‘Hey Bob, what’s happening? Can’t you do something about this?’

‘Error error, unable to block, forceful teleportation will commence in 5…4…3…’

‘God damn…’

“What’s wrong?”

Zhang Liena turned to Zhang Dong who was flailing his arms around in an uncharacteristic manner. Usually, he would remain mostly silent in the background while only talking when he had to. His strange outburst could only mean that something was wrong and soon she realized that his body was getting surrounded by blue energy.

“It was a trap, I’m getting pulled in, don't try to…”

“Wait what is happening!?”

Before she could grasp his hand it disappeared into blue fireflies. His last sentence was not finished but one thing was clear, this was not one of his strange games. The performance didn’t feel as forced as usual. Something had gone wrong with Bahamut that had been sent to scout out the way for them.

“Where did the Patriarch go?”

“Was there some type of trap in there, was he pulled away through his soul beast?”

The other elders that were in the room saw their somewhat panicked leader vanish from the spot. While they knew that he was in possession of various teleportation techniques this one seemed different. The way how it activated right after the large dragon vanished through the gate was suspicious. Without their leader around they found themselves asking all sorts of questions.

“How did they do this? How did they activate the technique inside of the Golden Palace, there should be no way of something like this happening!”

“Could there be some type of bloodline magic at play? Perhaps the Patriarch’s strong ties to the Long Clan allowed them to do so?”

Some of the theories made some sense as bloodline bonds in the cultivation world were not just biology. There was a mystical power integrated into each bloodline and the stronger the ancestor who was the origin point of it, the more powerful the descendants became. It was possible that through such arts their leader was yanked into an unknown location.

“Be quiet, that’s not what we should be arguing about!”

“Elder Jin is right, we must send out our soldiers to investigate that gate!”

The people in the golden palace looked at the strange gate and the grasslands past it. Without their leader, they found themselves in a strange place. Should they push forward and figure out the extent of the trap or would waiting be the better option?

Their Patriarch had always managed to come back from these kinds of situations, even if it took him years most of the people here believed that one day he would be back. Thus soon they started to calm down, this was not the first time that something unexpected happened. What they now needed to do was figure things out and the first step would be to see if they could get through this gate. The whole palace was almost a kilometer in diameter by itself so pushing it through was an option and probably their next move if their Patriarch did not return.

While everyone was calming down from losing their glorious leader, the man in question was appearing in a room of white. He was overtaken by a strange teleportation spell that felt strange. It was as if he was not the one being teleported but somehow the area around him was forcefully switched out to this location. It was some type of higher version of teleporting

‘Bob, where am I? This looks like some type of pocket dimension.’

‘Unknown space detected, location unknown, trying to calculate.’

When he arrived here he was sure to activate all of his spiritual senses. He was either inside of the formation that created a separate dimension or was transported into an entirely new location. During Bahamut’s descend into the gate he tracked his location that was going all over the place but suddenly it vanished after arriving at the centermost region. This meant that more than likely he was transported near the capital city and perhaps he was right as he was not alone.

“My Brother, you have arrived!”

“Long Qing? Did you do this? How were you able to pull me in here…”

“Oh, this place has a special connection to our bloodline, after you sent in your soul beast it was quite easy.”

Long Qing shrugged while smiling. Bahamut that was sucked in first was also here and was growling at a blue beast. Another dragon of comparable size was at Long Qing’s side and it looked like battle was imminent. However, after looking around Zhang Dong started asking himself a few questions.

‘Is this really a trap? I don’t see anyone else, if he wanted to kill me, then would other masters be here with him?’

This didn’t make much sense, where were the experts? Was Long Qing so assured of his strength that he didn’t think that bringing over help was needed? Was it possible that he didn’t actually want to fight but talk instead?

‘I don’t see the Empress anywhere but I can’t pierce through those strange white walls, are they made from the same material I encountered at the spawn points?’

The whole area was rather large, in the middle there was a sizable platform with a gazebo on top. His so-called brother was floating right above the roof with a shit-eating grin of unprecedented proportions. Ever since he started interacting with this person his strange deposition of not taking anything seriously had become apparent.

