The people from the Divine Fist Sect were all looking up into the sky. There they saw a massive flying ship made from iron. It dwarfed their own two flying vessels that were stationed next to it.
This ship had appeared out of nowhere after the United Element’s Sect had activated the teleportation gate again. A large group of cultivators arrived in a unique looking getup. One older man stuck out like a sore thumb with the strange cap and militaristic coat that he was wearing.
The ship was summoned up into the sky soon after and most of the people that arrived were stationed on it. The rest were just people that were bringing over some resources from the main sect like healing herbs and materials that had the holy or divine element to them.
Some of the cultivators from the Divine Fist Sect had decided to evacuate while most of them made the decision to remain here. They would wait for the word to arrive from their elder Heng. He and some other cultivators were going to investigate the ruins that started it all. It was believed that the monster that attacked them was probably lurking there and biding its time to recover.
It was agreed that Zhang Dong, Huo Qiang, and Zhang Liena would all travel towards that monster-infested location. They would take the ship and some of the core formation elders. With the two ships from the Divine Fist Sect would trek along. They would all remain close together and offer some covering fire if needed.
“Is everything ready?”
Zhang Dong asked while standing on the main deck with his hands crossed over one another. With him were Huo Qiang and his wife, the person he was calling out was the ship’s captain.
“Yes Sir, the Argonaut 1 is ready to depart.”
“Good, let us go, time is of the essence.”
The captain saluted his Patriarch and headed towards the ship’s inner part. The three nascent soul elders watched the man depart together.
“What do you think?”
Zhang Dong posed the question to Qiang while the captain vanished behind a door.
“About the beasts? They weren’t anything special, the youngsters could probably clear them out themselves.”
The muscular red-headed man just shrugged as he didn’t seem very alert. It looked like he wasn’t taking any of this seriously. The monsters that he faced were all below the nascent soul level so he based their strength on that fact alone.
“Could you use that tiny brain of yours once in a while? Do you think my husband would arrange all of this if this mission wasn’t of the utmost importance?”
Zhang Liena scoffed while looking at Huo Qiang, Zhang Dong just stood to the side while trying not to break his poker face.
In reality, he wasn’t sure how strong the monster was now. It could very well have regressed in cultivation after getting hit by the Divine Fist Sect’s artifact. It would be a bit embarrassing if that was the case. It was better to be prepared though, it would be fine if they came over-prepared than the other way around.
“I sure hope not! I didn’t come all the way here to fight a weak demonic beast!”
Qiang lamented the thought of not getting to fight a strong monster. He was at a stage of his life that fighting weak core formation beasts wasn’t all that fun. The only joy left in his life was fighting with nascent soul level opponents but with their sect not being in conflict with anyone for a long time proved to be boring.
“I worry about your children, is only fighting in that rice-sized brain of yours?”
“At least all of my brain didn’t go to my chest!”
Huo Qiang was quick to fire back while pointing at Liena’s overdeveloped chest. It had gotten even larger than before due to the recent birth.
The pink-haired woman moved her emerald battle fans to cover that area while glaring at Qiang. Zhang Dong just wanted to facepalm as he just couldn’t get these two into one room for more than a minute.
They just constantly fought with each other, he feared leaving the sect for more than a few days. When Liena was pregnant she didn’t bump into Qiang that much so it was fine. But from now on he expected her to be more active, things might get dicey from now on.
He just feared that people from the Qiang faction and Liena’s side would start getting pulled into this mess. Yes, those existed even in his sect, each grand elder had their own people. They all had heightened status and would react to their grand elder’s mood swings in one way or the other.
“How impudent! You dare?”
Liena moved into a fighting position while Qiang smirked at the challenge. He was already itching for a fight. The problem was the bad timing and the place. Zhang Dong couldn’t have the two duke it out on his brand new ship. Luckily he knew how to get his wife to back away and forget all about it.
“W-what are you?”
It was a simple maneuver, he just moved in closer and lifted the woman up into his hands. The tactical princess carry was implemented and it was successful. Liena started squirming around in his arms for a moment or two but soon enough she had calmed herself down. The rage from her face had subsided and it was replaced with a blush.
“There, have you calmed yourself down, my wife?”
Liena just nodded while grumbling a bit, he could hear Qiang giving out a ‘Tch’ sound from the side. He had lost a sparring match which he was probably saddened by.
