Emperor Han Shu was not sure if the information contained in the report he just read represented a good thing or a bad thing for his faction. Peace had existed between his empire and the sects for more than a century, but a single cultivator seeking advantage could change that status at any ti.
For as long as anyone could rember, three sects had ruled the portion of the continent he currently controlled, but they cared not for mortal affairs. His family dynasty had started humbly, his ancestor being the simple mayor of a small village. Over the next several centuries, they slowly and cautiously spread their influence, taking over managing more villages and then towns and then cities.
They had, of course, given the sects much face, kowtowing to them while gathering resources in secret. The cultivators had appreciated not having to govern lowly mortals while having their wants and needs t.
Favors were bought, and the most talented mbers of the family were sent to the sects to learn. Slowly, political power had turned into actual power. Over even more centuries, the family had acquired enough cultivation thods and techniques that they no longer had to rely on outside help.
Now, they stood on equal footing with any of the sects.
But only equal. Which rankled him more than he liked to admit. If he grew too strong, they would band against him. If he showed weakness, one or more would strike.
Cultivators were predatory and rciless.
Two decades ago, the Righteous Rain Sect, one of the Big Four, had been destroyed overnight. Han Shu’s faction and each of the Big Three tried to take advantage, but the prospect of any two enemies combining strength tempered growth.
The four factions lapsed into stasis.
Days ago, that stasis had been upended. A lone cultivator of unknown realm had effected twelve verified kills of Jade Chaleon Sect Golden Core cultivators. Further, rumors on every tongue indicated that the inciting event of that massacre also resulted in deaths of three more Golden Core cultivators, including Teng Jian.
Even more unbelievably, there were credible reports that three additional Golden Core cultivators had their dantians destroyed. By tribulation lightning.
Obviously, no one, regardless of realm, could control tribulation lightning, but the one known as Chao Su had been able to mimic it to a degree such that Han Shu wasn’t sure the distinction mattered.
Prior to the massacre, the Jade Chaleon Sect had forty-one Golden Core cultivators. If the reports were to be believed, they only had twenty-three left. And their sect branch in Sixth Flawless Flowing City had been utterly annihilated.
They continued to wield the influence of a major sect simply due to the fact that they still had all four of their Nascent Soul cultivators, but two of those were ancient and clearly in decline, each surely having only a century of life left. Two at the most.
And how did a sect replace Nascent Souls? By having Golden Cores advance. And the Jade Chaleons had lost nearly half of those, including rising star Teng Jian who everyone assud was more likely than not to ascend.
Barring a miracle, the Jade Chaleon Sect would face a precipitous decline over the next half millennium. The Big Three had beco, for all intents and purposes, the Big Two.
The balance of power was still preserved to an extent, however. The Jade Chaleons still held enough power to be a worthy acquisition target. If Han Shu or either of the two sects tried to assimilate them, though, the other two factions would be forced to band together to stop it.
Gaining an advantage out of the situation was the work of centuries, not years and certainly not months. Offer one of their Golden Core cultivators a good deal to switch. Marry another into the family.
The other factions would do the sa, but that was okay as long as Han Shu’s faction gained slightly more promising mbers or slightly more or, even better, both.
That scenario was what would have happened if all of them did not have to consider the existence of Chao Su.
The appearance of a potential new power created a completely different situation. The sect leader of, apparently, a bunch of peasant villagers was quite an enigma. Han Shu would have thought the man a joke if not for the nurous casual demonstrations of absurd power—handing out heaven grade scriptures as gifts, using a ridiculous number of qi elents in battle, a qi shield that protected him from fifteen Golden Core cultivators at once. And the list continued. His abilities went far beyond the ken of any cultivator in mory. Even legends didn’t whisper of so of the things he could do.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Was he beatable if enough Nascent Souls were gathered against him, or would he dominate them as easily as he had the Golden Cores? Reports stated that he hadn’t even bothered to use an aura.
Two factions had already established clear positions. The Poison Claw Sect sniffed an opportunity in befriending him, and they were clinging to it like a mortal forced onto the back of a bucking bull. In contrast, the Jade Chaleons could only regain so semblance of face by utterly destroying the man.
That left Han Shu’s faction and the Swift Blizzard Sect to either choose sides or remain neutral. The Swift Blizzards had signaled clear displeasure with the man, but Han Shu had no idea what was driving that display or if it revealed true intent or was so elaborate misdirection.