Even now it looked like he was in the middle of playing a prank of his but this one involved the lives of billions. With the future of the entire empire at stake here, this did make Zhang Dong’s blood boil. Why was this war even continuing if his brother didn’t seem to care about anyone?

‘I need to calm down before I smack him right in that perfect jawline… maybe if he doesn’t care that much about the empire… I could convince him to form a pact of non-aggression.’

While usually, the old monarch needed to be forced down from the throne, this didn’t mean that he couldn’t remain here in the central region. The biggest problem was access to the main spirit vein which was causing a decrease of spiritual energy in the western regions. They would need to be given access to it. A promise was not enough but this would mean that his forces would need to be stationed here and occupy it. The Elders from the Long Clan would not stand for it but perhaps there was a chance.

‘As long as it limits the deaths and keeps everyone safe…’

Zhang Dong nodded to himself and moved his arm up to call Bahamut back. The two dragons were eyeing each other while hissing. If he didn’t do something about it, then a fight would instantly break out.

“I see that you wish to have a chat?”

“Yes, I presume that this was why you brought me here, to have a talk?”

“You are correct! Now come, let us talk!”

If it was possible then handling this predicament without a fight would be optimal. This strange meeting he was having with the enemy leader could be a good sign. Even after arriving at this strange location, he was not getting attacked from all sides. This didn’t mean that there was no danger as he knew a trope that went along with this scenario.

“Little Brother, why don’t you stop this little temper tantrum and return to the Clan?”

“Temper tantrum? I’m not sure that I am following?”

“You don’t have to say a thing, I understand what you are feeling but fear not, I’ll talk to the elders about it, I’m sure they will forgive your little game.”

“Game?”

Zhang Dong was confused as his ‘older brother’ was throwing out some strange words. It was as if he was saying that the whole war was just an emotional outburst of a younger sibling.

“Do you believe that I did this just to impress the elders?”

“Why yes? Didn’t you do it to prove your position inside the clan? I’m sure they will accept you as the leader of the West now! It was quite the ingenious plan to use the old prophecy against them!”

“I see…”

Long Qing started going off-script to a place that he didn’t expect. From his standpoint, it seemed that Zhang Dong used the other Empires to show off his might. The possibility of him orchestrating the other empires by hiring mercenaries was also brought up to the front. It was as if the Azure Emperor didn’t even pay attention to the chaos that was spreading through the empire while it was happening.

“Great, so you agree. I will have to make an example of a few of your elders, like that Huo Qiang fellow. He had killed a couple of prominent elders and young masters so I’m sure that you’ll understand.”

“You want to do what?”

“Is there a problem? The face of the clan needs to be kept, if we don’t keep on appearances then the people might think that we are weak. Do you have a better solution? Oh I know, you have a daughter and a son.”

“Huh? What are you…”

“I understand, my sons are a bit old and my daughter too… but if we bonded our children with each other, then no one could complain!”

He wanted to lean over and give the Azure Emperor a smack for just suggesting something like this. His kids were way older than the father of the children he was trying to give away. From his short visit to the capital city, he also discovered that the two sons were already wed to multiple women. Having his only daughter be just another notch to one of those idiots was not something that he could stomach.

“So let me get this straight…”

Zhang Dong had enough of the one-sided conversation. It was as if Long Qing thought he had all the cards on his side. The time to turn this around had come and he had to list a few of his own dealbreakers.

“You wish to kill one of my elders, that also happens to be my good friend and also offer up my children to bargain?”

“Well, if you say it like that then it sounds bad but I’m sure you know how it is.”

“Oh, I know how it is… so let me give you an offer. I want the remaining grand elders to be brought to me, their cultivation base will be stripped and you will make an apology.”

“Me, apologize, for what?”

“For starting this war when you could have ended it…”

“My dear brother, your joke is going a bit too far.”

Long Qing started chuckling but soon realized that his white-haired brother was not responding in jests. His face remained unmoving as he stared with deep conviction. The rise in spiritual force in the area was also a sign for how serious this issue was and that he would not go back on it…