Chapter 238: Sect And Cities

“However, if you can wait a couple more days, I can accompany you for part of the way, as I need to make a stop at the Winding City.”

“Winding City?” Senior Brother Fan Xiao furrowed his brow, his gaze meeting Senior Brother Lu Feng’s. “I don’t remember us having a subordinate sect there?”

“There isn’t,” Senior Brother Lu Feng plainly stated. “This is simply one of the tasks assigned to me by the Sect. They are hosting celebrations to mark the three-thousandth anniversary of their founding and have sent invitations far and wide. The Sect wishes to send a formal representative.”

Senior Brother Zhen Hao let out a snort, lounging back into his seat. “Is that minor Winding City enough to warrant an envoy from our sect?”

“Don’t be an elitist.” Senior Brother Yuan Shen slapped the back of Senior Brother Zhen Hao’s head. “We are all cultivators.”

Senior Brother Qing An watched the exchange with a broad smile, his eyes sparkling with mirth. “I sometimes forget Zhen Hao was raised as the heir to a major clan.”

“How you could possibly forget is beyond me.” Senior Brother Weilong shook his head. “With how he acts, it's impossible for me to forget."

Senior Brother Zhen Hao looked a weird mixture of offended and sheepish as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I simply meant to say we hardly have any ties with the Winding City or its Lord, and neither is it powerful enough to get major sects going to them.”

“Winding City has been making overtures towards us recently,” Senior Brother Lu Feng explained. “The Sect is receptive."

“The Lord of Winding City wishes to come under our banner?” Senior Brother Qing An raised an eyebrow, looking surprised. “Why? He is powerful enough to take care of one city.”

“The lunar stone mines?” Senior Brother Fan Xiao asked.

Everyone turned to look at him.

“Indeed.” Senior Brother Lu Feng nodded before sweeping his gaze over all of them. “The city has reached unprecedented heights since discovering the mine a century ago.”

“Let me guess,” Senior Brother Yuan Shen chimed in. “Covetous eyes have turned towards them, and the City Lord is looking at the White Cloud Sect to provide protection and deter greedy eyes?”

Senior Brother Lu Feng inclined his head in affirmation. “The City Lord is no fool. He knows he can’t keep this fat piece of meat to himself any longer. People left them alone while the mine was rumored to contain barely enough to last a few decades, but it has been more than a century, and their mining operation has only increased. It's an attractive enough option for many sects and powers to risk their lives for. The City Lord is rather smart to preemptively take measures against such actions against him. He would rather yield a share to someone who didn’t try to pressure him.”

“We also have an excellent reputation for treating subordinate sects and vassal cities well.” Senior Brother Weilong mused before turning to Senior Brother Lu Feng, “Is this what you meant by having something to do with subordinate sects?”

“This is not yet confirmed, and I’d rather the word not spread before we have finalized everything,” Senior Brother warned. “And I do actually have to visit a few subordinate sects. Some need help, and a few need a reminder of what White Cloud Sect is.”

“Someone in trouble?” Senior Brother Zhen Hao asked.

“One of the sects had been rather lax in their tributes while reaping many benefits and aid from us under false pretenses.” Senior Brother Lu Feng's expression darkened. “We don’t appreciate being made fools of.”

“What is the Sect going to do?” Yang asked tentatively.

Is this one of those brutal sect-wiping instances?

Senior Brother Lu Feng’s expression relaxed. “I am going to get an explanation and reparations.”

“Reparations?” Yang echoed. Something must have shown in his tone because Senior Brother Lu Feng, along with a few others of his Senior Brothers, chuckled.

“Where does your mind jump to, Junior Brother?” Senior Brother Qing An asked with a teasing smile.

“Chen Yang, there is going to be no fight to the death or whatever wild things you are imagining.” Senior Brother Weilong shook his head. “Either they will repay the sect back with interest, along with some punishment for those responsible, or the White Cloud Sect will break all ties with them,” he further explained.

“The Sect will simply break away from them?” Yang asked incredulously. He had trouble believing a sect, even one as untraditional as White Cloud Sect, relinquishing an asset that gave them tributes.

“Don’t take it too lightly,” Senior Brother Fan Xiao said to him. “Any sect that has a subordinate relation with a greater sect does so before they truly need it. Without us, they would still need the backing of another sect, and someone else would never treat them as benevolently as White Cloud Sect. Many sects would give an arm and a leg to come under the umbrella of White Cloud Sect.”

