A lone figure stood atop the edge of a mountain peak, gazing down at the many buildings and bustling figures of the sect. His sect. A very pleased smile made its home upon his face and he spent hours enjoying the view. The mere thought of all these people being his subordinates helped him get over how many years he spent living as an insect and burrowing in the ground, then the decades he spent in a brand new body growing back up to adulthood and finally working up to his current position.

No one can keep Jinxi down! It’s only a matter of time before I rise again. I don’t know if it's because of how much time passed, or if I’ve been exiled to the far reaches of humanity, but these groups are so much weaker. Once I expand my territory large enough I’ll be able to gather so many resources that it will put the old Chong Clan to shame. The Elders of the Yeying Shan Sect are so much easier to control than the factions of the Chong Clan.

Since he’d just taken over, he was in no hurry to make big changes. His patience was endless after all. It wouldn’t matter if he took complete control now or hundreds of years from now. Since he’d just become the Sect Leader he would first aim for the path of least resistance. He spent the next few years trying to pull over those who supported the prior Sect Leader to his side. The more support he had among the Elders the easier it would be to make changes. He also married the daughter of a very wealthy rogue cultivator and brought the rogue cultivator in question into the Yeying Shan Sect as a guest elder.

He also started to take some of the young talents under his wing to raise as disciples. With his great experience and access to resources he could raise them into new Elders for the sect. All the Elders were doing the same thing, but his greater experience and wealth of knowledge along with the first pick of the most talented youngsters would mean his own disciples would have an advantage.

In fact, Dou Bao was quite surprised by the techniques that they had in the Yeying Shan Sect. They weren’t really of the highest quality he’d ever seen, but they had a few full sets. If the sect was really ancient he would think they would have many hundreds of techniques, but instead they had less than thirty. For a very old sect, they would collect the techniques of their enemies, purchase them at auctions, or even invent new ones themselves. On the other hand, the Yeying Shan Sect just had six sets of four to six techniques that seemed perfectly suited to six different types of cultivators. It seemed more like six famous cultivators teamed up and formed a sect to pass down their signature skill sets. Since they wanted their own skills to carry on, they didn’t leave anything else behind.

Eh, why does it matter about the history of this sect? It’s just a decent starting point, but it doesn't really matter. Once my disciples become Elders we’ll conquer all our neighbors. Maybe they’ll have more interesting things. I have plenty of my own techniques I can teach to my disciples to strengthen my side.

Dou Bao focused on the training of his disciples and the production of offspring. After the little princess, his wife, had four children she grew tired of playing with him in the bedroom and took a concubine. He gifted a large amount of cultivation resources to his father-in-law to keep him from being upset and left the little princess to do whatever she wished. She was a little spiteful at first, ordering his concubine to perform tasks, but it was technically within her rights as the first wife, so he didn’t do anything to stop her. After a few months she stopped acting out and started heading into the city more often.

There were more children, more disciples, and sect matters to handle. He made sure to act as a model Sect Leader, handling things with the feelings of all parties in mind, yet with a decisive fairness. It was impossible to make everyone happy all the time, so it was better to remain respected and establish a clear set of guidelines and expected behavior.

Time passed and on this day, Dou Bao was standing at the side of a large sand table. It had a few carved statuettes as well as many colored flags planted into it, and many lines drawn in the sand between them. He was wearing a suit of resplendent battle armor and surrounded by a dozen others in similar, less expensive, suits of armor. Across from him, there was a young man with a sharp gaze and features quite similar to his own. The young man used a stick to stab a point on the sand, “Here. This is where we should strike their lines. The commander of the Sand Wolves was injured in our last push and will likely take weeks to recover his full strength. Additionally, the Steel Falcons and the Laughing Monkeys, here, are not very committed to this fight. They’re here because of old debts they have to repay, and mercenaries that aren’t even making money really hate risking their lives.”

One of the other armored men with a barrel chest laughed and slapped Dou Bao on the back, “Sect Leader, your son is a true talent! It looks like the future of our Yeying Shan Sect is bright indeed!”

Another one of the armored men was quick to join in on this butt kissing, “That’s right, a tiger does not give birth to a dog. It’s only a matter of time until Dou Tao is promoted to a general and us old folks can all retire.”

At that moment, the tent flap rustled and a Flying Messenger Scroll flew into the room. It flew over to Dou Bao and then unfurled itself for him to read. Almost instantly he recognized the seal at the bottom as belonging to his wife. What sort of trouble was she up to? Doesn’t she realize we are at war? I don’t have time for frivolous things!

He skimmed through the note and then frowned. The armored generals stepped back so they couldn’t read the scroll, but the young man saw the seal on it and walked around the table to get a closer look, “What’s wrong, Father? Did something happen to Mother?”

Dou Bao waved his hand and the scroll twisted around for his son to read. Then the young man was silent for a moment, copying his father’s momentary loss of words. Then the man took a bow towards his father, “Please forgive my brother, Father. I did not help him enough when we were younger.”

“Is not the father more responsible than the brother? I didn’t beat that son enough.”

Dou Bao holds up a clasped fist to salute each of the other Generals, “Forgive me, my son had gotten himself into trouble with a bigshot. I have to go, but when I return we will begin our assault once more. Use this time to figure out the best course of action.”

Who did that little fool offend?