"Stop pushing you bastards, just because you're from the Azure Lily faction doesn't mean that you are related to the honored golden dragon!"
"You have always been jealous of our ties to the Azure Emperor, it's pathetic!"
"You mean that one disgraced elder that got beat up twenty thousand years ago and came running back here with his tail between his legs? Now that there is a powerful member of that family there you think that you are related! I'm probably a closer relative to the Golden Dragon than you!"
"Why, just because you have white hair?"
"Yes, snow-white hair like that must mean that he is related to our Frost Lily faction! Perhaps one of our ancestors was his master!"
"Ancestor my ass, baseless claims as always!"
"Why you, I dare you to say that to me again!"
'They are really going at it…'
Zhang Dong was sitting in an empty room while drinking some spirit alcohol that he was offered. While he wasn't that much of a drinker he needed some liquid courage to survive the ordeal that was waiting for him in the next room. After showing his power the Heavenly Crane Sect went ballistic and now everyone was trying to seek favor with him.
"Honored Golden Dragon…"
"Another one?"
"Yes…"
"Okay, just bring it in…"
While a shouting match between the faction members continued outside there were some people allowed to enter this room. One of them showed up with a nice-looking spear in their hands that they then placed on the pile in the corner. Seeking favor with an expert like him had some bonuses to it, one of which was the large pile of costly items in the corner. It was slowly turning into a massive heap of treasure that would be enough for some to perform acts of murder.
"Well… at least I can use those for the coming battles…"
Luckily these gifts weren't tied to any sort of official deal. While normally a person would return the favor in some kind of way, Zhang Dong felt that aiding this sect in the coming battles was thanks enough. They were in reality just trying to bribe him and expecting something in return or at least that he would not bring down his rage on them if they didn't.
There were various pills of the heaven grade along with weapons of the same. They varied in quality that he was already able to achieve on his own accord.
"These weapons could be used by some of the elders but they aren't all that great either… should I just melt them down for resources and make something better?"
Thanks to his system he had a whole factory waiting for him to just dump materials in. One of the reasons for coming here was to get to the various mines that the Heavenly Crane Sect was known for. Those were needed to help him outfit his people with better weapons and power armor replicas.
He had designed new models that could be used by anyone and were attuned to many Daos. They would not be as good as the battle armor that he made for himself or his wife but the power increase was there. If he wanted to produce those types he would need to examine each person individually. Even with the system giving him all the stats, it wasn't easy to produce those suits with better resources.
It was far easier to prepare several prototypes for the main types of practitioners. He mainly wanted to focus on the main elemental Daos like Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water. Then his sect was also good with the holy element. With those five prototype armors, he could outfit his army by type and organize them into groups. Some elements worked well with each other, like the wind could augment fire and let it spread more thoroughly through the air.
Earth and water produced mud which combined the weight of earth and the moldability of water together. Then the people that were versed in the holy arts would probably be used as a combat medic. With their powerful healing arts that could mend wounds almost instantly his army would be unstoppable. Even now as he looked over these treasures this type of formation was being used by his army in the north.
"Honorable Golden Dragon…"
"You may enter."
Sun Shi along with Sun Shen walked into the room. Before speaking out they looked at the mountain of unorganized treasures. It was clear that they wanted to say something about them but couldn't complain before an expert of his caliber. Instead, they brought out another topic that concerned the people outside.
"Firstly, I must apologize for my sect brothers and sisters, they are being rather rude when so close."
"It's fine."
"You have my thanks for your understanding."
Sun Shen clasped his hands while trying not to show his displeasure. Even now he could hear the elders outside from various other factions shouting at each other. Many of them were old masters that rarely showed their faces to the public. Now they were surrounding his home and it was up to him to make it bearable. As the host, he needed to prepare rooms for such highly regarded figures but the sheer number of them was making it difficult.
This place they were in wasn't really made to host so many nascent soul masters. Naturally, when he tried to offer smaller rooms to some they started to bicker with the ones that received better accommodations. In reality, the room assignment was mostly depending on who arrived first but this didn't keep them from bickering. It was a hit to their face if they were given worse accommodations than someone they felt superior to.
"It must be hard on you, having to deal with people like those."
"It's nothing to be worried about, if you wish I'll tell them to leave for now."
