"Are the twin guardians doing this on purpose? How can this man be this powerful?"
"Leader Zhong, those are some serious allegations, do you have anything to back those claims up? Do the guardians look like they are losing on purpose? Are we looking at the same fight?"
"What are you prattling about Leader Shen?"
"Do you have eyes like the rest of us? Do you think any of the Leaders would do better than the guardians, even when we all attacked him together?"
"Preposterous, he can't be that strong…"
"Are you sure, perhaps you should change your tune, what if the Golden Dragon seeks you out for an apology, you have been quite rude?
Zhong's forehead began to sweat, something a nascent soul master should be above. Sun Shen, whom he was talking to, was smiling. Zhong wanted to deny the claim of Zhang Dong's superiority but it was obvious that his skills were far above those of the twin guardians.
Even he who was a smidge above the other Leaders couldn't see the man's moves, it wouldn't be strange if he couldn't take more than a few moves before being defeated. Only with a combined effort of at least three leaders could he see them wining against such an opponent.
"Patriarch as you can see, this is the true power that we will be facing and what the Azure Emperor was holding back from us."
"This is truly concerning…"
Tao Guan's eyebrows wiggled as he tried to hide his displeasure. His true reason of allowing this fight to happen was out of curiosity. He wanted to measure the power of the man called the Golden Dragon who was rumored to be on equal footing to the Azure Emperor. The latter was considered to be the true endpoint and foe that was holding his sect back from taking over the whole empire.
Now, on the other hand, he wasn't sure if that had even been something that they would have been capable of. This man was just playing around with their strongest tag team experts. Tao Guan knew the two well and in the past he even sparred with the two. They were his equals and if they wanted they could defeat him by sacrificing one in the process. When looking at this fight, he couldn't see the two winnings even if they attempted that secret technique.
Their opponent was far too nimble and if rumors were true, he could also recover from critical wounds in a matter of seconds. To defeat someone like this they would probably need to entrap him in a powerful formation and reduce him to ashes. Perhaps if they overloaded the pseudo-dimension that they were fighting in and used all the power of the ten grand elders together it would be possible. However, if he ever managed to escape, their sect would be ruined.
"Is the Azure Emperor as strong as his younger brother or could he actually be the more powerful one of the two?"
"No one knows, the younger one only appeared recently. The old information we receive of him must have been false as well, it's impossible that some little sect as the Dark Palm Sect almost destroyed him."
Since the Golden Dragon appeared in the empire everyone started gathering all the data of his exploits. His first appearance dated back to around six years ago in the then-small Zhang Clan. The rumors stated that he was dragged around by one of the middle-sized sects to do their bidding. It appeared as if they were actually almost able to kill him before a turnaround.
Now after seeing his true power it was obvious to them that this was some kind of elaborate theater show. It made them believe that this Long Dong was hiding his power and slowly presenting it to the world at critical junctures. Some attributed this to some kind of hobby that this Golden Dragon had. He probably withheld his full strength in hopes of getting challenged by weaker masters only to then seek conflict with them.
It looked like the other side was bullying him but in reality, he was a master that could wipe them out with a poke of his finger. This was more probable than the other hypothesis which stated that he gained some type of legacy of an immortal. Even those took some time to stomach and going from core formation to the pinnacle of nascent soul in just six years was unfathomable.
Either he was some kind of old perverse monster that took joy in getting into trouble or an expert of unmanageable potential. None of these two were good choices but the second one was a bit better as it would mean that the man could perhaps be controlled. If he was a young expert that earned power fast he would probably be lacking in many other places. It would be easier to control a young inexperienced practitioner than an old monster that was playing some strange game with others.
"Wait… could he be the one?"
"What do you mean, Leader Qiaolian?"
While the other leaders were brooding and looking at the two guardian's being smacked around by the much younger Zhang Dong, one of their leaders tried to get their attention. She was on the older side and looked like a nice old lady with a staff. She was wearing a gray robe and in front of her was a floating crystal ball which made her look like some kind of fortune teller.
"Could he be the reborn immortal of legends?"
