‘Are you all right?’

‘Yes I’m fine but I think I will have to stay here a bit longer.’

‘Did something happen? Do you need help?’

‘No, I’ll inform everyone when I’m back, tell the elders that we will be holding a meeting, there will be a lot to explain. Please be careful, we never know when that Wang Long could show up.’

‘I will, please be careful and…’

‘Yes?’

‘The children miss you, try to be back as soon as you can…’

‘I will try, tell little Xiu that father will be back before she knows it.’

‘That child sure likes her father, she didn't throw tantrums like this before…’

While being stuck in the Long Clan Zhang Dong decided to call his lovely wife. Thanks to his system he was able to connect to people from his faction that he had a high devotion value with. His wife was one of the highest there and shared a maximum devotion rating along with his disciples.

After being brought over to that room with the empire’s map he was led outside. This place had no windows, the corridors were small and confusing, clearly made to confuse people that would try to enter it from the outside. If he didn’t have his system map he would have no idea where he was.

He was right in the center of this huge Azure Dragon Empire. If compared to the maps that he had access to he would be in the capital which was of course named the Azure Dragon City.

‘I think we are close to reaching our destination, I need to go now, take care of yourself and the kids.’

‘I will be sure to return my husband.’

‘I’ll try to make it before dinner.’

The two laughed for a moment but the stares from the three elders of the Long Clan brought him back to the current situation. The three started interjecting whenever the Azure Emperor tried to bring up some state secrets. It was clear that they didn’t trust him. If they attempted anything like a slave contract he would still need to get out of there in an instant.

Even though he was apparently a member of the royal family, this didn’t mean that he would be welcome with open arms. This could actually spark a war of succession if everyone wasn’t careful.

Zhang Dong knew that places like this had multiple factions. The war for the throne was an everlasting struggle with many people trying to get their foot in. Now he appeared out of the blue and apparently had a similarly strong bloodline as the Azure Emperor himself.

Some of the infighting factions could see this as a chance to dethrone the old leader while pushing him on the throne. He wouldn’t be surprised if some sleazy characters appeared and tried to get him on their side.

Then there was the more drastic option where the people close to the Azure Emperor could see him as some kind of upstart. This was the faction in power now, he didn’t really want to have any assassins being sent after him during the night.

To his surprise, he was led to another teleportation array. This one looked more traditional and was also in a closed chamber.

“Let us show my new brother our Long Clan, I’m sure this will be a sight that he will remember for all eternity.”

“A great plan my love.”

While they stood in the teleportation formation the Azure Emperor started talking. The three elders showed scowls the moment he mentioned showing the long clan. At first, he didn’t know what this was supposed to mean but after they teleported he realized.

They found themselves on a large elevator. It was surrounded by a blue glowing dome of energy that allowed him to see everything that was here.

‘Are we going up?’

He could see that they were moving up and as he started glancing around he noticed the lush lands everywhere. The spiritual energy was the highest he had ever been in, it was clear that this place was sitting on a large spirit vein.

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With his enhanced vision he could see the large walls in the distance. Even though they were going up these walls were still blocking the view from every direction. On the ground, he could see various buildings and many people just going about their ways.

‘Huge… this city is much larger than anyone that I have visited.’

Zhang Dong had visited many wondrous cities in this world. They were all large with the population being much higher than any modern-day city that he had seen in his original world. This one was truly tremendous, he could barely see the end of it, and the life signatures of the people were felt by him from all directions.

‘Could this place have a hundred million people living in it… maybe more?’

“Bask in the glory of the Azure Dragon City, my brother! I can’t wait to show you to the rest of the Clan and to the citizens!”

“Show me to the clan… and also the city?”

“Yes, such a wondrous occasion as this doesn’t come around too often! Don’t you also think so my wife?”

“Indeed my love, brother Dong, needs to be inaugurated into the family properly otherwise the seniors might get rowdy.”

“Oh, you bring up a good point my wife, I thought that we should throw a big feast that will last for at least two weeks!”

