Realms In The Firmament

“What is your plan now?” A middle-aged man of the Long Clan spoke with a solemn face, “The situation is clear now. It has taken us dozens of men’s lives to test the two great sects’ purpose. Thing will only get worse if we let it go as it goes… It is everybody’s crisis this time. Nobody can escape! We should all give our opinions, suggestions. Let’s figure out a solution to get through this crisis.”

People in the room all became silent when he said it.

They all knew that it was true, but they just couldn’t think of any practical solution!

They were all angry, but in their eyes, there was only desperation. They truly didn’t have any idea how to deal with it!

They were elites of their clans. They were the top cultivators that were sent to the Chen-Xing City this time. They were all Sky Origin Stage cultivators, who were qualified enough to sit in this room!

However, they just couldn’t have a way to defend from the two great sects. They were just too strong.

“This time, we are truly hopeless.” An old man sighed and said, “If we fight together, maybe we could defeat them in this city, but what would happen after this fight would be nothing we can afford. We can’t just sit here waiting, yet we can’t take any step forward. We may be able to remove the stone that block our way, yet what hides under it is something we cannot mess with.”

Everyone nodded to agree.

It was true.

If it was just a fight, they wouldn’t be scared. If it was just some normal martial world grudges, they wouldn’t be afraid.

The worst situation would just be death.

They were half of the most powerful people in the clans of the Land of Han-Yang. They wouldn’t be scared of anything about fights!

However, they had their concerns. They were usually not absolutely free. They all had their responsibilities!

When a brave man died, he no longer needed to worry about anything.

However, the problem was that even if they died, their families would get killed too!

Maybe some thousands years old clan would be vanished just because of their boldness.

Nobody could take that risk!

The problem concerned the prestige of the two great sects. No matter what, anything that concerned prestige would be extremely complicated and difficult to be solved.

They were after all the two great sects in the Land of Han-Yang, that had been in the highest position for a long long time.

People of the five clans all cursed in mind, [You want your prestige. Don’t we want ours?] However, they only dared to say it in mind. They never dared to say it out.

They knew the great sects wanted prestige, and they knew they had bigger fists.

That was something they couldn’t help!

This was a world that bigger fists made the call!

They surely had big fists too, but the great sects had bigger ones. That was all. They had been living for thousands of years, but this time. they met someone who had bigger fists than them!

“The only way that can save our men and their prestige is that we have a conversation with them about the supreme dan beads we have. It will show our kind intention and also show us how much they actually want from us. Dan beads or money are just belongings. People is our basic power!”

The man from the Gongsun Clan said.

He had a dry-skin face and he was small.

The man from the Long Clan humphed and said, “Do you think I don’t know that? I have sent people to talk to them already.”

“What did they say then?” Everybody was curious.

It concerned the future of the whole event, and it concerned all their lives!

“The man of Starlight Sect said…” The middle-aged man couldn’t help to show anger on his face, and he felt ashamed too. He said, “They… They want all our supreme dan beads and each of our clans should give them five billion as compensation to them. Everyone who attended the auction should cut one of his arms. They also want us to swear to god in the names of our ancestors and children that we will never tell anybody what we saw in the auction…”

- Boom! -

Everybody burst!

They all burst in anger.

“Nonsense!”

“That is too much!”

“How could they ask for this?”

“How could they even say it!”

“What do they think of us? They think they can just do whatever they want from us? They treat us like nothing! Are we toys to them?”

“We can never agree to such things! Son of a bxtch!”

“The great sects are acting too over!”

They talked and talked. Everyone was filled with anger.

The middle-aged man, who was the leader of the Long Clan group, showed anger on his face. He spoke in a deep voice, “Everybody knows that we Eight Noble Clans have been living for thousands of years. We should be thrifty clans, but we are still weak. Even if we were in our perfect condition, we can do no better. Compared to the great sects, we are too weak.”

“We have spent a lot to get the supreme dan beads in the auction this time. You know why we want the dan beads so bad that we could spend everything for it.”

“First, we had difficulties to improve ourselves since thousands of years ago. Even though we really want to be stronger, it is impossible. Those sects that have seized the higher positions on us would never allow us to improve. The Bone Ablutionary Dan and Mai Connection Dan are our only hope for the thousands of years that can let us be stronger!”

People nodded with silence to agree.

They were having exactly the same thought.

“The rise of a clan needs genius disciples to break through their limits! In fact, it needs even more resources!” That man from the Long Clan spoke with his eyes lit up, “Our clans never lack geniuses for all these years, but we don’t have enough resources, quality resources! That is why when we reach a certain stage… we will stop improving. That is why we cannot defeat those from those martial sects.”

…