“You snakes from the Silver Spear Sect can not be trusted!”
“Who are you calling a snake!? It’s not our fault that one of your Golden Saber Sect members tried to backstab our senior brother from our Sect. It was karma!”
The two sides were continuing their quarrel. During an expedition to some kind of secret ground that allowed junior disciples to participate one of the parties suffered a setback. One of their young masters fought another youth of similar status. One of them lost, how it happened was still unclear. He had a certain treasure that marked his killer though so now the two sects were at each other throats.
One side said that he tried to steal the treasure from their junior master and he was just defending himself. These were the people of the Silver Spear sect. While the ones from the Golden Saber Sect claimed that he ambushed their young lord and took his life in an unfair way.
The truth was muddled at this point and it was impossible to figure out who was right and who was wrong. Even if evidence was presented each side could just refuse to believe it. Both sects were of similar strength and status so none of them wanted to back off.
They knew that fighting in this city was forbidden so they were only tossing insults at each other. Also, they weren’t quite ready to fight it out in the arena as their elders had forbidden such acts. They were holding the residence and workers hostage though as no one dared to step forward to stop the arguing cultivators. The laws of the powerful sects didn’t apply to them and they could be murdered in broad daylight. No one would care.
Zhang Dong and his people stopped because their leader did. The group of old men and women behind him wouldn’t act out without him saying anything. The people in front were from the junior generation and at quite the low level.
The United Element sect was probably one of the factions that brought the least number of cultivators. Others would even allow Qi condensation youths to tag along to show them off and maybe forge some relationships. The group in front of them was composed of such youths and the ones fighting were only in the core formation early stage.
From the conversation, you could deduct that these two were young elites. Their ages were probably close to what Zhang Dong was now. Having a core formation level at the age of thirty was nothing to scoff at in this world. Only people with genius-level talent were able to do this, the other way was having a lot of crafting resources.
Matt wondered why there weren’t any seniors with them to stop the fight. The group had probably arrived before his sect. They might have bumped into each other while wandering the city or going out of the hotel. The shouting match had been continuing for a few minutes now and nothing seemed to be being done about it.
The servants wouldn’t interfere and the people from the elder generation wouldn’t either unless a fight broke out. This put Matt in a little bind, he just wanted to wait a few minutes before they dispersed and not stand out. However, if he just stood there like a statue and did nothing other people would think his sect was afraid of these two parties.
He spread his spiritual sense through the area and felt other people watching. Two in particular were close to his level. They were also looking at him, he couldn’t just stand there. This made him look as if he was afraid of some junior cultivators.
At that moment an idea popped into his mind. He knew that if he just walked forward bad things could happen. But what if he could use that to his advantage? A quick plan formed in his mind that could go in two directions. Both of those weren’t anything bad for him so he stepped forward.
He put on a stone-faced expression and the elders behind him followed while keeping a distance. He walked slowly with his hands behind his back, it made him look relaxed and uncaring of his surroundings. He hoped the junior members from those sects would realize who he really was and react accordingly which would resolve everything with less hassle.
Yet reality was cruel and the bunch of kids reacted just like he expected they would. The moment they saw him walking forward between them they scoffed. Zhang Dong looked very young for his cultivation stage. Most people would at most put him as a core formation expert at the early stage.
With two such experts arguing with each other they thought that this new intruder wasn’t anything special. He was clearly ignoring them which inclined a lack of respect from Zhang Dong’s side. Tension was already high so without thinking about the consequences both parties started shouting out towards him.
“Who dares?”
“What is the meaning of this, state your name!”
The two core formation youths looked at Zhang Dong with anger. He looked like someone from their own generation so they weren’t afraid. The man didn’t react though as he just kept walking, it made it look like he was not taking these youths seriously at all. The problem was that he couldn’t really, he was a nascent soul master; it would be seen as dishonorable if he went against people from the junior generation. This matter had to be taken care of by someone from his lackeys, this would be his grandmother in law.
“Do you know who I am, I’m the son of the third grand elder from the Golden Saber Sect!”
“I’m the nephew of the fourth grand elder from the Silver Spear Sect, such insolence how dare you!”
The two continued to shout while Zhang Dong continued to walk forward and just as he was between the two parties a loud voice sounded from the back.
“How dare you two insignificant brats speak in such tone to the Patriarch!”
Granny Maling shouted out from the back while suppressing the two groups with her great circle of core formation aura. The youths that were below the core formation realm dropped like flies instantly while the two that were stronger backed away while grasping their chest.
“P-patriarch?”
