"Ohhh...t-that f-feels…"
"Ahhh…P-patriarch..."
The strange stuttering sounds of a grown man were heard from atop of the mountain peak. Matt didn't like this part of the process of cleansing his sect members from impurities. If he performed it fast they would feel an excruciating amount of pain. If he did it slow it wouldn't be bad, it was actually the reverse, it felt good.
He did it the first time with Feng Liena and thought that she might have exaggerated her reaction. After he went through Huo Qiang's father and the second member from the Feng Clan he noticed that she might have underperformed her reaction. This was why Zhang Zhi here was moaning out like a little girl while he had to pretend that he was doing something. The process of cleansing the impurities happened via his system window but he had to pretend that he was doing it himself.
"Sect L-leader n-no more, I can't…"
'It would be nice if you stopped shouting out my title while you are moaning dude…'
He thought to himself while Zhang Zhi's toes continued to curl up. The black ooze that he discharged had a really bad smell to it and he had to be in touching distance of it. Huo Gang and the lady from the Feng clan were looking at the moaning man with mixed expressions while remembering their own procedure. The only curious look was on Huo Qiang as his process was less than stellar and mostly painful.
Luckily this didn't take so long and he had learned from the time with his wifey that he should stand behind the targets. Having them sit down on the ground was also something he came up with so that they wouldn't lean on him.
"There, now go clean yourself up."
Zhang Dong pulled his palm back, it felt sticky and some black goop was on it. Zhang Zhi almost face planted to the ground during the procedure. Now he was just panting while blushing. Zhang Dong used a moist towelette to wipe his hands and then moved down from the peak. While Zhang Zhi was cultivating Huo Gang and Feng Suyin would act as dharma protectors. They would keep anyone away while their junior took that large step forward. This was a delicate process and if he got interrupted he could suffer cultivation regression or even die.
"With junior brother Zhi that will put us on even grounds with the other sects, don't you think so, senior brother Dong?"
Huo Qiang floated next to Zhang Dong and proclaimed while grinding wide. The man was a battle junky so if it was possible he would like to cause some trouble with the other sects and fight some of their nascent soul elders.
"With him we only have six nascent soul elders, if we go by what the Dark Palm sect had…We still fall short by four regular elders, that's not counting the hidden masters that they had."
Zhang Dong calculated that most of the sects had about ten official nascent soul seniors in their midst. These were only the ones that were active, each sect also had hidden monsters that could be stronger than the current sect master.
"That is true, but with our immortal cultivation manuals we won't have trouble trashing those old farts even two on one!"
Huo Qiang performed a smack to his chest as always. This was actually a good point, even though they had lower numbers their nascent soul elders were far stronger than a regular cultivator at the early stage of the nascent soul realm. They were more in line with a middle stage cultivator that practiced a regular heavenly grade cultivation method. They also didn't need to spend long to cultivate their soul-beasts either.
About five years had passed since the war with the Dark Palm sect. He had since made some progress and reached the middle stage a couple of months ago. Now even without his powered-up form, he could battle a regular late stage cultivator. If he fully let loose then he could contend with someone in the great circle.
Huo Qiang and Feng Liena had progressed further as well but both weren't quite there. Liena was about halfway into the middle stage while Qiang had progressed by about 70%. He could clearly see the numbers on his system screen so they had to be true. He attributed Liena's slower progress due to the pregnancies. He also gave her a little boost here and there and she was still behind Qiang.
"You might be right there brother Qiang but it would be better to not show them our fangs just yet. Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak. Always better to catch your enemy off guard otherwise, they might prepare some contingencies against us. We might suffer the same fate as those Dark Palm lunatics if we don't prepare well."
Matt was somewhat convinced that they should be able to at least tie if they went against one of those three sects. They had also increased the number of their core formation elders by improving all of their cultivation manuals all the way up to heaven grade. This was of course only for the ones that were core disciples and for some of the inner ones.
They just had to train them up as they were just falling behind the others far too much. This brought some trouble with corruption which they would have to clear up with time. Some of the new core formation experts were a bit drunk with power and sometimes caused trouble to other people outside the sect. Matt even had to create a special sect division of internal affairs to root out any corruption.
He gave the position of the chief there to the person that was most loyal to him, Zhang Zhi. His promotion would become official after he broke through to the nascent soul realm. Just as all the rest of the grand elders he possesses an immortal grade cultivation technique. The soul beast that would be formed from it would look like an evolved version of a water serpent. Similar to the one his clan used as a formation.