“And you Qiang, stop angering Liena, or the next time we spar I’ll be sure to give your pride and joy a good smack.”
Zhang Dong made a fist with his hand and glanced down. Qiang followed this gaze, he noticed that Zhang Dong was staring at his family jewels. This made him shrink back in a quick response while covering the thing between his legs with both his hands.
“You wouldn’t, senior brother… I still need that.”
“You sure? Think you had used it more than enough, maybe you should try living like a monk.”
After throwing a few jabs of his own he started walking away. Liena looked over her husband’s shoulder while being carried away and stuck her tongue out while lowering one of her lower eyelids down. This was the very same gesture she performed when Zhang Dong saw her all these years ago.
“It’s not fair, brother Dong always takes Liena’s side…”
Qiang pouted a bit but Zhang Dong wasn’t there to see it as he was already walking away. He moved towards his personal cabin with Liena in his arms. This caused the woman to fidget even more as a lot of sect members could see this show of affection. This only showed that the sect leader and his wife had a good relationship. The sect members didn’t have much to gossip about as this fact was already known by many.
“You know that he is annoying you on purpose, you are like a little sister to him.”
Zhang Dong placed Liena down on a couch after walking into his personal cabin. It looked quite cozy in here and the two would be able to relax here for the time being. The door would actually open only for him and no one else. Even if Qiang came or his disciples the doors would be closed until he allowed entrance.
“I know…. but I just can’t stand his face… that condescending face… Can’t we banish him from the main sect? It was so peaceful when he was ordered to patrol the borders.”
Liena asked with sparkles in her eyes. She was giving Zhang Dong the puppy eye treatment but he didn’t really want to abuse his sect leader position for squabbles between his wife and best friend.“You know I can’t do that. Don’t want our children to copy things like that in the future…”
Zhang Dong was afraid to bring up a ‘Young Master type’ in the future. He was now a father; he didn’t want his children to have a stick up their butt. If they saw him abuse his power left and right they would think themselves above other people. Liena still had the old mindset of might made right, she wouldn’t be opposed to using her husband’s position to her favor. He was slowly trying to change that side of her but it was a slow process.
“You are too lenient with him, his father also isn’t showing enough respect…”
Before Liena could go on a tangent about honor and prestige she found Zhang Dong’s finger up against her lip.
“Let’s not argue, we have other things to worry about for now.”
He sat down next to her on that couch but soon moved into one of his favorite positions. It was one that he preferred when he was alone with his wife. That was by placing his head onto her thighs, with this he had a nice view along with a soft spot to rest his head-on.
“Sometimes I forget how much of a child this husband of mine is…”
Liena gave out a sigh while petting Zhang Dong on the head with her hand. She could only smile down at the man that was rubbing his cheek against her thighs. When Zhang Dong did this she always wondered where the powerful sect leader she married had gone to.
“You’re the only one I can show this side, so be grateful to this great leader of yours!”
“Yes, I am very much grateful, my great leader.”
She petted his head one more time before feeling Zhang Dong’s hands wandering to certain places that they shouldn’t. The ship ride would take a day so the two had some time to kill. Zhang Dong was feeling stressed out by the whole demonic being debacle so his wife would have to help him out with that…
While the United Element Sect Matriarch and Patriarch were having a steamy encounter the rest of the cultivators were preparing to take off. The ship was now slowly moving through the protective barrier. The two smaller ships that the Divine Fist Sect had were moving behind it with Fang Heng on one of them.
Soon the argonaut moved to the back as it had to follow these ships towards the ruins. The people left behind in the city would have to wait with anticipation for their return. The gate with the path back to the United Element’s Sect would remain there for the time being. If the monsters from the mist were to breach the improved array everyone would have a way to evacuate.
Some people that were convinced that this sect was already done for had taken Zhang Dong’s sect up on the offer already. Most of the cultivators remained in place though, they believed that staying with their own till the bitter end was the correct thing to do.
“What do you think about this, sect leader?
Mao Wuying was hovering above the sect grounds with the other two nascent soul survivors. They looked at the ships vanishing into the mist, the grayish fog engulfed the large flying vessels till there was nothing left to see.
“We all faced that monster together… Prepare everything, when the time arrives we must be ready to leave…”