They looked at the man that didn’t stop and continued to walk. He didn’t look much older than they were, he might have even been younger. How could someone like this be a patriarch of a sect. He did have a stronger member of the elder generation behind him, maybe he was just from some weak clan instead?
In their infinite wisdom, they shelved Zhang Dong into the young master category that was at most equal to them. He just was lucky enough to have a guardian that was strong. This meant that they could keep belittling him. If the elders from their side saw this, they would surely help them out.
“You dare attack the fourth son of the third grand elder from the Golden Saber Sect! You are courting death, wait till the elders hear of this.”
Matt almost tripped over his own feet after hearing that the haughty young master was only the fourth son. The other youth shouted out something similar as they were resolute in their belief that he wasn’t anyone important. The problem now was that he couldn’t stop, the members from a junior generation were disrespecting him. They were even doing it in public and already some other cultivators were looking at them.
He wanted to facepalm as the first option from his plan had gone astray. At least it was good that he didn’t take his disciples with him. If Zhang Liu was here, he would probably already be beating those two up or challenging them to a deathmatch.
He’d at least thought they would realize that he was someone more important than that. Even though his appearance was youthful, the items he was wearing weren’t anything someone of his age would have. He had various heaven grade treasures on himself, even his robe was a heavenly grade armor that could even transform. If these juniors weren’t brought up with their noses up in the clouds they would have probably realized that something was off about him.
It was too late for that and quite the scene was playing out. His trusted granny was looking really mad and pushed the two brats into the ground with the help of her aura. This caused more people to look and finally, people from their elder generation took notice.
Matt was trying to act like a proper senior by walking forward. His first plan went into the gutter as the people didn’t see him as a nascent soul elder. Soon people were wrestling with his grandmother with their auras and the two youths and the ones behind them were able to stand up.
“Elders, we didn’t do anything and they started bullying us!”
“Yes, that person just pushed his way through us and didn’t even apologize!”
The sides that were previously fighting with each other were now allies. There was a new enemy they could sink their teeth into and that was Zhang Dong. With the elders around the two were now reassured of their victory all of them were at least as strong as that overbearing granny.
The senior members from the other two sect were a bit more cautious though. They understood that the youths haven’t been through many hardships and their view on life was muddled. They wouldn’t just attack someone from an unknown faction. They knew that this was a gathering of all the large sects, they didn’t want to start a war with someone stronger than them.
Still, Zhang Dong was hiding his cultivation level and by the looks wasn’t anyone strong. The person with the highest cultivation here was Feng Maling. The group of oldies behind here wasn’t seen as a big threat either and their side had similar numbers of core formation experts.
“Fellow Daoists, why would you attack our juniors? From where do you fare? I would like to hear an explanation otherwise…”
“Otherwise?”
Matt had to end this farce, it had taken long enough and it was time for plan B to take effect. He wanted to be courteous and nice but this wasn’t possible anymore. He knew that there was a certain dynamic between people in this world. Someone with a higher cultivation didn’t need to answer the questions of someone beneath him. Even if they had backing, until that person showed up they didn’t need to show that much respect.
He was also a person of high prestige. Only other sect patriarchs that were at least at the late stage of nascent soul could speak to him leisurely. None of these people had that attribute. The moment the random elder from one of those sects asked the question Zhang Dong’s aura burst forward.
“Otherwise, what will you do?”
The area was filled with a domineering aura that suppressed everyone from the two sects that were previously fighting. They all were forced down to their knees and finally realized that the person in the white robe was a nascent soul master.
“Will you challenge me to a bout in the arena? Heard that’s how you are supposed to clear up your grievances in this city.”
The elders that asked the question were now sweating bullets. They wanted to run up to their junior members and slap their faces a hundred times. How did they offend a nascent soul monster on the first day of their arrival. Even if their Patriarch came over it would be hard for them to keep face now.
“S-show mercy honorable master, the juniors couldn’t see mount Tai, I’ll be sure to educate them in the future.”
The man talked quickly, other people were looking at them, some even laughing. They were from a prominent sect used to walking over people but now they were kneeling down before someone that looked like a young brat.
Matt on the other hand was waiting for someone else to finally react. He didn’t enjoy bullying these kids or these old farts but he had to seem like a domineering master. If that person didn’t arrive then he would probably end it on this note. This would make his plan B fail though.
“You better, otherwise there will be consequences.”
He said a threat before he tried to wrap it up. Luckily for him, one of the people that he hoped had enough and finally showed up.
“Halt, you dare disregard the Silver Spear Sect while I am here!”
‘Ah yes, just according to keikaku (plan)’
He could clearly see the name and cultivation rank of the person floating towards him.