Three days passed in the blink of an eye and Curo stood in front a massive City. The walls of the city stood over a towering 100 meters tall and from the scars on the walls, it was obvious that it had seen many battles. This was the Laying Dragon Fortress, Fengdu.

This city was quite famous, their elite squads that compromised solely of 13th stage Qi Gathering Disciples, using a certain Battle Formation, could even kill Early Stage Foundation Establishment cultivators. In this entire city, except for a few wandering Foundation Establishment cultivators that were just passing through, there didn’t exist a person with higher cultivation than Qi Gathering.

It was obvious that they had been alerted of his arrival as there was a squad of ten people riding pitch black war horses heading his way. They all wore black armour with a golden dragon emblem on their shoulder pauldron. Curo lowered his altitude and jumped down from the board. As he stood there waiting, a bit of time passed before the small squad arrived in front of him. As they all stopped, the middle aged, mountain like man in the middle jumped down from his horse and took off his helmet. When he took it off, Curo’s eyes opened wide as he blurted out, “Zhao Feng?”

The man was startled as his eyes turned sharp and said, “No, I am Fengdu’s current General in Charge Zhao Long. I presume esteemed Sir is Ji Curo, the new Commander?” Curo shook his head and took out the Commander Badge he had gotten from Shi. After seeing the Badge, the nine other men also dismounted from their horses and fell to one knee with Zhao Long and cupped their hands, “Greetings Commander.” Curo was surprised by the display.

He didn’t sense any dishonesty or mocking in their salute. Curo had expected he would have to show his might a bit before he could get the people to follow his orders. Every other Foundation Establishment and higher cultivator that was stationed here…. They all died within a month of arriving. He had presumed that all of them would snicker to themselves that “Another idiot marching to his death.” or “He can throw his weight around all he wants, he will be dead within a month any ways.” or something along the lines. He had lived as a Lone Cultivator for 9000 years, schemes and reading people were one of the few things he was certain he was number one in these Minor Worlds.

He could swipe his Soul Force over all of them and probe them without them being the wiser. However, even then, he still didn’t find a sliver of deceit amongst them. Curo then had them all rise and looked at Zhao Feng with a slightly odd gaze. He then made a few more words as small talk and followed them inside the city. On the way, he was brought up to date about the situation inside the city and outside. Lately, the Aboriginals attacks had lessened for some reason with only having a few skirmishes in the past year. They had no major battles as the years prior.

Without wasting time, he immediately had them carve out a small part of the city for open trade and for travellers to visit and set out to set down the symbiotic Seven Dragons Formation. The next few days, the city was turned upside down with all of the spare disciples hurriedly constructing a wall in the middle of the city to carve out the Free Trade Zone. Curo carefully set down the formations in the seven locations and after taking a few precautions to keep them hidden and safe, he went to the City Lord’s Mansion. Since he was the highest authority in the City, this was his residence from today onwards.

After familiarizing himself with the Mansion and setting down a few Formations, he started the purge. This place was at the front lines of war and there were over ten thousand disciples here acting as the army. To have a spy or two amongst them was to be expected. He swept his Soul Force over the city and as he kept a Transmission Talisman in his left hand. Every time he found one that harboured malicious intentions towards them, he immediately notified Zhao Long and had him arrest them.

Three days passed in this manner and the imprisonment area underneath the City Lord’s Manor was now filled with Qi Gathering Disciples. Even Curo was a bit taken a back by the sheer number of the people imprisoned there. There were over 800 people there, nearly one tenth of the total forces there. Some of these people were also hidden deep as they were greatly respected by others around them and they had done many “meritorious deeds” for the City.

It took roughly two weeks to weed out all the spies, set down the formations and otherwise stabilise the situation in the city. Currently Curo had gathered a bit over two hundred people inside the main reception hall of the Mansion. As these people were all sweating, not knowing what to expect, Curo entered the hall. After all the people present saluted him, Curo asked them to stand. He stood on a bit of a higher ground in front of them and said in a clear loud voice, “You are all probably wondering why I assembled all of you here.”

As the deadly silence reigned in the hall, Curo swept his gaze over all of the people present. From their expressions, he read out that they were all truly wondering and fearful of that. He then chuckled and said, “Can someone tell me what you all have in common in addition to being part of the higher echelon of the City?” From the lax way of speaking, they all relaxed a bit. It was obvious that they weren’t here because of something bad or because he wanted to silence them or anything.

