"And so we request that the Wu Patriarch hand over our Clansman to us. We will make sure they are adequately punished."

Within the Wu Clan's main hall, a middle-aged man at the Mid Nascent Soul Realm addressed Wu Jian. His short blonde hair and close shaven beard gave him a refined look, but his yellow eyes contained a boundless arrogance as he looked at the throne.

However, he did not dare pick a fight in the Wu Patriarch's seat of power, especially not since they were both at the Nascent Soul Realm of cultivation as that was where one could begin drawing on their connection with the area and people around them, reaching great heights of power and being able to transend stages when they fought on their home turf.

Still, his higher cultivation was enough to send a message that the Gao Clan could crush the Wu Clan should it so choose, reminding Wu Jian that his enemies could mobilise forces that were stronger than him when he was away from this mountain and in great enough numbers that it wouldn't matter if he was in his home or not.

"I cannot do that. At least not until my subordinate is adequately compensated for the ordeal that he went through and I am compensated for the time and energy I had to put in to stop something disastrous from happening."

The enthroned man replied, slapping the face of the Gao Clan by insinuating that the suffering of his own Qi Gathering cultivator was more important than the suffering of their Core Formation one. The guest grit his teeth, holding back what he was about to say. He struggled for a few moments before getting control of himself.

"I believe you’ll find sufficient compensation in here."

He said as he tossed one of his special rings towards the Wu Patriarch. Wu Jian grabbed it out of the air and scanned its contents with his divine sense, the other man having removed his imprint from it. The bell in his soul sea had to chime to prevent his expression from changing into one of shock.

"Yes, I believe it is."

He replied, waving a hand for a servant to bring the Gao prisoner in from the side hall where they were being kept. The cultivator looked no worse for wear, the only injury being to their pride. The elder grabbed his clansmen and started to walk out of the hall before he stopped for a moment with his back turned to the throne.

"Fight with everything you’ve got against the Zhao Alliance. It will be more entertaining if you struggle before your death."

He sent through divine sense, his mental voice dripping with ire. He then continued out of the hall and compound, taking off flying with his subordinate in tow as soon as there was no ceiling above his head.

Wu Jian watched him go before calling over another servant and handing them the storage ring.

"Sort through this and set aside the items that will be useful to the cultivators our vassal clans owe us for our defence. Sell the rest quickly to any force unallied with the Zhao Alliance or Gao Clan, for below market price if you need to. Have the funds prepared for me in a week."

He ordered. The Gao elder had given him a storage ring full of weapons and armour of varying alignments, everything from fire aligned swords to lightning aligned breastplates. However, there was a lack of light aligned items, those being taken for the Gao Clan’s own use, and water aligned items, as they, understandably, did not want to strengthen their enemies too much. Still, it was worth it for them as the cultivator represented the future of their clan, being only a step away from Nascent Soul, and they did not want to risk them being killed or crippled when their was a chance that their talent could bring another Nascent Soul master into the clan. Under circumstances where he was not desperate for the funds that selling these items would bring, Wu Jian would not have accepted this deal and the Gao Clan knew it, underselling him but not taking it so far as to risk him refusing the deal.

"Yes Lord Patriarch."

The servant left to carry out their task, leaving Wu Jian alone in the hall. At least, he seemed to be until he spoke.

"You see now what we are facing. Will you act?"

His words hung in the air for a few moments before a collection of voices spoke in his head at once.

"Should their elders come, we will act. But we will not leave the mountain’s range."

The harmony quieted and Wu Jian addressed them once more.

"That is all I can ask."

He said, before he too left the hall.