Zhang Dong listened to the conversation that he was apparently not the part of. The three elders didn’t look very pleased about the Azure Emperor’s statements. He wasn’t surprised as he appeared from nowhere and now their leader was going to spend clan resources on some kind of feast.

“Ah no, I wouldn’t need to intrude on your Long Clan, I’m only an outsider I don’t think it is my place to…”

“An outsider? You are my brother, you are part of the Long Clan, Long Dong!”

While he wanted to distance himself from this strange Azure Emperor that was too friendly for his own good, it didn’t seem that he was willing to let him go without a fight. Then there was this strange treasure that they were talking about before, it apparently needed people with pure enough bloodlines to run.

This was probably the main reason why they were acting so cordially with him. This Goliath they mentioned probably needed co-operation between the two of them. Maybe slapping on a slave collar on him would cause the weapon to not work correctly.

Thankfully to this, he had gained some worth. Probably if he was able to move this thing his safety was guaranteed. On the other hand, now that he was forcefully taken to see some of the clan secrets, if he was unable to help them, he would become an eyesore. He wouldn’t find it strange if they tried to murder him on the spot if he failed to be useful.

‘Better if I don’t mention my family, they could try to take them as hostages…’

While the scenario was playing out in a good direction for him, he could not drop his guard. All of his closest family members were given special rings with teleportation features. He could not risk them being used against him but his enemies would not know that he was able to teleport to them with his system’s function. Even if they got captured he would be able to get to them, that is if he had enough spirit points to go around.

“Dear, I think brother Dong is still stunned by these events, I think we should give him some time to relax. I know, how about we invite his family members over?”

“My family members?”

“Brother Dong’s family?”

“Yes dear, I heard that he has a beautiful wife and two children.”

“She can not be more beautiful than you, my wife!”

“Oh, you~”

‘This vixen… is she planning something?’

Zhang Dong didn’t reply as the two continued their lovey-dovey routine. While the Azure Emperor seemed like a doofus she did her homework. She knew that he had a wife and children. Bringing them over here would be akin to holding them hostage and the best way to make him cooperate.

‘Is this her plan or is she just trying to be nice?’

There was also the option of him just overthinking things here. The woman could have just been someone friendly and just wanted to invite his wife for a talk. While Liena was strong, this woman was much stronger thus he wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving the two together. One bad move and everything could go south real quick.

When looking at the woman she just smiled like a little angel. If he didn’t know that outside appearance could be deceiving he would probably believe that this woman could do no wrong.

“My children don’t really like traveling that much. It will be better if they remain in my own sect, they are far too young for such events.”

He waves the proposition off and thankfully the Azure Emperor didn’t seem perturbed about his reply.

“Is that so? If brother Dong thinks so then it’s fine.”

The woman just nodded while glancing back at him with a smile. While the city landscape was breathtaking he was more concerned about where this lift was going. They were clearly traveling at a very high speed right into the clouds. They even passed a thick one that blocked out the city view.

Only after they passed through this fluffy white barrier could he see their true destination. Above in the sky there was a whole floating city that was slightly larger than Spirit Spring City.

“I see that you noticed it brother, this is the true Azure Dragon City and the district that our Long Clan lives in.”

This elevator was going straight up into the middle of this floating city. From this vantage point, he could just see a massive mountain underside. There were some smaller parts floating above and made it look like something ripped a part of the planet and it was now floating up in the sky.

‘So that’s the Long Clan base? Makes my little floating fortress look like a toy…’

The scale of this thing was something else. He could already see how the Azure Clan was able to survive this long. A flying fortress like this would be quite hard to conquer. If it could actually move while defending itself it would cause quite the headache for everyone.

Even a nascent soul cultivator would not be able to remain at an altitude like this for too long. This city was surrounded by some kind of energy bubble that probably also generated a comfortable living environment inside.

‘Wang Long still remains at large and a war is approaching… why can’t I ever get some rest for once?’

He gave out a sigh while they closed in on the city’s insides. It didn’t seem like the coming years would be easy...