The smart play was for his faction to remain patient. One did not usurp the sects by blasting them away like rock pounding against rock in a cavalcade of dirt and dust. One wore them down over ti with the steady beat of wind and wave.
Given the scriptures the man pulled from that storage ring of his, though… If either of the sects gained access to those, they would accelerate quickly in power. Han Shu could not allow that to happen.
The easiest way to prevent soone else obtaining the treasure was to make sure he gained access to it instead.
Was the proper course continued patience or was it ti to finally make an aggressive play?
He didn’t yet know. For now, he’d wait and observe.
Dong Qiao shook his head in disbelief. He’d read the reports, of course, but hearing a firsthand account made the fact much clearer. “You’re sure this Chao Su wasn’t using a device to hide his cultivation?”
“I’m positive, Sect Leader,” Mao Biya, the leader of the Swift Blizzard Sect in Sixth Flawless Flowing City, said. “My detection device picked out a storage ring, a friendship pin from the Poison Claw Sect, and a flying sword. Interestingly enough, the sword was the one previously used by Teng Jian.”
That fact was interesting. Chao Su was sending quite the ssage by using that particular piece of battle loot in his attack on the Jade Chaleon branch.
“What do you make of him not using an aura during the fight?” Dong Qiao said.
“Kang Ya-Ting is spreading rumors that Chao Su deliberately restrained himself, Sect Leader.”
Doing such a thing made no sense to Dong Qiao. From an impossible shield to wielding so type of lightning that destroyed cultivation, the man displayed unimaginable power. Why hold back an aura? The only explanation was that he either didn’t feel like he needed it or he didn’t have one.
But if the latter were true, how co Mao Biya couldn’t sense him?
“If the device he used was powerful enough to hide his cultivation from your senses, it would have been powerful enough to hide itself from your detection device,” Dong Qiao said.
“This lowly one is not as experienced with the use of the device as the Sect Leader, but wouldn’t such a disruption have distorted my ability to detect the other three qi sources? Each of them was revealed to clearly.”
That point was a good one.
“I can easily believe the man to be Nascent Soul,” Dong Qiao said, “but Nihility? It is speculated that only about one in a thousand Nascent Souls advance that high.”
Mao Biya shrugged. “I can’t say one way or the other, Sect Leader. Kang Ya-Ting is convinced, but that is hardly definitive proof.”
A Nascent Soul, especially an ascendent, ancient one, being able to defeat fifteen Golden Cores at once was a mighty feat, but not one that existed outside the realm of possibility. The man was probably simply a very experienced and powerful cultivator of that realm.
And if so, a force consisting of several Nascent Souls would be able to defeat him.
If Dong Qiao was wrong, though, those Nascent Souls would go to their deaths, and losing even one would constitute a disaster even greater than the one experienced by the Jade Chaleons.
At the mont, the risk of attacking Chao Su was great, but the risk of not attacking was just as bad. He didn’t have enough information.
“How did he react to your provocation?” Dong Qiao said.
“There was no visible sign of him becoming angry, Sect Leader.”
It had been a risky move on Mao Biya’s part to test the man in such a way, but so little was known about the mysterious cultivator that every piece of information was crucial. Still, the move was aggressive. Perhaps too aggressive.
If Chao Su decided that the loss of face due to Mao Biya’s insubordinate behavior was too much, he might destroy the Swift Blizzard branch sect as well. Dong Qiao didn’t believe the data gained about his behavior was worth the risk.
Unless, of course, the maneuver ultimately resulted in no negative consequences.
He frowned. “And the rumor worked?”
“My spies tell that Kang Ya-Ting believed that I was angry over losing a lover, Sect Leader. If my actions cause problems, you can bla acting against the sect’s wishes.”
When Dong Qiao didn’t respond, she continued. “By Chao Su sending the gift that he did, he indicated a willingness to be reasonable. He didn’t attack the Jade Chaleons due to a minor insult. My move was the right one. I have provided our Mind Cultivators access to my mories, so that their arts can guild our future interactions.”
Dong Qiao sighed. His junior was not known to be reckless. She had considered the risks and the gains, and the sect appeared to have benefited from it.
“Very well,” he said. “No sanction is forthcoming, but I want you to stay far away from that man in the future.”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
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