Zhang Liu and Zhang Xue soon arrived at the city, along with some other members that came out of hiding after seeing them and getting the good news. After arriving they saw the destroyed siege weapons and signs of battle, there weren’t that many casualties on both sides due to most of the fighting being done by the top cultivators while the rest of the armies stayed out of it, but some people still died.
The kids could see bodies scattered around here and there, the gates were now open, clan members were out and about the area dressed in their battle gear. The kids noticed a woman running at them, tears in her eyes.
“Liu, Xue!”
The woman was their mother, she gave both of her children a hug but mostly their daughter the two just collapsing to the ground while crying in each other arms. She was named Zhang Jie and was in her 30’s, she looked like a person in her 20’s though this thanks to her being in the foundation establishment realm which most of the time doubled the lifespan of the cultivators.
“Waaaa, I was so scared.”
Xue cried while cleaning to her mother that was sobbing as well and rubbing her daughter’s head in response. Liu was looking at the daughter and mother duo, a smile appearing on his face as he was glad that everything worked out in the end. After some time the females stood up, their faces red but smiles on her faces.
“Mother, mother you won’t believe it. We were fleeing from those Tsai Clan members, Liu even got shot by some arrows!”
The mother opened up her eyes wider and started examining her son’s body, she could see that his robes were torn up and there was some dried blood but no wounds.
“Don’t worry mother, his wounds have been healed thanks to The Senior Uncle!”
“Senior Uncle?”
The mother asked.
“Yes, he appeared out of nowhere and in a flash all the bastards from the Tsai Clan were down.”
Replied the brother while smirking and clenching his fist while reminiscing about the encounter.
“The clan members also told us that he rescued the city as well, he met us on the way here and saved our lives.”
The mother looked at the boy and girl, then back to the city zoning in on the middle clan structure where the senior in question was now in.
“Listen here you two, the man that saved you is called Zhang Dong he is the grandson of Grandfather Jin.”
Zhang Dong in question would later find out that his old bastard grandpa was quite the womanizer back in the day. He was part of the core members of the clan, but he had sired many offsprings with mistresses and concubines alike. The only good thing about his character was that he always took responsibility for his actions and took in any children he produced. Zhang Dong’s father was one of those as well, as he came from one of those mistresses. So he had quite the extended family now, all thanks to ol’ gramps who couldn’t keep it in his pants. Zhang Jie was from the core family, so were her children so they were his half-niece and nephew. The lady would be akin to his half-cousin.
“The problem is, that he is from a side family…”
Blood purity was a thing in these clans, Zhang Dong was from a side family and these people were from the mainline. There would be tension between the side families and the main one from time to time. Mostly due to the main families antagonizing the side ones for not having ‘pure’ enough blood. The woman feared that the man in question could have some hidden animosity against the main clan bloodline members. She could recall him a bit from her youth, but the boy never showed himself much he was always training and never spoke to anyone around him so he was a big unknown.
The man did save her children though, so she would be forever grateful for that, the woman never did like the way some members treated the side families. But there could be some trouble brewing as some of those purists were still in the clan, this cousin of hers was very strong. She was there during the fighting, there was no one besides her grandpa that could even hope to stand up to him. But the grandpa in question was more than likely to accept him into their midsts, he was just a big family man.
“Uncle Dong?”
The two looked at each other and thought back to the cultivator that saved them. They remembered his righteous appearance, how lightning crackled around him and how easily he took out those enemy cultivators. The two didn’t care about the main family or side family stuff, so they just smiled as they knew that the man had a closer bond with them.
“D-do you think Uncle Dong is accepting disciples?”
Liu asked while licking his lips.
“Oh? I want to be Uncle Dong’s disciple too!”
Xue chimed in while bouncing around in excitement.
Their mother gave out a sigh while shaking her head, then told her children to get back to the city. She knew that a change of leadership was probably about to happen, there was no one stronger than this cousin of hers now. The thing that bothered her was mostly if this family member would be a good fit for the clan. Would he even stay? Would he rule with an iron fist? There was uncertainty ahead, but the clan needed a new strong leader and this young man was their best bet now, she hoped that it wouldn’t get violent though. She hoped that Zhang Dong didn’t have a bad temper, the previous Patriarch tended to have mood swings and a one-track mind. He also took most of the best treasures with him to that godforsaken place, which made the clan weaker in the process. He was the type of person that put himself above everyone else, she sure hoped that this new person would do the opposite.
The family of three started going back home while Zhang Dong was lead around the main mansion grounds. There weren’t many people around as everyone was still in damage control mode. He did run into a couple of members, that just bowed at him or whispered something to each other as he passed. He was shown a big hall, where the upper clan members made decisions. There was a throne-like seat at the end of it, stairs leading up to it. You could imagine the clan head sitting there with a lofty look in his eyes, just looking down at people who had to stand up as there were no other chairs or seats around.
In the end, he was guided to the old Patriarch’s bedchamber. The door was quite large, but the room inside was even bigger. There was a red carpet leading to a large bed, but also on the sides of that carpet, there was a pool with water. You could see many white lotuses floating about. The room’s deco was red, there were many lanterns lighting up the place that seemed to be activated with spiritual Qi. The bed had drapes hanging down from it, there were also a couple of those oriental folding screens where you were supposed to change your clothes behind.
In the back there was another room, it had a big pool in their water coming out of various statues. Zhang Dong could feel the spiritual energy coming from this warm water, the heat opening up his pores that just increased the intake of that condensed Qi. This place looked like a high-class hotel that millionaires or billionaires would stay in Dubai. There also was a balcony, he also wondered if he could have the ceiling open up as he didn’t want the buildings to get struck by lightning if he cultivated here. To his surprise that was already covered, as the previous Patriarch had installed a mechanism that would open up the ceiling so that moonlight could fill the bathing area.
“I’ll think I’ll rest for a bit… thank’s for guiding me here.”
The scholarly looking man just bowed and left him inside, going back to report to the elders while Zhang Dong went straight to the bathing area. This place has something akin to a shower, it was in the form of water running out of one of the statues, looked more like a waterfall. The water was warm and it washed over his body, the stench of blood slowly fading away as he scrubbed his hands and arms thinking back to what transpired today. The emotions he felt during the battle started coming back after he was left alone. He looked at his hands that he was washing and remembered the moment he plunged his fist into the man’s face.
He still didn’t know how he should feel about what he had done, he was feeling shame and remorse. But he also knew that the man that he killed was quite the psycho. He remembered him shouting about wanting to kill everyone from the city, with a mad look in his eyes. This made him feel better, but still, he had slain a man and perhaps he would need to do that once more. The reality of this world started slowly creeping its way towards him, but he didn’t want to be like cultivators from this world. He was already an adult by the time he was placed here, he had a set personality it would be hard to change his core beliefs.
He knew that what he had done was out of necessity, no one in this world would hold it against him. They would probably be more surprised if he spared the guy instead, which made him chuckle.
“Ahh… what did I get myself in to…”
He asked out loud while sinking into the warm water, the liquid somehow soothing his mind as he closed his eyes and slowly dozed off.