but was already close to 150 years old. His time was slowly coming to an end as these cultivators could reach about the age of 200.

This Dai Rong was the first son of the next in line to be the Patriarch. Due to this, it seemed that he liked to throw his weight around just like the other young masters from this world. The ‘event’ that Zhang Dong was in proved how little he thought about other people. In his eyes, this young master was already too rotten to be redeemed. Already many people had died because of him and if Zhang Dong didn’t step in there would be more carnage.

“Yes, we will return now Elder, my father has called for me, grandfather has called for a meeting! Maybe he will announce father as the new Patriarch!”

“Ah, of course, young master.”

He nodded at the young man that started laughing maniacally. The girl next to him didn’t look very taken back, she clung even more as if this young man was a meal ticket to a better life.

This was a good opportunity to look at how the clans in this empire operated. It was also dangerous, if his cover was blown he would be up against a whole clan of fighters. With his current cultivation, he was at least confident that he would be able to escape. That is if there were no Martial Saint level cultivators around.

For now, he followed after this young master, he knew that this elder was the main bodyguard but there were also a few other weaker clan members around for the ride. As they went through the city he watched as the people bowed their heads at this young man.

No one dared to meet his gaze and even the children were kept away. Dai Rong seemed to enjoy how much everyone was afraid of him. His cultivation wasn’t even that great, he was an Inner Aura middle realm cultivator. Even those apes that he fought against would be more than a match for this haughty youth.

While exploring the city with him Zhang Dong’s mind started to wonder. He remembered the world that he visited before. The people there seemed to have free will but some of them acted like a personification of tropes.

Was it the same here? Were these young men and women forced to act like this due to the world’s system? Or was this just the result of their upbringing? It could have also been a mix of the two and only more mindful individuals would be able to break free of the imposed programming.

His wife and the people around him did change somewhat after he appeared. They did become less bloodthirsty at least when around him. What would they do in a remote city? Would they revert to some pre imposed haughty programming if they met someone below them that was seeking trouble?

There was also another bigger problem on his mind. He remembered the king from that world. He was some kind of watcher left behind by whoever created these worlds. If that world had someone like that, then one could have been left behind here as well.

There was one person that fit that bill, the Azure Dragon Emperor that towered over everyone. There was also the monarch of this Emerald Phoenix Empire, it could be him instead, maybe even both he had no idea of knowing.

In that world, he was lucky enough to be much stronger than whatever the heroes were capable of. Thanks to that he could defeat that watcher in battle. In this world on the other hand he expected these watchers to be above the nascent soul great circle realm.

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‘Maybe with my current soul level I could…’

“Welcome young master Rong!”

He snapped back to reality after hearing the young master’s name being raised. They had finally arrived at the meeting place. There were other young masters with their own bodyguards and retainers gathered.

‘I should focus on the problem at hand…’

He straightened out and started looking around. They were on the outside in some kind of garden, there was quite a large fountain in the middle. Around it, many youths gathered and were talking about some current events.

‘There are a lot of youngsters here, looks like this announcement will concern the younger generation…’

He didn’t think that Dai Rong would be getting the announcement that his father was becoming a Patriarch. Maybe instead he would have to contend with the other young masters for some special cultivation technique or cultivation resources.

The cultivators loved to put their younger generation against each other to thin out the herd. Only the few that remained at the end would be given proper management to advance further in life.

‘Hm… those people seem a bit different…’

In the distance, he spotted an old man with a long gray beard. He was wearing the White Tiger colors and he was walking with two other people. All of them were at the Martial Grandmaster level. The peculiar thing about this was that the two were much younger than this man.

“It’s the Patriarch, who is he with… those robes… The Thunderbolt Hall?”

‘Thunderbolt Hall?’

Even without knowing who this faction was, he had an idea. It suddenly became apparent what this was all about.

‘So… they are here to recruit the young masters and mistresses to their faction…’

This wasn’t anything new, larger sects sometimes sent out elders to recruit promising young people to their factions. The White Tiger Clan and this Thunderbolt Hall seemed to have a similar cultivation path, which made things even more obvious.

“The Thunderbolt Hall!”

The young master next to him looked at the two people that were walking with his grandfather with hungry eyes. It seemed that he also realized what this was about.

“All of you, pay your respect to the honorable seniors!”

The Patriarch shouted out after he arrived at the scene with the two Thunderball Hall Elders. One of them was a handsome man that looked to be in his mid-30s while the other was a woman of jade-like beauty. Both of them were wearing white robes, with the characteristic flowy long sleeves.

“I have gathered you all for this occasion to pay your respects to the great Thunderbolt Hall!”

Everyone including Zhang Dong bowed their heads while their old Patriarch talked. He was then promptly interrupted by one of the members from this sect.

“You don’t need to bow your heads, we can’t stay here for long and we came to do business.”

Normally it would be considered very rude to cut off the Patriarch from this Clan that ruled this city. No one could go against this powerful sect though so everyone had to keep their mouths shut.

“We will conduct an aptitude test for all the middle stage Inner Aura practitioners under the age of 19. If they manage to pass it you may join the next test for the outer Hall disciples!”

The youths eyes opened up wide as they started to sparkle. This was a great opportunity for their Clan but even more for themselves. Being part of a larger sect meant more cultivation materials, better techniques, and a possibility of reaching the higher realms of strength.

Everyone from this clan knew that they were just frogs inside of a well. Only if they were accepted by one of the larger sects like this Thunderbolt Hall would they be able to join the cultivation giants.

These sects liked to create trials for young members with high aptitude. They would go around picking them out from the local cities and clans. There was always an age limit as the older a person got the less they could achieve.

Zhang Dong was not interested in this test nor this sect. He did not have the time to dwindle here. The prison he left was empty and all the slaves were gone. He didn’t think that anyone would rush to this gathering as they did not have the prestige for it. It was safe for now but he needed to be careful.

‘I should avoid the sects for now… they probably have core formation level people in it…’

While Dai Rong was busy drooling at the jade-like beauty that was next to the man from that sect he started thinking. They would be testing all the youths and all of the big shot clan members were probably gathered in this very room.

Just as in any clan there were many people in it. He was looking at at least fifty youths that could be picked up by these two sect members. While they were busy with their tests, he was planning to slip away. He knew a lot of stealth techniques which would come in handy now.

“You will spar with each other, the winners will have the chance of coming with us…”

‘Great… they are going to host a tournament, I should have enough time to ransack this place…’

Zhang Dong smirked a bit while the White Tiger Clansmen started moving outside this area. They were probably heading to a place where they could spar. Dai Rong had long forgotten about his bodyguard that most of the time was hidden in the background. Thanks to this he was able to slip away into the shadows.

The technique he used allowed him to blur his body slightly. People that were below his cultivation level would not be able to notice him. Even the people on the higher realms would have trouble to discern him from the scenery. His hiding techniques worked even better if he remained perfectly still.

‘I should probably start with that one…’

In the distance, he saw a large pagoda building. It looked like the most important structure and was also in an elevated position. It was from the way that the Patriarch came along with the two sect members. It was probably his own house and would have the best cultivation resources.

‘I’ll get what I can and then I should leave…’

Zhang Dong’s body disappeared unnoticed by the masses, it was time to regain some cultivation resources that he had lost.