The last Asura Sovereign

Suddenly the locked clan hall door burst open. Punya was about to scold when he saw it was the messenger from the previous day who brought the news about the shops. He sighed and patted his back to imbue spirit qi. It took a while for the messenger to calm down and catch his breath. He was even more breathless than yesterday. Punya watched as the messenger calmed down. The messenger bowed down and said, “Forgive my behavior clan leader but there is some terrible news.”

Hearing this Punya nodded and signaled him to start. “An elder from the Ming clan got drunk in one of our restaurants and one of the staff overheard a conversation that they were preparing to attack our clan”, the messenger replied. “When I heard about that I went to the restaurant to verify that and when I went there, the Ming clan elder was still present. The staff was a mortal branch of our clan” he continued. Punya hearing all this was perplexed.

He didn’t know what to make of it. There was no information from the spies about any attacks happening. And even if they were about to, why would an elder talk about it in the open? There were not many cultivators in the restaurant so being a foundation building real cultivator, the Ming clan elder could surely find a mortal with his divine sense. Punya thanked the messenger and signaled him to go. The messenger bowed and went out of the clan hall. Punya stood there and tried to understand what was happening.

Even if they were planning to attack, the news should not be leaked, and by an elder even at that. But if they were planning to do that in order to create panic and chaos, it wasn’t a smart move, that chaos wouldn’t be able to shake the foundation of the Rijal clan and, in fact, would make the clan members motivated to cultivate hard and be wary of the clans. “Why are these clans insisting on creating more trouble for our clan?

The chaos is already on its way. Even if they didn’t know the true power of our clan they should have an inkling of our strength. Why are they hell-bent on causing trouble? Do they think those families or the imperial power will let them be after the war?” Punya thought to himself and sighed. The situation was already delicate but it was still balanced. There were no new factors to suddenly change the situation. But if the two clans had indeed started preparing for war this soon, even if they defeated the Rijal clan they wouldn’t have an easy time ahead when the real war in the kingdom starts.

The clans should understand them or was there something they had to rely on that they were confident enough to see to the end of this war? Punya shook his head and sent a message to the intelligence department. Although there was no intelligence department, strictly speaking, there were some personnel used to gather information for the clan. The clan was not that big and there was no need for the intelligence department till now because there was not much to know about the small Lunaris city.

For a small city anything happening could be heard on the streets or the taverns. If something happened there were spies of the Rijal clan on almost all of the clans. So there was no need to set up an intelligence department, it was only extra cost for the clan but there were few people in charge of gathering important information. After Punya sent the message, four people came to the clan hall.

He looked at the four and said “I have received the message that the elder from the Ming clan was spouting nonsense about attacking our clan. Although this may turn out as a drunken rant, I want you four to look into this matter. I want you to be discreet and check the movements of two clans for the past week. Use these as funds and you can come later if you need more. Bribe or threaten, do whatever you have to but I want a detailed report by tomorrow morning. Don’t leak this to the clan members yet.” Punya then took out some spirit stones and pills and gave them to the four people.

The four nodded and went to the city. After the four left, he sent messages to the spies in the other clans through the jade slips. If the clans were indeed preparing for war, the spies would be able to confirm the suspicions. Even if they knew the smallest of information, it would be enough for the Rijal clan to fortify their defenses and prepare for the war. Even though the Rijal clan had been preparing for the war, without the emergency, it was just steady enough. But now they had to prepare contingencies for any situations.

After waiting for about an hour a spy from the Visigoth clan informed about some of the suspicious activities of the clan. They were buying things in bulk and crafting in a frenzy. Well, this was the norm due to the war rumors and expansion in the Bareback mountains but what stood as suspicious was that the clan was funneling their funding to unknown sources. Everyone in the clan was using the contribution points even for daily items and the spirit stones were nowhere to be seen in the transactions.

This stood as odd for the spy and he reported it. ‘This is somewhat suspicious. Did they buy something precious in secret?’ Punya thought about it. Although it wasn’t enough to warrant immediate preparation for war, it was the thing to be noted. After another hour, another spy from the Ming clan reported the same thing. The Ming clan was somewhat mysterious and it was harder for outsiders to get into an inner circle or be privy to important information.

Although very few there were some spies in the Ming clan. After hearing the report of the spy almost the same as the previous one, Punya was suspicious. What were the two clans funneling their spirit stones toward? Were they preparing for war this early? Not to mention the possibility of beast tide in a few years, if they include foreign powers in their equation, they will be left with nothing even if the Rijal clan disappears. The foreign power will swallow everything the Lunaris city has to offer and may even establish a branch here in the name of protection since the two clans gave them an excuse. At that moment even the royal family can do nothing about it.