“Elder Wang? Is there a problem?”
“You must apologize for my behavior, Lord Qing Long but I need to tend to some family problems.”
“Is that so?”
Three men were drinking spirit alcohol with each other in a wide-open room. All of them were holding small cups made from white jade in which there was some glowing liquid inside. This was the purest spirit that would be quite deadly if drunk by an ordinary cultivator.
One of them was the Soaring Dragon Sect’s Patriarch, Xuan Wang. He was a man known throughout the whole empire as he was part of one of the big three. Next to him sat someone that was his equal, Tao Guan the Patriarch of the Heavenly Crane Sect.
The two were both having a conversation with the leading cultivator, the Azure Emperor Qing Long. While this conversation continued the Soaring Dragon Patriarch was given a transmission through his communication jade.
“Lord Xuan, Can’t this family matter not wait? Isn’t it rude to bring such matters up while we are discussing our alliance?”
Tao Guan commented while covering part of his face with a fan. On the back, there was an intricate pink design of a crane that was the staple of his sect.
“Lord Tao, it’s fine, family is very important, I’m sure Lord Xuan wouldn’t bring this to our ears if it wasn’t important.”
The man called the Azure Emperor just waved with his hand in a bored fashion. He looked the youngest from the group of three but this didn’t mean that he wasn’t just as old as the other two top cultivators in the empire.
Wang Xuan’s face twitched slightly but he was able to hold it in. For a moment he looked at the old man holding the fan. It looked like he wanted to say something but with the Azure Emperor being so close he decided not to. Soon the old man from the Soaring Dragon Sect went away which left the other two behind.
“With lord Xuan’s absence, I propose that we postpone the talks for a few days.”
While the Azure Emperor asked this, it was clear that he wasn’t really hoping to get any confirmation from the other cultivator next to him. He was clearly already standing up to leave even as he gave his preposition.
“Then I will return to my quarters.”
Tao Guan nodded as it seemed to be over and along with everyone else in this wide chamber he began to leave. While the three top cultivators were discussing their retainers were spread out through this large chamber. Only when their leaders walked over to them could they stand up and leave with them.
“Patriarch.”
A group of scholarly men in similar white robes greeted the old man. It was clear that this Patriarch of theirs was slightly maddened by the way the Soaring Dragon Patriarch acted.
“What is that idiot thinking, what is so important that he would make such a scene?”
He posed this question to the group with the intent of them giving him an answer. One of the scholarly men walked up and started whispering into the Patriarch’s ear. After a moment the old Patriarch moved the fan over his mouth and nodded at the group before leaving without giving a reply.
As the two elders were walking away the Azure Emperor retreated behind his throne and back to his own room. Inside he found his wife that was in the process of feeding a baby.
“Are you finished, my Emperor?”
“Not quite my love.”
“Is there something wrong? Are they perhaps plotting something to bring my Emperor down?”
The woman smiled at the blue-haired man while holding their offspring in her hand. The man’s stone-cold expression seemed to melt away the moment he laid eyes on his wife and the future of his clan that she was holding in her hand.
“Hah, when are they not plotting to bring me down? Still, Wang’s outburst was strange indeed, what could shake that old monster up so much?”
“Wahhhh….”
While the Azure Emperor was talking the baby started crying. The man revered by the whole empire looked at the small child. He started fumbling about in a panicked state while not knowing what was the reason for such an outburst.
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“My Emperor, it might not be the right moment to bring up politics while the child is trying to eat.”
“You speak the truth, my wife, I should consult the royal guard.”
The woman just smiled while picking the small boy up and cradling him around. Soon the man walked away to perform his duties. The royal guard was just the word for his inner circle of retainers. He needed to get to the bottom of this strange predicament. Was the Soaring Dragon Sect in some trouble and if this could potentially endanger the empire’s future.
“Ah, whatever would I do without you my wife~”
The Emperor chuckled while giving his wife and crying child a big hug. Then he soon left to get to the bottom of this debacle. The empire was his to run and he needed to know everything that went on in it.
“My Emperor, I am here to serve.”
