Wan and Ling got back after discussing things and Wan looked at Lith and said while shaking his head, "I am sorry, Sir Ray, but I can't do that."
Lith nodded. "Understandable. How about this then? These two will lead one squad consisting of ten of your disciples. You can see their prowess and then judge the things, yes?"
Wan pondered over what Lith said and looked at Ling, who nodded her head in response.
"We can do that. Doesn't seem like a bad idea."
Lith smiled and said, "it's done then. Get us some of your Rank 8s and we'll begin our attack. Also, do share with us the details that you know of. Of course, you don't need to share everything as of now. Just share enough so that we can strategize better."
"Will be done, no problem." Wan said while nodding his head.
Lith and the other two left the place and after they were gone, Wan looked at Ling and asked,
"Is it really going to be okay?"
Ling placed her hand over Wan's and said, "you worry too much, dear. If we were to meet our demise, it would've happened sooner. Us meeting together, then meeting that fortune teller, and then everything becoming really smooth from there on…"
"It's as if…"
Ling stared Wan in the eyes and continued, "...as if fate wants our good."
Wan smiled and shook his head. "Do you really believe in such a thing called 'fate'?"
Ling nodded her head. "Dear, though we don't see anyone talk much about fate anymore, have you not read about it in the ? It's very clearly mentioned there that fate did exist and there's also scriptures from a million years ago stating that fate was still there."
Wan shook his head again and said, "dear, that book even talks about beauty, lust, gluttony, and every such things being real existence who were sentient and could even talk. How am I supposed to believe it? I really find that book something which was written by a bored immortal who wanted nothing but fame and attention."
Ling looked at her husband and sighed. There were times when her husband became really ignorant of things and this was one of those times. She had no idea what went on in his head to think of it like this, but she wasn't going to correct him or debate with him about it.
The two have had a lot of arguments regarding the book and for some reason, Wan really didn't believe even one percent of it and considered it childish and foolish.
When Ling first talked about the book to him, Wan's reaction was that it was a book made for kids to understand the elemental energies and get a general idea of the world. From that time onwards, they've argued a lot over this already.
"My dear husband, you should really sit and listen to some podcasts that explain things about this book. It's an inheritance of the First Immortal, you shouldn't take it so lightly. If you can't comprehend things yourself, podcasts are your way to go." Ling tried to coax Wan into getting himself dwelled into the book again.
"No way am I wasting my time like that. The podcasts nowadays are just filled with a bunch of unemployed teenagers who think they're really smart for the world or some old farts who are really bored and have nothing to do. I'd rather spend some time with you than listen to those." Wan shook his head and complained.
Ling didn't know whether to laugh or cry about it. On one hand, she liked the fact that her husband preferred spending time with her than doing other things, but on the other hand, the idea of podcasts failed and now they were back to level zero on their argument about the book.
"Speaking of spending time, we haven't really spent time together in a long while, have we? The war has kept us busy for so long…" Wan sighed. "But thankfully, there's some time for the main conflict to occur, do you wanna–"
Ling put a finger on Wan's lips and said with a seductive smile, "the answer to that is yes. But first let's finish with the matters related to Ray and we can have a break then."
A happy smile appeared on Wan's face and he bent forward to kiss Ling. The two then started discussing things related to the war again and became busy.
A few hours later.
In one of the courtyards of the Shadow River Sect…
"Your Highness, the information we got about the two clans seems kinda limited." Dennis said.
Ralph, who was looking at his phone and going through the information, chimed in, "Speak more formally, you're the heir of a Duke Clan and you should be responsible."
Dennis looked at Ralph and spread his hands out. "What informal thing did I even say?"
Ralph looked at Dennis and said, "You said 'kinda' which is something you shouldn't do. You should've said something like, 'kind of', 'rather', 'somewhat', 'fairly', 'moderately', 'in a way', 'slight–"
"Alright shut up, lit. professor. Anyway, getting back to the–"
"Don't say lit., it sounds so wrong when spoken out loud. Say literature and don't you dare say to me again, 'it was so lit bro. Last night was fire'. It doesn't suit your noble persona and if you say it to anyone you aren't close with, they're going to judge you a lot." Ralph corrected Dennis again.
Ralph was really tired of Dennis constantly using such slangs with him. Due to Dennis, Ralph once ended up saying, 'yes, that made me chuckle, lol.'
