“Cat hulu?”
“Cthulhu”
“Cthululu?”
“Cthulhu…”
“Cut-a-who?”
“Close but…you know what? it doesn’t even matter…”
Zhang Dong was in the room with his wife and his son. The boy was getting nursed by Zhang Liena right at this moment while his father was trying to explain to her about his favorite monster nemesis.
He had already explained the situation at the Divine Fist Sect and now just wanted to describe the monster that he needed to face.
“Does this really require your attention? Can’t we send Qiang instead, he loves things like that, he will be thrilled to face off against something that gave you trouble.”
He was worried about this, she wasn’t so keen on letting her husband go into unfamiliar lands to fight against some kind of occult monster. From her perspective, they could dispatch one or two nascent soul elders that they now had.
“We can even lend him Zhang Zhi, those two should be enough to handle a demonic beast.”
“Buaaahh…”
Their talk was interrupted by the sound of a baby. His son Zhang Jun was placed over his mother’s shoulder and performed a magnificent burp. After getting his mouth wiped he was carried over to the crib by one of the maids. She was part of the sect and a trusted member so the two could talk freely around her.
“I understand your point, but those two are a bit…”
“Foolish? Simple-minded? Dense?”
“You don’t hold back much my wife… I was thinking more in line with overzealous. Don’t think they were made for tasks requiring stealth. If we send them together we might as well just declare war on the other sects.”
Zhang Dong was afraid that those two would cause trouble. He could already see them picking fights with almost anyone they met along the way. Then if anyone even dared to speak ill about the United Element’s Sect Zhang Zhi would be the first one to pull out a sword and bisect them.
He was the poster boy for a fanatical sect member. Huo Qiang on the other hand just liked to fight. He would probably go out of his way to pick fights with other nascent soul masters if he just got the opportunity.
The sect leader here wanted to avoid things like this. His plan was to disguise himself as a wandering cultivator and travel through the territory of the other sects. He could pretend to be a core formation expert as traveling as a nascent soul master was dangerous. If someone wasn’t affiliated with a strong faction they could be seen as a large threat.
“Certainly that could happen…”
Liena frowned a bit while looking at her husband. He returned the gaze while furrowing his brows. He knew that look she was giving him, it was a look of anger with some concern.
“I wouldn’t be going if it wasn’t necessary, that monster can’t grow any further. I can always summon the elders if I get in trouble.”
Zhang Dong had a big ace up his sleeve. After upgrading his system he could summon some of his minions to his location. He didn’t even need to set up a teleportation gate. Depending on his follower’s devotion towards him he could choose to bring them over to his location.
This function required spirit points, how many depended on the devotion rating and then the realm they were in. Summoning core formation cultivators cost less than doing it with nascent soul ones even if they had lower devotion.
“Can you summon me then?”
“You? Why would I ever do that? You should rest!”
Zhang Dong raised his voice slightly at the proposition. How could he call his recently pregnant wife over to battle a dangerous monster?
“Rest? I will be back on my feet within the week, don’t look down on Zhang Liena!”
He flinched a bit as he felt her aura spike. Her angered voice was raised and caused the windows in the room to vibrate. It also caused the baby to wake up and cry in the process, luckily the maid was quick to calm the little guy down.
“B-but think of the children…”
He scratched his head not really knowing what to say. He could see that his wife made up her mind, she also was wearing a teleportation ring and could transfer herself to his whereabouts. He could of course block this function but then he wouldn’t be able to get to her if anything happened either.
“I am thinking about them. I can’t have their father put himself in danger while I sit here doing nothing! The servants can tend to them!”Zhang Liena looked at him with narrowed eyes. He didn’t know that she would react in this way but deep down he was glad that she cared. He knew that she should be recovered in about a week’s time and this would also be the time he would need to reach the Divine Fist Sect area.
“I can just summon Qiang and Zhi, they will be more than eager to help…”
“Hah, I bet they will but you know well that I am the third strongest elder in this sect! With that little toy, you made me, I could even defeat that Idiot Qiang myself.”
Zhang Dong thought back to this toy that she was talking about. He did put in a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in making it. He had created that artifact to boost his wife’s fighting prowess as she had to halt her cultivation process while taking care of his daughter.
