'This doesn't look good...'
'I used up a lot of spiritual energy in that last attack, I don't think I can fight those three late-stage cultivators even with the help of Liena and Qiang.'
Matt looked at his surroundings. He was hovering close to the Zhang Clan headquarters, underneath him was a desolate wrecked city that used to house ten million people in it. It was now deserted and most buildings were destroyed during the assault by the Dark Palm sect.
'I guess I should try talking with them first... maybe not everyone is so unreasonable like those Dark Palm guys.'
Zhang Dong straightened out and placed his hands behind his back. He hovered forward while Feng Liena and Huo Qiang supported him from the back while flying half a step behind him.
"Greetings honorable Daoists, we are thankful that you have aided us in this time of need."
He bowed slightly in a show of respect while the twenty so nascent realm cultivators approached. The previous group of six flew to the back after they saw what these three young cultivators were capable of, they were now on their guard. Zhang Dong continued talking as the group wasn't answering him quite yet.
"As you can see we are a new sect, I'm sure we can work something out..."
Matt was even willing to pay tribute to the three sects if that got them out of this situation. Finally, the three main elders showed a reaction as they gathered in front.
"Work something out? You have a strange way of speaking friend..."
Xu Qing from the Dragon Gate sect spoke out first as before while glancing at the three people before him. They all felt that he was scanning them with this spiritual sense and they were quick to block him out. This also let the man know that these people were close to his strength.
Cheng Yang and Zhan Jie were also feeling them out. It looked like they would attack them if they showed weakness and backed off. The atmosphere got stuffy and the other cultivators waited for the decision of their leaders.
"This is quite the conundrum my fellow Daoists, these circumstances are unique..."
Cheng Yang said while placing his hands behind his back in a similar fashion as Zhang Dong. Zhan Jie didn't reply but he had his hand close to his sword, his intention was obvious to everyone gathered there.
Matt gave out a sigh and then asked.
"Right... what are your terms..."
Xu Qing smiled at the question as it looked like the situation could be resolved without bloodshed.
"I'm sure my friends from the Demon Subduing Sect and Limitless Sword Society will agree on the usual."
"You will sign a soul binding contract with our sects. You can keep most of your belongings besides anything at the heaven grade that will be shared among the sects. Who goes to which sect will be discussed later."
'Figures, they won't let an upstart sect be created. They want to absorb us into their sect and take everything for themselves... if they see that we have immortal grade techniques there could be a problem...'
Matt didn't know how these people would react if he tossed out one of his immortal grade cultivation manuals. Would they start infighting, or would they torture him to get his secrets?
'Sign my life over to them or go with plan B instead...'
He looked to Feng Liena and Huo Qiang. The red-haired man was clenching his fist tightly, Matt didn't need much intelligence to figure out that the man was holding himself back from attacking the cultivators in front. Feng Liena just held one of her fans in front of her face before giving Zhang Dong a small nod. Both of them were willing to go at it with this group of old farts if he decided on it.
'They trust me too much on making the right decision...'
He wanted to give the two a hug for trusting in him so much but also wanted to ask where that unshaken confidence towards him was coming from.
He straightened out, his eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Xu Qing from the Dragon Gate sect. His eyes started glowing and some lightning escaped from them for more of a dramatic effect. The older gentlemen flinched and backed away at the display of power as he noticed that this white-haired cultivator was reacting in an unfathomable way.
"Sign a soul binding contract? ... I don't think we will be doing that, we can offer you some spirit stones and secret techniques but that's as far as we are willing to go!"
He replied, his voice getting deeper and deeper the longer he talked as it got backed by his cultivation. While talking he made sure to grip a certain item in his hand, he had taken out this device that he had created in preparation for something like this. It was finally time to unleash its power and bullshit his way through this dire situation.
"You dare go against the three great sects?"
One of the nascent realm elders in the back shouted out clearly surprised by the outburst from this white-haired man. Xu Qing moved his hand up so that the man behind him would quiet down before asking.
"My friend, do you think you can go against our sects, we are giving you a lot of face already, don't be unreasonable."
The Dragon Gate sect leader didn't think that Zhang Dong would be able to come out on top. He saw him fight Yang Guanyu and thought that the man was at his strength level. That was at the beginning of the battle though, he was sure that at this point he or the other sect leaders wouldn't have a problem in winning in a one on one battle.
The only way that those three could come out on top, would be if they were hiding something. It didn't seem like they had any trump cards anymore though, from his perspective they would have used them by now as Zhang Dong had almost died during that trap formation. The two allies that came to aid him should have been the ace in the hole.
"Xu Qing, if they want to lose their life it's their decision."
