“...Are you paying attention?”

“Huh?”

Zhang Dong along with Zhang Liena were sitting down in the lotus position while holding hands. Both of them had taken some free time during these dire times to progress their cultivation. Mostly they were focusing on Liena’s but the Patriarch’s wife seemed to be focused on other things.

“You’ll have to excuse me but my mind had wandered elsewhere, let us continue.”

Liena closed her eyes once more while her husband chuckled. It seemed that she was preoccupied with the fact that they were finally alone in a peaceful spot more than the cultivation process. Soon they managed to resume with the transformation into the middle stage of the nascent soul level.

Thanks to his faction system he was able to somewhat boost her to the limit of her stage. There wasn’t much that he needed to do besides that but by helping her circulate her spiritual energy with his own he could further speed up the process and guarantee a smooth ascension.

Both of them rose into the air while covered by a blue glow of Qi. At first, it was a pale color but it soon changed to their own elemental Dao, in this case, green for wind. While he was no expert when it came to wind energy, he was knowledgeable enough to stimulate Liena’s Dao with his own knowledge and fill in some of the gaps.

Such a feat was only possible due to his extensive knowledge that he had gained through the years and also because he was very familiar with his wife's body. All of the meridians and spiritual pathways had been already discovered during their life together. He could very easily guide his Qi in gently to push Liena past the threshold.

‘There it is… that should do it.’

At the last junction, his hands moved away from Liena’s that soon floated further into the air. Her entire body was enveloped in a cocoon of thick green energy that started producing a repelling force. The winds in the area started picking up while she ascended into the middle stage.

Zhang Dong could feel his wife’s power rising to a new stage which caused him to smile. The change was quite instantaneous and he could confirm it by checking out his faction window. She was only the second middle stage nascent soul master in his sect which would make everyone in this empire raise a brow in disbelief.

The United Element Sect was a peculiar faction that through his upgrading process could compete with others even at lower levels of power. When he was a middle stage cultivator he could easily battle with late-stage nascent soul masters and win, even the ones on top could be dealt with if he was smart about it.

Huo Qiang and Zhang Liena weren’t much different. He had produced immortal grade cultivation manuals for them as well which were similar to his own. While they would trail behind him in raw strength they could easily compete with the masters in this world.

Probably if all three of them had more time, they would have been able to grow into quite the monster trio. If all of them were able to reach the great circle stage before this whole war started, they could probably steamroll any army by just working together as one.

‘Can’t have it all but this war could take up to a hundred years, so perhaps taking it slow won’t be such a bad idea.’

Zhang Dong floated down to the ground while looking up. His wife looked quite enchanting while being surrounded by her wind dao. If they weren’t in a hurry he would wish to spend some private time with her but for now, her lovely image was etched into his mind. This would have to last him for the coming days as he intended to join Huo Qiang back at the border region of the Dragon Gate Sect.

“Congratulations my wife, you are now officially a middle stage master but I think that you could wipe the floor with most of the sect leaders from the other sects now.”

“This does feel wonderful… but I can feel that you don’t wish me to test this new power.”

After managing to progress she floated down to land in front of Zhang Dong. It was the truth, she would need to remain here to act as the protector of the city and sect. Someone had to do this task and he would rather have his wife remain here at home than to go outside into the carnage.

The sect's protective formations were strong, no normal cultivator would be able to get through them. It would require a combined effort of many along with siege weapons and even then it would probably take over a month to get through. For this very reason, he wished that she remained with the children. Knowing that she was safe would ease his mind greatly and help him keep a cool head during the future battles.

“Yes, that would be my wish, it would be best if you remained here.”

Luckily it seemed that she wouldn’t be arguing with him much as she just gave out a chuckle.

“I’ll be sure to protect everyone in your absence but if something does happen, return immediately. ”

She suddenly leaned in pronouncing the last bit a lot louder than the rest. It was clear that she did not want him to play the hero anymore. This was pronounced by her leaning towards him and bopping his nose with her index finger.

