Not much came from Zhang Dong’s little power move. The three sects set up their new borders and kept their word while taking all of the best lands that the Dark Palm sect possessed. What the United Element sect was left with were the usual middle-sized cities that were previously ruled by clans like the Huo or Feng clan.
The new sect had to momentarily pause their spiritual formation as the power cubes were slowly running out of juice. There were spirit gathering formation set up to lower the burden on them. Regretfully they couldn’t keep up with the Qi usage this grand formation had as it could keep most of the nascent soul realm cultivators at bay.
The main base was left with Feng Liena while Huo Qiang had to be moved closer to the border region as a defensive measure. Zhang Dong on the other hand was now flying around the large piece of real estate that he has graciously received from the three sects.
“Still nothing…”
He gave out a sigh, he made sure to fly as close to the ground as possible. He did it so that his mapping feature could pick up on spots below the ground that were high in spiritual energy. He had been on it for a week now just zig-zagging between locations while hovering half a meter above the ground.
To his dismay he wasn’t able to find anything worthwhile, the best thing he came across was a tiny spirit stone pocket that wouldn’t be more than a million spirit points if he converted it. It could be used to pay the high taxes that the other sects were putting on them, so it wasn’t all bad.
Zhang Dong stopped and was looking at his new 3D map. He could see his movement patterns, he was sure to inspect all the places and he even made sure to have the borders selected so he didn’t anger the other sects by going into their territory.
“I was hoping that I’d find something by now…”
He rubbed his glabella in concern. He wanted to create his new sect home base somewhere new, somewhere where there was a lot of spiritual energy for the sect disciples to flourish. He would even take a spot where there are some other resources like herbs that could be used for pills at this point.
He stared at his map once more and then looked at the scenery, he ended up in a forest area. The trees could be seen for kilometers without end. He blinked while thinking back to the past, he knew this area.
“Hey, isn’t this…”
Part of his lip raised itself into a small smile, he remembered this area. This was where it all started, the same forest that he appeared after being stuck in this world. He had flown all the way back here while being preoccupied with looking at his system map.
The memories flooded in, he recalled getting scared of an angry looking horned bunny. The creature looked quite ferocious for a first-timer, recalling it now just brought a blush to his cheeks. He wondered if the people from that tribe were still living here, he released his spiritual sense into the surroundings as he tried finding where that old village of the Tatar Tribe was.
“Found it…but…”
He furrowed his brows, he had located the place where he spent a couple of weeks at hunting monsters and grinding points. The problem was that he could feel some uncharacteristic Qi signatures there. For one thing, there were people at the foundation establishment stage as well as someone at core formation there.
“Could they be…”
It didn’t take him long to figure out who these people were. He took off with haste worried about the outcome if he didn’t interfere. Luckily he detected that there was no bloodshed just yet, he would probably make it in time. He was hiding his presence so the cultivators below wouldn’t notice him, the moment he arrived he could see a scene playing out.
The Tatar Tribe people were getting rounded up into the middle of their square. They were surrounded by a group of mean-looking cultivators from all sides, the auras of these people were far too strong for the Qi condensation tribesmen. For the moment he just listened in, wondering what those people plan was.
“Senior… we have gathered all of these lowly commoners.”
The cultivator that looked to be in charge nodded after another person came over to give him a report. It was an old man that was wearing an eyepatch and looked slightly beaten up. The people were wearing black robes with a familiar symbol of a dark palmprint on their backs. They were obviously remnants from the destroyed sect that had somehow escaped into the lowest region.
“Well done, take their clothes, then kill them all. The old sect is gone and we must remain hidden from that upstart sect…”
Zhang Dong continued to listen as the man in charge gave his instructions. The plan was to take this village over, the Dark Palm remnants would use these tribesmen’s clothes and live like them in this small village. They probably didn’t think that anyone would find them all the way here were most respectable cultivators never showed up.
Which wasn’t such a bad plan all things considered. They were from a hunted sect, they could either disperse and go about as rouge cultivators or set up a base of operations. Unless a nascent soul cultivator or at least a core formation elder appeared, they would probably go unnoticed while hiding their aura. While the order to kill and strip was given, one of the tribe youths shouted out.
“You won’t get away with this, The mighty Lord Dong will eradicate you all!”
Matt wanted to cough after hearing his mighty tittle. He did a quick scan of the name of the person that just shouted out and was surprised that it was the silkypants youth that he had met before by the name of Yang Rong. Next to him was another youth that nodded with approval while yelling. His name was Cheng Yun and he was also someone that he knew from back in the day.
“That’s right!”