Sun Shen replied but the old man wasn't good at hiding his dissatisfaction with the situation. Zhang Dong knew that even the Moon Lily faction leader would not be able to push away so many nascent soul masters. They were dead set on gaining favor with the honored Golden Dragon and would probably not leave before at least seeing him once.
"Fine… how about I go meet with them?"
"You would, honorable Golden Dragon?"
"Sure, I just have the thing that might quiet them down for good."
"Such a thing exists?"
"Just watch, I know how to deal with people like them…"
Zhang Dong smiled in a somewhat devilish way which made the two masters recoil in confusion. They couldn't really stop him from moving out after he stood up but they also wouldn't refuse aid if he was offering it. The fact that he was willing to converse with the mob of masters was already enough. Also at this point, they didn't believe that he carried any animosity toward their sect members. There were accidents from which he could seek reparations but he never acted out on those occasions.
"First let me just grab those."
After a wave of his hand, the pile of treasures vanished from the corner of the room. They made their way into his spatial ring and later would be given away for processing. He on the other hand walked out through the door that led him to a nice cozy looking garden. There were several pagodas and ponds here, quite a nice place to relax. That is if it wasn't filled with old people fighting everywhere.
"It's the honorable Long Dong!"
"He is more radiant than the rumors said!"
The fighting between the cultivator masters ended the moment they felt his aura. Even though he was hiding most of it, a smidge was enough for a nascent soul master to get a read on it. Everyone here was at least a late stage nascent soul master and even a couple were above it. Some of the faction leaders from the other camp had come here as well. They were certainly unwilling to let the Moon Lily Faction get everything.
"I am glad to see that so many of you have come to receive me."
Zhang Dong was fast to garner everyone's attention while speaking out loudly. His voice had a nice ring to it and thanks to his senior aura skill that he entered this world, everyone was in a state of awe.
"You honor us with your words!"
One of them replied while stepping forward. The man had quite a full set of snow-white hair that was similar to his but before he could continue another old gentleman appeared from the side.
"No, you honor this Azure Lily faction with your words and presence, why don't we discu…"
"Hey, what do you think you're doing, I was first!"
"Hah."
The two old men didn't seem to have the best relationship with each other. It must have been really bad if they forgot that they were in the presence of the Golden Dragon. They almost forgot that he was there and only remembered after more people started clamoring for his attention.
"Please calm down everyone, I'm fully aware of your plight and I have just the thing to repay you with, just give me a second…"
Everyone was confused about what Zhang Dong meant but it was clear that he was scanning through his own spatial ring. Soon an item appeared in his hand, it looked to be a book of rather good quality. However, it looked to be newly made which disappointed most of them. Usually, techniques that were highly regarded were kept on old parchments and never copied down to new ones.
"This is a little something I've been working on, I think it should be enough as a thank you for all your hospitality."
"Golden Dragon, this is?"
"Oh right, let me show you…I think it should be barely able to take it…"
"What do you mean?"
With a little jump, he found himself up in the air. There everyone started looking at him with question marks above their heads that is before a massive spike of spiritual energy appeared around his palm. This palm started radiating with a strange power, it was truly immense and something they could not quite understand.
"Is that a pinnacle-grade heavenly palm art?"
"It must be… such power!"
The palm quickly flew forward and collided with the nearby protective barrier in the sky. This forcefield was not weak but it buckled under the hit and even cracks started to form before the energy dissipated.
"This is called the Mystical Elemental Palm of Heavens and it's as you see, the highest grade!"
"Could that book be…"
"Yes, this contains this technique, I'm sure you'll make good use of it… then, I'll leave you to it, my friends."
With those words, he took the pose of a baseball pitcher and quickly threw the book into the distance which caused everyone to panic.
"H-how could he throw a magnificent technique like that…"
"W-what?"
"What are you waiting for? The one that gets the book, gets to keep it of course, well if you don't want it…"
The cultivators looked at each other and frantically took off in the direction he threw the secret technique. Thanks to his plan the whole place had become abandoned but to his surprise so did the homeowner.
"I didn't expect both Sun Shen and Shi to go after it too…"
After laughing to himself he returned to his room where he decided to contact his family and generals. It seemed that the war effort would be moving along soon as this sect had no reason to deny him anymore.