Zhang Dong already knew that his lovely wife didn’t appreciate that he was going out of his way to help others. There was nothing to gain from those acts and he constantly endangered his own life. The part where he vanished for five years by helping dispose of the last monster probably didn't help either.

“Ah you know me…”

After giving out a nervous laugh he decided to slowly move for a strategic hug. Liena squirmed for a few moments but soon she quieted down. They just stayed for a moment like that before parting without saying anything. While she would consolidate her new realm here he would need to check up on another thing.

Thus he rose into the air and flew away. There were other matters to attend to and the first one concerned the fortress he borrowed from the secret ground. It had the ability to quickly expand defensive measures after being fed spiritual energy which he was hoping to use for the coming battles.

The whole structure had been relocated from the replica medallion into the original. There safe from any distraction he had his mad scientist part of the sect work on it. After gaining access to the map from this very same fortress Bob wouldn’t need as much time to hack it. But even then, he needed others to manufacture copies that he could relocate to strategic locations.

After a few moments of flight, he arrived at the research facility. Thanks to the faction system he did not need to worry about security. When he returned there were some new faces that needed to be removed but inside this closed-off world, there was no need to hide from his sect members.

“Greetings Patriarch!”

The moment he arrived he was greeted by people in lab coats. This section of the sect had been established before he disappeared. Due to his old world tastes he had manufactured white lab coats that made everyone look like a mad scientist.

All of them were specialists at crafting and their knowledge was quite extensive. Some of them even reached the knowledge level of their own Patriarch that could devour books like they were nothing. One of them was the leader that also hailed from the original Zhang Clan.

“I don’t want to rush you but I’m not sure how much time we have also…”

Zhang Dong looked at a sphere that was floating next to the main scientist. It had various glowing symbols on it and a big eye in the middle. This eye darted around as it looked at various people that were passing by.

“How is the helper that I gave you, was it of any use?”

“Yes Patriarch, you must tell me how you managed to create such an intricate puppet! It’s making our work a breeze!”

This floating eyeball that he was looking at was in reality an extension of Bob. His Ai was able to interface with outside constructs that he had created himself. They were part of his system and he was part of them. Thanks to this he could have Bob help his people out in deciphering the fortress while spending fewer spirit points by doing it directly.

“So did you find something out?”

“Yes we did, please come this way, Patriarch.”

The small group of scientists was eager to show him something. Soon they moved to the area where he took the map from. In its place, they were trying to assemble something less intricate that would be easier to manufacture. The area was now covered by some strange tubing that was connected to the middle part.

There was a large table with a strange rock on it. The color was the same as the walls and it looked like the scientists here had taken it as a sample. It was now gently floating in the air while sometimes changing shape into different forms.

There were cables going out from this table and they were all connected to what looked to be a modern-day computer. It was one of his own designs that seemed to have been improved after five years had passed.

“Is this what you wanted to show me?”

“Yes Patriarch, we weren’t sure what to start with so we decided to examine the walls that this place was made with. Then we made a discovery, not everything is the same, some parts are built from this peculiar mineral.”

From the explanation he got the scientists discovered that the entire fortress is not made from the exact same material. Not every part of it could alter its shape as most of that was focused on the outer walls.

“This treasure can alter its shape after being infused with spiritual energy, please look!”

After hearing a click the table the rock was floating on started to shine brighter. The grayish piece of rock started to quickly react and expand inside. Soon it changed to the shape of a sword.

“Hoh, good work.”

Zhang Dong without thinking reached out to grasp this sword. It felt like a regular longsword but after a few test swings, he noticed that there was something off. Soon the shape started to alter itself again and the construct quickly crumbled.

“As you can see Patriarch, we have to work out some kinks.”

He nodded while removing dust from his robe that it was covered in. His people managed to alter the shape so it meant that they were on the right track. Perhaps soon enough he could deploy a similar fortress for field testing but only if his people managed to recreate the materials that it was made from.

“I will leave you to it then, report to me if you make any progress.”

After his short visit, he was off once more, back outside where the battles were taking place.