“Trying to deceive White Cloud Sect simply for small gains is truly unwise.” Senior Brother Yuan Shen remarked with a shake of his head.

“The new Sect Master isn’t known for his wisdom,” Senior Brother Feng interjected dryly. “Only for his scheming nature.”

“How does something like this get discovered anyway?” Yang was curious about the relationships between superior and subordinate sects.

“Most sects merely don a veneer of respectability and amicability while they fight each other like the worst of enemies,” Senior Brother Lu Feng said.

“He simply means we got the information from someone in the Sect Master’s opposing faction.” Senior Brother Qing An translated.

“Will we be helping a coup?” Yang wondered.

“Nothing as exciting as that. We prefer not to interfere in the internal matters of others,” Senior Brother Lu Feng rejected the idea. “We are mainly to show our discoveries and the reparations we require, and if they refuse, our relation simply ends.”

“What the current Sect Master’s opposing faction does with it is completely on them.” Senior Brother Qing An finished for Senior Brother Lu Feng.

Yang certainly noticed the word current used before the title Sect Master.

Clearly, we must keep our white hats on at all times.

Yang wisely nodded and made a note of it so he could follow in his Senior Brother’s footsteps.

“Then it is settled. We will depart together whenever you are ready,” Senior Brother Fan Xiao said to Senior Brother Lu Feng, who nodded. “It should only be a couple of days. A week at most.”

Senior Brother Fan Xiao’s gaze then swept over all of them. “You all best get done what's needed.” His gaze shifted to Senior Brother Weilong. “Weilong, you will procure the provisions. We already went through a lot of our supplies in Qiarnan, so it's best to replenish them now. We can keep adding to it on our journey before we reach the Starry Sea. We are unlikely to find sustenance to our taste in the Starry Sea.”

Then he turned to focus on Yang. “Do you have sufficient material to replenish your talisman stock? I want you to create and keep as many as possible on you. I’ve seen how much you relied on them and how much they aided you.”

Yang nodded. “Senior Brother, I have more than enough on me.” Yang had received a great amount of talisman supplies as gifts for his acceptance ceremony. He probably had enough to last him more than a decade.

With that, the discussion turned towards the logistics of their upcoming journey. Everyone interjected with where they wanted to make a stop, the cities and towns they wanted to see, the food they wanted to eat. Yang didn’t know enough to make any meaningful contribution, so he remained quiet as he imagined the places his Senior Brothers were speaking about, eagerly waiting to see them with his own eyes.

He already had their word that they would make a stop to see Li San, and with the added expectation of discovering more of this world, Yang couldn’t wait to start their journey.

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A few days later found Yang sitting at the table with a goblet of Spirit wine resting next to him, a gift from his Senior Brother Zhen Hao, as he inscribed talismans after talismans. He had yet to manage to condense his soul mist, so his cultivation was at a weird place where he was between having achieved Qi Division and still working towards Soul Mist.

He also wasn't able to spend as much time on cultivation as he would have expected after getting rid of the headaches because he had spent the last few days completely immersed in making talismans. He had a few he wanted to attempt now that his skills had improved, but for now he was concentrating on those he already knew how to make because he wanted to create a large quantity of them.

He was planning on giving Li San as many as he could spare. He had quite some time before they reached the Starry Sea, especially with the amount of stops his Senior Brothers wanted to make. He would have ample time to replenish his stock before they reached their destination, and in the meanwhile he also had his Senior Brothers with him in case of an emergency.

Li San had no one.

He was inscribing a fireball talisman that had almost become a muscle memory, with how easy it came to him when he felt a fluttering sensation at the edge of his senses.

He looked around for a few seconds, wondering what it was, and went back to his inscription.

He again felt the fluttering, and this time he stood up and left his courtyard.

He made his way towards the entrance of the tent and peeked outside the tent flap to find a Senior Sect Sister standing with a nervous look on her face.

Yang realized this was what he had been feeling. All his brothers must be out, and hence he was the one to get notification when someone was at the entrance.

Stepping outside, Yang asked, “Senior Sect Sister, what can I do for you? I am afraid all of my Senior Brothers are not present at the moment.”

The Senior Sect Sister looked nervous, and her eyes shifted around, making Yang frown. But before she could even open her mouth, Yang heard the sound of coughing from the right side.

“Augh!! Augh!”

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