“Elder Jin, we will be approaching the Azure Basin City soon.”

“Are those why they call it the basin city?”

“I’m not sure…”

Zhang Jin yawned while looking out the window. There large steady circular pools of water were everywhere. Around them was nice green grass along with some peaceful animals drinking from them. There was a noticeable lack of fish and plant life inside these pools of water which probably meant that they weren’t lakes.

“What do you mean you’re not sure, why haven’t you informed yourself? Did you become lazy after my grandson elevated the sect?”

Zhang Jin shook his head while squinting at one of the people from his squad. He had brought along a few people that he knew. Normally when going out on missions, people from the sect personnel would get all the information they could about the target. Their sect was still in the building phase which didn’t always allow them to get to everything.

“W-we managed to inform ourselves about the clans and sects that reside in this city.”

“Well, at least you aren’t totally useless, was about to send you to the demonic sect region.”

“Please, anything but that Grand Elder!’

“Haha, well who are we facing here and what are their connections?”

After a little joke, Zhang Jin started listening to the crewmate. There weren’t that many things of note besides the two feuding clans. One had ties with the Soaring Dragon Sect that used to rule the Western region and the other one was connected to the Long Clan. It was somewhat of a proxy war without the main two forces getting involved. However this was enough to paint a picture in Zhang Jin’s mind of what was happening here.

“Hm… I see, so this branching clan with ties to the Long Clan could have seen it as a chance. Now that the Soaring Dragon Sect doesn’t exist anymore, it makes sense. This complicates things…”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened. In actuality, this wasn’t something that they should have been that involved with. He didn’t even think that anyone would mind losing it to the branching clan. The problems were the angelic automatons that belonged to the United Element’s Sect.

“Perhaps it was not a good idea to leave things like this to soulless automatons.”

“I agree, if a person from our sect was here it would have been possible to diffuse the situation. The puppets are a strong deterrent but they aren’t without their faults.”

The other sect members that were in the command booth of this golden cruiser all nodded. This territory had some strategic value but their sect was already spread thin. It would take many years to gain full control over the whole Western region. There was no reason for them to start territorial disputes if this place was connected to the Long Clan.

‘This will be a hassle, hope whoever is leading that branch clan isn’t stupid. Maybe I should have gotten Zhi to come with me…’

Zhang Jin shook his head while trying to ignore the bad thoughts. He was a nascent soul master from a prestigious sect and should be strong enough for this mission. If all things failed he had a few ways of getting out of trouble. If he allowed some hotheads like Huo Qiang or stoic fools like Zhang Zhi to come along, whenever a chance presented itself they would approach an issue with their weapons drawn.

“Grand Elder, we are close to the city. There are unknown cultivators approaching us, all core formation experts.”

“Slow down, have a talk with them, and inform them about our issues.”

“Yes, Grand Elder.”

While Zhang Jin was here to talk it wouldn’t be proper for a nascent soul master to come greet core formation juniors. Instead, one of the senior members of the crew that he could trust to do a good job was asked to perform this task. Soon their golden ship was coming to a halt right before the walls of this large city.

It was filled to the brim with millions of residents and had some signs of struggle. When spreading his spirit sense and also looking at the camera image on the panels he could see destroyed buildings. Some of the large pagodas had holes in them. The fires were already put out but it was clear that a fight took place.

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“Whoever did this doesn’t care much for the people in this city, this would have never happened in Spirit Spring City.”

Zhang Jin recalled the effort of evacuating the citizens when Wang Long appeared. Here on the other hand he could tell that some commoners had perished in the battle. With people at higher realms involved, it wasn’t hard to kill a lesser cultivator. Even an aura of a nascent soul master would be enough to kill if not contained by them.

“Grand Elder, they told us that we can venture into the city but we must leave our ship outside.”

“How brazen, who do they think they are? They are just from a branching clan!”

“Calm down now, we are not here to start any fights. There is a reason for their behavior, there are multiple masters within the city.”