Zhan Jie from the Limitless Sword Society proclaimed while moving his hand to his sword to unsheath it. He wasn't a man that liked to debate for long, he liked to have his sword do the talking. Cheng Yang gave out a sigh but he also prepared to do battle, he floated next to Zhan Jie and was also ready.
"If more blood needs to be shed, then so be it!"
"You think this will be easy?"
Huo Qiang snorted while unleashing the full extent of his cultivation. His whole body began burning up and he looked like a person made from pure fire. Feng Liena wasn't far behind as she also started releasing copious amounts of her spiritual Qi into the surroundings. The nascent soul elders that ware at the early stage gulped hard, they could tell that this man and woman were also quite strong, at least in the middle stage maybe even on the cusp of the late stage.
The three sect leaders jumped back, the air around the area got filled with copious amounts of Qi and even the defensive formation in the background churned to block it from entering the Zhang headquarters.
"C-can the seniors win?"
"T-there are so many nascent soul realm cultivators there..."
The people that were hiding behind the barrier focused on their allies, this looked to be the final challenge between doom and survival. Before the battle could start though, something peculiar started happening. Zhang Dong's whole body started glowing, it wasn't the golden glow, as usual, it was more of a colorless glow.
His body slumped forward as if he was a puppet with strings getting cut. His hands and legs dangled about while he flew upwards. The cultivators from the other sects looked on with quite the interest at what was happening.
"What is he doing?"
"That Qi... it's massive... its that the great circle? How is that possible, he shouldn't have any Qi left!"
The other nascent soul seniors took up defensive stances, everyone was ready to defend against anything that this unknown cultivator was going to throw at them. His power kept rising, everyone's eyes started going wide as Zhang Dong was reaching the apex of what a nascent soul realm cultivator could be.
"Was he hiding his strength... no... what is that?"
Cheng Yang pointed up into the sky, behind the shining Zhang Dong there was someone and it was he that was radiating this power. The man looked like a ghost, he was semi-transparent and looked quite familiar to some of the people gathered there. Mostly to the ones from the Zhang Clan police unit that had visited Moonlight city before.
"Wait isn't that that that mysterious senior..."
"Yes... what is he doing here...could he be here for..."
The glaring glow of the light started subsiding, what was left was a floating Zhang Dong with his head down low and with his body unmoving. He was radiating light and behind him stood a phantom of another person. This person looked like an old man, his beard white and lengthy. He was wearing an exquisite robe with many dragons sewed into it, his body looked in shape and he was smiling down while looking at the people below.
"Greetings young ones, I'm afraid I can't just let you continue with this. My disciple's life is at stake, why won't you give this old man some face and just forget about this?"
The three sect leaders backed off, they could feel that this ghost or illusion of the man wasn't anything simple. In their eyes, this must have been some kind of safeguarding function. This wasn't anything new as strong masters usually gave their core disciples ways of defending themselves while they were away.
"Honorable Senior is?"
Xu Qing cupped his fists as he reevaluated the whole situation, it was one thing to battle against someone with no backing and another if they had a strong force behind them.
"Oh me? It doesn't really matter, but if you must you can call me, Wei Hung!"
The man smiled cheerfully while replying to the question, the others took their time to rack their brains. From what they knew, there was no one by the name 'Wei Hung' that was known in the Empire and that was this strong. Before they could ask any more questions they felt a massive surge in spiritual energy getting exuded from that transparent figure.
"I won't take up much of your time, young ones. As you can see, I'm not really here, this is only a sliver of my true spirit that I have left with my disciple. I hope you will let my silly disciple be. If he wishes to establish a sect on his own so be it."
"You can have what is left of that demonic sect, I just wish for my disciple and his companions to be safe."
"If for some reason, you cannot go along with this old man's wishes..."
The old man paused and narrowed his eyes at the group of cultivators. Everyone shrunk down after they felt his overbearing power wash all over them. They all felt like small mice getting looked at by a ferocious lion, they were unable to utter a word or move just shocked by the display of his might.
"If you don't, well... let us just say that the number of sects will decrease by three in this empire, understood?"
The three sect leaders turned to each other and then back to the man that was talking to them. They just nodded out of sheer fright, knowing well that there was no one close to this man's strength even back at their headquarters.
"Then it's settled! I hope we can meet under better circumstances next time!"
The man's illusionary figure started flickering out and it soon exploded into many tiny particles of light. He wasn't there for more than a few minutes but he had left an impression that wouldn't be forgotten. After leaving Zhang Dong's eyes stopped glowing and he managed to awaken from his trance. His face showed confusion as he started looking around, the enemy cultivators were now slowly backing away unsure of what to do.