“Lord Dong? Do you think Zhang Dong from that upstart sect will ever come to a shit hole like this?”
The senior from the group laughed and so did the people from the Dark Palm sect, no one expected a nascent soul elder to ever come to an area with a low amount of spiritual energy like this was. There was a reason why the tribe people were considered the weakest in all of the empire. Their location was in a place where cultivating was extra difficult.
“Now stop talking, this will be all over soon!”
The Tribe’s people started shouting out, they were unwilling to die here. There were hundreds of people gathered here and they would be put to death so that these renegade cultivators could escape their death sentence. The tribe’s people were being held back by the suppressive pressure of these superior cultivators and they couldn’t move.
They could only sit together while trembling, indignity in their eyes. They looked at the various faces of the people that were pulling out swords and sabers. This looked like it was going to be it for them, the women and children weren’t even going to be spared in this massacre.
But just as the sobbing started something unusual occurred. The pressure that that murderous group was giving out suddenly stopped while they themselves stopped in their tracks. The people from the Tatar Tribe were baffled by the display as the cultivators stopped mid-stride.
“What is this?”
They asked aloud while standing up, the Dark Palm remnants were clearly unable to move and alive. They could see them sweating and their brows were twitching.
“Hello there people of the Tatar Tribe, we meet again.”
The villagers heard a voice coming from above, it was very familiar as it belonged to someone that had left an impression on everyone here. They all glanced up and saw a man in a white robe descending, his white hair was fluttering in the wind and he had his hands behind his back. He looked like a god descending from heaven, he even had some kind of unearthly glow about him that seemed to be golden.
“B-by the moons, it’s the honorable Lord Dong!”
One of the tribe members finally managed to shout out while all the others were still slack-jawed. The answer to the unmoving evil cultivators was right before them. This man had come to aid them in their time of need and he did it once again just like two years ago.
“Its the Lord!”
“The Mighty Dong!”
“Yeah!”
Everyone cheered out while Matt was kind of contemplating if he could get some kind of pseudonym. It wasn’t odd for powerful cultivators to change names, maybe he could find something more fitting and not be referred to as large genitals anymore.
He moved his hand up, instantly everyone quieted down while bowing in respect. Zhang Dong descended right to the ground and looked at the Dark Palm sect remnants that were being all held back by his nascent soul realm power.
“Quite a gathering of scumbags if I do have to say so myself, got anything to say for yourselves?”
He stopped some of his aura from seeping out allowing the Dark Palm cultivators to speak out. What he got in return was a lot of pleading shouts.
“No please honorable senior it was all Shi Tao’s fault, we couldn’t go against him!”
“You bastards, you want to pin all the blame on me now!”
“Yes venerable Daoist, it was all him we couldn’t go against him, no one wished to harm these good people!”
The lower realm cultivators were quick to blame their leader for everything, he was the sole core formation expert in the group so he was an easy target to shift the blame to. Zhang Dong just shook his head side to side.
“I hope my sect doesn’t become like you…”
“I should kill you all here right now, you wanted to murder all of these innocent people here, women and children included.”
“Lucky for you, my sect is in need of ‘free’ labor at the moment, you will spend the rest of your life working in mines.”
He had also found pockets that had some mineral deposits scattered here and there. The metals there weren’t anything all that special at most usable for earth grade materials but it was still a source of revenue. He would cripple all of these evil cultivators and they would spend the rest of their life working as slaves.
“F-free labor senior?”
“Slaves, you will be slaves. Death would be too easy of a punishment for the likes of you. You will have a lot of time to repent.”
The Dark Palm remnants trembled in indignation. Their plan had failed and now a future worse than death awaited them, slaving away god knows where while getting whipped and abused.
Zhang Dong brought out his communication jade and informed his sect members about the issue. They still had some flying ships so they could transport these people. After taking care of that issue he turned to the large group of trembling people. He waved his hand forward and they all started floating up into the air and towards each other.
They started shouting out, pleading for mercy but Matt wasn’t going to be lenient with them. A giant share of electricity surrounded the group of cultivators, shocking them with golden lightning while destroying their foundation pillars.
The Tatar Tribe’s people looked with shock and awe at the bright light show. They were astonished by the power this man possessed, to them he was getting closer to a godly being than to a man. They all dropped down to their knees and started bowing at the display of his might.
“These guys shouldn’t be a problem for you anymore, so please tie them up until people from my sect arrive to pick them up.”
He dropped the charred and twitching cultivators down to the ground, they were all passed out and their cultivation path was broken. A child at Qi condensation level was now stronger than them.