An Elder's Revolution - The Art of Sect Politics

Ning Bai hovered above the hill that his army was in the process of erecting their camp upon. Ahead of them, just a couple kilometers away, lay the Roaring Thunder Sect. It was built at the foot of a mountain-range, nestled comfortably between two massive mountains that protected it from all but its eastern side.

Isolating it from the plains that led to the sea and thus the Lunar Peak Sect's approaching forces, a massive chasm gaped open, leading from the foot of one mountain to the other's. Its steep cliffs seemed unnatural and would undoubtedly have long collapsed in on themselves if not for the formations holding them in place. Legend had it that the Roaring Thunder Sect's ancestral founder had once carved that chasm with a single strike of his sword.

Regardless of the accuracy of that tale, the only way to enter the sect without climbing the mountains or flying over the chasm were several large rope-bridges leading across. Ning Bai had walked them once, when they had still been on much more friendly terms. He had been received in the sect's palace halls, which, like many other of the sect's most important facilities, were carved deep into the mountains themselves.

In short: The entire place was a natural fortress. Even if the martially focused sect's defensive formations lacked some of the versatility and sophistication of the Lunar Peaks Sect's ones, it was just as well, if not even better protected from invasion.

A tough nut to crack, but crack it Ning Bai would. Besides, even though it may have been nearly impossible under normal circumstances, the odds were in his favor right now.

Fielding as many armies as they were, the Roaring Thunder Sect had been forced to stretch itself thin, and their plan hadn't ever included a direct assault on their sect. Whatever force they had left behind as garrison would probably barely be enough to even operate the defensive formations and once these were broken down, they would lack the manpower to deny Ning Bai's forces the crossing of the chasm. An empty fortress was just a gift ready for the taking!

A little off to the distance, his men had already started work on the first few siege formations and weapons. He had put most of his army to the task and the rest would join them once they were done erecting the camp. If everything went right, they would start putting pressure on the Roaring Thunder Sect's defenses before three days had passed.

It would still take a long time before they had enough to actually break the defenses, of course. At least the formations could have been a lot faster, had Elder Liang been able to aid them and Ning Bai almost wished, he was here. Almost. Because if the Formation Hall's master had actually been with them, he'd likely be the one to lead the army in Ning Bai's stead.

As it was, Ning Bai and the elders below him had to plan the formations on their own and while it wasn't his exact specialty, he was still rather confident in his abilities in the field. As scholars, the members of his family were educated in all sorts of cultivational arts, including the creation of siege formations. And the knowledge they possessed about them rivaled any specialized family with ease.

In fact, they had been instrumental in bringing siege formations to the peninsula in the first place. Back when defensive formations had gotten better and better, it had been becoming more and more difficult to assail a sect without powerful siege weaponry. That, however, could be rather easily destroyed by the defending sects.

The idea of using formations to both protect and strengthen one's siege weapons had first come up on the mainland, but the Bai Family had been quick to adapt it and bring it to the peninsula, which had afforded them almost a millennium of uninterrupted victories before the others had fully caught up.

It had been glorious days indeed. Back then, the Bai Family was at the strongest it had ever been, perhaps the most influential family across the Northern Sect Alliance. A status they had long lost, even Ning Bai had to admit that.

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His resolve hardened again – he would bring his family back to its rightful place, no matter the cost. And luckily, if there had ever been an opportunity to do so, it was the war against the Roaring Thunder Sect.

War was always the herald of rise and fall. It offered plenty of opportunities for those willing to grasp them. When the tide had first turned in favor of the Roaring Thunder Sect and it became clear that the Lunar Peaks Sect would have to join the war, Ning Bai had considered siding with the enemy instead.

Information, loyalty and his family's strength could have bought him a fine place at Xing Zhou's side, he was sure of that. Perhaps, he'd have been made the Lunar Peaks Sect's new patriarch beneath the Roaring Thunder Sect as a reward. And after they had degraded him like they had, his fellow Elders would certainly have deserved that fate.

However, besides the terrible disgrace of betraying one's sect to the enemy, there was more to keep Ning Bai from going down that path. First and foremost, Xing Zhou was not a man to share. Were he to conquer the Lunar Peaks Sect, the new patriarch would be little more than a puppet of his will. The wealth of the sect would flow not to them, but to the Zhou Family and even as a new patriarch, Ning Bai may have been worse off than he was now.

Second, there was Song Fan. The Roaring Thunder Sect's strategist was Xing Zhou's right hand and wouldn't tolerate anyone encroaching of that position. If anyone under the Zhou family were to get too powerful, he would undoubtedly intervene.

Finally, even if Ning Bai had switched sides, he still couldn't have been confident that the Roaring Thunder Sect would actually win the war – and traitors were dealt with even more harshly than enemies.

All of that had brough Ning Bai to abandoning that plan. Instead, he had resolved to use the opportunities that lay in victory over the Roaring Thunder Sect to the greatest advantage possible. And then, as if fate had decided to reward his loyalty, Elder Wei had unwittingly put him in the perfect position to do so.

Besides the obvious material wealth from plundering enemy sects and looting defeated armies, every war offered certain… other prizes, worth being claimed. Prizes of glory and renown, prizes of the name. In this war, the greatest war in many generations, there were two such prizes:

The first was Patriarch Xing Zhou himself or, more accurately, his head. Whoever managed to slay the strongest cultivator in the entire peninsula would be hailed as a hero for generations. Unfortunately, Ning Bai had practically no chance to be this person – too vast was the power difference between him and Xing Zhou for him to even consider attacking him. Even if it wasn't, the Patriarch of the Roaring Thunder Sect was somewhere far, far beyond the horizon, campaigning with his army halfway across the peninsula from here.

But that hardly mattered, because his head paled in comparison to the prize that lay right at Ning Bai's feet: The Roaring Thunder Sect itself. Xing Zhou may have been a prolific figure in the Northern Sect Alliance for hundreds of years now, but his sect had stood tall for many thousands.

The Roaring Thunder Sect was beyond old; it was ancient. It had been among the three great sects long before the Serene Plains Sect had joined them as the fourth one. It had seen ages come and go, heroes rise and fall, it had dominated civilization on the peninsula to a degree that it was hard to imagine what the world would look like without it.

And yet, it would fall.

And it would be Ning Bai, Patriarch of the Bai Family, Head Strategist of the Lunar Peaks Sect, who it would fall to. He would stand at the head of the army marching through the sect gates, he would be the sword cutting down the last defenders, he would be the boot to kick down the sect palace's doors. He would claim the greatest prize of all!

He had greased the wheels with the subordinate sects. He had offered favors, given gifts and stoked their greed, to get them to comply. They'd departed weeks earlier than the other Elders had thought possible and his plan for a quick advance had been almost unilaterally accepted. He wouldn't let this opportunity be taken from him!

And now, they stood before the Roaring Thunder Sect. Now it would all pay off. In one action, he would transform himself into the most accomplished cultivator on the peninsula! The name of Ning Bai would be recorded in the annals of history above Long Zhao, Liu Wei or Meixiu Xia. It would be whispered in fear and reverence for thousands of years and it would carry far beyond the grand forest. From there, the Bai Family would rise back to its rightful place at the top!

So absorbed was the Grand Strategist of the Lunar Peaks Sect in his daydreams about the grandiose future he envisioned for himself and his family, that he barely took notice of the movement occurring in the corner of his vision. Only when it grew more and more visible and the first men began shouting and pointing at it did he begin paying attention to the cloud of dust that was emerging from behind the southern mountain.

And to the black banners that flew above it.