"What about Zong'er… What did he do wrong?" Patriarch Chu Huang asked with a smile;

"Well, he is a pro at the game, but he sticks to the aggressive approach and whilst that s excellent because he is an expert at it, once he meets an opponent who is an expert on both aggressive and passive style like you, then it would end up in a flawless defeat for him…" The hooded figure explained...

"If you both played individually, it would have panned out that way, but there was an inexperienced third party, and that brought a variable into the game and that was why he was able to change the course of the game…"

"A full grown man might be a trillion times stronger than a housefly, but the housefly has the ability to torment a full grown man due to its size…" The hooded figure added;

"Your majesty, you have learnt the ancient and modern way of the game, but you have yet to pick either an aggressive or passive approach, and should you master both approach and both styles of play, there would barely be anyone within this Empire who would be able to defeat you in tactical shrewdness…"

The hooded figure finished before returning to his cup and taking another gulp whilst Patriarch Chu Huang chipped in;

"Alright I guess it is my win then…"

"Not while we still have some pieces on the board…"

"Eh?" Patriarch Huang was stunned by Chu Yang's response;

"Father, how about we team up on grandpa?" Patriarch Zong looked at his father and smiled;

"Well, now that we know our short comings, I all of a sudden feel confident…"

"Alright, go cause him some serious headaches with your inexperience whilst I swoop in and deliver the lethal blows…"

"Haha ha… Good… Good… Let me see what you father and son duo can come up with…"

Patriarch Huang bellowed happily as he sat closer to the board and prepared to deliver some tricks and mind blowing tactics to his sons…

The hooded figure smiled, but just as they were about to begin, they all paused and looked towards a certain direction;

"Can you go fetch them?" Patriarch Huang spoke to the air;

"As you wish, your majesty…"

Meanwhile…

Back at the entrance to the Throne Hall…

The Imperial Guards had barely completed their train of thought when two figures stepped out of the spatial tear;

"Halt!"

"Who are you!?"

"State your intentions for barging into the palace without unannounced!"

A Saint Stage guard in golden battle armor who seems to be the leader of this group of Imperial Guards bellowed, launching projectiles of saliva all over the place;

"I am Jin Po of the Jin Super Clan and also the Sect Leader of the Desert Sun Sect!"

"I have come because I have urgent and cataclysmic news for the Emperor or Imperial Patriarch, and we are currently short on time, so please kindly announce our presence!" The Sect Leader bellowed as he went to his knees followed by the Fifth Grand Elder…

About a dozen Imperial Guards surrounded the duo with their weapons aimed at them and ready to strike should they make any funny movements as the Captain of the Imperial Guards ordered;

"Yi, go and relay the situation to the Emperor quickly!"

"There will be no need for that, I will take it from here…"

The mysterious hooded figure suddenly warped into existence in front of the Sect Leader and Fifth duo, who –just like all the guards present- were stunned by the nature of the technique with which the mysterious hooded figure appeared;

It sure wasn't a space type technique as that would involve a tear or at least a ripple in space…

"Come with me…"

The hooded figure said in what seemed to be a masked voice and the Sect Leader duo simply saw their vision go black for an instant, and by the time light returned to their vision, they found themselves standing right in front of Patriarch Chu Huang and Chu Yang;

"Your Majesty!" The duo went to their knees with a subservient bow;

"Alright, you claim to be in a hurry, what's going on?" Patriarch Huang waved them to their feet as he asked;

"Your majesty, might we speak freely?" The Sect Leader asked first before delving into the details of what he was about see;

"You may speak freely…" Chu Yang replied;

"We fear a rebellion might be on the horizon and some of the top 10 super clans might be planning to usurp the rule of the Imperial Clan…" The Sect Leader spoke and paused;

"Okay?" Patriarch Chu Huang said indicating that they continue with the rest of the information...

As they've been given the go ahead on two separate occasions the Sect Leader refused to hold back as he began to narrate everything from the moment Min Hong's group decided to go gather experience by taking on some mission deemed unnecessary by the Empire…

"That's pretty disturbing… To think they would use such a tactic to hit us where it hurts by simply using things we deemed unnecessary to go through with…"

"I know these people and they aren't normally as wise as that, and that means they have someone who is masterminding the entire situation whilst imply using them as pawns in his or her games…" Patriarch Huang muttered before asking;

"Where is Fei Hong and the rest of the group at this moment?"

"They are on the way to the next mission site, your majesty…"

"If things are as dangerous as it seems, aren't they endangering themselves by going in alone?"

"Apparently, Fei Hong had also considered this, and as a result, he had sent five core court disciples back to the sect alongside some experts he managed to rescue from the Land of Stones…"

"Then he replaced them with the five strongest experts they met at the Land of Stones and it is with this group that they marched on to the next mission site…"

"Does that mean you still have five core court disciples in danger currently?" Chu Yang asked with a concerned expression;

"No your majesty, we only have four core court disciples, Fei Hong included…" The Sect Leader replied;

"Then who is the fifth person!?"