He had to spend some points he had gained to upgrade. Luckily the land that he was considered the owner of was a lot larger now. It encompassed millions of people now and brought in quite a lot of spirit points. The increase in cultivation level of his people also made his points jump up.
"If you say so, Senior brother…"
Huo Qiang slumped his shoulders forward, he was itching for a fight. Ever since he reached the nascent soul level he didn't have a chance to have a good fight. He was stuck patrolling the border regions and giving the opposing sects the stink eye.
"If you ever change your mind be sure to get me first! You can even activate one of these treasures!"
Qiang flicked the earring from his left ear lobe. It was another treasure that Matt had made, the teleportation feature was just far too good to not use. His elder members could be teleported into battle whenever he needed them. There were even waypoints in their territory that they could instantly appear in.
The other sects would probably be really surprised if they try sneaking in to only find themselves against every single nascent soul elder from the United Element sect. These treasures came in various shapes and sizes but they had a limit to them and needed time to recharge. He could activate them to bring his allies to him, or they could send out a signal when they were in distress to alert everyone. Then the others could just teleport to them.
"I'll be sure to do that."
Zhang Dong laughed at his overzealous friend. The only thing he was good at was fighting but he felt reassured that he had him on his side. Matt was planning to stop paying the tributes to the other sects soon as they were slowly becoming self-sufficient. A show of force might be required when the time came but he wanted to wait some more till they were done with the new recruits.
Zhang Dong inspected the rest of the Dimensional Regalia while Huo Qiang went back to training. Thanks to this place being so large he could let loose, his training ground had long turned into a desert riddled with holes and molten lava. Matt also had his own section to train in and cultivate, the lightning energies in that spot were quite volatile.
These pockets were rich in elemental energies which could even be used by the future disciples. Zhang Xue and Liu would be allowed to absorb the golden lighting that appeared there from time to time. Both of them were in the early stage of core formation now and their hair was fully white just like their master's.
'Nothing out of the ordinary here, I should get back home.'
There wasn't much for him to do besides cultivating and making artifacts for the sect. His crafting system was able to copy weapons which just made him have less to do. Thanks to this he could flood the market with affordable goods but he made sure not to sell his wares to his enemies. Most of the weapons and armor that he created would be used by his sect disciples and the seniors.
Before he left he could see a cleaned Zhang Zhi sitting on a mountain peak. He was already back at it and cultivating. He vanished through the gate that he came through and flew right back home. His lovely wife and cute daughter were both waiting for him. The child was getting spoon-fed some baby food by one of their housemaids.
Her mother would probably like to perform this task but she was out of commission due to having quite a large bloated belly. When he arrived he was greeted by smiles, the worries of the day seemed to disappear the moment he saw the mother and daughter duo. Time flew by fast and it soon was nighttime. He watched his wife and child fall asleep before going out to get some fresh air.
He went out onto the balcony and looked off into the distance. The recruits were giving their all even now as there weren't any breaks even for sleep.
'I hope nothing goes wrong…'
He was holding onto a parchment. It had a golden seal on it and the symbol of the Dragon Gate sect. This sect was the friendliest one from the three, with the Limitless Sword Society one always acting rudely towards him and his sect.
The piece of paper was an invitation. He was to go into their territory and take part in a sort of banquet. It was something of a get together for the more powerful sects. Besides the three sects that he knew there would be others from all around. This was a good opportunity to gain allies but also to gain enemies. He knew how these people operated and just as there was a fool trying to start a fight with him at his wedding, someone could appear there.
He was in no position to show weakness now. He knew how strong he was and he was certain that he could beat any of those three Patriarchs in a one on one fight. He still wanted to avoid any animosity if it was possible but he couldn't show that his sect was weak. This part of this society didn't change, the strong got stronger and the weak got weaker. If push came to shove he might have to show some of his hand.
'Being the one making the big decisions is hard…'
"Hubby?"
He heard Feng Liena calling out to him. He turned his face and saw her concerned expression.
"Is something wrong?"
He moved over and gave the woman a smooch on the cheek before answering.
"Everything is fine, just don't want to leave the sect grounds while you are still in this condition."
He placed his hand on her belly which made Liena chuckle. He needed to leave for a few days but the protective formations along with the multiple nascent soul masters should be able to protect his pregnant wife.
"Everything will be fine, a certain worrying husband has created many defensive treasures for this wife of his."
She showed off a couple more rings and earrings that Zhang Dong had fashioned for her during these years and chuckled. The two smiled at each other and went back to bed, the two moons lit up the dark night. While they slept the disciple candidates continued to fight for their spot in the sect soon a new chapter in their life would be starting.