In another chamber, a group of powerful cultivators was assembled. The Emperor took a seat to overlook his men and the meeting started.
“I don’t think I have to remind you about the dire times we face. The barrier between empires is wavering, we don’t have time, we need to know where their allegiance lies.”
War was coming and the Azure Emperor was aware of this. This was information that very few had knowledge of, it was something that was left behind by the other Azure Emperors that came before him. Now it was finally up to him to make use of it.
For many hundreds of years, he had made preparations. The other two sects might have been strong but the Azure Empire had been here long before those two came to power.
Once every hundred thousand years the barrier between worlds would come undone. He knew that his was not the only Empire in this large world. There were others and they would come to test them.
It was an old prophecy passed around through time immemorial. It had survived to this day and after certain predictions came true it was clear that the day that the massive war started was upon them.
While the people here were fearful of the unknown empires that could emerge from other sides of this barrier there were also hopeful. There was a limit to what they could learn here and the top cultivators felt that they were at an impasse that they could not go through.
The nascent soul level had not been broken but the knowledge of a stage above it was widespread. It had become nothing more than a legend that sometimes was confirmed due to the existence of a handful of immortal grade treasures.
The knowledge to progress into this legendary immortal stage had been long lost. The nascent soul masters had tried everything but to no avail. Even those that turned to demonic rituals were unable to place their foot inside this fabled realm.
Now they were somewhat hopeful that the answers would be given to them in the other empires. Maybe if they gained the knowledge from other places it could complete the piece of the puzzle that they were trying to finish for all these millennia.
For this to work, they needed to overwhelm their enemies with their might. While the Azure Dragon Clan had been training for all these thousands of years for this very day, it didn’t mean that they wanted to do everything themselves.
There were other forces in this empire that they would utilize first before they used their trump cards. First came the lower level sects that were situated closer to these barriers between empires. They would be the vanguard and would test their enemies first.
They knew that the curious cultivators would be unable to resist the temptation of journeying into the unknown lands. If they managed to battle their way inside without much resistance it would just show that the other side was ill-prepared.
On the other hand, if the opposition showed itself to be far above their predictions they might have to choose a more reserved battle strategy. The middle reaches that they resided would be almost impossible to breach by any force.
The old grand formations left by the ancestors dipped their toes into the immortal stage, unless the opposition could match their defensive capabilities they would be able to outlast any prolonged siege. Even if the empire crumbled around them, they would be secure in their lands where they could sustain themselves indefinitely.
The borders would close up in time and then they could establish themselves as the leading force once again. They would either conquer or be forced to be watchers while their own empire crumbled into dust and their people became nothing more than slaves.
This would be something that the Azure Emperor was willing to risk. As long as the Long Clan survived the empire could flourish again in the future.
While the secret meeting continued, in another location a certain angry-looking Patriarch was looking at a peculiar message.
“How could this be? What has transpired back at the sect?”
“We don’t know Patriarch, our communications attempts have not been fruitful, it is as if …”
“As if what? There is no one there to answer? Did that bastard crane lie to me? Is he and the Azure Emperor working together against my Sect?”
The old man asked while kicking over a table. An attendant that was standing next to him continued to speak.
“Our ships have not been seized, there has not been any increased military activity in the vicinity of the Long Clan, It does not seem that they are aware of this either.”
The man tried to calm the Patriarch down as it was now, they had not been attacked by any of the other two great powers. Their large armada of ships was still on standby outside and their powerful nascent soul elders were still ready to engage in combat if there was an order by the Patriarch.
“Our defensive formations are impenetrable, even if a spy made his way inside our sect they would be unable to work the formation, only the Patriarch and the next in line can…”
“Wait, what did you say?”
The man was grabbed by his shoulders by the old Patriarch that started shaking him around.
“P-Patriarch? Only you can work the grand formation fully… Did I say something that offended you?”
“No, the latter part!”
“A-about your successor? But the young master would never…”
The Patriarch pushed the man out of the way while looking out into the distance a bad feeling washing over his old bones as he looked at a certain communication jade that he didn’t use yet. This one connected him to his grandson that had been pledged in as the next in line to the sect’s throne, Wang Long.