"Leader Qiaolian…"
The other leaders frowned when they heard what the old woman spoke. She belonged to one of the neutral factions that never took any sides. They were known for their future-telling techniques that sometimes bore fruit. They were oracles in a sense and had some chaotic beliefs, one of them was the belief in an immortal being that would be reborn every hundred thousand years during a chaotic period.
"It all makes sense, this is the period of turmoil that has been passed down in legends, he must be the one, that aura of magnificence radiates excellence… he must be the immortal that was promised."
This group of fortune tellers was considered to be mostly filled with insane people. However, their power in the sect was large as thanks to their future sight techniques which they could use in their battles, they were strong foes. Thanks to their power they were able to hold on to one of the ten great seats.
"Leader Qiaolian why don't you calm down, the Golden Dragon is certainly strong but he is not immortal…"
"That's why you've always been a fool Zhong, you wouldn't be able to tell an immortal from a cow!"
"Now listen here you old crow!"
"I won't listen to a fool, at least Leader Shen had the insight to bring this man here, my faction will not remain silent anymore!"
"Do you mean?"
"Yes, we will support the Moon Lily faction if this individual is involved, we must support the immortal, this is why our faction was created!"
"Just because of some old prophecy, you would risk our sect's safety?"
"Old Prophecy? My people have been passing down the legend of the immortal through generations since a time when the empire didn't even exist! It's not just an old prophecy you old fool, it's the truth of this world, the immortal has always appeared and we have always lent him our strength!"
"Y-you…"
Zhong was not happy to hear that one of the neutral factions had decided to switch sides. With the old woman supporting the Moon Lily Faction he needed at least one of the other three neutral ones to come to his side instead. If he wasn't able to convince them otherwise then what Leader Shen was proposing would be voted in his favor.
"Both of you, calm down, this is not the place to discuss this issue."
The patriarch raised his voice at the two leaders that were fighting with each other. It was quite a surprise to have the old woman speak this much. Usually, she was uninterested in the voting process. There was not even a record of this faction group ever picking a side and now suddenly they were interested in this white-haired man. The Patriarch needed to agree that there was something about this Long Dong.
His presence was either a blessing or a curse on this sect and it was up to him to decide. The only problem was that this could perhaps be the only time that he could get rid of him. By ordering the guardians to use their life they could probably stall for long enough to overload the pseudo-dimension. Either the man there would die or be trapped for all eternity between dimensions with no way of getting back here.
"I think they are almost finished… the left guardian isn't moving, is he out cold?"
"Hmmm…"
The Patriarch looked into the transparent dimension. There he saw one of his best warriors down on the ground. It took a lot to knock a nascent soul master, something that wouldn't usually be possible. It meant that Zhang Dong's Qi had overwhelmed them to a point of no return. The other guardian didn't look much better, his face which was kept behind a robe was exposed. His face looked like it had been beaten on for a few days, and his lips and eyes were swollen. The man could not even hide the shaking knees that were barely keeping him upright.
After letting out a sigh Tao Guan decided to leave it up to a vote. The power of this man was not something he could contend with and he might have lost his chance of doing anything by this point. His most trusted two experts would probably not be able to muster much energy to keep him busy long enough. It was better to not poke the beehive if he didn't have to, working under this man wouldn't be a shame and it really didn't matter if Long Dong or Long Qing ruled over them. Perhaps the other leaders still had rebellion on their minds but he had somewhat given up on that notion.
"This is enough, honorable Golden Dragon, we have seen your capabilities and we accept you as a proper honorary guest of our sect."
"Patriarch?"
The man made the announcement which would make Zhang Dong one of their closest allies. It was not a hollow title, it would force their own sect members to be lenient with the United Element Sect and punish them if problems arose.
"Is that so, well then…"
Zhang Dong started speaking but in a flash, his voice found itself in the room that the ten great leaders were occupying.
"How about we talk about this little war you are having trouble with…"
The Patriarch's eyes bulged out in fright as he realized that he made the right decision and if he actually attempted something sketch he would have died in this very instance.