This was pointed out to him by his mother when she asked what does 'lol' mean and only then did Ralph realize the blunder he made. From then on, it kind of became a habit of his to point things out to Dennis and stop him, while also ensuring he didn't learn those slangs.
"I get it. I get it. Can we continue now, Professor Ralph?" Dennis said.
Ralph nodded and they got back to discussing things again.
A few minutes of discussion later, Ralph noticed something and said, "it says here that the Senzal Clan purchased an army from the witches and they are now camping near the SKCT."
Lith looked at it and said, "seems like it. But they haven't given us a figure of how many troops and what type they are."
"They can give information about the army being purchased from witches but not the strength and number? Is the sect hiding things from us or do they really not know?" Dennis put out his thoughts.
Lith shook his head and said, "from what I know about the Sect Masters, they probably won't hide such a thing. The information about the strength of the army is not something that would put them at a disadvantage even if they revealed it. I am guessing that they really have no idea about it."
"Should we pay a witch to get information about it?" Ralph added to the conversation.
Lith thought about it for a few seconds and said, "No. I am not going to use my own money to benefit the sect. The goal is to gain experience through the war and get some benefits from them."
"But Your Highness, we know little to nothing."
Lith smiled and said to him, "No worries. The least we can do is ask the witches if there's anyone above Half Saint Rank present in the army. That much information should be enough."
"Yes. That should be enough for us to calculate the risks and rewards." Ralph agreed with Lith.
Lith then continued, "Okay, next is…"
.
.
.
"Any doubts?" Lith finished with his explanation and asked the last question.
Both shook their heads and after being done with their talks, they went to rest for a while.
…..
Next day.
Common area, Shadow River Sect.
The disciples were made to stand in groups of 10s and according to their Magic Ranks.
The sect elders were standing in one line at the front and behind them were the squads.
Sect Master Wan and Sect Master Ling were facing these people while standing in a dignified manner. They wore their usual red sect master robes and were currently looking at their disciples and elders.
Wan looked through the entire crowd for one last time and said,
"Elders, disciples, and all of the other supporting members of the Shadow River Sect, I, Sect Master Wan, thereby announce to you that we will officially be entering into the main conflict with the two clans."
"This time… The bloodshed that would occur would be tens of times more than anything you've ever seen, the losses would be huge, and there's no guarantee that you will be able to live the same life after this war."
"So… before we begin our attack on the two clans, is there anyone who doesn't want to deal with these affairs? Anyone who doesn't want to go to war? Anyone whose interests don't align with the sect's?"
"If there is, please move towards your right and exit the sect. There are government officials standing at the gates of the Shadow River Sect who'll escort you safely out of this conflict. But once you leave, you'll no longer be a member of the sect and would never be welcomed back here. All ties would be cut off and there's nothing more that would happen to you."
"This is the final chance to leave, there's no harm that'll happen to you. I, Wan, swear to the heavens that I'll stay true to my words."
A heavy atmosphere was created as Wan finished with his speech and there was complete silence in the common area, with the only noise that one could hear was the breathing of the other person beside them.
Wan and Ling had a calm look on their faces and were waiting for this to get over.
Pretty soon, one inner core disciple couldn't take it anymore and he bowed his head in shame and took his exit.
Wan and Ling felt nothing as they watched the disciple leave and after he was gone, a few other disciples mustered up courage and left as well.
In total, twenty students left with most of them being from the inner court and only four being from the outer court.
A few minutes passed and no more people were leaving.
Ling then said, "I'll give you five more minutes. This is the last and the final chance to leave. If within these five minutes you don't make your decision and leave, there's no going back then."
The disciples and elders stood silently and waited to see who among their peers was going to leave now.
And as Ling had expected, three elders left along with four more students.
Five minutes passed.
Ling flashed a small smile as she noticed most of them were here and same was the case with Wan.
Ling then clapped her hands once and said, "Alright then. Now that you're all here…"
.....
A/N: Normal chapter.
I am back in my hometown and it's night time right now. I'll post three chapters tomorrow by any means and if I get time, I'll do three chapters the day after tomorrow as well or simply post one and so three the day after the day after tomorrow.
It's festival time and I gotta help decorate the house with lighting and stuff and do various other things lmao.
Anywho, I'll do three tomorrow, promise.
Upcoming goals:
976/1000 GTs (+3 bonus)
816/1300 PS (+1 bonus)