“Multiple?”

Zhang Jin could feel someone else's spirit sense interacting with his own when he tried to scan the city. It was not alone as he could feel at least two more trying to measure his power level.

“One should be a late stage, the other two were early stage so be careful, I won’t be able to protect you all.”

“Yes, Grand Elder but should we inform the sect about this and ask for help?”

“No, that won’t be necessary but … at least give them a heads up and keep even though they told us to not fly into the city, leave the ship on standby and ready for any occasion.”

“Yes, Grand Elder, we will wait for your return.”

He nodded at the group of people here and decided to leave with ten core formation experts at the great circle level. While he hovered in the middle they surrounded him while standing on large crystalline swords. They were similar to the one Zhang Dong used in his earlier days and had become a must-have for people trying to follow in his footsteps. They were actually an improvement on the old design but remained similar in appearance.

“Grand Elder…”

“Yes, we don’t seem to be welcome here.”

This was clear from the moment they entered the city. First of all the common people were all huddling up in their homes. The city that should have been bustling with life was devoid of any noise. The streets were empty and the booths that should have been filled with vendors were empty. He could feel them looking at his small group flying through the air through their windows.

“I will guide the envoys from the United Element Sect, please follow me, the Clan head wishes to speak to you.”

“I see, guide us then young friend.”

Zhang Jin started thinking that it was a good idea to come instead of the other elders. It was clear by the way these people acted that they didn’t fear them. The man that approached him was a young core formation expert in a lavish-looking robe. On the back, it had the clan name that he didn’t recognize.

‘Yan Clan, huh?’

On the sides, there were many more core formation experts looking at them and closing down the perimeter. He came with just ten people but the other side had fifty of them and they were all at the pinnacle of power.

‘If I look at even one of these experts, they would be able to destroy the old Zhang Clan even if the old Patriarch was still alive. Oh, how much things have changed.’

These experts that would previously tower over him could not really intimidate his little group. Even with it being ten against fifty he had confidence that his people would be victorious. The cultivation methods his sect used were above anything that this empire could offer. The only ones that could come close were the Long Clan and the Heavenly Crane sect. These were not them, they were only from a branch clan that would have a lesser version taught to their people.

‘It’s not a matter of quantity, it’s the quality that matters…’

His grandson was a prime example of this saying. Even when he was an early-stage core formation expert his power was closer to the Late stage. While his people could not jump three realms at once they could at least go past a single one. This was enough to make them capable of defeating any other great circle practitioner in the same realm as them.

‘Everyone, be careful and try not to speak without me, I’m not sure what they are planning but let us get out of this in one piece.’

They were finally at the end of their journey. A large lavish palace was right in the middle of this city. It looked to have been newly assembled with two smaller ones being at the edges of the city. Zhang Jin was sure that one of those lesser castles was the previous headquarters of this clan. Now that their competitor was no more they created a larger building right in the middle.

Soon the whole group was in front of a huge gate. Next to it, even more, cultivators appeared; it didn't seem that they were that welcome here. Zhang Jin floated down along with his small squad of core formation experts. The crystalline swords that they were standing on were quickly placed into their spatial rings and just in time for the large gate

to open for them.

“Please, enter the Clan Head is expecting your arrival.”

The man that exited looked old and not amused. His eyes looked at the ten core formation experts that were standing behind Zhang Jin.

“The Head has asked for the elder to enter, the rest are to stay here and wait.”

“You…!”

Before one of the core formation experts could say anything Zhang Jin raised his hand to stop him. The other people that were here were somewhat on edge as they were quick to go towards their weapons.

“It’s fine, this won’t take long.”

Soon he turned to face the man that insulted his men. He wanted to do nothing more than to slap his face and storm in but the stakes here were great. If something happened the Long Clan could seek revenge. Thus without much hesitation, he decided to go along with this clan head but he could not make himself and the sect look weak. If this Clan Head pushed things too far, then he wasn’t sure what he would do…