After a few minutes of silence, a quiet voice, filled with uncertainty, sounded out in the deadly silent hall, “We are all at the peak of Qi Gathering and have been forcefully suppressing our cultivations not to enter the Foundation Establishment?” Curo’s mouth turned into a smile as he nodded his head and said, “That is right. You have all been suppressing your cultivations because once you enter Foundation Establishment, you would enter the Kill List of the Aboriginals.”

He then took a breath and said, “The reason I gathered all of you here is to say this: With the Formation from the Sect, there is no more reason to be afraid of entering the Foundation Establishment. This Formation is a special one that will not allow even a Nascent Soul Expert enter inside stealthily, not to mention Foundation Establishment or Core Formation Experts.”

He then took a small pause to let it sink into them and then continued in a serious manner, “For the next month, all the affairs of the City will be handled by me and me alone. I have prepared a suitable place for all of you to try and enter Foundation Establishment on your own. After the month, those that have managed to enter Foundation Establishment, will become the hidden Core Force of the City, those that can not, will resume their posts and after being able to enter to Foundation Establishment, will also be able to enter the Core Force.”

These words struck everyone dumb. In addition to no longer having to be afraid of dying the moment they entered Foundation Establishment, they would be given a suitable place to help break through to Foundation Establishment. With all that, Curo would also take over all of their responsibilities for a month to keep their distractions to a minimum. If with all of these conditions they still couldn’t enter Foundation Establishment, then it was their own fault. After saying a few more things, he sent them all to wrap up any immediate affairs and prepare themselves mentally. A week later, they were all to gather at the Hall again.

As the Hall was emptying, Curo’s voice echoed out, “Zhao Long, stay for a moment.” Hearing this, everyone exchanged a glance but swiftly left, leaving the two alone. After everyone had left, Zhao Long stood there rod straight waiting for Curo to talk. Curo then asked, “What has happened to the Zhao Clan?” Hearing this, Zhao Long’s eyes first turned wide but then narrowed as he said, “I have no idea what Senior Commander is talking about.” Curo then looked at him for a moment longer before sighing and producing a small pendant with a wave of his hand. Seeing the pendant, Zhao Long’s eyes opened as wide as carriage wheels and his heart started beating wildly as he dropped down to his knees and kowtowed towards Curo saying, “This small one greets Lord Ancestor!”

Curo then said, “Rise up and tell me what has happened to the Zhao Clan.” Without missing a beat, Zhao Long stood up and said, “Yes, Lord Ancestor.” After saying that, he started narrating everything that had happened to the Zhao Clan. They had been at the peak of their power but then, The Seven Devils Sect along with several local Sects and Clans had plotted against the Zhao Clan, nearly annihilating them. They had been forced to take what they could from their Clan’s treasury and flee to several other worlds. After generations passed, the escaped disciples had been all found and killed off except for Zhao Long’s branch.

And then, after hiding deeply in this world, generation after generation, their Clan kept declining. As of right now, only Zhao Long, his sister and a few other members of the Clan lived. They numbered only around 20 to 30 people in total. And since Zhao Longs status and Cultivation was the highest, he was the current Clan Patriarch.

Hearing this Curo let out a deep sigh as he said to Zhao Long, “Me and your Founding Ancestor were sworn brothers that have been through countless bloody and deadly slaughters. His kin is my kin. Gather all of your remaining Clan members in this mansion and give them these resources. Even though the Great Mystic Worlds Zhao Clan has fallen, fate has brought us all together. I will look after my brothers Clan with the best I can.” After saying so, he threw Zhao Long a Spatial Ring with Top Grade Cultivation Arts and some Top Grade Battle Arts as well. He had included a deed to a First Grade Mansion inside the City and mountains of Pills and other necessary resources.

After saying a few more words to Zhao Long, he sent him to gather the Clan. After Zhao Long had left, Curo sat in the huge hall by himself. After a few minutes of silence, a deep sigh sounded out with a mumble, “Fate truly is a mysterious thing. Even though I wasn’t able to help your Clan back then, I will not let you blood die Brother Feng.” After mumbling that, he fell silent as all sorts of memories came back to him. For 9000 years he had travelled the Worlds as a Lone Cultivator. During those years, he had made many friends, some Brothers and countless enemies.

Zhao Feng had been his Sworn Brother with who they had been to thick, thin and any mountain of knives or seas of fires the Realm had to offer. When Zhao Feng had passed his Tribulation, he had asked Curo to look after his Clan if they asked for help. Curo would have dropped everything he was doing if the Clan had asked for help back then but they hadn’t.

He didn’t know why they hadn’t asked for help but even still, Curo felt a bit responsible. He had promised to look after his Clan but when it needed him the most, he hadn’t been there to help.

With a heavy sigh, Curo disappeared from the hall.