Liena was making some sense but he still didn’t want his lovely wife to get involved in a brutal fight. He would probably need some help though, the last time he faced off against the monster it also had minions. This version had more time to prepare, it could have an actual army lurking in those ruins it was hiding in.
“But…”
“No buts, if you don’t make a promise now, I will just follow after you myself.”
Zhang Liena said while pouting slightly. She turned her head to the side as if being offended. He knew that she wanted the best for him and was just afraid that he could easily perish outside the sect.
‘Sigh’
He placed his hand on the woman’s head while shaking his own around.
“You know my wifey, you were a lot easier to convince in the old days.”
He thought back to the times that he could just bullshit his way around most of the arguments. After living with him for so many years his lovely wife had picked up on some of his lies or exaggerations. She knew that her husband wasn’t the monolithic giant sect leader that everyone thought he was. He made mistakes like anyone else, she was just worried.
“I promise to seek your aid when I get into trouble, but you must also promise me that you won’t overwork yourself.”
He went down to his knees as his wife was sitting on an exquisite white couch. She was in the middle of pouting and looking to the side. He grabbed her soft hand with his own and delivered a small peck to it. Liena gave out a small blush and looked down. Even though she had gotten more daring with the years she was still quite weak when he showed her some affection.
“Hmph!”She gave out a cute sound unfit for a lady her age. Zhang Dong just smiled and moved his hands around his wife. He carried her over to the bed that had a better healing formation around it.
“I’ll be taking my leave now. Take care of the little ones and try to save your strength. I’ll keep you informed in the usual way.”
The two finally parted with each other and he walked out of Liena’s room. He checked on the beacon one last time before placing it back into his spatial ring.
Zhang Dong then promptly disappeared from within the sect grounds a couple of minutes later an older looking man in a dark robe could be seen flying through the air. He looked grizzled and had many scars on his face. He decided to go with his old demon hunter persona for this mission, he used it from time to time to fight off demon beasts when he got bored.
He used a blade to fly on but his speed was several times faster than of a regular core formation expert’s. While in his own sect region he could just use his full cultivation to propel himself forward. When he reached enemy territory he would need to slow down.
If other nascent soul experts felt an unfamiliar aura of similar strength they would surely fly towards it. He needed to take his time in passing through unknown lands. The other sects didn’t see core formation cultivators as big threats so if he paid the toll he should be able to pass through their cities and borders.
‘Haven’t done this in a while… feels refreshing to spread my wings from time to time.’
He looked at the passing scenery that was quite beautiful. This world was a lot more fascinating than the previous one he lived in. People tended to flock to larger cities as many violent beasts roamed the lands. Thanks to this, nature was mostly undamaged, things like air pollution and waste products were rarely seen.
As a sect leader, he couldn’t leave the premises of his main sect city. His adventuring days had been halted and he concentrated on his people. He had helped them design the city and also used his personal funds to raise the living conditions of his citizens.
His policies were seen as very magnanimous and the people living in these lands were very thankful. He had placed police units across all the major cities in the area, even where other large clans resided. Thanks to this, the order was being kept and fewer people died due to things like greed and face.
There was still much to do but it was impossible for his hands to reach everywhere. Even as he was flying through some of his lands he could see impoverished people. This mostly happened in poor villages or tribes, his sect just didn’t have the capital to take care of everyone.
The only thing he could give them was the possibility of improving their lives. It was up to them to take control of their life and rise up. He was also of the mind that he couldn’t make everyone over-reliant on the sect. They needed to be able to take care of themselves otherwise it would spell disaster if a calamity arrived.
He sped through the forests, it was the same one that he had arrived into this world. It spread through much of the lands and was unused due to the low amount of spiritual energy.
Thanks to this the large sects didn’t bother to expand their borders here. If he used this path he would be able to keep his maximum speed up for a bit longer. Without any distractions, he passed through most of his lands. He arrived close to the border, this one was with the Limitless Sword Society.
This was the fastest way towards his new destination but would also be dangerous. He would certainly be attacked if they discovered his true identity.
“Time to sneak in…”
He covered himself in spiritual energy and dived down. The moment he approached the ground it parted. He tunneled himself down while spreading the ground with earth elemental techniques, his aim was to burrow himself out on the other side of the border. He purposely picked a spot that was far away from any nascent soul cultivators.
“I must hurry, that monster might be slaughtering that sect even at this moment. Can’t let that thing’s corruption spread outside…”